dr r bowen loftin 71 dr r bowen loftin 71 of bryan texas is one of 12 aggies selected by texas a&m university and the association of former students to receive the 2020 distinguished alumnus award loftin who served as the 24th president of texas a&m university (2010-14) as well as vice president and chief executive officer of texas a&m university at galveston (2005-10) where he also was a professor of maritime systems engineering received his bachelor of science in physics in 1970 from texas a&m he previously was inducted into the college of science academy of distinguished former students in 2010 loftin is being honored along with dr cm cocanougher 53 of decatur; weldon jaynes 54 of arlington; ltg randolph w house 67 of college station; r sam torn 70 of houston; john d white 70 of college station; carol e jordan 80 of lexington ky; willie t langston ii 81 of houston; tim leach 82 of midland; thomas j saylak 82 of scarsdale ny; mike hernandez iii 83 of fort worth; and charean williams 86 of arlington established in 1962 the distinguished alumnus award is the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of texas a&m university since its inception only 303 of texas a&ms 527 000 former students have been recognized for achieving excellence in their chosen professions and making meaningful contributions to texas a&m university and their local communities we are proud of these wonderful former students and all of their accomplishments and contributions said texas a&m university president michael k young they are all deserving of the highest honor bestowed upon our alumni we look forward to joining the association in recognizing their achievements loftin (pictured above on the computer screen) was the guest of honor at a special april 24 zoom meeting hosted by the association of former students in which he initially learned he is among the 2020 class of texas a&m distinguished alumni (credit: the association of former students) a native of navasota loftin graduated a year early from texas a&m in 1970 with his bachelors in physics and then earned his masters and phd degrees in physics from rice university in 1973 and 1975 respectively he began his distinguished career in higher education in 1976 as a lecturer in physics at the university of houston eventually rising to professor and chair of the department of computer science and director of the nasa virtual environments research institute by the time he left in 2000 for norfolk va and a position as professor of electrical and computer engineering and professor of computer science at old dominion university where he also served as director of simulation programs and executive director of the virginia modeling analysis and simulation center loftin returned to texas in 2005 accepting the position of vice president and chief executive officer at texas a&m-galveston before assuming the role of interim president of the college station campus from june 2009 to february 12 2010 the date he was formally confirmed as texas a&ms 24th president most recently he served as the 22nd chancellor of the university of missouri from 2014 to 2015 loftin has been recognized with multiple awards for his work in education including the university of houston-downtown award for excellence in teaching and in service (twice) the american association of artificial intelligence award for the innovative application of artificial intelligence nasas public service medal and the 1995 nasa invention of the year award he has served on numerous governmental and professional panels advisory committees and boards during the past decades including chief executive officers of the southeastern conference the fbis national security higher education advisory board and currently the mriglobal research institute board of trustees loftin and his fellow 2020 recipients learned of their honors via surprise announcements from university and association representatives including young the association of former students 2020 chair of the board cathy mann 92 association president and ceo porter s garner iii 79 texas a&m foundation president tyson voelkel 96 12th man foundation president travis dabney 96 and a ross volunteer since its 1962 inception only 303 of texas a&ms 527 000 former students less than one-tenth of one percent have been recognized with the coveted distinguished alumnus award for achieving excellence in their chosen professions and making meaningful contributions to texas a&m university and their local communities our 2020 distinguished alumni lead and excel in a wide array of career fields mann said while their experiences span diverse career fields they each consistently embody our core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service and represent the aggie network with distinction garner echoed youngs and manns sentiments and offered his congratulations on behalf of the association of former students the distinguished alumnus award is the highest honor bestowed upon a former student of texas a&m garner said those we honor in 2020 are in elite company with fewer than one-tenth of one percent of our 527 000 former students recognized with this prestigious award all 2020 distinguished alumni award recipients will be honored by the association of former students in the july-august 2020 issue of texas aggie magazine read more about the members of this years class at http://txag/da2020 nominations for the 2021 distinguished alumnus award will be accepted through oct 2 at http://txag/danominations the association of former students established in 1879 is the official alumni organization of texas a&m university the association connects hundreds of thousands of members of the worldwide aggie network with each other and the university and is providing $139 million in impact to university scholarships awards activities and enrichment for students faculty staff and former students in 2020 for more information about the distinguished alumnus award or the association visit wwwaggienetworkcom -atm- contact: kathryn greenwade 88 (979) 845-7514 or kgreenwade88@aggienetworkcom the post loftin named texas a&m distinguished alumnus appeared first on texas a&m college of science share: