Today@Sam Article

System Chancellor To Give Summer Commencement Address

July 28, 2011
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt

Brian McCall, the leader of the Texas State University System, is scheduled to address Sam Houston State University’s approximate 1,055 degree candidates during two summer ceremonies on Aug. 6.

University president Dana Gibson will confer 620 bachelor’s degrees, 423 master’s degrees and 12 doctoral degrees at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. in the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.

The morning ceremony will include students from the Colleges of Criminal Justice; Fine Arts and Mass Communication; Humanities and Social Sciences; and Sciences. The afternoon ceremony will include students from the Colleges of Business Administration and Education.

McCall has served as chancellor of the Texas State University System since 2010. The system is the oldest and third-largest university system in Texas, comprising eight universities and colleges with more than 76,000 students and 15,000 faculty and staff.

He previously served in the Texas House of Representatives, first elected in 1991 and earning recognition as one of Texas Monthly magazine’s “10 Best” legislators for the 2009 legislative session.

In addition to representing the areas of North Dallas, Frisco, Allen and Plano, McCall served as chairman of the house calendars committee and as a member of the higher education committee.

As a state representative, McCall wrote and passed one of the largest tax-cut bills in the history of Texas and during his last session secured $5 million in funding for The University of Texas at Dallas' Center for Values and Medicine. Other legislative accomplishments include authoring and passing key bills in the areas of health care, biotechnology, high technology, identity theft and tax, and tax and budget policy.

McCall has served as president of Westminster Capital Corporation, an investment firm focused on acquisitions primarily in software and technology.

He also serves on the board of View Point Bank, and, along with his brother, David, operates Snow Hill Farm north of Dallas.

McCall holds a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University, a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University, spent a year as a visiting post-graduate student at Oxford University, and earned a doctor of philosophy degree from University of Texas at Dallas.

A long-time civic and community volunteer, McCall is founder and chairman of the board of The Empowerment Project, a non-profit organization which has sent more than $10 million worth of math and science books to disadvantaged schools in the Republic of South Africa, and helped construct a library in Vietnam through the Libraries of Love organization. The Empowerment Project also raised more than $350,000 to provide direct support for the medical needs of children in North Texas.

For more information on the summer commencement exercises, or to see commencement times listed by major, visit http://www.shsu.edu/~reg_www/destination/destination_commencementschedule.html.

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