Distinguished alumni honored

At the Distinguished Alumni recognition dinner on April 11, Texas A&M University-Commerce President, Keith McFarland, welcomed those in attendance and praised those graduating with a degree from A&M-C. “If you were proud of this University when you came in here this evening, then you are really going to be proud when you leave here tonight,” McFarland said. The 2008 group of Distinguished Alumni inductees included H. Dan Farrell, Dr. Michael Johnson, Geraldine “Tincy” M¬iller and Dr. Fred Tarpley.Farrell is the former Chief Financial Officer and operational head for TXU corporation business units in both the U.S. and Australia. Since receiving his BBA in accounting and finance from A&M-C in 1972, Farrell has completed business related programs at Harvard Business School and Southern Methodist University. Farrell is a member of the A&M-C Foundation Board, and has also received the Alumni Ambassador Award, the highest honor that an academic department may bestow upon its alumni. Farrell and wife Linda, have five children and four grandchildren. “Professors, faculty and staff at this school deeply care about the students. Not just while they are here, but even after they’re gone … I think one thing that I learned here, and beyond here, is that everyday you are in a classroom,” Farrell said. Johnson is an award-winning author who has won numerous awards for books he has written. He was named Oklahoma Author of the Year in 2005. Johnson received his bachelor’s, and doctoral degrees from A&M-Commerce. Winner of the 2007 Western Writers of America Spur Award, which is one of the oldest and most prestigious awards in american literature, Johnson was the recipient of the award for his latest novel, Healing Shine-A Spiritual Assignment. “Something happens when you’re here. Outside these walls, on these grounds, I was changed from someone who didn’t care into someone who cared a great much,” Johnson said. Miller has worked with children with dyslexia since 1984. For nearly a decade, Miller taught in The Reading Laboratory at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Children and in the Highland Park Presbyterian Hillier School for Dyslexia.She has also had a huge impact on the state level. Since 1984, she has been a member of the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE), where she has represented Rockwall County and parts of Dallas and Collin Counties. Miller was appointed to the SBOE in 1984 by former Gov. Mark White, and elected to the SBOE in 1988. She was re-elected to the SBOE in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2002. Governor Rick Perry appointed Miller Chair of the SBOE in February 2003, and reappointed her again for 2005-07. She was re-elected to another four-year term in November 2006. In Oct. 2007, Miller co-chaired the Baylor Celebrating Women Fundraiser, when she helped to raise $3.5 million for breast cancer research. “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t reach out and learn something more to make me a better person and I can make others a better person,” Miller said. Miller and her husband Vance have four children and eight grandchildren. Dr. Tarpley graduated in 1951 from East Texas State Teachers College with his bachelor’s degree in journalism and English. Tarpley also received his master’s degree in English from ETSTC in 1954. Having written more than fifteen works, including scripts, articles, and books about people, places and names in Texas, Tarpley’s most influential works include From Blinky to Blue John: A World Atlas of Northeast Texas, and 1001 Texas Place Names and Jefferson: Riverport to the Southwest.Tarpley has worked as a reporter, editor, public information officer and professor. Perhaps his most remarkable accomplishment is that he is the founding director of the Commerce Bois d’Arc Bash, the festival that is held annually in the fall in downtown Commerce. “I knew my college education had been extraordinary and I never stopped appreciating the benefits of great professors, wonderful classmates and a nurturing campus…My desire for lifelong enlightenment was concealed in me here,” Tarpley said.