The University of Texas School of Law has announced the names of the 2025 Texas Law Alumni Award honorees, each recognized for their outstanding contributions to the legal profession and to their communities. Talmage Boston ’78 was named Outstanding Alumnus and will be honored at the Awards Celebration on Friday, September 19.   Mr. Boston also gave a speech May 1st at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas for the Thanksgiving Foundation on the National Day of Prayer. The theme of the luncheon was “Kindness”; the title of his speech was “The Kindness of Abraham Lincoln”. You can watch the 20-minute speech here.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Jane Bland will deliver the commencement address for Texas Law’s class of 2025 on Saturday, May 10th.  Justice Bland received her law degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1990.

To celebrate the launch of Robert Edsel’s new book, Remember Us: American Sacrifice, Dutch Freedom, and A Forever Promise Forged in World War II, he is on a book tour to share its stories of courage, sacrifice, and gratitude with readers across the country. The Texas dates were in April, but you can see dates for virtual events (and dates in other US cities) here. Learn more about the Forever Promise Project here.

Victor Emanuel of Austin, inducted into the Society in 1997, died on March 11.  Mr. Emanuel was a naturalist and one of the U.S.'s leading birders; he started Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT) in 1978, one of the first ecotourism companies, and Camp Chiricahua, a nature-based youth camp. His memoir, One More Warbler: A Life with Birds, was published by University of Texas Press in 2017. Read a tribute to Mr. Emanuel published in the April 22 Texas Monthly email.

Jon H. Fleming of North Zulch died on March 27.  Dr. Fleming was an emeritus member of the Society, inducted in 1982, and he served as Society president overseeing the 2013 Annual Meeting on “The American Presidency”.  Jon was the 14th president of Texas Wesleyan University (1978-1984). He also served as assistant to the dean and director of development of The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, as director of development of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and was a professor of psychology and human development and executive vice president of Texas Woman's University. Jon’s wife, Cheryl L. Fleming is also a Society member. 

Eric Lupfer, executive director of Humanities Texas (HT), accepted on its behalf the Texas Association of Museum’s (TAM) 2025 President’s Award at TAM’s April meeting. In this “From the Director” letter from HT’s April newsletter, Lupfer talks about the award as well as the drastic effects of HT’s federal funding being suddenly terminated on April 2nd. (Photo: Humanities Texas)

Bestselling author William McRaven tells stories from his life and career that illustrate the principles of effective leadership during times of crisis, no matter the situation, in his new book Conquering Crisis: Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them. Admiral McRaven will be doing a talk and signing May 3rd at 4:00 PM at Bookpeople in Austin. He spoke about the book on CBS Mornings on April 22.

Tom Palaima offers this opinion piece, written with Al Martinich and published March 31st in the LAProgressive, which lays out historically the hard work it took to produce our federal government over the last 125 years and what is being lost by unilateral DOGE cuts. Dr. Palaima, also a Bob Dylan scholar, headlined Amarillo College’s Creative Mind Lecture Series April 9th-11th, the topic of which was Dylan. Palaima lectured and participated in a film screening and conversation.

Tammie Jo Shults was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame on April 10. Captain Shults was one of the first female U.S. Navy fighter pilots flying the F/A-18 Hornet and was the Southwest Airlines captain who led the crew to successfully land Flight 1380 in 2018 after an explosive engine failure. The following living and deceased Society members are also Texas Aviation Hall of Fame inductees: Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Benton F. "Ben" Love, H. Ross Perot Jr., Heather Wilson, and Henry B. "Pat" Zachry.

Listen to storyteller W.F. Strong’s April commentaries about New York’s aid to the Texas Revolution (April 23), Texas euphemisms (April 9), and whistling (April 2).

On May 6^th, First Light Books in Austin will welcome presidential historian and CEO of the LBJ Foundation Mark K. Updegrove for a discussion of his new book, Make Your Mark: Lessons in Character from Seven Presidents, in conversation with Texas Book Festival Chief Operations Officer Dalia Azim. Tickets available here.

Lyndon Olson was featured on the February 26th episode ("The Bull of the Brazos") of the KUT Austin podcast The Disconnect: Power, Politics, and the Texas Blackout. The podcast can be heard on Spotify or through its page on NPR.org. 

Kent Calder (pictured far right) traveled to Brady earlier this month for the Heart of Texas Country Music Festival. He played a show with Bill and Bobbie Malone (also pictured) focused on their book about the songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, which Calder published at University of Oklahoma Press. 

In March, Talmage Boston discussed his book How the Best Did It, Leadership Lessons From Our Top Presidents at a program at The Miller Center at the University of Virginia, in a conversation moderated by presidential historian Marc Selverstone. You can watch the program online here.

Tom Palaima has had four poems published recently - three on the Greek website Culture Book and one in The Dylan Review, an open access journal of Bob Dylan studies.

On March 6, Humanities Texas hosted a Dallas screening of the documentary film Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter in partnership with The Sixth Floor Museum, KERA, and the SMU Center for Presidential History. Liz Carpenter was a member of the Society, inducted in 1979, and Humanities Texas' director, Eric Lupfer is also a member.

In February, Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50th Anniversary “Live from New York”, but Texas and Stephen Enniss had a surprising and more lasting impact by attracting the permanent archives of the show to the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin. Read this Texas Monthly story and what Enniss had to say about the acquisition. Harry Ransom was also a Society member, inducted in 1955.

Mel Klein of Corpus Christi passed away February 12th. Mr. Klein was founder of Melvyn N. Klein Interests, an attorney, an adjunct professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, a life member of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Board of Visitors, and wrote guest columns in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Mr. Klein was inducted into the Society in 1997 and was still an active member when he died. His obituary in the Caller-Times can be read here. 

Tom Palaima was featured in an Athenaeum Review podcast on war and the truth, which can be heard here. He also wishes all a happy new year through this poem.

In January, Liz Rogers went to Antigua and Lake Atitlan in Guatemala with a friend, where she tried to buy up all the textiles on the market. She journeyed on solo to Panama, where she saw the Canal, Casco Viejo, the Frank Gehry Biomuseo, and went to Bocas del Toro, Boquete, and El Valle de Anton.  Liz had never been to either country and enjoyed them both immensely.