Established in 1937, the Association of Rice Alumni's honors program recognizes the contributions and accomplishments of outstanding Rice alumni and friends of the university.
2008 Laureates Dinner
Saturday, May 10, 2008 — Hotel ZaZa
If you would like
to attend the 2008 Laureates Dinner or would like additional
information about the ARA Honors Program, contact Lauren
Linn at 713-348-6093 or 800-742-3258.
ARA Awards
Nominations are accepted each year for three awards:
the Gold Medal, the Distinguished Alumni Award, and
the Meritorious Service Award. The selection committee
may award one or more of each award each year. Completed
nominations for 2009 candidates are due August 1,
2008.
Barbara Boyan is internationally recognized as one of the scientific leaders of orthopaedic and dental regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. Boyan’s outstanding research not only led to over 300 papers in peer review journals, but also to over 10 intellectual property patents. She is the Price Gilbert, Jr. Chair in Tissue Engineering and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in the Wallace Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She is the Director of Research for the National Science Foundation supported Engineering Research Center at Georgia Institute of Technology/Emory University. Boyan has been a leader in the emerging field of regenerative medicine, an excellent scientist, a successful entrepreneur and continues to be an outstanding role model in academia for women in science and engineering.
Tom Fatjo is an entrepreneur in the truest since of the word and has found tremendous success through his many endeavors. In 1966, after five years as a CPA, Fatjo started BFI, a waste company, with one truck in Houston that became a $6 billion revenue company and was ultimately sold to Allied Waste in 1999 for $10 billion. In 1975 he developed The Houstonian, a multi-million dollar real estate project in Houston including a 300-room hotel, fitness club and 155 unit high rise condominium. He has gone on to found or serve as a major shareholder is several other very successful waste companies, including Republic Waste Industries, Inc., Transamerican Waste Industries, Inc. and WCA Waste Corporation. Fatjo is the author of a book, With No Fear of Failure, and was appointed by United States President Ronald Reagan to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in 1980 and helped create the President’s Fitness Test.
Nick Nichols is a trial lawyer and a winner of the War Horse Award given by the Southern Trial Lawyers Association and awarded to a lawyer who is a top courtroom advocate, a leader in the trial bar, contributed significantly to the teaching of trial advocacy and must be considered one of the true characters of his time. Nichols is noted for his remarkable professional skill as a practicing trial lawyer and an expert in sports law and other tort-related issues. He made a name for himself as lead counsel on the case of Rudy Tomjanovich, then a player for the Houston Rockets, when he was involved in a brawl and punched by a player from another team. He has been active in the Big Brothers program in Houston and served as a Rice Associate, a member of The Owl Club, the Rice Baseball RBI Club, Ace Club, the R Association, and a former Hanszen College Board Member.
Sam Reed is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of Treehouse Foods. Prior to that, he held several high-level executive positions in the foodservice and consumer packaged goods industries including Vice Chairman of Kellogg, CEO and director of Keebler Foods Company and President and CEO of Mother’s Cake and Cookie Co. Over his nearly 25 years in the snack and baking industry, Mr. Reed has also held leadership positions at TreeHouse LLC, an entity formed to pursue investment opportunities in consumer packaged goods businesses, Specialty Foods Corporations’ Western Bakery Group division, Wyndham Bakery Products and Murray Bakery Products.
This award is presented to alumni who have advanced the interests and standards of excellence of Rice University through distinctive professional or volunteer careers. It is reserved for those who attended the university as an undergraduate or graduate student for a period of at least one year and are living at the time of consideration. No one who has received the Gold Medal is eligible for this award.
Almost since her graduation from Rice, Peggy Barnett has been involved in some group supporting the her alma mater. The list of groups that have benefited from her efforts is long and includes The Friends of Fondren, The Shepherd Society, the Baker Institute, Wiess College Community Associates program and Rice athletics. She served as chair of the 2007 Friends of Fondren Gala and, in doing so, broke every existing record for the event. Her leadership, persistence and creativity resulted in the highest net ever for the gala. Her nominators consider her the quintessential Rice ambassador: knowledgeable, supportive, eager and hardworking.
Hally Beth is considered a beacon of quality, intelligence, concern, courtesy, dedication, discipline, leadership and volunteerism at Rice. Her labors for the institution that is both her alma mater and her profession are exemplary indications of her personal investment in higher education. She has served Rice on the boards of the Association of Rice Alumni and the faculty club, and is active with the Owl Club. Hally Beth also acted as her class’s chairman and as a member of the Class of 1947 Golden Anniversary Scholarship Committee. For several years Hally Beth served Rice as an integral part of the university's annual Commencement ceremony as the Chief Marshal, the highest faculty position related to the ceremony.
Dan has served as a member of the Association of Rice Alumni Board and on several ARA committees, including as a sub-committee chair for the 2005 Alumni Leadership Conference. He is a founding board member of the Rice Historical Society and supporter of Rice athletics. His largest commitment of volunteer time has been to Rice’s fundraising efforts, especially the Annual Fund. He has chaired the Class of 1977 giving effort several times and he was the Annual Gifts Chair for all classes for 2001 and 2002. He served as a major participant during the Call to Conversation by President Leebron and was assisted in translating the Call to Conversation into Rice’s Vision for the Second Century .
Richard Tapia has been a part of the Rice campus since he began as Assistant Professor of Mathematics in 1970. During that time he has been the catalyst for the formation of a number of student organizations, beginning with the 1972 formation of the first Hispanic Student Association, Rice Association of Mexican-American Students (RAMAS), which then evolved into the current organization, Hispanic Association for Cultural Enrichment at Rice (HACER). He is a driving force for diversity on campus through the President’s Lecture Series of Diverse Scholars. Recently, he created the Center for Excellence and Equality in Education at Rice which provides a summer camp for high school girls to learn about computer science. His efforts have received national recognition by many external organizations for minority education outreach programs, and the Rice Computational and Applied Mathematics Department has become a leader in driving representation within the ranks of minorities receiving their doctorate in mathematical sciences.
This award was established in 1986 to provide recognition for those who have made significant, sustained, and voluntary contributions of energy, time, and creativity toward the advancement of the university. Alumni, active or retired faculty, staff, administrators, and friends of the university who are living at the time of their selection are eligible. No one who has received the Gold Medal is eligible for this award.
The Association of Rice Alumni is pleased to recognize Secretary Baker for his vision and leadership in launching and sustaining Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. One of Secretary Baker’s most important contributions has been to bring to life a vision of the Baker Institute that is fully in accord with the mission and values of Rice University. These include its orientation toward research, its emphasis on building relationships with Rice faculty, and its commitment to open and non-partisan inquiry, research and discussion. Secretary Baker is not a graduate and has never been employed by Rice, but he has demonstrated his own dedication to Rice through his many works with the Baker Institute.
This is the highest award presented by the Association of Rice Alumni. The Gold Medal is designed to recognize Rice alumni, faculty, staff, or friends who have rendered extraordinary service to the university. Each recipient must demonstrate one or more of the following criteria: outstanding service in promoting the ideals of the founder of the university OR unusually deep dedication to and advancement of the academic excellence of the university OR uncommon generosity of time and means in support of the university. Preference will be given to living nominees, but posthumous awards are not forbidden.
