Dr. Patricia Mathes, a professor at Southern Methodist University, received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Baylor Alumni Association in a presentation on Friday, Jan. 21, in Waco. Former Texas governor Mark White—a 1962 Baylor graduate and 1965 law graduate—was emcee of the event.
The Distinguished Alumni Award, presented annually since 1965 as the highest honor the Baylor Alumni Association bestows, recognizes Baylor graduates whose records of service in their professions and vocations have merited the honor and acclaim of peers and colleagues.
Mathes is Texas Instruments Chair of Evidence-Based Education, Professor of Teaching and Learning, and Director of the Institute for Evidence-Based Education at SMU. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Baylor in 1984, a master’s degree in education at the University of Houston, and her doctorate in education and human development from Vanderbilt University. She has served on the faculties at the University of Texas/Houston Medical School, the College of Education at Florida State University, and the Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt.
Mathes is an internationally respected reading expert. The research she began in 1991, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education, proves it is possible to reduce the incidence of reading disabilities to less than 1 percent, and she has developed a curriculum to do just that.
During the alumni association’s Hall of Fame awards event, eighteen other awards were presented to alumni and friends of Baylor University. A full list is below. For more biographical information about the recipients, go to the current issue of the Baylor Line, the magazine of the Baylor Alumni Association at http://www.baylorline.com/.
Distinguished Alumni Award
• Dr. Gerald Cobb ’50, MS ’55, Chair of the Board, Woodforest National Bank,
• Timothy Hale ’84, Senior Vice President of Design Management and Marketing, Fossil,
• Michael Johnson ’90, Thirteen-time Olympic and World Champion,
• Dr. Patricia Mathes ’84, Director of the Institute for Evidence-Based Education, Southern
• Maj. General David Rubenstein, MHA ’89, Commanding
W. R. White Meritorious Service Award
• Caroll Dawson ’60, General Manager, Houston Rockets, retired, Houston
• Calvin Smith, Executive Director, Western Heritage Museum Complex at New Mexico Junior College in Hobbs, Pueblo, Colo.
• Bob ’46, MA ’47, (posthumously) and Anna Smith Wright ’47 (unable to attend), Partners, Wright Brand Foods, retired,
Price Daniel Distinguished Public Service Award
• Marvin Watson ’49, MA ’50, U.S. Postmaster General, retired,
Abner V. McCall Religious
• Dr. Derek Davis ’72, JD ’73, MA ’88, Dean of
Abner V. McCall Humanitarian Award
• Dr. Calvin McKaig ’58, MD ’64, Physician, retired,
George W. Truett Distinguished Church Service Award
• Marv Knox, Editor, Baptist Standard, Coppell
• Dr. Randall O’Brien, President,
Herbert H. Reynolds Outstanding Young Alumni Award
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• Kristen Cox ’94, President and CEO, 16×9 Production, Austin
• Chase Palmer ’96, JD ’98, Attorney, Palmer Law Firm, Marshall
• Sophia Young ’06, WNBA Player, San Antonio Silver Stars,
First Families of Baylor Award
• The Abney Family