A&M International Begins A.R. Sanchez Distinguished Lecture Series

Texas A&M International University will present the inaugural lecture in the A.R. Sanchez, Sr. Distinguished Lecture Series at the University on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 6:30 p.m. on the Green in front of the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library.

The inaugural lecture, "Higher Education in the 21st Century," will feature two nationally known scholars and university administrators, Dr. William Cunningham, Chancellor of The University of Texas System, and Dr. Barry Thompson, Chancellor of The Texas A&M University System.

Dr. Cunningham has been the chancellor of the University of Texas System since 1992. He holds the Lee Hage and Joseph D. Jamail Regents Chair in Higher Education Leadership and the James L. Bayless Chair for Free Enterprise. A nationally known marketing scholar, he is the former editor of the Journal of Marketing.

Dr. Thompson, chancellor of the Texas A&M University System since 1994, has worked in higher education for 25 years. Before his service in higher education, he worked for 13 years in Texas public schools as a science teacher, principal, curriculum director, and superintendent. A recipient of the 1996 Golden Deeds for Education award, he is consultant to more than 60 public and private educational institutions.

Chancellors Cunningham and Thompson will each speak for approximately thirty minutes after which there will be an opportunity for questions.

The A.R. Sanchez, Sr. Distinguished Lecture Series was instituted by the University's College of Arts and Humanities with funding from a trust established by A. R. Sanchez, Jr. in honor of the late A. R. Sanchez, Sr., founder of International Bancshares Corporation, successful oil and gas producer and long-time supporter of higher education.

The lecture series will offer the community rare opportunities to hear from distinguished researchers, prominent leaders and respected thinkers.

In the Spring, the A. R. Sanchez, Sr. Distinguished Lecture Series will include lectures by Frank Vandiver and Robert D. Richardson Jr.

Vandiver, chairman of the board of the Mosher Institute for International Policy Studies, and Texas A&M University, and author of the critically acclaimed biographies Mighty Stonewall and Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing, will lecture on his new book, Shadows of Vietnam: Lyndon Johnson's Wars.

Richardson, author of Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind, Myth and Literature in the American Renaissance, and Emerson: The Mind on Fire, will lecture on Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

For additional information on the A. R. Sanchez, Sr. Distinguished Lecture Series, please contact the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at A&M International at (956) 326-2460.

University office hours are from 8 a.m.- 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Affairs and Information Services at pais@tamiu.edu