TAMIU’s Thompson Named TIL Member

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) Regents Professor and author Dr. Jerry Thompson has been inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters (TIL).

Based on his previous accomplishments, Dr. Thompson was selected out of 27 nominations, with only 14 approved by the TIL council for submission to full membership. Thompson is also the only person to have won the TIL’s nonfiction award for two consecutive years.

TIL induction is based on literary achievement. Nominated parties are unaware of their nomination until the council approves them by a four-fifth majority. At that point, nominees are asked if they are willing to have their names submitted to the membership for approval.

The non-profit organization was founded in 1936 by a small group of writers at the Texas Centennial in Dallas. The group notably included J. Frank Dobie, JohnLomax, John McGinnis, and Walter Prescott Webb. The TIL was developed in order to inspire an interest in Texas letters as well as recognizing literary achievements.

In addition to acknowledging the literary achievement through the induction of members, the TIL annually presents awards for published work and, with The University ofTexas at Austin, assists the Dobie Paisano Fellowship Program for Writers.

Thompson is Regent’s Professor of History at TAMIU and considered one of the nation’s top authorities on the Civil War. The author of over 20 books, he is a past president of the Texas State Historical Association. He holds a doctorate from Carnegie-Mellon University and has received numerous awards from the Texas Historical Commission, Western Writers of America, Texas State Historical Association, Historical Society of New Mexico, and Arizona Historical Society.

He was a recipient of a 2009 Texas A&M University System’s Teaching Excellence Award, a voluntary, student-selected honors program and was just named a recipient of The Texas A&M University System’s 2010 Chancellor’s Teaching Award.

The TIL awarded him the Best Scholarly Book Published in 2006 award for his “Civil War to the Bloody End: The Life and Times of Major General Samuel P. Heintzelman.” His recent biography, Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas, is thought to be the definitive study of Juan Nepomuceno Cortina and has won numerous awards.

Thompson’s latest book, Tejanos in Gray: Civil War Letters of Captains Joseph Rafael de la Garza and Manuel Yturri, documents the Tejano Civil War experience through period letters. The book will be available at the TAMIU Bookstore. Additional information is available at tamupress.com

For moreinformation on the TIL, please visit www.texasinstituteofletters.org

You may also contact the TAMIU Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180, email prmis@tamiu.edu , visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268, click on tamiu.edu, follow the University on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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