The Fred M. Garland Memorial Lecture and Awards
Ceremony is an annual Springtime event sponsored by the Chemistry
Department at Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Fred M. Garland
was the chemistry department chairman from 1950-75. A nationally
recognized chemistry scholar is invited to present a lecture to
an undergraduate audience over a current topic of interest. Attendance
generally exceeds 100 students, faculty, and staff. Two of the Garland
lecturers have been recent Nobel Prize Recipients and other Garland
Lecturers have received national acclaim from the American Chemical
Society, the National Academy of Sciences, and other prestigious
societies.
The event also includes the recognition of the Fred
M. Garland Scholarship Recipient (an undergraduate chemistry major
who will begin his/her senior year the following Fall Semester)
and other students who have contributed to the strength and vitality
of the department.
Dr. Fred M. Garland
Fred McKee Garland was born in Corsicana, Texas on
March 16, 1912. Being educated in the Texas public schools, he graduated
from Ft. Worth Polytechnic High School in 1929. He received the
B.S. degree from Trinity University at Waxahachie in 1934, the M.S.
degree in chemistry from Texas Tech University in 1936, and the
Ph.D. degree in chemistry from The University of Texas at Austin
in 1939. Dr. Garland was an assistant professor at Trinity University
from 1939 to 1941 and a research chemist for Armour and Co., Chicago
from 1941 to 1943. During World War II, he was a first lieutenant
in the U.S. Army, ultimately serving as the Executive Officer of
the 314th General Hospital in Manila, the Philippines until the
end of the war.
Rather than return to the cold winters of Chicago,
Dr. Fred M. Garland joined the Texas A&I University faculty
in 1946 at a salary of $3200/9 mon and retired in 1978 at a
salary of $26,091/9 mon. For 25 years he served Texas A&I
as chairman of the chemistry department and 16 years as the chairman
of the health professions committee. Many of his students achieved
advanced or professional degrees; by his own count, 16 PhD’s
in chemistry and over 100 dentists and 100 physicians. But in his
retirement letter to the president, "My most significant accomplishment
has been the assembling of a very strong staff, perhaps the strongest
on campus. The department is in good hands."
The chemistry faculty grew from two to seven, hiring
24 chemistry faculty, during his tenure as chairman. In addition,
modern laboratory equipment and library holdings were added each
year. Because of his persistence and leadership the department received
American Chemical Society certification in 1972 which is still maintained.
His commitment to the teaching profession was recognized in 1958
when he was one of six national finalists for the MCA Teaching Award
and again in 1977 when he was honored with the Minnie Stevens Piper
Foundation Award for "distinguished teaching on the college
level" in Texas.
Dr. Garland died in 1980, but his legend lives on.
He "lived" chemistry through his teaching, his students,
and his faculty. As one of his students in the mid-’50’s
aptly described him, "He could teach chemistry to a door knob."
In 1977, the Fred M. Garland Endowment Fund was established
for the purpose of annually recognizing an undergraduate chemistry
major who has shown professional promise in his/her academic achievements
and leadership qualities at Texas A&M University-Kingsville
(formerly Texas A&I University). To date this endowment fund,
which was built solely from the generous donations of former students
and colleagues of Dr. Garland, totals in excess of $30,000.
· April 6, 2004 - Dr.
Carl E. Wieman, University of Colorado and Joint Institute of
Laboratory Astrophysics, Nobel Prize 2001
· Past Fred
M. Garland Lectureships
· Fred M. Garland
Award Recipients
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