Machree Gibson Honored with Heman Sweatt Legacy Award At the closing event of the 26th Annual Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights, the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement awarded the 2012 Heman Marion Sweatt Legacy Award to Machree Garrett Gibson, the first African American female president of the Texas Exes. The award is given annually to honor the memory of Heman Sweatt, the first African American admitted to the university’s School of Law. “Machree has given so much to The University of Texas at Austin, including service on the Commission of 125, the Law School Executive Committee, the UT Development Board and the Forty Acres Scholarship Foundation. As president of the Texas Exes, she has helped spread the word of the importance of the university to the state’s economy and quality of life,” said Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, vice president for diversity and community engagement.
Gibson earned her bachelor of arts from The University of Texas at Austin in 1982 and her juris doctorate in 1991. Gibson’s affiliation with the Texas legislature goes back to her freshman year in college when she took a secretarial job at the Capitol. She worked for Senator Gonzalo Barrientos for nearly eight years before becoming Governor Ann Richards’ legislative liaison with the Senate. When Gov. Richards appointed Ron Kirk secretary of state, Kirk persuaded Gibson to serve as the assistant secretary of state. Gibson is currently a principal in the Graydon Group, a public affairs firm. She and her husband, Michael, have two children: Michael Garrett Gibson, who is a Texas Tech University graduate, and Mallory Gibson Shiraz, who followed in her mother’s footsteps in the UT Austin School of Law.
Vice President Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, Legacy Award winner Machree Garrett Gibson, School of Law Interim Dean Stefanie A. Lindquist and President Bill Powers celebrate Gibson’s award at the Heman Sweatt Symposium on Civil Rights.
Division of Diversity and Community Engagement • The University of Texas at Austin
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