Texas Exes Are Changing the World
Students come to UT Austin from all over the world with varied goals and dreams. When they leave campus as former students—Texas Exes—they take on different titles, follow different paths, and seek out different challenges.
But most of them have at least one thing in common: they’re ready to make their mark in the world (and beyond).
And most of them succeed. Take these recent graduates for example.
- Chris Condit (BSE ’04), a cancer survivor, founded the annual Sense Corp. Texas 4000 for Cancer charity bike ride from Austin to Alaska—the longest annual charity bike ride in the world.
- Becky McKnight (BBA ’02) became a Peace Corps volunteer in the African village of Toulde, Mauritania. Becky helped the village build a shelter from the violent weather, developed an acting troop of teenagers to educate the village about HIV and AIDs, and obtained funds for a water tower.
- Betty Nguyen (BJ ’95) is an anchor and reporter for CNN and the first Vietnamese-American to anchor a national television news broadcast. She is also the co-founder of Help the Hungry—a non-profit organization that provides food, clothing and other essentials to those in need.
- Stephanie Wilson (MS ’92) realized her dream of becoming an astronaut in 2006 when she spent 13 days in space as a mission specialist helping operate Space Shuttle Discovery’s robotic arm to repair the International Space Station. She returned to the space station in 2007.
Notable Texas Exes
Texas Exes
Government, Law and Politics
Greg Abbott, Texas Attorney General
James Baker, Former U.S. Secretary of State
Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida
Laura Bush, First Lady
Lloyd Doggett, U.S. Congressman
Tony Garza, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Kay Bailey Hutchison, U.S. Senator (Texas)
Joe Jamail, Lawyer
Bill White, Mayor of Houston
Judith Zaffirini, Texas State Senator
Business
Glenda Chamberlain, Executive Vice President and CFO of Whole Foods Market
Michael Dell, Founder and CEO of Dell
Tom Hicks, Owner of Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars
Gary C. Kelly, Chairman and President of Southwest Airlines
Heather Kennedy, Senior Coordinator of National Marketing for Whole Foods Market
Red McCombs, Co-founder of Clear Channel Communications and former owner of Minnesota Vikings
Amy Miller, Owner and Founder of Amy’s Ice Cream
Roy Spence, Co-founder of GSD&M Idea City advertising agency
John Thompson, CEO of 7-Eleven
Education
H.W. Brands, UT Austin history professor and best-selling author
Larry Faulkner, Former president of UT Austin
James Moeser, Former chancellor of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Ricardo Romo, President of The University of Texas at San Antonio
Gayle Stinson, Superintendent of Lake Dallas Independent School District
Sara Martinez Tucker, Under Secretary of Education for U.S. Department of Education and former CEO and president of Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Media and Journalism
Walter Cronkite, Former anchor of CBS Evening News
Alejandro Junco de la Vega, Publisher of nine daily newspapers in Mexico and Latin America, including leading newspapers in Mexico’s three largest cities
John Moore, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer
Bill Moyers, PBS journalist and commentator
Betty Nguyen, CNN anchor
Karen Tumulty, National Political Correspondent, TIME Magazine
Science and Technology
Alan Bean, Fourth man on the moon
Denton Cooley, Performed first successful heart transplant in the United States
Dean Ornish, Renowned dietician and heart doctor
Stephanie Wilson, NASA astronaut
Arts and Entertainment
Wes Anderson, Director
J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Prize winner in literature
Barbara Smith Conrad, Opera singer
Farrah Fawcett, Actress
Marcia Gay Harden, Oscar-winning actress
Matthew McConaughey, Actor
Tommy Tune, Nine-time Tony Award-winning director, actor and choreographer
Owen Wilson, Actor
Renee Zellweger, Oscar-Winning actress
Athletics
Earl Campbell, Heisman Trophy winner and former Houston Oilers running back (football)
Cindy Figg-Currier, Professional golfer
Jamie Carey, WNBA player for Connecticut Sun (women’s basketball)
Ben Crenshaw, Two-time Masters champion (golf)
Kevin Durant, Naismith College Player of the Year and NBA Rookie of the Year (basketball)
T.J. Ford, Naismith College Player of the Year (basketball)
Tom Kite, U.S. Open champion (golf)
Tiffany Jackson, WNBA player for New York Liberty (women’s basketball)
Tom Landry, Legendary coach of Dallas Cowboys and Pro Football Hall of Fame member
Justin Leonard, British Open champion (golf)
Sanya Richards, Olympic runner and former World Female Track Athlete of the Year
Sherri Steinhauer, Two-time Women’s British Open champion (golf)
Ricky Williams, Heisman Trophy winner and Miami Dolphins running back (football)
Vince Young, Heisman Trophy finalist and Tennessee Titans quarterback (football)
Texas Exes Student Chapter
You don’t have to be a former student to be active in the Texas Exes. The Texas Exes Student Chapter provides a home for UT Austin students and a breeding ground for UT Austin traditions, leadership and lifelong friendships. All current UT Austin students are encouraged to join.