2009

Corbin J. Robertson, Jr.

Corporate Executive and Philanthropist

Corbin J. Robertson Jr., born in Houston, graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1969, receiving a BBA with high honors. He returned to his hometown of Houston and began working in the family business, Quintana Petroleum. Today he is President and CEO of Quintana Minerals Corporation and serves on the board of directors of many other companies and industry associations. Corby is a committed philanthropist who believes without a quality education and good health, one has little chance for success. Corby serves as chairman of the Cullen Trust for Higher Education and has been instrumental in the funding and vision of UT Austin’s Texas Interdisciplinary Plan (TIP) through the creation of the Hugh Roy Cullen Excellence Fund. He is a representative for 16 endowments funded all or in part by the Cullen Trust for Higher Education that support UT Austin’s College of Natural Sciences, Cockrell School of Engineering, School of Social Work, McCombs School of Business, and Graduate School. Corby is a current member and past chair of the Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees and has been involved with the Texas Medical Center, Texas Heart Institute and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital. He is a member of the Littlefield Society, the Chancellor’s Council, the President’s Associates, and the Development Board and was honored in 2002 as a Texas Exes Distinguished Alumnus.

2008

Valleau Wilkie, Jr.

WWII Veteran, Educator, and Foundation Executive

Valleau Wilkie, Jr. was born in Summit, New Jersey on July 3, 1923. His father, Val Sr., graduated from Yale in 1915 and fought in World War I as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He later became a teacher and headmaster of a private school. Val’s upbringing set the stage for a productive life with high standards set for academic accomplishments and values. In February 1942, after his freshman year at Yale, Val enlisted in the Army Air Corps and soon became co-pilot of a B-17  “Flying Fortress” based in the 351^st Bomb Group in England. On January 11, 1944, on his third mission, his plane was shot down over Holland. He bailed out and evaded capture for five months, living with the Dutch Underground. On an informant’s tip, Val was captured by the Gestapo and endured interrogation and a month in solitary confinement. “Behind the wire” for almost a year in two different German POW camps, Val never gave up hope and was eventually released.

Val’s interest in teaching and history led him to continue the family tradition of education. After the war, he returned to Yale and completed his B.A. in history in 1948, and continued his education at Harvard, where he received his M.A. in history in 1953. From 1948 to 1959 he taught history at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. In 1959, at the age of 36, he was recruited to become headmaster of The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts, a post he held for 14 years.

In 1973, Val moved to Fort Worth at the urging of the late Perry R. Bass to serve as Executive Vice President of the Sid W. Richardson Foundation.  He has guided the board in providing millions of dollars in grants to nonprofit organizations in Texas, with an emphasis on education, health, and human services. He established the Sid W. Richardson Foundation Forum in the late 1980’s, a program that supports innovation in Texas schools and focuses state and national leaders on key educational issues.  The Sid W. Richardson Foundation provides significant support to educational initiatives at UT Austin’s College of Natural Sciences, including UTeach, the Charles A. Dana Center, and the Marine Science Institute. Val Wilkie’s life is distinguished and rich.  It is characterized by his optimism, great leadership, and dedication to education and the common good.

2007

Matthew M. Winkler

Biologist, Entrepreneur and University Benefactor

Matthew M. Winkler was born June 22, 1952, in Boston, Massachusetts.  During Matt’s childhood, his father frequently took the family traveling around the world for extended periods of time.  By the time he was 10, Matt had already been to the West Indies, Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.  While still a young boy, Matt knew he would become a scientist, and by age 14, he had notebooks filled with observations of animals in the Berkeley hills.

Matt began his college career at UC San Diego, but later transferred to Berkley.  He received a B.S. in Genetics in 1974.  After taking some time off to travel, he returned to Berkeley, finishing his Ph.D. in Zoology by 1979.  He received a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral fellowship, which he spent at the University of Hawaii and the University of California at Davis.

He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 1983 as an Assistant Professor of Zoology and became Associate Professor in 1988.  He is the author of over 30 scientific publications and has 9 issued patents. He met his wife, Peggy, who was studying marine botany at UT, in 1983.  They were married in 1989 and have three sons, Dan, Josh and John.

His career took a marked turn when he decided to create his own biotech company, Ambion Inc., a molecular biology tool company, in 1988.  He steered Ambion toward making research tools for RNA.  It has become the preeminent company in its field, with branches in Austin, Cambridge, England, and Japan.  He left teaching full-time in 1991 to devote himself to Ambion.

Always hungry for a new challenge, Matt sold the research products division of Ambion to Applied Biosystems in March of 2006.  As a condition of its sale, he made sure no jobs would leave Austin.   He kept about 100 employees to start Asuragen, a new company which focuses around micro RNAs with the goal of developing early cancer diagnostics and cancer therapeutics. He is an accomplished scientist, incorrigible adventurer, successful entrepreneur, and devoted husband and father.

Norma Martinez Lozano

Corporate Executive and Community Leader

Norma Martinez Lozano was born August 31, 1956 in San Benito, Texas.  Her parents raised their children with strong family values and a strong work ethic and always stressed the importance of getting a good education.

Norma earned a B.S. in mathematics in 1979 and began her career with Southwestern Bell that same year as a network engineer in San Antonio, Texas. In 1990, she was appointed General Manager of a new subsidiary, Southwestern Bell Messaging Services, Inc.  In 1994, Norma became the first Hispanic to be appointed an officer of the former SBC Communications.  She also served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Southwestern Bell Messaging Services, Inc. and Vice President-Diversity Marketing for the former SBC Operations, Inc.  She was later appointed to serve as President-Diversified Businesses, responsible for five distinct business units; Operator Services, Public Communications, Paging, Messaging, and Video Services.   As Senior Vice President – Merger Transition, Norma’s responsibilities include: ensuring the implementation of the AT&T/BellSouth merger commitments and overseeing the re-branding initiatives associated with the AT&T/BellSouth merger.

Over the past few years, Norma’s business achievements and community involvement have earned her a number of prestigious awards and distinctive honors such as: the “Breaking Barriers Award.” from the National Hispanic Employee Association, the “Hall of Fame Award” from Hispanic Women in Leadership, the VIDA Award from Hispanic Magazine and NBC, and the Texas Women to Watch Award.  She was recognized by VISTA Magazine with their Corporate Achievement Award and also received the Latina Excellence Award from Hispanic Magazine for her achievements in the corporate arena.  She also received the distinguished Eagle Award from the National Eagle Leadership Institute.  In 2006, Norma was once again selected to the “Corporate Elite” for Hispanic Business magazine.

Norma and her husband, Rafael, reside in Dallas, Texas.  She is currently a member of the University of Texas College of Natural Sciences Foundation Advisory Council, the Salvation Army Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Command Advisory Board, and the Hispanic Association of Communications Employees.  Norma dedicates this award in loving memory of her father Juan Martinez.

Susan T. Jastrow

Nutritionist and Community Leader

Susan Thomas Jastrow was born and raised in Austin, TX, by her mother, Martha Hall, and her father, Dr. John F. Thomas, who was a surgeon at St. David’s hospital.  Susie attended the University of Texas at Austin and received a B.S. in Home Economics and a teaching certificate in 1969.  She met her husband, Kenny, in her first class, freshman English.  They were married in 1968 before her senior year, and she worked at UT while Kenny finished his M.B.A.  They have three children, Marty, Kenny, and Corby.  All three are married, and have daughters of their own.

Susie received a B.S. in nutrition in 1995, and served as a research associate for UT from 1995-1997, working under the direction of Margaret E. Briley.  She has contributed to many publications, including three articles in the Journal American Dietetic Association.  In 1998 she joined and created the People’s Community Clinic’s Nutrition Services department, where she continues to work today as a nutritional consultant and diabetes educator.

She has served on the St. David’s Community Health Foundation Board as secretary and is on their Health Access Committee, which decides how funds are distributed to the community.   Susie is a past president and former member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma House Board.  She believes that health care should be accessible to all central Texans with an emphasis on preventive care rather than crisis care.  She believes that nutrition and an active lifestyle can be very effective in reducing health care costs.

UT has empowered Susie to accomplish goals she had not previously thought possible, and she hopes to effect positive change with the knowledge she has acquired. She continues to have a vibrant relationship with the University of Texas and the Department of Human Ecology. She has served on the College of Natural Sciences Foundation Advisory Council since 1998 and on the Department of Human Ecology’s Visiting Committee since 1996.  In 2007 her husband, Kenny, established the Susan T. Jastrow Excellence Fund in Human Ecology to honor Susie’s achievements.  Susie received the Community Service Award from the Texas Exes in Human Ecology in 1999, and their Alumna of the Year award in 2006.  Susie is a loving mother, an advocate for public health and nutrition and a dedicated volunteer for the Department of Human Ecology and the College of Natural Sciences.

2006

Larry R. Faulkner

Chemist, Educator and University President

Larry R. Faulkner, the 27th president of The University of Texas at Austin, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on November 26, 1944. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Methodist University in 1966 and was awarded a Ph.D. in chemistry from UT in 1969. His research explored areas of electrochemistry and analytical chemistry. After serving as an assistant professor at Harvard University for four years, Faulkner joined the faculty of the University of Illinois in 1973. Except for a brief hiatus in 1983, when he returned to UT as a professor, Faulkner served the University of Illinois as provost, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and professor of chemistry, in a career that spanned 25 years.

When Faulkner began his presidency at The University of Texas at Austin in 1998, he quickly established high standards for improving graduation and student retention rates, teaching quality and effectiveness, world-class research, and public service. Faulkner led a highly successful capital campaign—raising more than $1.6 billion from more than 130,000 individual contributions—that brought about unprecedented growth in the University’s endowment.  Some $728 million was added through the creation of 934 new individual endowments.  During the campaign, UT constructed several major facilities, completed renovations, significantly increased its collections of art, photography, and historic archival materials, and established new academic centers and institutes.

Other significant achievements during his eight-year presidency included the acquisition of the world-renowned Suida-Manning Collection of European paintings and drawings, the re-opening of the observation deck of the UT Tower and the creation of innovative scholarship programs that have strengthened UT’s minority student enrollment. He also assembled the Commission of 125, which completed a two-year process of examining the state of the University and giving direction to its future. The Commission delivered its report in 2004, and Faulkner created task forces to implement the Commission's recommendations.

Co-author of the prominent text Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications, Faulkner also co-invented the cybernetic potentiostat, which was commercialized by several firms.

He received national recognition for his research, including the Edward Goodrich Acheson Award from the Electrochemical Society, the American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry, the U.S. Department of Energy Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement in Materials Chemistry, and the Charles N. Reilly Award from the Society for Electroanalytical Chemistry. He was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award and a Doctor of Science Honoris Causa from Southern Methodist University.  In 2003, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

2005

Richard J. Hawkins

Entrepreneur and University Benefactor

Rick Hawkins was born the second of six children in the small rural community of Baltimore, Ohio. He attended Ohio University on a full football scholarship, where he majored in biology.

His career in the life sciences started at Johnson and Johnson, where he learned the discipline of drug development and managed clinical research projects around the world.

In 1981, Rick launched Pharmaco, a contract research organization that provided comprehensive drug development services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Within 10 years, Pharmaco was one of the top two contract research organizations in the world and was named #161 in the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies in America in 1990.

In 1992, Rick sold Pharmaco.   While maintaining close ties to his alma mater, he was introduced to Dr. John Kopcheck in the molecular biology department of Ohio University.  He promptly formed Sensus Drug Development with the goal of developing a life-saving growth hormone antagonist therapy for Acromegaly.  Unable to produce this innovative protein anywhere worldwide, he partnered with Corning and built the first contract recombinant protein manufacturing facility.  This company, which is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina is today the premier recombinant protein manufacturer in the world.

Rick enjoys serving on several scientific boards and councils, including President Larry Faulkner’s Nanotechnology Advisory Council and Dean Mary Ann Rankin’s College of Natural Sciences Foundation Advisory Council.

Recently, through Dr. Neil Iscoe and Dean Mary Ann Rankin, Rick was introduced to Dr. John McDevitt, a chemistry professor at UT who had developed a brilliant diagnostic technology that stages HIV/AIDS patients by measuring CD4 lymphocytes, allowing access to life-saving drugs in resource-scarce environments of the world.   In 2004, Rick and his colleagues formed a new company, LabNow, licensing this technology from the University of Texas.  In countries where patients do not have access to laboratories and where the current method of assessing CD4 cell counts requires many days and sophisticated equipment, this technology promises to greatly impact the quality of care HIV/AIDS patients receive.

J. Weldon Koenig

Retired Navy Admiral, Community Leader and University Benefactor

J. Weldon Koenig, a native of La Grange, Texas in Fayette County, was born in the O'Quinn community during the great depression on September 26, 1935. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin in 1958.  After graduation he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Navy, and married his wife Nancy.  During his naval career he served on surface ships, nuclear submarines, and naval staffs. While serving his country he received many awards including The Defense Superior Service Medal, The Legion of Merit, The Meritorious Service Medal, The Antarctic Service Medal, and The Sea Service Medal.

After his retirement from the United States Navy, Admiral Koenig served as President of two companies, and in 2000 chose to operate the K Bar K Ranch near O'Quinn to spend more time with his family.  He has been a member of the College of Natural Sciences Foundation Advisory Council since September, 1988, and served as a past Chairman.  He is also a member of the Chancellor's Council, the Littlefield Society, the UT NROTC alumni association, and the Longhorn Foundation.

He is a life member of the Ex-Students Association, the Navy League, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Naval Order of the United States.  He is the Chairman of the Board at St. Mark's Medical Center in La Grange.  Admiral Koenig is also President of the Midshipmans Foundation, an organization that provides scholarships for the young men and women of The University of Texas Naval ROTC Unit.