Alum Gonzales to give grads send-off

Alum
Gonzales to give grads send-off

BY JENNIFER
EVANS
Rice News Staff

Rice alumnus
Alberto Gonzales, the first Hispanic-American to serve as
counsel to the president of the United States, will deliver
the address at Rice’s 91st commencement ceremony May
8, Rice President Malcolm Gillis has announced.

“Alberto
Gonzales has been an extraordinary exemplar of Rice alumni
in public service, both at the state and national level,”
the president said. “Commencement this coming May is
the last one under my watch. I am thus doubly honored that
Alberto Gonzalez has accepted our invitation.”

Robin Forman,
chair of the commencement-speaker search committee, said
he is quite pleased Gonzales accepted. The professor of
mathematics said, “[Gonzales] has a fascinating life
story and is an engaging speaker,” a perfect fit for
the kind of person the committee was seeking. Among those
on the short list of candidates the committee submitted
to the president for consideration were the Dalai Lama,
actor Tom Hanks and National Security Adviser Condoleezza
Rice.

Sid Richardson
College senior Andy Weber, one of the four students on the
search committee, said, “Al Gonzales was among the
top choices. We’re very happy with the selection.”

Gonzales was
commissioned as counsel to the president in January 2001.
Prior to joining the White House staff, Gonzales was a justice
on the Supreme Court of Texas, a position he held throughout
1999 and 2000. Before his appointment to the Texas Supreme
Court by then-Governor Bush, Gonzales served as Texas’
100th secretary of state. He also served as general counsel
to Bush for three years after practicing law as a partner
with Vinson and Elkins in Houston.

Born in San Antonio
and raised in Houston, Gonzales entered Rice in 1977 after
attending the United States Air Force Academy for two years.
A member of Lovett College, Gonzales received a bachelor’s
degree in political science with honors in 1979 and received
a law degree from Harvard in 1982.

Named “Outstanding
Young Lawyer of Texas” by the Texas Young Lawyers Association
in 1992, Gonzales has served as board director for the State
Bar of Texas and president of the Houston Hispanic Bar Association.
In 1995 Gonzales was named “Outstanding Young Texan”
by the Texas Jaycees; in 1997 he received a presidential
citation from the State Bar of Texas for addressing the
basic legal needs of indigents. Two years later, he was
named “Latino Lawyer of the Year” by the Hispanic
National Bar Association, and in 1999 and 2001 he was named
one of the 100 most influential Hispanics by Hispanic Business.
In 2002, the Association of Rice Alumni (ARA) recognized
Gonzales with its Distinguished Alumni Award. Most recently
Gonzales was honored as a role model for future generations
of Hispanic college students, being inducted into the Hall
of Fame of the nation’s leading organization supporting
Hispanic higher education, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

“Much of
my success is based upon dreams I had as a boy,” Gonzales
said when he received the ARA honor. “It all came true
because I held on to that dream. I’m very proud to
be a product of Rice.”