The West Texan: Top Buffs

Phoenix event honored 2022 Distinguished Alums

This article appears in the Winter 2022 edition of The West Texan. Click the image to read the full issue.

Dating back more than 40 years, West Texas A&M University’s Distinguished Alumni Awards have highlighted 115 of the university’s most accomplished, inspirational and admirable former students.

This year, four more alumni were selected to receive the university’s highest alumni honor.

The 2022 recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Awards included Col. Steven McCraw ’79, ’81, director of Texas Department of Public Safety; area philanthropists Pat ’82 and Val ’81 White of Wellington; and longtime educator Betty Solis ’59, ’78 of Amarillo.

The awards, selected by the WT Alumni Association , highlight former WT students who have made significant contributions after graduation.

“This year’s Distinguished Alumni is an impressive and well-deserving group,” said Ronnie Hall ‘95, ‘00, executive director of the WT Alumni Association. “They have dedicated their time and energy to help others and to have a positive impact in the lives of the people they serve.”

The four 2022 inductees were honored during WT’s annual Homecoming celebration, during the Phoenix Event. The evening included a banquet and program, followed by jazz and desserts.

“The Phoenix is an opportunity to highlight the work our Distinguished Alumni do to help better lives all across the nation,” said Brittny Lee ‘14, assistant director of WT’s alumni relations and university engagement. “The event also provides an opportunity to for alumni and friends to stay connected and foster pride for WT.”

McCraw, of El Paso, has a lifelong career in law enforcement, including more than 20 years as a special agent in the FBI, serving in Dallas, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Tucson, San Antonio and Washington, D.C.

After his retirement from the Bureau in 2004, McCraw became the Texas Homeland Security director before being appointed as DPS director by the Public Service Commission under former Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He still holds that position.

McCraw earned two degrees from WT at the outset of his career: a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1979 and a master’s degree in psychology and sociology in 1981.

McCraw said his education and life experiences at WT prepared him for his tenure in public safety.

“WT provided me with the educational framework, second to none, and I credit the faculty and student body for helping me succeed in life,” he said.

At the Homecoming event, McCraw said he was “humbled and surprised” to see a fellow WT alum, Anita Perry ‘74, and her husband, former Gov. Rick Perry, in attendance in support of his award.

“I will forever be grateful for the tremendous honor of being selected as a distinguished alumni from West Texas A&M University,” the director said.

Since 1996, Pat and Val White have reinvigorated their local community of Wellington through their Zephyr Foundation.

The couple, who met at WT and graduated from the university in the early 1980s, have provided gifts toward a host of community improvement projects, plus student scholarships and support for other area organizations.

“We are very proud and yet just humbled by the award,” Val White said. “We don’t give for the recognition; we are simply so happy to see when people are benefiting from projects we’ve been able to be a part of.”

The Whites, who farm and ranch near Wellington, founded the Zephyr Foundation as a way to enhance the community they love. The organization has helped fund projects including the Wellington Activity Center, a restoration of the Ritz Theatre, the Wellington Aquatic Venue and various Wellington Independent School District and Collingsworth General Hospital projects.

“We’re honored to have the privilege of making an impact,” Pat said. “But we recognize that we don’t do this by ourselves. It’s most gratifying when we get to see others who join in and make the whole community thrive.”

The Whites attended WT’s Homecoming celebrations. “Every time we’re at WT, it brings back a lot of memories – and we’re still making them,” Pat White said.

The couple noted that much has changed about WT over the years. The expansion of campus facilities and academic offerings – notably in the Department of Agriculture – are impressive, they said.

“And yet the values are still the same,” Pat White said. “The folks you find at WT you don’t find anywhere else. It’s a university that we love.”

Betty Solis spent more than 40 years as an elementary school educator – a lifetime of loving and teaching children in central Amarillo.

Solis, born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, moved to the United States in 1954 and graduated from WT in 1959. She began her career as a first-grade teacher at Dwight Morrow Elementary School in Amarillo, the first bilingual teacher in the Amarillo Independent School District.

“I had really good professors; we were taught that the children we worked with were our responsibility. We were taught to make sure they learned all they could, to prepare them for later on in life,” Solis said. “Now, so many of my students have done so well in their lives, and they check back in with me.”

Solis earned a master’s of education degree from in 1978 and spent 21 years as a principal, retiring in 2001 from a long tenure as principal at Glenwood Elementary School

Solis’s commitment to teaching, as well as her longtime volunteer work in the community, are among the reasons she was nominated and chosen for WT’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

“It is so humbling to receive this award,” she said. “My contribution was simply to teach little children and have three of my own.”

Solis was honored at the Phoenix event at Homecoming on Sept. 29, and in October she also attended a campus tour for alumni who had graduated more than 50 years ago.

“Oh me, I could not believe it,” she said. “We saw all the new buildings, and how beautiful. It’s just amazing.”

Now, Solis said, seven people from her family have graduated from WT, including three of her grandchildren. Solis and her late husband, John, also were avid supports of WT basketball.

“I have such a good feeling about the whole thing, and how WT just keeps going forward.”

WT’s Distinguished Alumni Awards are given annually; the general public is welcome to nominate a candidate for the honor.

“The honorees represent the best of WT,” Hall said. “Year after year, outstanding alumni are honored with this award and that speaks volumes to the quality education of WT.”

For more information about WT’s Distinguished Alumni Awards, or to submit a nomination, visit buffalum.com/alumni-awards or call 806-651-2311.