(Galveston, Texas—October 29, 2012) --- Rear Admiral Robert Smith III, who is president and chief executive officer of Texas A&M University at Galveston and Superintendent of the Texas Maritime Academy, will preside at the university’s 2012 fall commencement ceremony to be held at 9 am, December 15 (Saturday). The ceremony will take place in Exposition Hall C of the Moody Gardens Hotel Convention Center, located at 1 Hope Boulevard in Galveston.

Dr. S. Malcolm Gillis will be presenting the commencement address titled “Economics, Societies and Technologies in the 21^st Century”. Gillis was president of Rice University from 1993 to 2004 and now is Rice University Professor and the Ervin Kenneth Zingler Professor of Economics. The commencement address will reflect his research interests in fiscal economics, environmental policy and 21st Century technology.

Gillis received a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Florida and his doctoral degree in Economics from the University of Illinois. His first academic position was as an assistant professor of economics at Duke University. From 1969 to 1984 he taught at Harvard. He returned to Duke in 1984 as Professor of Public Policy and Economics, where he also served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1991 to 1993 and as vice provost and dean of the Graduate School from 1986 to 1991.

The first 25 years of his professional life was devoted to teaching economics and bringing economic analysis to bear on important issues of public policy in more than 20 countries. Although his career from 1984 to 2004 was devoted primarily to university leadership, he continued to publish in his scholarly specialties during this time. After stepping down as president of Rice University, he resumed teaching at Rice.

Gillis has published more than 70 journal and book articles. He is author, co-author, and editor of eight books, including the 1988 publication, “Public Policies and the Misuse of Forest Resources” and the textbook “Economics of Development”.

For the past 25 years, Gillis has served as chair or member on various profit and non-profit boards. He was a member of the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 1998 to 2004. He is a founding member of the Board of the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame and Flight Museum. He is also a life member of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

Gillis chaired the Vietnam Education Foundation from 2005-2008, and is a trustee of the Pyongyang University of  Science and Technology, which opened in 2010. He chairs the Advisory Board of Tan Tao University in

Vietnam. He is a founding member of the Board of Jacobs University Bremen in Germany. Gillis also served as chair of BioHouston from 2006-2009. He is the founder (2001) of the Texas/UK research collaborative on

NanoTechnology and BioTechnology, and co-founder of the Boniuk Center for the Study of Religious

Tolerance. In 2008, he was appointed by the Governor of Texas to the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas Oversight Committee, and served as Vice-Chairman of the Board until 2011.

Gillis will be speaking to approximately 130 TAMUG degree candidates, their family and guests as well as TAMUG representatives. He will be addressing students like Jared Honeycutt, the first graduate of TAMUG’s Master of Maritime Administration and Logistics (MMAL) program. Offered only at the Texas A&M Galveston campus, this program prepares professionals for leadership positions in maritime transport and logistics in the public and private sectors. The degree is designed for individual professionals in such fields as port management, supply chain management, marine transport public policy, and the coastal zone, inland waterways, coastal shipping, and international trade and financial transactions.

Among other degree candidates who will hear Gillis’s address are those who took part in the Strategic Sealift Officer Program. These candidates will be commissioned as Ensigns in the Navy Reserve. They will be recognized during Saturday’s commencement as well as at commissioning ceremonies, which will take place at 1 pm, December 14 (Friday) at the Classroom Laboratory Building Auditorium on the TAMUG campus.

Others who will be acknowledged include Honor Graduates, who have a 3.5 GPA average or greater and veterans. Honor graduates will be wearing maroon and white patches on their honors stoles. Veterans who are degree candidates will be wearing red, white and blue cords symbolizing their service to the United States.

The ceremony will also include those honored with the Board of Visitors Distinguished Student Awards. The Board of Visitors is the advisory board to Rear Admiral Robert Smith. BOV awards are given to a total of four students — one from each class — who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in classroom and laboratory work as well as in student activities.

A graduate will also receive the Edwin Eikel Outstanding Student Award. Presented to a graduating senior since 1978, this award is given to the graduate who has best demonstrated those qualities of leadership, patriotism, fortitude, intelligence, courage, humility as exemplified by Edwin Eikel during his lifetime.

Graduates seeking careers in the U.S. Navy will also be recognized at commencement as well as commissioning ceremonies. Four degree candidates who took part in Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps Program and/or the Strategic Sealift Officer Programs will be commissioned as Ensigns during a ceremony to be held at 1 pm on May 11 (Friday) in Room 100, Classroom Laboratory Building. The building is located on the TAMUG campus on Pelican Island. Those commissioned officers will also be recognized at commencement on Saturday.

For more information about the TAMUG commencement, contact Cathy Cashio at (409) 740-4830 or (214) 475-6431 or by email at cashioc@tamug.edu.

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