TITLE: Commending Dr. George C. Wright on his 10 years as president of Prairie View A&M University.

SUMMARY: Commending Dr. George C. Wright on his 10 years as president of Prairie View A&M University.

FULL TEXT:
WHEREAS, Dr. George C. Wright is celebrating his 10th anniversary as president of Prairie View A&M University on August 15, 2013; and WHEREAS, A native of Lexington, Kentucky, George Wright earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University of Kentucky and his doctorate in history from Duke University; and WHEREAS, After beginning his academic career at the University of Kentucky in 1977, Dr. Wright taught at The University of Texas at Austin from 1980 to 1993, where he was the Mastin Gentry White Professor of Southern History and vice provost for undergraduate education; in 1993, he became the vice provost for university programs and director of the African and African American Studies program at Duke University; he went on to serve as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at The University of Texas at Arlington; on August 15, 2003, he became the seventh president of Prairie View A&M University, the second-oldest public institution of higher learning in the Lone Star State; and WHEREAS, Dr. Wright's scholarship includes three books, A History of Blacks in Kentucky, Volume 2: In Pursuit of Equality, 1890-1980;Life Behind a Veil: Blacks in Louisville, Kentucky, 1865-1930;and Racial Violence in Kentucky, 1865-1940: Lynchings, Mob Rule, and "Legal Lynchings, " which earned him the Governor's Award of the Kentucky Historical Society; his work-in-progress is a biography of the African American leader Robert Charles O'Hara Benjamin; and WHEREAS, This distinguished scholar, educator, and administrator has received many fellowships, grants, and awards; he earned the Jean Holloway Award for Excellence in Teaching, the "Eyes of Texas Excellence" Award, and the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Award for Outstanding Black Faculty Member from The University of Texas at Austin, where he was also the Friar Society Centennial Fellow for Teaching Excellence, the Silver Spurs Centennial Teaching Fellow, and the Lillian and Tom B. Rhodes Centennial Teaching Fellow; in addition, he received the Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellowship at Harvard University; and WHEREAS, Dr. Wright has contributed to his profession as a member of the editorial boards of the Louisiana State University Press Southern Biography Series and the Journal of Southern History and through his work with the Southern Historical Association Program Committee; a leader in his community as well, he has served on the boards of the Arlington Chamber Foundation and the Medical Center of Arlington; and WHEREAS, Under his exemplary leadership, Prairie View A&M University has built on its already sterling reputation for providing an excellent education to generations of engineers, nurses, and educators, and Dr. Wright may indeed take great pride in his skilled stewardship of the university as he celebrates this special anniversary; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas Legislature, 2nd Called Session, hereby congratulate Dr. George C. Wright on his 10 years as president of Prairie View A&M University and extend to him sincere best wishes for continued success in his important work; and, be it further RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be prepared for Dr. Wright as an expression of high regard by the Texas House of Representatives. Bell Thompson of Harris Turner of Harris Allen White Speaker of the House I certify that H.R. No. 26 was adopted by the House on July 25, 2013, by a non-record vote. Chief Clerk of the House