More About Our Lubbock Speaker(s)
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The Honorable Lauro F. Cavazos was asked by President George H.W. Bush to continue as Secretary of Education following the November, 1988 presidential elections. On August 9, 1988, President Ronald Reagan has nominated Dr. Cavazos for the post, and on September 20, 1988 the Senate unanimously confirmed him. He resigned as U.S. Secretary of Education on December 15, 1990.
Now, he is a Professor in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine at the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. A sixth generation Texans Dr. Cavazos earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in zoology at Texas Tech University and holds a doctoral degree in physiology from Iowa State University. He has received 21 honorary degrees.
Dr. Cavazos has served in various professional and administrative positions. He has taught at the Medical College of Virginia and at the Tufts University School of Medicine, where he was also Dean for five years. Dr. Cavazos returned to Texas Tech University in 1980, to become its tenth president, the first Hispanic and first graduate of the university to hold that office.
Secretary Cavazos has received considerable recognition for his efforts in education. In 1984, President Reagan presented him with an award for Outstanding Leadership in Education. In 1985, the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences gave Dr. Cavazos its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1987, he accepted an award designed in his honor from the Texas Tech University Alumni Association. The next year he was awarded the National Hispanic Leadership award in Education by the League of United American Citizens. In 1990, he was named “Most Influential Hispanic in the United States” by Hispanic
Business.
Dr. Cavazos has vigorously worked in the both the fields of medicine and education. He has been consultant to many national and international health organizations, including the Association of American Medical Colleges, the World Health Organization, and the Pam American Health Organization. He is author or co-author of numerous scientific and education publications. Secretary Cavazos has served education as a member or leader of numerous councils of higher education at both the state, national and international levels. While Secretary of Education, his efforts to improve education were concentrated in three areas. First, he encouraged students, teachers and parents to demand the best possible school systems. Second, Dr. Cavazos stressed that all students, especially those at risk of failing or dropping out, must have access to quality education. Third, he insisted that quality education in America was the responsibility of every person. Dr. Cavazos targeted education resources to improve opportunities for those most in need, and initiated programs to combat drug and alcohol use. He provided leadership to encourage parental and community participation in education of children.
Dr. Cavazos is married to the former Peggy Murdock, B.S.N., R.N. They have ten children.
Mike Moses currently holds the Distinguished Meadows Visiting Professorship in Educational Leadership at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Dr. Moses serves as an instructor and guest lecturer in the Educational Leadership Department. He also serves as a special advisor to the Dean of the College of Education.
Prior to accepting this appointment, Dr. Moses served on the board of the American College of Education. This College is located in Chicago, Illinois, and develops educational programs for teachers and administrators focusing on improving teacher training and executive leadership.
Dr. Moses has served in Texas public education for thirty years, starting as a teacher and administrator in the Duncanville and Garland school districts. He then served as superintendent for the Tatum, La Marque and Lubbock school districts.
From 1995 to 1999, Dr. Moses served as Texas Commissioner of Education, appointed twice by then Governor George W. Bush and confirmed by the Texas Senate. In 1999, he joined the Texas Tech University System as deputy chancellor. His responsibilities included governmental relations, development and institutional advancement, linkages between public education and the Texas Tech University system, and supervision of the news and publication division of the system as well as oversight of the Chancellor’s Council.
In October 2000, Mike Moses accepted the appointment as general superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District.
He was selected unanimously for this position as the nineteenth superintendent of the district. He served in that capacity until assuming the role with Higher Ed Holdings in October 2004.
As the superintendent of the Dallas district, Dr. Moses spearheaded a successful school bond election in January 2002.
As one of the largest bond elections in the nation, the $1.37 billion capital improvement program included renovations of existing schools and the construction of twenty new schools. Dr. Moses also led the Dallas district through the successful conclusion and release from federal court supervision of a thirty-three year old school desegregation court order. During his tenure, student achievement in the Dallas district markedly improved while the financial fund balance of the school district almost doubled.
Among awards that Dr. Moses has received are the Texas Business and Education’s “Distinguished Service Award” and the “Golden Deeds in Education Award” from Texas A & M University. The Texas School Public Relations Association awarded Dr. Moses its “1999 Key Communicator for Public Education Award”. Both the national and Texas PTA organizations have presented him with life memberships. He was also selected “Superintendent of the Year” in two Texas education regions and was one of the four national finalists for “Superintendent of the Year” in 2003.
His wife, Debi, is a former public school teacher and the couple has two sons.
Steve H. Murdock
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Steve H. Murdock holds the Lutcher Brown Distinguished Chair in Demography and Organization Studies at The University of Texas at San Antonio. He is also the official State Demographer of Texas. He was appointed to this position by Governor Rick Perry and is the first person to occupy this position.He is also
Director of the Institute for Demographic and Socioeconomic Research and the Texas State Data Center at The University of Texas at San Antonio.
He holds a Ph.D. in Demography and Sociology from the University of Kentucky and is the author of 12 books and more than 150 articles and technical reports on the implications of current and future demographic and socioeconomic change. Among his publications is The New Texas Challenge: Population Change and the Future of Texas.
He is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. These include the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award in Research from Texas A&M University, the Excellence in Research Award from the Rural Sociological Society, and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Sociology at the University of Kentucky. He was named one of the fifty most influential Texans by Texas Business in 1997 and as one of the 25 most influential persons in Texas by Texas Monthly in 2005. He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Eta Epsilon national honor societies.