Distinguished alum Cisneros ’68, helped college celebrate 50th anniversary Nov. 15

The Texas A&M College of Architecture’s lineup of 50 ^th anniversary festivities included a keynote address by university distinguished alumnus Henry Cisneros '68, who earned a graduate degree at the college in 1968.

The Celebration of Learning followed a Nov. 14 banquet honoring this year’s group of Outstanding Alumni and preceded a Nov. 16 tailgate three hours before the Texas A&M vs. South Carolina game at Kyle Field.

The Nov. 15 Celebration of Learning, a daylong event Nov. 15 that featured presentations by beloved current and retired college faculty that covered the past, present and future of the college’s disciplines, included a keynote by Cisneros, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and former mayor of San Antonio.

Cisneros, who earned a [Master of Urban Planning] (https://laup.arch.tamu.edu/academics/graduate/mup/) degree at the college, is the founding chairman of [CityView] (https://www.cityview.com/) , an organization that works to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods in major metropolitan areas, and chairman of [American Triple I] (https://www.tripleipartners.com/) , an infrastructure investment firm.

A past member of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and a past president of Univision Communications, Cisneros received the [Outstanding Alumnus Award] (https://www.arch.tamu.edu/community/formerstudents/outstanding-alumni/past-honorees/11/) from Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture. As a student he was combined commander of the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band.

In addition to Cisneros’ keynote the college’s disciplines were featured in concurrent “Master Teacher” morning sessions led by some of the college’s leading faculty past and present including professors Rodney Hill and George Mann, professors emeritus Michael Murphy, Bob Segner, David Woodcock, and longtime former visualization faculty member Donald House.

In the afternoon, college faculty discussed critical and emerging topics in panel sessions about sustainability, historic preservation, transportation, natural hazards and resiliency, 3-D printing, robots/drones and more.

The day concluded with a 5-6:30 p.m. reception.

Richard Nira

rnira@arch.tamu.edu