Dr. Truett Latimer Headlines 2016 Alumni Awards

Dr. Truett Latimer headlines the 2016 Alumni Awards with the John J. Keeter, Jr. Alumni Service Award. The Alumni Service Award has been presented since 1943 to former students who have contributed the most in their field of endeavor toward the betterment of Hardin-Simmons University.

Latimer is the long-serving Chair of the Board of Development, is a lifetime member of the Presidents Club, and holds both a Distinguished Alumni Award (1991) and a place in HSU’s Hall of Leaders (2006).  For 16 years, Latimer served as Executive Director for the Texas Historical Commission and spearheaded one of the most active and successful historic preservation programs in the nation. He currently holds membership in and is the former chair of the Texas State History Museum Foundation. In 2016, Latimer and his wife Harriet received the significant Texas Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation.

Three people received the Distinguished Alumni Award, which is presented to alumni whose personal and professional accomplishments are exemplary of ideals and aims of the University and thus bring honor to Hardin-Simmons University.

Mr. William L. LaFuze is a 2016 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.  LeFuze was selected as one of only two IP lawyers in the country to advise the Bush/Cheney administration through its Presidential Transition Team to counsel the then new administration on patent policy, the operation of the USPTO, and patent reform issues. Bill, his wife, three children, and six grandchildren are all active in church work of various kinds. His routine duties include providing food from local food banks to needy, low income residents in the Houston community. He also visits patients in the local VA hospital who affirmatively seek out visitation and counseling from clergy and church workers.

Mr. Michael James Murphy is a 2016 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. Murphy signed his first publishing and recording contracts while still a senior at HSU, going on to win four coveted Dove Awards for Country Album of the Year, Country Song of the Year, Praise and Worship Album of the Year, and Children’s Album of the Year. Murphy is a licensed StratOp and LifePlan facilitator and currently serves as the Executive Pastor at Renaissance Church in Summit, NJ.

Dr. Terry Treadwell is a 2016 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award. Treadwell is founder and medical director of the Institute for Advanced Wound Care, at Baptist Medical Center, Montgomery, AL, where he treats wound patients on a full-time basis.  He is Associate Professor of Wound Care at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Treadwell earned his M.D. degree from The UT Southwestern Medical School and continued his training in general and vascular surgery at Scott and White Medical Center.

Athletic Hall of Fame Inductees include: Miss Shanna Briggs (B.B.S. 1995/M.ED. 2006), Mr. Larry Fryer (B.B.A. 1962), Mr. Jim Nelson (B.S. 1993), and Mr. Alan Wartes (Assistant Football Coach 1989-2010)