U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Antonio O. Garza Jr. will give SMU’s 89th annual commencement address at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 15, in Moody Coliseum. Ambassador Garza, who assumed the ambassador post in November 2002, is a native Texan and graduate of SMUÃs Dedman School of Law.
Before being appointed ambassador to Mexico, Garza served as Texas’ 41st Railroad Commissioner from 1998 to 2002, becoming the first Hispanic Republican elected to statewide office in Texas. Prior to that, Garza was appointed in 1994 by then-governor-elect George W. Bush as Texas’ Secretary of State and a senior advisor. In the latter role, he was the lead liaison for Texas on border issues and Mexican affairs. Garza received his B.B.A. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980 and was recognized in 1989 as one of five Outstanding Young Texas Exes. He received his J.D. degree from the SMU School of Law in 1983 and was honored with the law school’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2001.
SMU will confer honorary degrees during the commencement ceremony to historian Peter Robert Lamont Brown of Princeton University, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree; theologian Elisabeth Sch?ssler Fiorenza of Harvard University Divinity School, who will receive an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree; and engineering educator and administrator Thomas Lyle Martin, Jr., who will receive the honorary Doctor of Science degree.
Brown is a distinguished scholar of late antique and early medieval historical periods. He has written more than a dozen books, several of them milestones of historical thought. They include Augustine of Hippo: A Biography, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity and The Rise of Western Christendom.
Elisabeth SchŸssler Fiorenza combines her pioneering work in biblical interpretation and feminist theology in her teaching and research. She is best known for her groundbreaking book, In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins, translated into 12 languages.
Thomas Martin played a pivotal role in development of the SMU School of Engineering. During his tenure as dean of the schoolÃs predecessor, the SMU Institute of Technology, 1966-1974, engineering education and research funding at SMU made significant progress. A pioneer in distance education, he was responsible for creating The Association for Graduate Education and Research in North Texas, known as TAGER, which telecast courses to Metroplex industries.