AUSTIN, Texas — Four new members have been elected to the board of trustees of The University of Texas Law School Foundation. The foundation was established in 1952 to supplement funding provided to the UT School of Law by the Legislature and the University with private funds in support of legal education, legal research and the progress of the law. Donations to the foundation provide financial assistance to deserving students and are used to establish or assist professorships and scholarships at the law school.
Joining the 23-member board are:
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John Castle, executive vice president of EDS Corporation, was graduated from UT Austin with honors in 1964 and from the UT School of Law in 1967. Castle serves on the executive council of EDS, where his responsibilities include legal affairs, corporate communications, community affairs, government affairs and public relations. He has served as president of the UT Law School Alumni Association and currently is a member of the American, Texas and Dallas bar associations and is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation.
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Tom Loeffler, vice chairman of the board of regents of the University of Texas System, received a bachelor of business administration degree from UT Austin in 1968 and a law degree from the UT School of Law in1971. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1979 to 1986 and was a Texas gubernatorial candidate in 1986. A resident of San Antonio, Loeffler is a partner in the national law firm of Arter & Hadden.
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Myra McDaniel, a former Texas secretary of state, is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received a law degree from the UT School of Law in 1975. She has served as general counsel to the governor, assistant special counsel to the Railroad Commission of Texas and assistant attorney general and chief of the taxation division within the Attorney General’s Office. She currently is managing partner in the law firm of Bickerstaff, Heath, Smiley, Pollan, Kever & McDaniel in Austin.
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John Newton, vice chairman of American General Corporation of Houston, received a bachelor of arts degree fromUT Austin in 1963 and a law degree from the UT School of Law in 1965. He served as president of the UT Ex-Student’s Association in 1992 andreceived an award for distinguished service from the State Bar of Texas in 1975 and the Outstanding Young Texas Exes Award from UT in 1980. Newton served three terms in the Texas House of Representatives and was appointed to the UT System Board of Regents in 1979, serving as chairman from 1983 to 1985.
“We are enormously encouraged by the addition of these four new trustees, each a distinguished leader intheir professional lives and each offering new strengths to a board that has been the great engine for the law school’s achievement of excellence,” said M. Michael Sharlot, dean of the UT School of Law. “With their help, we expect to remain among the best of America’s law schools, while implementing innovations that will enhance the education we provide our students and, thus, the quality of the services and leadership that they provide the state and nation.”