Pro Bene Meritis
Pro Bene Meritis
The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. The purpose of the award is to honor individuals who are committed to the liberal arts, who have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic pursuits, or who have participated in service related to the College of Liberal Arts. In addition to expressing appreciation to those distinguished individuals so honored, the College of Liberal Arts, through this award, is seeking to heighten public awareness of the critical role played by the liberal arts in education and society today.
The award is presented annually at a dinner in the fall. The alumni, faculty, students and staff of the college take pride in these individuals and the legacy of their character and achievements.


Pro Bene Meritis Award
The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. The purpose of the award is to honor individuals who are committed to the liberal arts, who have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic pursuits, or who have participated in service related to the College of Liberal Arts. In addition to expressing appreciation to those distinguished individuals so honored, the College of Liberal Arts, through this award, is seeking to heighten public awareness of the critical role played by the liberal arts in education and society today.
The award is presented annually at a dinner in the fall. The alumni, faculty, students and staff of the college take pride in these individuals and the legacy of their character and achievements.
2023 Pro Bene Meritis Recipients

Pete Geren
Pete Geren is President and CEO of the Sid Richardson Foundation, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and the 20th U.S. Secretary of the Army. A native of Fort Worth, he earned his undergraduate degree in history at UT Austin prior to attending The University of Texas Law School. He briefly practiced law in Fort Worth before turning to politics, where he worked as an aide to Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen. He was then elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served the citizens of Tarrant and Parker Counties for four consecutive terms. In 2007, Geren was confirmed as 20th Secretary of the United States Army, a post he rose to after joining the Pentagon in September 2001.
As President and CEO of the Sid Richardson Foundation, Geren now brings his strategic vision for societal improvement to bear in his hometown of Fort Worth, honoring the legacy of the foundation’s namesake through support of educational, health, human service, and cultural programs and projects that serve the people of Texas. He also oversees the Sid Richardson Museum. Geren’s personal philanthropy has established crucial scholarships at The University of Texas at Austin, where he has been recognized as both a Distinguished Alumnus and a Distinguished Alumnus for Community Service at the Law School. In addition, Geren and the Sid Richardson Foundation are loyal supporters of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas in the College of Liberal Arts, promoting the thoughtful study of the great books and the core liberal arts values of critical scholarly and civic engagement.

James Loehlin, Ph.D.
James Loehlin, Ph.D., is the Shakespeare at Winedale Regents Professor of English and Director of the Shakespeare at Winedale program. Loehlin works with the evolving meaning of plays in performance, both from a scholarly and practical perspective. He has published books on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Henry IV,and Henry V, as well as Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard. He has directed, acted in, or supervised productions of twenty-five of Shakespeare's plays, as well as all four of Chekhov’s major plays.
A native Austinite, Loehlin majored in Plan II at the College of Liberal Arts and was a student in the Winedale program under founding Director James B. Ayres. After earning an M.A. in English at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar, he went on to earn a joint Ph.D. in Drama and Humanities at Stanford University and taught in the Drama Department at Dartmouth College for five years, serving as Director of the London Foreign Study Program, before returning to UT in 1999.

Vasu Raja
Vasu Raja is Chief Commercial Officer at American Airlines. A native of Richardson, TX, Raja majored in humanities at the College of Liberal Arts prior to earning an M.A. in teaching from John Hopkins University, followed by an MBA at Georgetown University. He began his career with Teach for America in 1999 before joining American Airlines in 2004, where he has held a variety of roles, including Chief Revenue Officer and Senior Vice President of Network Strategy. In 2013, he was named one of the Top 50 Executives under 50 by Diversity MBA Magazine, and he is now the Chief Commercial Officer at American Airlines. He oversees American’s Customer organization, global network and has oversight of the airline’s alliances and partnerships, revenue management, and loyalty program, AAdvantage.
Raja is a member of the Texas Exes Alumni Association and the College of Liberal Arts Advisory Council and has been a featured speaker for Liberal Arts Honors student events. A passionate advocate and supporter of a Liberal Arts education, Raja and his wife Maureen have established an endowment to support Liberal Arts Honors and have worked to connect the College to other potential supporters.






Please nominate distinguished alumni (including young alumni), faculty members, and friends of the College of Liberal Arts for the Pro Bene Meritis award.
Criteria and Procedures
To nominate someone, please review the criteria and then complete the form.
- Nominees should be persons who have demonstrated excellence in their chosen business, profession or life's work or in their service to society. See a list of past recipients.
- Nominees should be committed to the liberal arts, having made outstanding contributions by their scholarship, philanthropy or service to the College.
- Winners must be persons willing to participate in the award ceremony and in future activities with the College of Liberal Arts.
- Nominations of two or more people for a single award are accepted; however, the selection committee may choose to present an award to only one of the nominees.
- Members of the Pro Bene Meritis Award Selection Committee are not eligible for the award.
- Nominations will be kept on file for five years and an award may be presented at any time within that period.
- Posthumous nominations are accepted. In such cases, please provide a contact person and indicate that person's relationship to the deceased.
- Those nominated for the young alumnus/a award should have received a degree from the College of Liberal Arts and be under the age of 45 at the time of their nomination.
Submit your nomination online or download the form and email it to:
Molly Thompson
College of Liberal Arts
116 Inner Campus Drive, GEB 4.308,
Stop G6300
Austin, TX 78712
mthompson@austin.utexas.edu
Harry H. Ransom, Ph.D. - 1984
Mr. C. B. Smith, Sr. - 1984
Mrs. Sue Spivey Killam - 1985
Mr. Lowell H. Lebermann, Jr. - 1985
Stanley R. Ross, Ph.D. - 1985
Rev. Everett H. Jones - 1986
Mr. Lenoir M. Josey II - 1986
Mr. Willis W. Pratt - 1986
Mrs. Annette G. Strauss - 1986
Robert and Nancy Dedman - 1987
Winfred P. Lehmann, Ph.D. - 1987
Clarence and Henriette Cline - 1988
Bernard and Audre Rapoport - 1988
Archibald A. Hill, Ph.D. - 1989
Wolfgang and Marian Michael - 1989
Walt and Elspeth Rostow - 1989
Nettie L. Benson, Ph.D. - 1990
Robert D. King, Ph.D. - 1990
Charles and Sarah Seay - 1990
Mr. Morton H. Meyerson - 1991
Mr. and Mrs. Larry E. Temple - 1991
Baine and Mildred Kerr - 1992
William S. Livingston, Ph.D. - 1992
S. Chad Oliver, Ph.D. - 1992
Margaret C. Berry, Ph.D. - 1993
Mrs. Liz Carpenter - 1993
Ira Iscoe, Ph.D. - 1993
James R. Roach, Ph.D. - 1993
Warner J. Barnes, Ph.D. - 1994
James and Mari Michener - 1994
The Honorable J. J. Pickle - 1994
Walter I. Firey, Jr., Ph.D. - 1995
Edwin and Rebecca Gale - 1995
James L. Kinneavy, Ph.D. - 1995
Robert A. Divine, Ph.D. - 1996
Mr. William B. Hilgers - 1996
William O. S. Sutherland, Ph.D. - 1996
Lucy S. Meritt, Ph.D. - 1997
John R. Silber, Ph.D. - 1997
Stanley N. Werbow, Ph.D. - 1997
James T. Willerson, M.D. - 1997
Mr. Rex G. Baker, Jr. - 1998
Wales and Abby Madden, Jr. - 1998
Americo Paredes, Ph.D. - 1998
Sheldon Ekland-Olson, Ph.D. - 1999
Mr. Gordon Appleman - 2000
James B. Ayres, Ph.D. - 2000
Mrs. Ann B. Brinkerhoff - 2001
W. Roger Louis, D.Phil. - 2001
Ms. Barbara M. Myers - 2001
Mrs. Sandra E. Snyder - 2001
Mr. Creekmore Fath - 2002
William Goetzmann, Ph.D. - 2002
James W. McKie, Ph.D. - 2002
Paul B. Woodruff, Ph.D. - 2002
Elizabeth Fernea, Ph.D. - 2003
Betty Sue Flowers, Ph.D. - 2003
Joe and Terry Long - 2003
Charls Walker, Ph.D. - 2003
Mrs. Carrin Patman - 2004
Bernth O. Lindfors, Ph.D. - 2004
John R. Trimble, Ph.D. - 2004
Robert Helmreich, Ph.D. - 2005
Shannon Ratliff - 2005
Prudence Mackintosh - 2005
Larry D. Carver, Ph.D. - 2006
Miguel Gonzalez-Gerth, Ph.D - 2006
Denton Cooley, M.D - 2007
David Oshinsky, Ph.D. - 2007
Robert Solomon, Ph.D. - 2007
Julius Glickman - 2008
Judith Langlois, Ph.D. - 2008
Lynn Schusterman - 2008
Tom Staley, Ph.D. - 2008
Leslie D. Blanton - 2009
Maureen H. Decherd - 2009
Sidney Monas, Ph.D. - 2009
Frances B. Vick - 2009
Frank Denius - 2010
W. Parker Frisbie, Ph.D. - 2010
Ellen Clarke Temple - 2010
Martin W. Dies III - 2011
Austin Ligon - 2011
Howard Miller, Ph.D. - 2011
Carolyn and Peyton Townsend - 2011
H.W. Brands, Ph.D. - 2012
Thomas M. Cable, Ph.D. - 2012
O. Howard Frazier, M.D. - 2012
Michael L. Gillette, Ph.D. - 2012
The Honorable Ben Barnes - 2013
Toyin Falola, Ph.D. - 2013
Jeanne and Michael Klein - 2013
Marion Mark, Ed.D. - 2013
Robert Henry Dedman, Jr. - 2014
James Garrison, Ph.D. - 2014
Judith W. Perkins - 2014
Peggy Beckham - 2015
Austin Gleeson, Ph.D. - 2015
Bill Powers - 2015
Stephen Ballantyne - 2016
Elizabeth Cullingford, Ph.D. - 2016
Max Miller, Ph.D. and Sylvia Miller - 2016
Edmund T. Gordon - 2017
Robert L. Patton, Jr. - 2017
Keith D. Sharman - 2017
Bianna Golodryga - 2018
Richard Harper, M.D. - 2018
Jeremi Suri, Ph.D - 2018
Sara C. Bronin - 2019
Dr. Brian Levack - 2019
J. Thomas Ward - 2019
Stuart W. Stedman - 2020
Jason S. Lamin - 2020
Jaqueline Jones - 2020
Michael Stoff - 2020
Randy and Mary Diehl -2020
Richard P. Meier, Ph.D. - 2022
Dr. Rashmi Mullur - 2022
Vice Admiral (ret) Raquel C. Bono, MD - 2022