Our graduates carry our values and our vision into the world. They are the pioneering researchers, the heart-driven leaders, the inspired artists and the unstoppable entrepreneurs who stand out on a national stage.
Their lives tell our story — one of hard work, eager discovery and the life-changing opportunities that spring from our supportive community. Every day. Since 1899.
Lyndon B. Johnson ’30 was the 36th President of the United States. He signed the Higher Education Act of 1965 on the Texas State campus in what is now the Music Building.Thirty-sixth president of the United States Dave Parsons ’69 majored in business with a minor in physical education at Texas State before going on to teach creative writing at Lone Star College-Montgomery and becoming the 2011 Poet Laureate for the State of Texas.• POET LAUREATE Dawson Muñoz ’11 graduated from Texas State with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance in May 2011, and is currently participating in a 9½-month Fulbright fellowship in Spain.• FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS
Grupo Fantasma Texas State alumni Gilbert Elorreaga, Josh Levy, Matthew “Sweet Lou” Holmes and Kino Esparza met at Texas State as music students. Then, following graduation, they became members of the Latin funk ensemble Grupo Fantasma. Grammy® Award winnersCharles Austin ’91 is an Olympic gold medalist, setting the Olympic record in 1996 for the high jump at 7 feet, 10 inches. • Olympic gold medalist Gary V. Woods ’65, a San Antonio-based entrepreneur and investor, has been the president of the San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Vikings, while promoting numerous growth companies in a diverse array of industries.• PRESIDENT OF A $796-MILLION-DOLLAR FRANCHISE
Nelva Gonzales Ramos ’87 is a graduate of Texas State who President Barack Obama appointed to the bench of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Corpus Christi in 2011. Federal judge Heloise (Ponce Cruse) ’74 pens the nationally syndicated “Hints from Heloise” column.• Nationally syndicated columnist Richard Phillips Jr. ’65 helped develop the world’s first artificial heart valve.• Scientist who helped develop the world’s first heart valve
Lewis Gilcrease ’53, ’55 was the first Texas State grad to be drafted to the NBA, joining the Boston Celtics. He went on to enjoy a long and celebrated career in education as a high school basketball coach. NBA players Bharati Naik ’05 is a producer and assignment editor at CNN International in London. She supervises coverage of South-Asian news and worked as a field producer covering events such as the Sri Lanka war and floods in Northeastern India. • CNN foreign correspondent F. Randall Starbuck ’71 and ’72 is a U.S. Air Force brigadier general, retired. He oversaw the preparation and launch of satellites from Cape Canaveral.• U.S. Air Force brigadier general Powers Boothe ’70 is an Emmy Award-winning film and television actor. His credits include 24, Deadwood, Nixon, Tombstone and Sin City.• Emmy®-award winners
Benjamin P. Daily ’38, pioneered microwave spectroscopy; his work helped lead to the invention of the laser. MICROWAVE SPECTROSCOPY PIONEER Herman Chinery-Hesse ’88 is a manufacturing engineer and entrepreneur, dubbed “the Bill Gates of Africa” by the BBC. His development of software manufacturing in Ghana.• “The Bill Gates of Africa.”—BBC
Debbie Hiott ’92, who began her career in newspapers as a reporting intern while a student at Texas State University in 1990, is editor of the Austin American-Statesman. Editor of The Austin American-Statesman Charles Barsotti ’55 is a cartoonist whose work has appeared in The New Yorker and The Atlantic.• Cartoonist for The New Yorker and The Atlantic
Marsha Wills-Karp ‘80 and ’82 is one of the top 1,000 scientists in the world, according to her peers in the Faculty of 1000. She conducts research in the field of immunology, identifying immunological factors as they relate to asthma. One of the top 1,000 scientists in the world —Faculty of 1000 Will Brunson ’92, Thomas Field ’08, Jeremy Fikac ’98, Paul Goldschmidt ’09, Scott Linebrink ’97 and Joe Vance are former Bobcats who have made the leap to Major League Baseball.• MLB players
Nina Vaca ’94 is an entrepreneur and CEO of Pinnacle, an information technology-services provider to the Fortune 500. Pinnacle has become the fifth-fastest growing firm in the industry. NATIONAL HISPANIC BUSINESSWOMAN OF THE YEAR Frank de la Teja, a history professor at Texas State, was appointed state historian for Texas in 2009 — a position he used to enhance Texans’ knowledge about the state’s history and heritage; encourage the teaching of Texas history in public schools.• State historian
Veronica Lynn Arellano ’10, Ambra Green ’10 and Estella Reyna ’10 are part of a total of 23 Texas State students who have earned this prestigious fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Woodrow Wilson-Rockefeller fellows George Strait ’79 is a Grammy-winning musician who has also received “Entertainer of the Year” honors from the Country Music Association.• Entertainer of the Year —CMA and many more.