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Contact: Jason Marton
jason.marton@tamuk.edu or 361-593-4143

Javelina Alumni Association announces their 2005 Distinguished Alumni, Rising Star Award recipients

KINGSVILLE (October 18, 2005) — The Javelina Alumni Association has named Miguel A. Nevarez, Richard A. Nevill and Al Gonzalez as the recipients of the annual Distinguished Alumni Award and Olga E. Gonzalez as the Rising Star Award recipient.

The recipients of the Distinguished Alumni and Rising Star Awards will be honored at a luncheon Saturday, October 22, at noon in the Memorial Student Union Building ballroom, as part of Homecoming weekend. Tickets are $25 and can be reserved by calling the Javelina Alumni Association office at 361-593-4176.

According to the association, Distinguished Alumni are chosen based on their professional and civic accomplishments, and are those individuals that have brought special honor to the university through service and support. The Rising Star Award recognizes those who have distinguished themselves in their professional field or through service to their community, and have continued service or contribution to the betterment of Texas A&I/Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Special consideration is given to those alumni who have graduated in the last fifteen years.

A Distinguished Alumnus and Rising Star are first nominated by fellow alumni to receive the award. A committee composed of faculty, staff and Javelina Alumni Association board members screens the nominations, then makes recommendations to the association's board of directors.

Miguel A. Nevarez earned a B.S. from then-Texas A&I University in 1960 majoring in agriculture, with a minor in science. He served as president of the University of Texas-Pan American from 1981-2004. Nevarez served some 33 years with the institution, filling positions that included assistant dean of men; professor of elementary education; co-director of the Basic Institutional Development Program; and vice president for student and university affairs. Prior to his time at UT-Pan Am, Nevarez was a teacher and assistant principal at Navarro Elementary School in McAllen and a farm field representative at the Texas Employment Commission. In a 40-plus year educational career, Nevarez has given remarks at both the White House and the U.S. House of Representatives and participated extensively throughout the country in

conventions and conferences. He has been an active part of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators and the American Association of College Teacher Educators Board, among other organizations. Decades of community involvement includes serving as a member of the South Texas Junior College Steering Committee and on the Board of Directors of the Rio Grande Valley Chamber of Commerce. Nevarez holds an M.A. from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. from New York University.

Richard A. Nevill received a B.S. in natural gas engineering from Texas A&I University in 1942. Upon graduation, Nevill was awarded a scholarship for a Ph.D. in fuel technology from the Institute of Gas Technology in Chicago, which would be interrupted by a tour in the Air Corps from 1943-1946. Following his military service, Nevill started a long career in the gas industry as an engineer with Lone Star Gas Co. from 1946-1949. From there, Nevill served for 2 years as a corrosion engineer with Southern Union Gas Company, became a registered professional engineer in Texas and went on to work with Fish Engineering and Fish Service

Corporation until 1960. He would serve the majority of his career with Houston Pipe Line Co. from 1960-1985 as superintendent over systems along the Gulf Coast. Nevill served the last five years as vice president of pipe line operations of Valley Pipe Lines, Inc., Houston Pipe Line Co., Intratex Gas Company and Oasis Pipe Line Co. Upon retirement in 1985, Nevill was appointed to fill the Frank H. Dotterweich Chair in Natural Gas Engineering at A&M-Kingsville, a post he held until 1990. Among past and present community activities, Nevill is on the administrative board of the First United Methodist Church of Kingsville and a trustee of The Frank H. Dotterweich and June Smith Dotterweich Memorial Trust.

Al Gonzalez earned a B.B.A. from Texas A&I in 1965. He currently serves as chairman and CEO of AGE Refining, Inc. in Dallas, a role he has held since 1991. Gonzalez’s career began as a roustabout and accounting clerk in 1958 at Texas Eastern Transmission. Positions that followed included head of personnel functions at Coastal States Aviation and head of employment at Coastal States Gas Producing Co. From 1965-1968, he was owner and manager of Certified Placements Specialists. Following positions at Emerson Electric Co. and Texas Instruments, Gonzalez served as owner and operator of Gulf-Tex Construction, Inc. for 19 years. He has served on numerous state and local boards, commissions and committees. Current examples include serving on the Board of Trustees of University Medical Center, Inc., the Minority Business Roundtable in Washington, D.C. and serving as chair of the advisory board for the Gonzalez Unit of the Boys and Girls Club of Corpus Christi. He has served on the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Board, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Criminal Justice and as president of the Dallas/Fort Worth Chapter of the Leukemia Society of America. Awards include the Dallas Hispanic Chamber Outstanding Community Service Award, Small Businessman of the Year, SBA Region IV and the Private Industry Council Mayor’s Award.

Olga E. Gonzalez has come a long way since her youth when she accompanied her family from their home in Rio Grande City to Kenedy County to work the harvest. The importance of education also was instilled in her from a young age, by her parents Filemon and Guadalupe Garza. Her mother learned to read and write Spanish when she was 20 and taught her children in Spanish when they were young. Gonzalez is currently a special education teacher in Rio Grande City where she has been since 1989. Previously she taught in the Robstown and Roma Independent School Districts and worked in the migrant summer program in Lakota, Ohio. She received her bachelor’s degree from Pan American University, her master’s from Texas A&I and her counseling and guidance certificate from Texas A&M-Kingsville. In addition, she took professional development courses from Findlay University in Ohio. She is certified to teach secondary and elementary special education. Gonzalez was named Bilingual Teacher of the Year in the Rio Grande Valley and Texas for the 1999-2000 school year.

This page last updated 19 October, 2005