TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
- *if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
Featured Speaker: Richard W. Murray, Ph.D.
We usually call on Richard Murray when an election is near and politics are on our mind. Certainly that is the case now, and Richard will weigh in on the Kavanaugh//Ford situation, as well as his views on everything from Beto v. Cruz to other key state and national races.
Bob Lanier Chair in Urban Public Policy, Department of Political Science, University of Houston
Director, Survey Research Institute, University of Houston Center for Public Policy
Richard Murray is a native of Louisiana with B.A. and M.A. degrees in Government from Louisiana State University (1962, 1963) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Minnesota (1967). Dr. Murray has taught at the University of Houston since 1966, and is the Bob Lanier Chair in Urban Public Policy. After serving as the Director of the University of Houston Center for Public Policy for over nine years, he is now concentrating on the Center’s polling operations as the Director of the Survey Research Institute.
His academic interests are in Houston and Texas politics, focusing on campaigns and elections, political parties and interest groups, and public opinion. Professor Murray has written extensively in these areas including co-authoring Texas Politics: An Introduction (6 Editions, 1972-1992), and Progrowth Politics: Change and Governance in Houston (1991), while teaching courses ranging from graduate seminars to introductory American Government.
Professor Murray has previously consulted in more than 200 political campaigns. He conducts polls for The Houston Chronicle, other media, and local governments, and is the political commentator for the local ABC affiliate, KTRK-TV, Channel 13. In addition, his analyses and commentary are carried by television and radio, as well as print media such as The New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, and The Houston Chronicle.
Professor Murray is married to Deborah Hartman, public relations consultant, and has three sons and one grandson.
In January, each year, the TxGC Foundation awards the Smith-McCool Sword to the Midshipment from the Chapter area, with the highest order-of-merit, going into their First Class year. The sword, is named after astronaut Michael Smith ’67, who was lost in the Challenger disaster, and astronaut William McCool ’83, who was lost int he Columbia disaster.
For the graduating class of 2019, we’re proud to award Midn 1/c Francis Kim of Clear Lake High School. Link to full biography
Presenting Astronaut, and keynote by Sunita Williams (Captain, US Navy, Ret.) NASA Astronaut. Link to full biography
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
- *if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
- *if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
GUEST SPEAKER
Anne Keene is the author of The Cloudbusters.
75 years ago the New York Yankees won the 1943 World Series but they were beaten by a Navy “fighter pilot” team known as the Cloudbuster Nine with Red Sox legend Ted Williams. As a child, Anne Keene’s father, Jim Raugh, (a future minor-league Detroit Tigers player) suited up as the Navy team’s batboy. Seven decades later a trunk revealed the untold story of this team manned by greats from the Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Detroit Tigers and every other big-league team. Learn about “Greatest Generation” heroes in this narrative including: Babe Ruth, Presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald “Jerry” Ford; astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter; and Alabama’s Paul “Bear” Bryant.
Keene has written about THE CLOUDBUSTERS in the New York Times, and her book was listed among the top 20 selling summer sports books on Amazon. Keene has spoken at the Texas Book Festival, and has been on tour in Boston, Dallas, North Carolina, and New York. She’s also been a keynote speaker at the South Carolina- Palmetto Chapter of the USNAAA, and will be speaking at the Los Angeles and San Diego Chapters.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
- *if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
GUEST SPEAKER: Dr. Joseph Thomas, USNA
Joe is a graduate of Marine Corps Command and Staff College and a past recipient of the MajGen Merrit A. Edson Leadership Award, the Marine Corps Association Research and Writing Award, and the Col Donald Cook Distinguished Graduate Award of Command and Control Systems School. He is a former elected school board member, a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7293 and American Legion Post 739 Whitehall PA, and is involved in a variety of community services.
His research interests involve experiential leadership development in austere and remote environments and he has advised student research for Rhodes, Mitchell, and Fulbright Scholarships. Joe has served as the Faculty Representative to the USNA Mountaineering Club, is a certified Wilderness First Responder and liaison to and instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School in Lander, WY. He has led trekking expeditions to the Tibetan Himalayas, South Africa, Mongolia, Mt. Ararat in Turkey, Peruvian Andes, Vietnam, Morocco, Jordan, and elsewhere. Joe speaks on the topics of leadership and ethics regularly throughout the US, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
The author of numerous articles on the subjects of command and control, military training and education, and leadership, his published books include, Leadership Education for Marines (UMI Press), Leadership Embodied (The US Naval Institute Press, 1st and 2nd Editions), Naval Leadership Capstone (McGraw-Hill), Leadership Explored (AcademX), and Leadership and Ethics Discussion Guide for Marines (Marine Corps University Press). He co-published chapters in Leadership in Dangerous Situations (USNI Press) with colleagues from West Point, the US Air Force Academy, and the NYPD and Perspectives on Modern Honor (Lexington Press). Joe’s education includes an M.S.Sc. from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, a M.S.S. from the US Army War College, a Ph.D. from George Mason University, and Certificate in Public Leadership from the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
- *if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
GUEST SPEAKER: Mike Matson ‘06
Are you ready for a motivational lunch?! Ready to meet a bad ass? Mike Matson has made a name for himself as an adventurer, most notably earning two Guinness World Records skippering a three-man rowboat over 3,200 miles across the Atlantic! Mike’s love of ocean adventure began at the US Naval Academy, where he first learned how to sail as a crew member of a Navy 44′ MKI visiting ports along the US Eastern Seaboard. Mike was also a member of the Men’s Heavyweight Crew team, the Trap & Skeet team, and completed two marathons. After leaving the Navy, Mike returned home to Houston and became a volunteer firefighter/emergency medical technician in the City of Stafford while simultaneously earning a doctorate in Chemistry from Rice University. As a new professor, Mike authored Inorganic Chemistry for Dummies and taught undergraduate classes at the local University of Houston-Downtown. When his research shifted from biomedical applications to shale oil extraction, Mike transitioned into the oil and gas industry and currently he is a drilling engineer with Kinder Morgan CO2. Mike first met his wife, Sami, in 7th grade, and they now have two happy, healthy Scouts (Morgan, a Brownie, and Cooper, a Bear) that love living in the Heights. When not at his desk downtown, Mike is likely found weight lifting atCrossFit Live Oak in Montrose with Brian.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
- *if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
Guest Speaker
James Olson
Professor of Practice, Texas A&M University
Jim Olson served in the Directorate of Operations of the Central Intelligence Agency, for more than 30 years, mostly overseas in clandestine operations. He will speak to us about past covert operations, his opinion on current threats to the U.S., and the need for effective intelligence agencies.
Jim worked as a Case Officer in the field, created elaborate “covers” for effectiveness, and looked for individuals with information who were willing to betray their country in exchange for some sort of inducement. Joining the CIA also introduced Jim to his future wife. The two worked in tandem undercover focused on gathering intelligence during the Cold War.
In addition to several foreign assignments, he was chief of counterintelligence at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
In 1997, Jim Olson came to The Bush School of Government and Public Service – Texas A&M, to teach courses on intelligence, counterintelligence and international crisis management. He is the author of two books related to spying and counterintelligence. Visit https://bush.tamu.edu/faculty/jolson/ . Prior to his career in the CIA, he served in the US Navy, where he attained the rank of LCDR.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members)
- *if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
Guest Speaker
Richard J. Stoll
Albert Thomas Professor of Political Science, Rice University
Areas of Interest: Research interests include the study of international conflict, public attitudes on foreign and defense policy, and American national security policy. Professor Stoll’s current research encompasses a number of areas. He is studying naval arms races from 1816 to the present. In collaboration with other researchers, he is studying support for foreign policies that promote gender equality. Finally, working with Professor Devika Subramanian of Rice’s Computer Science Department, he is exploring the use of social media (in particular Twitter) to tap public opinion.
In addition to being well known as one of Rice University’s outstanding teachers, Professor Stoll is an accomplished scholar of international conflict. He has used computer simulation techniques and statistical analysis to study topics such as arms competitions, comparative foreign policy, and political realism. Dr. Stoll recently participated in a ten university effort funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to collect data on militarized interstate disputes. Along with Devika Subramanian of Rice’s Computer Science Department, Dr. Stoll is engaged in an effort to create events data from online news sources and to predict the outbreak of serious international conflict. This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation.
The Buddy Wellborn ’59 tradition continues…
Annual Navy Football Preview Lunch, presented by Dave Miller ’65
Prepare for an in-depth presentation on Navy football… a summary of what happened (and went wrong) last year, as well as an analysis on the team’s strengths and weaknesses going into this year, player by player. Additionally, prepare of Dave Miller’s prediction on the potential outcome for each opponent.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- Advance purchase online: $30 ($25 for TxGC members)
- Week-of-event & walk-ups*: $35 ($30 for TxGC members) – if seats available
- TxGC Member discount is provided by a discount code via member-only newsletter
- TxGC Membership is only $10/year… join today
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
About Guest Speaker, Dave Miller ’65. Dave hails from the mountains of southwest Virginia. The only industry is coal mining. He played football, basketball and baseball in high school, and as a result, has always been an avid sports fan especially when it involves Navy. Dave served as a Navy pilot, and as an instructor at Whiting Field in VT-3 and flew P-3’s out of Jacksonville, Florida, tracking Russian subs. He left the Navy after almost six years and then worked for EDS for 29 years before retirement. He continues consulting.
In memory of Buddy Wellborn ’59. Raymond Burke “Buddy” Wellborn, Sr., Captain USN (ret.) died 23 October 2018, in League City TX, of complications from an Aortic Aneurism at age 82. Born in Bryan Texas, 13 August 1936, he attended Rice University for 1 year before entering the United States Naval Academy in 1955 in the Class of 1959. He was a standout football player during his time at USNA. He played on the winning 1958 Cotton Bowl team. After graduation, he married Gladys Hamby of Houston Texas and their journey began. He reported to USS Frank Knox for his first tour then eventually went on to Submarine school. After 15 years and numerous tours on diesel boat submarines, including a Command of USS Entemador, he transferred to the Surface Warfare community. He commanded the USS Mount Baker and the USS Detroit. His final command was Navy Electronics Command in Charleston S.C. After 30 years of service, he retired in June 1989 and eventually moved home to Houston. He taught at Texas A&M while earning his Doctorate in Maritime Economics. He then left Texas A&M to pursue his love of writing and lecturing. He had many hobbies, but in the end he enjoyed being involved with the Navy Football brotherhood and as a Trustee United States Naval Academy Foundation and Scholarship Program. He tirelessly wrote game summaries of each Navy football game for friends and many others to enjoy. Each football season, he would travel around to numerous Alumni chapters to give his Navy Football preview.
October Monthly Lunch with Mitchel Roth
Join us for lunch with MITCHEL P. ROTH, the author of 16 books including Convict Cowboys: The Untold History of the Texas Prison Rodeo, Global Organized Crime: A 21st Century Approach, and An Eye for An Eye: A Global History of Crime and Punishment, translated into Turkish, Croatian, and forthcoming in Chinese. Roth recently completed Fire in the Big House: The Forgotten Story of the Ohio Penitentiary Fire, America’s Worst Prison Disaster, and its Aftermath. He is professor of criminal justice and criminology at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. He resides in The Woodlands, Texas.
Mitch will discuss his latest book, Convict Cowboys. Convict Cowboys is the first book on the nation’s first prison rodeo, which ran from 1931 to 1986. At its apogee the Texas Prison Rodeo drew 30,000 spectators on October Sundays. Mitchel P. Roth portrays the Texas Prison Rodeo against a backdrop of Texas history, covering the history of rodeo, the prison system, and convict leasing, as well as important figures in Texas penology including Marshall Lee Simmons, O.B. Ellis, and George J. Beto, and the changing prison demimonde.
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out
- $35 for non-members
- $30 for TxGC Members
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake
November Monthly Lunch with Prof. Richard Murray, PhD, Bob Lanier Chair in Urban Public Policy, and Director of Survey Research Institute, University of Houston
TxGC MEMBERS ALWAYS GET $5 OFF!
- TxGC Members, use the discount code, provided via email, at check out, and get $5 off regular or advance, online price, for each ticket purchased
- $35 per person (regular price)
- $30 per person (advanced, online price)
MENU
- Ice tea, water, soda, cash bar
- Choice of Sicilian salad or Mama’s gumbo
- Choice of entree
- Chicken John Kim: grilled chicken topped in mushrooms, roasted peppers, white wine butter sauce
- Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce: traditional penne pasta with Mama’s slow cooked meat sauce
- Blacked Trout: filet topped with etoufee served with red-skinned mashed potatoes and vegetables
- Choice of chocolate cake or cheesecake