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Contact: Julie Navejar
julie.navejar@tamuk.edu or 361-593-2590

Two Alumni to Receive Tejano Heritage Awards

KINGSVILLE (October 8, 2009) — The Third Annual Tejano Heritage Awards celebrated at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, as part of the university’s Hispanic Heritage Month observation, will honor two university alumni who have contributed much to South Texas and the Tejano culture and heritage.

Dr. Adalberto Garza, Edinburg veterinarian and South Texas rancher, is this year’s recipient of the Tejano Heritage Award and Alberto Byington, superintendent of Brooks County Independent School District, will receive the Tejano Service Award. The two will be honored at a noon luncheon Thursday, Oct. 15, in the university’s Memorial Student Union Building Ballrooms. The luncheon is free for students.

About Adalberto Garza

Adalberto Garza

Garza earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in animal science from Texas A&I University. He went on to earn a veterinary science degree and a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Texas A&M University.

He was born in Rio Grande City and grew up on the Garza Family Ranch near Santa Elena in Starr County. He currently manages the Edinburg-McAllen Veterinary Services and family ranches in Starr and Hidalgo counties where he raises Black Brangus cattle and trophy whitetail deer.

Garza has served as a school board member and past president of the Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District. He also is a member and former president of Los Porciones Genealogical and Historical Society, a group dedicated to the preservation of Tejano history and culture in the Rio Grande Valley.

He can trace his family’s roots to the founding of Monterrey, Mexico in 1596 and the Villas del Norte along the Rio Grande in the 1750s, as well as the Spanish porciones (parcels of land) where he still operates family ranches.

Garza is married to the former Elva Fernandez of Eagle Pass. She also is a graduate of Texas A&I. Their son, Diego Dante Garza, hopes to be accepted into the Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy for fall 2010. His parents are Adalberto Garza and Amanda Pena, descendents of the original Spanish settlers in northern Mexico and South Texas.

About Alberto Byington

Byington

Byington earned his bachelor’s degree in 1961 and master’s in 1965, both from Texas A&I. He has worked in South Texas school districts for 47 years and has served as a superintendent for 35 years, one of the longest tenures in the state at that position.

Byington started his career in education in the 1960s as a math and social studies teacher. Two years later, he became a principal at an elementary school and in 1973 he became superintendent. He is the longest serving Hispanic superintendent in Texas.

Byington also has worked with the Texas Education Agency in various capacities, including serving as mentor for school districts having problems.

This page last updated 9 October, 2009