Board of Directors

John Kerr, a native of Houston, has lived in San Antonio since 1981. An active businessman and civic leader, he also has been writing for the past fifteen years. His first novel, Cardigan Bay, was published in 2008 and his second novel, A Rose in No Man’s Land, was published in 2011. Two more novels, Fell the Angels and Hurricane Hole, will be published in 2012. Kerr also coauthored with his late father Only A Khaki Shirt, a nonfiction memoir of World War II in the Pacific, which was published in 2006. Kerr’s business interests are currently focused on two biotechnology ventures that he founded: Azaya Therapeutics, which is developing novel anti-cancer drugs, and Evestra, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on women’s healthcare. Kerr also co-manages Acacia Capital, a private equity fund, with Steve Hassman. Kerr serves on the board of trustees of the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, which he chaired from 1998 to 2007, and on the boards of the McNay Art Museum, the Admiral Nimitz Foundation, the Menninger Clinic Foundation, the Texas Research and Technology Foundation, and the San Antonio Medical Foundation. He is a member of the distribution committee of the Kronkosky Charitable Foundation and of the advisory council of the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. He also chairs the Texas Advisory Board of the Environmental Defense Fund. Kerr received a BA from Stanford University in history in 1970 and a JD from The University of Texas Law School in 1972. 

Virginia “Ginni” Mithoff received her BS in elementary education from The University of Texas at Austin and attended the University of Houston for graduate school. After retiring from her teaching career, she began volunteering and serving on boards for various organizations, including the Houston Ballet Guild, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, Harris County Hospital District Foundation, and many others. She currently serves on the School of Education Foundation Advisory Council of The University of Texas Development Board, The University of Texas School of Public Health Advisory Council of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Development Board, and the Bayou Bend Committee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Ginni and her husband Richard have lived in Houston for thirty-five years. They have two children—Michael and Caroline—and four grandchildren.

G. Hughes Abell is founder and general partner of Llano Partners Ltd., a family partnership with ranching, farming, and cattle-feeding operations in Texas and New Mexico. In addition, he actively manages private investments in oil & gas, timber, and commercial real estate. He currently serves on the board and executive committee of the Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. He is also on the board of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board and the Texas Livestock Marketing Association. He is a trustee of St. Edward's University, the Texas Water Foundation, and the Texas State History Museum Foundation. He is a former vice-chairman of the Lower Colorado River Authority, and a past chairman of the board of trustees of St. Andrew’s Episcopal School. He is a 1972 graduate of Vanderbilt University. He and his wife, Betsy, reside in Austin and are the parents of two children.

Shirlene Bridgewater is a native Houstonian and one in a long line of educators. She currently is an educational consultant after teaching high school English and Humanities for twenty-three years. Most recently, she served as a Teacher Leader at Marble Falls High School. Bridgewater has shared her knowledge on curriculum and teaching strategies at national and statewide educational conferences, including Marble Falls ISD Excellence in Education (2014), Advancing Improvements in Education (2013), and the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (2006). Her numerous honors include Humanities Texas Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities Award (2008), Highland Lakes Legacy Foundation Teacher of the Year (2014, 2010, 2008, and 2007), the Texas Commissioner’s Advisory Council on the Education of the Gifted and Talented (2011-2014), and Texas Region 13 Secondary Teacher of the Year (2008). A graduate of Spelman College with a BA in English, Bridgewater has also worked as a public relations director, editor, radio host, and bookstore co-owner.

Larry D. Carver holds the Doyle Professorship in Western Civilization at The University of Texas at Austin, where he specializes in 18th century British literature and rhetoric. He also serves as director of the Liberal Arts Honors Programs and the Humanities Program, having previously served as associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He received his PhD from the University of Rochester. His numerous honors include the UT Pro Bene Meritis Award, which recognizes outstanding dedication to the liberal arts, the Friar Centennial Teaching Fellowship, the Chad Oliver Plan II Teaching Award, and the Liberal Arts Council Award for Outstanding Advising.

Dr. Maceo C. Dailey Jr. is associate professor of history and director of African American Studies at The University of Texas at El Paso. In addition to serving two terms as chair of the Humanities Texas board of directors, he served on the advisory committee for the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum and the boards of the Texas Emancipation Juneteenth Cultural and Historical Commission and the Twelve Travelers Memorial of the Southwest. He currently chairs the board of directors of both the McCall Neighborhood Center and the Child Crisis Center of El Paso and serves on the boards of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra and the Burnham Wood Charter School in El Paso, as well as the Advancement Board of Texas A&M University Press. He recently submitted for review a manuscript on Emmett Jay Scott and is currently working on the “Booker T. Washington Encyclopedia.” He co-edited a revised edition of Bernice Love Wiggins’s Tuneful Tales with Ruthe Winegarten; with Kristine Navarro, he co-edited Wheresoever My People Chance to Dwell: Oral Interviews with African American Women of El Paso.

Elinor Donnell is a civic leader in Corpus Christi, where she has presided over the Junior League of Corpus Christi and the Texas State Aquarium Association and has also served as a member of the Corpus Christi Municipal Arts Commission and as a board member of the Texas Maritime Museum. In addition to her involvement in the Corpus Christi area, she is an active alumna of The University of Texas at Austin, where she received her BBA degree with a minor in education and was a member of the Orange Jackets. A life member of the Texas Ex-Students Association, she has served on The University of Texas development board since 1992 and has been a life member since 2001. In addition, she is a member of The University of Texas Chancellor's Council, the Longhorn Foundation, the President's Associates, and the Littlefield Society.

Julius Glickman is a Houston civic leader and attorney.  A native of Big Spring, he earned his BA in Plan II and his LLB at The University of Texas at Austin. He was student body president, an Outstanding Student, and a member of the Tejas Club, Silver Spurs, and Friars. An active alumnus, he has chaired the Development Board and the Chancellor’s Council, and is the chair of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) Development Board. He has also served on the Commission of 125 and is the chair for the College of Liberal Arts Advisory Council. In 2012, he was a recipient of the University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, the highest award given by the Texas Exes. He was also a founding member of the Blanton Museum Council. He has served as chair of the board of Humanities Texas and has chaired the board of Houston Public Radio. He is a member of the International Academy Trial Lawyers and a recipient of the Pro Bene Meritis Meritis Award from the College of Liberal Arts in 2008. 

Ray M. Keck III is president of Texas A&M International University in Laredo. Prior to assuming this post in 2001, he was a faculty member of the university and served as department chair and provost. He holds an AB and a PhD in Romance languages and literatures from Princeton University and also studied at Harvard Divinity School, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Centro de Estudios Hispánicos en Madrid (Bryn Mawr College), and the Deutsche Somerschule am Atlantik. He serves on various higher education boards in Texas and is a member of the Philosophical Society of Texas. He was born in San Antonio and graduated from the Texas Military Institute in 1965. He began his teaching career at The Hotchkiss School in 1970. Over his forty-year scholarly career he has taught, studied, and written about Spanish literature with an emphasis on the Golden Age. Since his undergraduate days, he has also studied and played the organ, especially the music of J. S. Bach. He has often performed with orchestras and ensembles and has served as director of church music for parishes in New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Texas. In Laredo, he has served as president of the regional P-16 council. He aggressively champions comprehensive, dual-language programs for all children in Texas schools. His wife, Patricia Cigarroa Keck, is a nurse and director of health services for the Laredo Independent School District.

Becky McKinley is a professional caterer and owner of Dining by Design, a catering company through which she dedicates a portion of her time serving not-for-profit functions in the Amarillo area and working with culinary arts programs at local high schools. She is also an author and food journalist, and in addition to her regular contributions to Accent West magazine and other online and print publications, she is currently working on a cookbook about beef. Governor Rick Perry appointed her to the Texas Governor’s Commission for Women, where she is presently serving her fifth term. She was also appointed by First Lady of Texas Anita Perry to the Advisory Council for the Texas Conference for Women. She was honored in 2010 as Silent Samaritan of the Year and is the recipient of the 2010 Amarillo Area Women’s Forum Distinguished Service Award and 7 Who Care Award. She serves as a board member of the Samaritan Counseling Center, Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health Advisory Board, and Women's Philanthropy Fund. She has previously served as a board member of the Baptist Saint Anthony Hospital Foundation, Polk Street United Methodist Church, KACV Public Television, Junior League of Amarillo, Amarillo Symphony Guild, Harrington Cancer Center, and City of Amarillo Traffic Commission. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Texas Tech University.

Kit T. Moncrief is a philanthropist whose leadership roles in Fort Worth reflect her many and varied interests, which include ranching, art, wildlife conservation, and travel. She is president of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, vice president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Foundation, co-chair of the Fort Worth Zoological Association, and a member of the executive committee of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Association and co-chair of its $30 million endowment campaign. She also serves as a board member of the Texas Ballet Theater, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. Outside of Fort Worth, she is co-chair of the advisory board (the Museum Council) for the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as co-chair of the museum’s $75 million capital campaign, and she has served on the executive committee of The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. She studied art history at Southern Methodist University and participated in Texas Christian University’s Ranch Management Program. Her husband, Charles B. Moncrief, is an independent oil and gas producer and rancher, and they have three daughters.

Monica Perales is associate professor of history at the University of Houston and is a member of the Board of Directors of Humanities Texas. She received her PhD in history from Stanford University in 2004, and holds a BA in journalism and an MA in history from The University of Texas at El Paso. She is author of Smeltertown: Making and Remembering a Southwest Border Community (University of North Carolina Press, 2010), which received the Kenneth Jackson Award for Best Book in North American Urban History from the Urban History Association. She is also coeditor of Recovering the Hispanic History of Texas (Houston: Arte Público Press, 2010). Perales’s general research and teaching interests include Chicana/o labor and social history, memory and history, immigration, race and ethnicity in the American West, Borderlands, and oral history.

Carol Foxhall Peterson of Alpine is general manager of the Gage Hotel in Marathon. She is former owner of Foxhall and Co, and past divisional vice president of Neiman Marcus. Peterson received a bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech University and a culinary arts degree from the French Culinary Institute in New York. She served as chair of the Texas Governor’s Commission for Women, is a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) volunteer, and serves on the board of the Brewster County Tourism Council. 

Ricardo Romo became the fifth president of The University of Texas at San Antonio in May 1999. He graduated from Fox Technical High School and is a native of San Antonio’s West Side. He attended The University of Texas at Austin on a track scholarship and holds a master’s degree in history from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a PhD in history from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1980, he returned to The University of Texas at Austin to teach history before becoming vice provost for undergraduate education. From 1987 to 1993, he directed the Texas office of the Tomás Rivera Center, housed at Trinity University, where he evaluated the impact of governmental policies on Latinos. In 2002, President Bush appointed him to the President’s Board of Advisers on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He has also been appointed to the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Directors and to the Board of Commissioners to UNESCO. A nationally respected urban historian, he is the author of East Los Angeles: History of a Barrio, which is now in its ninth printing. His photographs have been the subject of several regional art exhibitions, including “Havana,” a collection of images taken in Cuba. He is married to Dr. Harriett Romo, an associate professor in social and policy sciences at The University of Texas at San Antonio. They have one son, Carlos, and a daughter, Anadelia.

Venus F. Strawn is an Austin civic leader and retired nurse. Raised in New York, she has lived in Austin for twenty-five years. She currently serves on the board of St. David’s Neal Kocurek Scholarship Fund and has been a co-chair for St David’s Foundation’s “Toast of the Town.” Strawn also serves on the steering committees for the Rise School, the Women’s Fund “Power of the Purse,” Notable Women of the Long Center, and the Women’s Trust for the Dell Children’s Hospital. She was the founder and a co-chair of “Dancing with the Stars Austin,” benefitting the Center for Child Protection. In 2009, Strawn was recognized as a “Women on Their Toes” honoree. She attended Fordham University in New York and received a nursing degree from the Roosevelt Hospital School of Nursing.