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Board Biographies
JULIUS GLICKMAN (Chair) is a Houston civic leader and the managing partner of the law firm Glickman, Carter &
Bachynsky, L.L.P. A native of Big Spring, he earned both his B.A. and L.L.B at The University of Texas at Austin, where he was elected student body president and was chair of the Development Board in 2004–2005. He serves as chair-elect of the Chancellor's Council of The University of Texas system. A frequent lecturer at law schools and professional associations, he has been an adjunct professor of law at the University of Houston. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Houston Symphony, as well as president and chair of the Houston Public Television board of directors. In 2004, he received the Leon Jaworkski Award for outstanding community service presented by the Houston Bar Auxiliary. He and his wife, Suzan, have two grown children and three grandchildren.
MARY L. VOLCANSEK (Vice Chair) Former dean of Texas Christian University's AddRan College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Mary L. Volcansek is a professor of political science who came from Florida International University in Miami in 2000. While at Florida International University, she served as department chair, associate dean of arts and sciences, and acting assistant vice president for academic affairs. She has written, edited, or coauthored nine books on aspects of law, courts, and politics in the U.S. and in Europe, including Constitutional Politics in Italy: The Constitutional Court (2000). Her most recent article appeared in the European Journal of Political Science in June 2001. With John F. Stack Jr., she coedited Courts crossing Borders: Blurring the Lines of Sovereignty (2005). She is currently working on the role of judiciaries in the consolidation of democracy.
NANCY CAIN MARCUS (Secretary) currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Westwood Trust (NYSE), the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, The Trinity Trust, and the Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations. She has served as a trustee of both The University of Dallas (Executive Committee) and also of The Hockaday School, as well as a trustee on the Executive Board of Southern Methodist University Libraries. She is both a life trustee and a fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. In 1999, Marcus received a gubernatorial appointment to serve on the State of Texas Commission on 21st Century Colleges and Universities, and she also served on the Boards of Visitors at both Duke University and Columbia University. She is a member of Charter 100 and is a longtime member of the advisory boards of the Dallas Women’s Foundation and the World Affairs Council. In 2001, she received a presidential appointment to serve as a United States Public Delegate to the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly for a one-year post that began on September 10, the eve of the national tragedy. She holds a Ph.D. in literature from the Institute of Philosophic Studies at the University of Dallas, where she serves as an adjunct assistant professor of literature.
MICHAEL L. KLEIN (Treasurer) is engaged in independent oil and gas exploration and production in Midland. He graduated from The University of Texas in Austin with a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering in 1958 and an LL.B. in 1963. While attending law school, he worked summers as a petroleum engineer with Continental Oil Company and later served as an attorney for that same company. He divides his time between Houston, Austin, Santa Fe, and Midland. He serves on the development board for The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas Press Advisory Council. He also is a member of the Longhorn Foundation, the Site Santa Fe board of directors, and the board of trustees of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. He has previously served as a member on the board of trustees for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Chinati Foundation; the Whitney Museum of American Art; the Cate School in Carpinteria, California; and as the chair of the board at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston.
JOSEPH R. KRIER (Past Chair), counsel at Bracewell & Giuliani L.L.P. and former president and CEO of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, has advanced the humanities through many civic and educational activities. As founding president of the Foundation for the National Archives, he played a critical role in shaping that agency’s identity as a leading cultural institution. As a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board from 1994 to 1999, he formulated strategies for the expansion of the state’s colleges and universities. He has chaired the Arts Council of San Antonio, served on the San Antonio Fiesta Board of Directors, and participated in the Library and Literacy Campaign. He has been a member of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Board of Visitors. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and the U.T. School of Law, he has served the university in numerous capacities, including the recent Commission of 125. He is married to former state Senator Cyndi Taylor Krier.
ALWYN BARR is an emeritus professor of history at Texas Tech University, where he previously served as department chair. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1966. His prolific academic work, including Polignac’s Texas Brigade (2nd ed. 1998)and The African Texans (2004), focuses on Civil War, Southern, and African American history. He regularly publishes in journals such as Civil War History, Military Affairs, and Military History of the West, and frequently lectures at universities and academic conferences. His teaching, research, and leadership have all won awards from Texas Tech, and he is a former president of the Texas State Historical Association. Mr. Barr participated in our 2006 self-assessment as part of the NEH site visit team, and returns to our board for his second tenure.
LESLIE D. BLANTON A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and Rice University, Leslie Dyess Blanton serves on the advisory councils of the Children’s Museum of Houston, Career and Recovery Resources, Inc., and the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin as well as the boards of The Park People, Inc., Young Audiences of Houston, the Center for Reform of School Systems, the Harris County Hospital District Foundation and the regional board of Teach For America. She is scholarship vice president of Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association of Greater Houston, a Texas Cultural Trust member, and an active participant on committees at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
ALBERT S. BROUSSARD is a professor of history at Texas A&M University, where he specializes in Afro-American history and has received several university awards for distinguished teaching. He is author of Black San Francisco: The Struggle for Racial Equality in the West, 1900–1954; American History: The Early Years to 1877; and African-American Odyssey: The Stewarts, 1853–1963, and is a co-author of The American Republic to 1877 and The American Vision. A former president of the Oral History Association, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Duke University.
VICKI VINSON CANTWELL is a Fort Worth Civic leader and museum collection management advisor who has worked with such prestigious institutions as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. Ms. Cantwell received Texas Christian University's Valuable Alumna Award in 2007. In addition to serving as a founding member of the AddRan Board of Visitors, she participated in TCU's search committee for a new dean, serves on the steering committee for the Center for Texas Studies, and participated in both the Commission on the Future of TCU and the Vision in Action planning studies. She is co-chair of TCU's Lifelong Learning Network in Fort Worth, serves on the board of the Addison & Randolph Clark Society, and is a former board member of Fort Worth's Imagination Celebration.
LARRY D. CARVER holds the Doyle Professorship in Western Civilization at The University of Texas at Austin, where he specializes in 18th century British literature and rhetoric. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester. Dr. Carver also serves as director of the UT Liberal Arts Honors Programs and the Humanities Program, having previously served as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His numerous honors include the UT Pro Bene Meritis Award, which recognizes outstanding dedication to the liberal arts, the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, the Chad Oliver Plan II Teaching Award, and the Liberal Arts Council Award for Outstanding Advising.
MACEO C. DAILEY JR. Dr. Maceo C. Dailey Jr. is associate professor of history and director of African American Studies at The University of Texas at El Paso. In addition to serving two terms as chair of the Humanities Texas board of directors, he served on the advisory committee for the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and the boards of the Texas Emancipation Juneteenth Cultural and Historical Commission and the Twelve Travelers Memorial of the Southwest. He currently chairs the board of directors of both the McCall Neighborhood Center and the Child Crisis Center of El Paso and serves on the boards of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and the Burnham Wood Charter School in El Paso. He recently submitted for review a manuscript on Emmett Jay Scott and is currently working on the "Booker T. Washington Encyclopedia." He coedited a revised edition of Bernice Love Wiggins’s Tuneful Tales with Ruthe Winegarten; with Kristine Navarro, he coedited Wheresoever My People Chance to Dwell: Oral Interviews with African American Women of El Paso.
ELINOR DONNELL is a civic leader in Corpus Christi, where she has presided over the Junior League of Corpus Christi and the Texas State Aquarium Association. Mrs. Donnell has also served as a member of the Corpus Christi Municipal Arts Commission and as a board member of the Texas Maritime Museum. In addition to her involvement in the Corpus Christi area, Mrs. Donnell is an active alumna of The University of Texas at Austin, where she received her B.B.A. degree with a minor in education and was a member of the Orange Jackets. A life member of the Texas Ex-Students Association, she has served on the University of Texas development board since 1992 and has been a life member since 2001. In addition, she is a member of The University of Texas Chancellor's Council, the Longhorn Foundation, the President's Associates, and the Littlefield Society.
VIRGINIA DUDLEY is a partner in Dudley Bros., Ltd., a purebred cattle operation in Comanche and Runnels counties, and she serves on the Health and Nutrition Committee of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. She is a director and past chair of Comanche’s Main Street advisory board, vice chair of the Friends of Historic Comanche, member and past secretary of the Comanche Economic Development Corporation, and a Master Gardener. A member of the Texas Cattlewomen, she serves on the Health and Nutrition Committee of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and is past president of the Texas Hereford Auxiliary and past secretary of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Auxiliary. She received a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University.
GEORGE M. FLEMING George Fleming is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin where he received his B.B.A. and J.D. He is managing partner of Fleming & Associates, L.L.P., a firm that specializes in plaintiff litigation. Before entering private practice, he served as an officer in the United States Army and spent five years as a trial attorney in the Torts Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. He has been lead trial attorney in a number of landmark cases. His legal memberships include the State Bar of Texas, Houston Bar Association, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Sam Houston Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Chancellor’s Council of the University of Texas System, and the President’s Council of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. His awards and recognitions include a listing in Who’s Who in American Law and the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from The Tejas Club of The University of Texas at Austin.
JULIET V. GARCÍA Dr. Juliet V. García joined the University of Texas System as president of The University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) in 1992 after serving as president of Texas Southmost College (TSC) for six years. While at TSC, she was recognized as the first Mexican American woman in the nation to become president of a college or university. She was voted Outstanding Alumnus by The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Communications and Outstanding Young Texas Ex. Other awards she has received include recognition as a Woman of Distinction by the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, the first-ever VIDA Award from NBC and Hispanic Magazine, the National Network of Hispanic Women Hall of Fame Education Award, and induction into Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. She is featured in multiple issues of Hispanic Business as one of the 100 Most Influential Hispanics. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Ford Foundation, Campus Compact, JPMorgan Chase Rio Grande Valley, Public Welfare Foundation, and The John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation. She is vice chair of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and former chair of the Advisory Committee to Congress on Student Financial Assistance. She received her Ph.D. in communication and linguistics from The University of Texas at Austin and her M.A. and B.A. in speech and English from the University of Houston. She and her husband Oscar E. García have two grown children and four grandchildren.
MIGUEL GONZALEZ-GERTH Miguel Gonzalez-Gerth is a retired professor from The University of Texas at Austin’s Spanish and Portuguese department. He received a B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin, as well as his master’s degree in Spanish and English, and obtained a Ph.D. in romance languages and literature from Princeton University. He taught at Bryn Mawr College, Swarthmore College, and Haverford College before returning to The University of Texas at Austin as an assistant professor in 1965, where he was later promoted to associate professor, and then to professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature. He served in The University of Texas Faculty Senate (now the Faculty Council) as well as in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese as interim chairman and in the College of Liberal Arts as Associate Dean for the Humanities. The former editor of the Texas Quarterly, he is also a respected writer, translator, and poet.
JOY ANN HAVRAN is a certified public accountant in private practice. She is a member of the Texas Society of CPAs and Leadership Fort Worth, and a board member of Cook Children’s Medical Center and Jewel Charity Ball. She is a past board member of Mayfest Inc, Junior League of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Dallas Ballet, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association, Fort Worth Country Day School, Harris Methodist Health Foundation and March of Dimes of North Texas. She is also a founding trustee and past member of the Harris Hospital Doris Kupferle Breast Center and past fundraising gala chair for March of Dimes, Jewel Charity, Big/Brothers Big/Sisters of North Texas, Historic Fort Worth, Van Cliburn Piano Competition and the Arts Council of Tarrant County. Havran received a bachelor’s degree and Master of Business Administration from Texas Christian University.
RAY MARVIN KECK III is president of Texas A&M International University in Laredo. Prior to assuming this post, in 2001, he was a faculty member of the university and served as department chair and provost. He holds an A.B. and a Ph.D. in Romance languages and literatures from Princeton University. Dr. Keck serves on various higher education boards in Texas and is a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas. He was born in San Antonio and graduated from the Texas Military Institute in 1965. He began his teaching career at The Hotchkiss School in 1970. Over his forty-year scholarly career, Dr. Keck has taught, studied, and written about Spanish literature with an emphasis on the Golden Age. Since his undergraduate days, he has also studied and played the organ, especially the music of J. S. Bach. Dr. Keck has often performed with orchestras and ensembles, and has served as director of church music for parishes in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Texas. In Laredo, Dr. Keck has served as president of the regional P-16 council. He aggressively champions comprehensive, dual-language programs for all children in Texas schools. His wife, Patricia Cigarroa Keck, is a nurse and director of health services for the Laredo Independent School District.
ROBERT J. KRUCKEMEYER Robert J. Kruckemeyer is an attorney engaged in private practice in Houston, Texas. He concentrates on commercial litigation, including banking, real estate, and other business disputes. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Bar Association. In addition, he is a lector at St. Ignatius Church and a coach for Klein Soccer Club. Active in Republican politics since college, he has served Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Dan Quayle, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney as a senior advance representative in their travels in the United States and abroad. In 1997 Governor Bush appointed him to the State of Texas Polygraph Examiners Board where he served until 2004. He has also served as a fundraiser for the Friends of the Barbara Bush Library at Cypress Creek and is interested in promoting Texans’ knowledge of history. He graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of arts in political science from St. Louis University in 1981 and cum laude with a juris doctor from the St. Louis University School of Law in 1984. He married Peggy Fennewald in 1985, and they have three boys—Jonathan (1986), Joseph (1991), and Michael (1991).
JANIE STRAUSS MCGARR Janie Strauss McGarr is an active community volunteer in Dallas. She is a current chair-elect of the board of Planned Parenthood of North Texas. She previously served as chair for the Board of Trustees of The Hockaday School, the Girls Adventure Trails, the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, the Dallas County Juvenile Board Advisory Committee, the Sweetheart Ball benefiting UT Southwestern Medical Center, and the Great Adventure Hunt for Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center, and she has served as co-chair for numerous other organizations and events. In 1996, she was the recipient of the Dallas chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives Outstanding Volunteer Award. She received a B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law. From 1978 to 1982, she worked as an attorney at Jackson, Walker, Winstead, Cantwell & Miller. She and her husband Cappy McGarr have two daughters.
KIT T. MONCRIEF is a philanthropist whose leadership roles in Fort Worth reflect her many and varied interests, which include ranching, art, wildlife conservation, and travel. She is president of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation, co-chair of the Fort Worth Zoological Association, and a member of the executive committee of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association and co-chair of its $30 million endowment campaign. She also serves as a board member of the Texas Ballet Theater, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Outside of Fort Worth, she is co-chair of the advisory board (the Museum Council) for the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as co-chair of the museum’s $75 million capital campaign, and she has served on the executive committee of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She studied art history at Southern Methodist University and participated in Texas Christian University’s Ranch Management Program. Her husband, Charles B. Moncrief, is an independent oil and gas producer and rancher, and they have three daughters.
MONICA PERALES is an assistant professor of history at the University of Houston. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford and her M.A. and B.A. from The University of Texas at El Paso. Her studies focus on twentieth-century U.S. history, Hispanic labor and social history, borderlands, the American West, and oral history. Her article "Fighting to Stay in Smeltertown: Lead Contamination and Environmental Justice in a Mexican American Community" won the Oral History Association Award for best article in 2008. Prior to joining the board of Humanities Texas, in 2010, Dr. Perales presented at the organization's summer 2009 residential teacher institutes on "The U.S. Constitution and American History," served as an outside reader for the exhibition "in His Own Words: The Life and Work of Cesar Chavez," and participated in the selection committee for the Linden Heck Howell Texas History grant. Dr. Perales also participates in the Recovering Texas Hispanic History Project and co-organized the University of Houston's annual Mexican American History Workshop from 2004 to 2006.
CAREN H. PROTHRO Dallasite Caren Prothro actively supports the arts and higher education. As chair of the Development Committee for the Dallas Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, she leads fundraising efforts to design and construct a new opera hall, theater, and park in the Dallas Arts District. Her numerous activities as a trustee of SMU include serving as co-chair of the Academic Affairs Committee and the Centennial Campaign Committee. She is also a member of the Dedman College Executive Board and the UT Press Advisory Board. Her awards and honors include the 2007 Boys and Girls Club Robert H. Dedman Award for Philanthropy, the 2006 Linz Award, and the Southwestern Medical Foundation Charles Cameron Sprague Community Service Award. She is a former chair of the Dallas Foundation board and the Salvation Army Advisory board, and a current member of the Hoblitzelle Foundation and the Southwestern Medical Foundation. She received her B.A. from Mills College.
CATHERINE L. ROBB Catherine L. Robb is an attorney with the firm of Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold L.L.P., representing clients in the broadcast industry. In 1998, she earned her J.D. with honors from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. She received her B.A. in 1992 from the University of Virginia. She serves as a board member of KLRU, The Austin Film Society, The American Heart Association (Capital Area Division), the Austin Music Foundation, and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. In addition to serving on the advisory board of the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, she is an active member of Leadership Austin and the Seton Forum. She chairs the LBJ Library’s Future Forum, which she founded, and is a director of the Austin Council of Foreign Affairs. She also volunteers for several nonprofit community organizations, including Shoes For Austin, Reading is Fundamental of Austin, and Volunteer Legal Services.
RICARDO ROMO Ricardo Romo became the fifth president of The University of Texas at San Antonio in May 1999. He graduated from Fox Technical High School and is a native of San Antonio’s West Side. He attended The University of Texas at Austin on a track scholarship and holds a master’s degree in history from Loyola Marymount University and a Ph.D. in history from UCLA. In 1980, he returned to The University of Texas at Austin to teach history before becoming a vice provost for undergraduate education. From 1987 to 1993, he directed the Texas office of the Tomás Rivera Center, housed at Trinity University, where he evaluated the impact of governmental policies on Latinos. In 2002, President Bush appointed him to the President’s Board of Advisers on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He has also been appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Directors and to the Board of Commissioners to UNESCO. A nationally respected urban historian, he is the author of East Los Angeles: History of a Barrio, which is now in its ninth printing. His photographs have been the subject of several regional art exhibits, including “Havana,” a collection of images taken in Cuba. He is married to Dr. Harriett Romo, an associate professor in social and policy sciences at UTSA. They have one son, Carlos, and a daughter, Anadelia.
VENUS F. STRAWN Venus Strawn is an Austin civic leader and retired nurse. She is a committee member of the St. David's Community Health Foundation W. Neal Kocurek Scholarship Program, the Women’s Fund of Austin, and Rise School of Austin Steering Committee. She is also a co-founder and past co-chair of the Dancing with the Stars Austin event benefiting the Center for Child Protection. Strawn attended Fordham University and received a nursing degree from the Roosevelt Hospital School of Nursing.
LINDA A. VALDEZ From 1981 to 2002, Linda Valdez was CEO/owner of Regnier, Valdez and Associates, a marketing, advertising, and public relations firm in San Antonio. She also held the position of assistant executive director of the San Antonio Convention and Visitors Bureau. She has received numerous industry awards such as the Association of Women in Communications Headliners Award; the Small Business Person of the Year for Texas award from the U.S. Small Business Administration; and the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame in Communications Award. She is listed in Who’s Who of American Women and the International Directory of Distinguished Leadership. Her professional affiliations include the San Antonio Sports Foundation, the Tourism Development Council for Rockport/Fulton, Texas Travel Industry Association, and the National Federation of Independent Business Owners (Texas Leadership Council). She serves as president of the Rockport Racquet and Yacht Club Condo Association and on the board of the Texas Maritime Museum. Her personal accomplishments include appointments by (ex-Governor) George W. Bush to the Texas Historical Commission and by Speaker Tom Craddick to the Texas-wide “Shared Vision Panel,” a group of twenty-nine business, physician, and community leaders who are developing a three- to five-year plan which will redefine health care in Texas. A marketing and management consultant and an alternative board facilitator with business owners in San Antonio, she received a B.S. in business administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a graduate degree and life certification in secondary education from the University of California at Berkeley.
GEORGE C. WRIGHT George C. Wright is the president of Prairie View A&M University. Prior to his present position, he served as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at The University of Texas at Arlington. He received his bachelors and masters degrees in history from the University of Kentucky and his doctorate in history from Duke University. He has received numerous fellowships, grants, and awards, including the Jean Holloway Award for Teaching Excellence at The University of Texas at Austin, and he is the author of three books and codirector of two documentaries for television. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the City of Arlington Chamber Foundations and the Medical Center of Arlington, as well as serving on the board for the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Board, the Editorial Board for the Southern Biography Series at Louisiana State University, the Board of Editors of the Journal of Southern History, the Summerlee Commission on Texas History, and the Southern Historical Association Program Committee.