H.R. No. 277
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, The passing of The University of Texas at El Paso
president emerita Dr. Diana Natalicio on September 24, 2021, at the
age of 82, has deeply saddened the many people whose lives were
touched by her inspiring leadership and steadfast commitment to
education; and
WHEREAS, Born in St. Louis on August 25, 1939, Diana
Natalicio received her bachelor's degree in Spanish from Saint
Louis University and her master's degree in Portuguese and
doctorate in linguistics from The University of Texas at Austin;
she joined UTEP as an assistant professor of linguistics in 1971,
and after serving as chair of the modern languages department, dean
of liberal arts, and vice president for academic affairs, she
became the 10th president of the university on February 11, 1988,
and the first woman to hold the office; and
WHEREAS, Over the course of her extraordinary 31-year tenure
as president, Dr. Natalicio helped raise UTEP enrollment from
nearly 15,000 to more than 25,000 students, and she helped increase
the population of Mexican American students to 80 percent of the
student body; under her dynamic leadership, the school's annual
budget increased from $65 million to almost $450 million, and she
oversaw a tenfold increase in research spending; the school also
increased the number of its doctoral programs from one in 1988 to 22
in 2019, and that same year, UTEP was named a top-tier R1 doctoral
research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions
of Higher Education; Dr. Natalicio retired in August 2019; and
WHEREAS, A world-renowned leader in her profession,
Dr. Natalicio was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to the
Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic
Americans and by President Bill Clinton to the National Science
Board, which she served for 12 years, including three terms as vice
chair; she also sat on the boards of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund,
The Rockefeller Foundation, the American Council on Education, the
National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, the
Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and the
U.S.-Mexico Foundation for Science, among many others; and
WHEREAS, Dr. Natalicio's numerous honors included the
Conquistador Award from the City of El Paso, the Academic
Leadership Award from Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Orden
Mexicana del Águila Azteca from the president of Mexico, the
TIAA-CREF Theodore M. Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence,
the Harold W. McGraw, Jr. Prize in Education, and induction into
the Texas Women's Hall of Fame; in 2017, Fortune magazine named her
one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders, and in 2016, she was
included in Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential
People; she received honorary doctorates from universities around
the world; and
WHEREAS, Through her trailblazing achievements and numerous
civic contributions, Diana Natalicio made a lasting, positive
difference in the lives of countless students, and she will forever
be remembered with deep admiration by all who were privileged to
know her; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 87th Texas
Legislature, 3rd Called Session, hereby pay tribute to the memory
of Dr. Diana Natalicio and extend heartfelt sympathy to her loved
ones and friends; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for her family and that when the Texas House of
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Dr. Diana
Natalicio.
Ortega
______________________________
Speaker of the House
I certify that H.R. No. 277 was unanimously adopted by a
rising vote of the House on October 18, 2021.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House