Pro Bene Meritis

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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.

Vice Admiral (ret) Raquel C. Bono, MD
Served with honor and distinction as a highly respected Naval Officer and the first woman surgeon in the military to hold the rank of Vice Admiral. As the former chief executive officer (CEO) and director, Defense Health Agency (DHA), Vice Admiral (Dr.) Bono led a joint, integrated combat support agency that enabled all branches of the U.S. military – Army, Navy, and Air Force – medical services to provide health care services to combatant commands. Dr. Bono integrated an unprecedented $50 billion worldwide health care enterprise composed of 50 hospitals and 300 clinics that provide care to 9.5 million military beneficiaries; oversaw the Department of Defense (DoD) deployment of the electronic health record (EHR) system; and advanced the development of the largest federated health system with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Bono received her bachelor’s degree from The University of Texas at Austin; her Master of Business Administration from Washington State University, Spokane; and her medical degree from Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Lubbock. She completed her surgical internship and residency at the Naval Medical Center, Portsmouth, VA and performed a trauma and critical care fellowship at the Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine, Norfolk. Shortly after training, Bono saw duty in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as head, Casualty Receiving Fleet Hospital Five in Saudi Arabia from August 1990 to March 1991.

Richard P. Meier, Ph.D.
Educated at the University of Chicago (B.A., Anthropology), Washington University in St. Louis (M.A., Anthropology), and the University of California, San Diego (Ph.D., Linguistics). His postdoctoral work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1982-1984) and at Stanford (1984-86) was in Psychology. He joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin in 1986 and has served in a number of leadership roles since then. From 1996 through 1999, he was Associate Vice President for Research for the university. He was responsible for bringing American Sign Language (ASL) instruction into the Department of Linguistics, and from 2000 to 2010 directed the ASL language program. In 2006, he became Chair of the Department of Linguistics, and has served in that role ever since (with the exception of being on leave 2014-2015 and fall 2021). Professor Meier's research examines the linguistics of signed languages and their acquisition by deaf children. He has done groundbreaking work on, among other topics, the similarities and differences in first language acquisition between native signers and speakers and the linguistic characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder in native signing children. He is a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America (LSA) and the winner of the 2022 LSA Mentoring Award.
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Rashmi S. Mullur, MD
A board-certified internist, endocrinologist and integrative medicine physician. She received a BA in Plan II Honors at The University of Texas at Austin, a medical degree at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center, and then completed a residency and Chief residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis. She completed her endocrinology fellowship at the VA Greater Los Angeles and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. She completed additional training fellowships in clinical research, medical education, and integrative medicine. Her clinical practice uses integrative approaches in the management of patients with diabetes and hormonal disorders. She has pioneered several clinical, research, and educational programs utilizing integrative medicine and digital technology in the management of chronic disease.
Dr. Mullur is an Associate Professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine. She currently serves as the Chief of Telehealth at the VA Greater Los Angeles, where she started the tele-yoga programs for veterans in 2012. She is a national leader on the use of integrative medicine in the virtual setting and led her health system in the transition to virtual care during the pandemic. She is inspired by the opportunity to leverage digital health technology to advance whole-person healthcare.
Dr. Mullur also serves as the Education director for the UCLA Integrative Medicine Collaborative. She has written several educational curricula focused on integrative medicine for a wide range of audiences including patients, staff, and medical trainees. She serves on the Academy of Integrative Health and Medicine (AIHM) BIPOC committee and is committed to promoting health equity in integrative medicine and whole health.






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