The Pride Online - Winter 2003

One of the most respected school superintendents in the state, one of the few women to ever lead the State Bar of Texas, and the first person to earn the title of University Professor from Baylor. These are your newest Distinguished Alumni. Their citations are below.
Dr. John Horn, B.S. 1963, M.Ed. 1966
Anyone who has worked in education for 38 years deserves the wholehearted thanks of at least a couple of generations of children and their parents.
But what to do with a man who also defies the numbers and stays in a district for 15 years when the average stay of a superintendent at any one location is a third that time? And what if those were not ordinary years, but ones during which the district became dramatically more urban? If you’re the Texas Association of School Administrators, then you name that man the Texas Superintendent of the Year.
And what do you do with someone whose vision has proven itself through the success of one cutting-edge program after another, from student performance to teacher development? If you’re the governor, then you appoint that visionary to several important statewide task forces.
What if he has an inspiring record of service to students, parents, teachers, employers and businesses at the municipal level? And not in one city alone, but in two — in each city where he served as school superintendent. If you’re the cities of Allen and Mesquite, you make him your Citizen of the Year.
What do you do for an educator who has improved an educational system to enrich the lives of its students? And not just any educational system, but that of the entire State of Texas? If you’re the Administrative Leadership Institute, you honor that educator as you have other recent recipients: former Commissioner of Education Mike Moses and former Texas A&M University System Chancellor Barry B. Thompson. You bestow upon him one of the most coveted honors in all of Texas: the Golden Deeds for Education Award.
What do you do for someone who piloted a system of more than 30,000 students until it became one of the state’s showcase districts? And not just any district — but one whose student population is much more ethnically and economically diverse than most other high-performing districts? If you’re Mesquite ISD, you name your newest secondary school the “John D. Horn High School.”
And, finally, what do you do with an alumnus who has served the public with such distinction? Who personifies his Alma Mater’s motto of “Ceaseless Industry, Fearless Investigation, Unfettered Thought, Unselfish Service to Others?” If you are as proud of Dr. John Horn as we at A&M-Commerce are, you gladly confer upon him your highest honor.

Lynne Liberato, M.S. 1976
A fervent and tireless servant of her profes- sion, her family, her community and the State of Texas, Lynn Liberato sets a pace of public service that even others who are considered active volunteers would be hard pressed to match.
Lynne Liberato earned her master’s degree in journalism here in 1976. After gaining her law degree, she became chief staff attorney for the First Court of Appeals. Since then she has compiled a remarkable record of professional and civic service, including a recent term as the president of the State Bar of Texas.
She has argued cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and chaired local fundraising committees. She has been a member of international delegations and an officer in the Neighborhood Justice Center. An expert in appellate practice, she is in high demand as both an author and speaker on the most current of legal issues. In 1993 it was her intelligence, talent and diligence that paved the way for her to be named the first female president of the Houston Bar Association. She would go on to the State Bar of Texas — eventually earning the distinction of serving as president. As the new president, she appeared on the cover of the Texas Bar Journal. Friends say it is an indication of Ms. Liberato’s devotion to her family that she made sure her two sons posed with her for that cover photo.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association presented her its Toast to Texas Award, and Inside Houston Magazine named her the Best Appellate Lawyer in Houston. The Houston Post called her one of that city’s top ten “Women on the Move.” Among her many current activities are her service on the Governmental Relations Committee for the Greater Houston Partnership. She is a member of the Attorney Admissions Fund Committee for the Southern District of Texas. She serves on the State Bar’s Executive Committee and is a partner in the prestigious Houston law firm of Haynes and Boone.
Dr. Otha Spencer was a professor in the journalism department when Ms. Liberato got her master’s degree here. “She was one of our best journalism students, and it was a shame to lose her to the legal profession,” he says, then quips: “But good lawyers make journalists better, and good journalists make lawyers better.”
A&M-Commerce is fortunate to have an association with Lynne Liberato — who through her record of service has become a force to be reckoned with, and who wields her influence so well, for the greater good of Texas.

“It’s true; I have argued before the Supreme Court, which is a very big deal for a lawyer.
But it was nothing compared to arguing my thesis before Dr. Spencer and Dr. Bell.”

— Lynne Liberato, who got her master’s in journalism
under Drs. Otha Spencer and Jack Bell

Dr. Ralph C. Wood, B.A. 1963, M.A. 1965
His life’s work has not been what he thought it would be, in part because
Dr. Ralph Wood decided to go to school here in Commerce.
Ralph Wood came here intending to make himself into a traditional Baptist minister, but that was before he encountered one of this university’s most profound and beloved personalities, Dr. Paul Barrus. Ralph Wood’s literature professor was a quiet man of deep faith who took an unflinching approach to literary works, even those that seemed to fly in the face of his own beliefs. That kind of courage — a courage of the intellect and of the soul — was one Ralph Wood saw in his mentor, Dr. Barrus, and forged within himself.
Dr. Wood’s master’s thesis here, “The Scandal of Redemption in the Novels of Flannery O’Connor,” was a good indication of where his career was headed — and it seemed more and more as if that career might place him behind a lectern rather than a pulpit. Stellar college careers here and at the University of Chicago paved his way into teaching, a calling he calls “secondary” to that of ministers’.
Even if he is correct about his craft’s secondary status, Dr. Wood nevertheless did a first-rate job of practicing it. At Wake Forest he was rewarded with the Reid-Doyle Prize for excellence among junior faculty and the Jon Reinhardt Award for distinguished classroom work. There and at Samford University he was appointed to endowed and distinguished professorships. Most recently he was made the first University Professor at Baylor University, where he teaches in the departments of Religion

	Alumna and Foundation Board member Sondra Fowler takes a look at the University’s centennial quilt on display during the Founder’s Circle reception the Thursday of Homecoming Week.
	While little lion mascots are a perennial favorite at the Homecoming game, “thunder sticks” made their inaugural appearance.