GEN Otto P. Weyland ’23
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Year Awarded: 1976

Riverside, CA

Weyland received a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1923. Weyland’s distinguished performance as commander of strategically important units in WWII and the Korean War earned him promotion to four-star General, the first Texas A&M former student to achieve that rank.



He is the recipient of the Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, and Air Medal. His foreign decorations include Commander and Knight Commander, order of the British Empire, French Legion of Honor and Croix de Guerre with Palms, Republic of China-Order of Cloud and Banner, and Japan Order of Rising Sun.

John D. White ’70
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Year Awarded: 2020

College Station, TX

White is a former Air Force judge advocate with over 40 years’ experience as a fund manager and lawyer. He is a member of the American Bar Foundation and Texas Bar Foundation, a charter member of the Houston Bar Foundation and has been board certified in civil litigation.

As a student, he was a member of the Ross Volunteers Firing Squad, First Wing commander in the Corps of Cadets and a committee chairman for SCONA (Student Conference on National Affairs).

He is a chairman emeritus of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, a trustee of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, a former board member of The Association of Former Students, a former board chairman for the Ed Rachal Foundation, a past director of the University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Company (UTIMCO) and a former director of the Greater Houston Partnership, a fellow of the American Leadership Forum and a past chairman of the Texas Young Lawyers Association.

White is a Corps Hall of Honor inductee and a namesake of A&M’s John D. White ’70-Robert L. Walker ’58 Music Activities Center. In 2007, he was named the Texas Aggie Bar Association’s Lawyer of the Year.

He is an Endowed Century Club member of The Association, with 31 years of giving; he has supported the 12th Man Foundation and the Bush Foundation, and he and his wife, Daisy, created the Neva and A. E. (Buddy) White ’42 President’s Endowed Scholarship.

His Aggie family includes his late father, A.E. White ’42. He and Daisy have two daughters and five grandchildren.

Dr. Eli L. Whiteley ’41
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Year Awarded: 2012

Eli L. Whiteley, Class of 1941, graduated from the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas in three years with a bachelor of science in agriculture. He entered North Carolina State College before being drafted into the army, but returned in 1946 after he was discharged to earn a Master’s degree.



He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and later served as a training officer at Camp Wolters. He received orders for Europe and was assigned to the 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, where he joined Company L as a rifle platoon leader. In 1944, while leading his platoon in an attack at Sigolsheim, France, Whiteley was hit and severely wounded in the arm and shoulder, but continued clearing hostile troops from strong points. He continued fighting, even though his eye was pierced by a shell fragment, and led an attack which cracked the core of the enemy resistance. He was the sixth Texas Aggie awarded the Medal of Honor.



Whiteley returned to A&M in 1946 as a lecturer in freshman agronomy classes before earning a Ph.D. in agronomy in 1959. He would remain a part of the Texas A&M faculty and was eventually named a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences.



Whiteley and his wife, Anna, had two sons and three daughters—one of whom attended Texas A&M. He died of a heart attack on December 2, 1986.

"His training and experience as a member of the Corps of Cadets benefited him during the time he served in the U. S. Army during World War II. The values instilled upon him during his time at Texas A&M, the values of duty, honor, integrity, and service to others, ultimately led to his return to Texas A&M, where he obtained a doctorate degree, and then served Texas A&M for 31 years."

  - -Alice Whiteley-Wiese, Eli Whiteley's daughter

A. P. Wiley, Jr. ’46
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Year Awarded: 1994

Dallas, TX

Wiley received a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 1949. A recognized authority on construction feasibility and sire selection, A.P. Wiley does consulting work with insurance companies. In 1949, he joined his father in A.P. Wiley and Son Contractors. In 1960, he and his brother established Wiley Brothers General Contractors, In., which he served as Chairman of the Board. Wiley has served as president of the 30th Infantry Division Association and actively supports the Dallas Theatre Center and the Dallas Symphony Super Pops.



He was presented the Dallas A&M Club’s Jimmy Williams Award for service to his community and to Texas A&M. He and his brother endowed Texas A&M’s internationally-renowned annual MSC Wiley Lecture Series and assist the program with their advice and resources. He and James F. Wiley ’46 are the only brothers ever selected for the Texas A&M Distinguished Alumnus Award. He has also endowed a chair in A&M’s College of Business and Veterinary Medicine. He is on the A&M President’s Council and the College of Business Development Council.

"I first met A.P. and Earline Wiley as a veterinary student 3 years ago, and have remained close friends with them ever since. I have yet to meet a truer Aggie."

  - Dr. Cindi Lee Welch '90, Chief of Staff, I-20 Animal Med Center

James E. Wiley, Sr. ’46
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Year Awarded: 1990

Dallas, TX

Wiley received a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering in 1948. As a student he lettered in track and football and played in the 1944 Orange Bowl. He and his brother founded Wiley Brothers General Contractors which designs, leases and manages commercial and industrial buildings. During his career, he supervised construction of many Dallas landmarks.



In addition to his professional and community service, Mr. Wiley served on key advisory groups on campus and has been a major supporter of programs in a variety of areas. In 1983, when he and his brother were on campus to endow the A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair in Civil Engineering in honor of their parents, they attended a Memorial Student Center lecture series featuring two former U.S. Secretaries of State and were so impressed with the student run program that they provided $500,000 endowment for what is now know as the Wiley lecture Series.

"James Wiley is a man who has done more than dream about how to expand the educational horizon for students and Texas A&M. He has made his vision of Texas A&M a reality. His integrity and family values are without peer. He is a role model for Aggies young and old."

  - Dr. Irene B. Hoadley, Former Director, Sterling C. Evans Library

Dr. Josie R. Williams ’71
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Year Awarded: 2001

Paris, TX

Dr. Josie Williams serves as Medical Director of the Texas Health Quality Alliance and specializes in gastroenterology and internal medicine. Williams received a bachelor’s degree in Zoology in 1971 from Texas A&M and a Doctorate of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Medical School in San Antonio. She has served in leadership positions within U.S. Air Force medical centers and currently is Medical Director of the Texas Health Quality Alliance. Williams also served as the Chief of Staff at McCuistion Regional Medical Center in Paris and headed medical management for an urban health system in Fort Worth.



She has served on the Lamar County Texas A&M Scholarship Foundation Board, Paris Education Foundation Board of Directors, and the Texas Board of Higher Education Task Force. Williams was named Winn Dixie’s Citizen of the Year in 1994 and Lamar County’s YMCA Professional Woman of the Year in 1988. She is the first woman to be awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Charean Williams ’86
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Year Awarded: 2020

Arlington, TX

Williams became the first woman to enter the writers’ wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 when her peers voted her the 50th recipient of the Dick McCann Award for a long and distinguished career covering professional football. The 2020 season is her 27th covering the NFL, including more than a decade as a Dallas Cowboys beat reporter.

She became the first female Pro Football Hall of Fame selector in 2007 and the first female president of the Pro Football Writers of America in 2009.

As a student, she wrote for The Battalion student newspaper and earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism. In 2018, she got a master’s degree in mass communication from South Dakota State University.

She has reported on the NFL for the Orlando Sentinel, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and currently NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk website. She has covered 26 Super Bowls and seven Olympic Games.

Williams serves on the board of the Pro Football Writers, is an adjunct professor in the sport management program at SMU and is an active member at First United Methodist Arlington.

She frequently returns to A&M to speak to journalism students and Battalion staffers.

She is a Diamond-level member of The Association’s Century Club, with 31 years of giving, and has funded scholarships for Aggie journalism majors.

Her husband, Tom Dumper, is a former A&M assistant volleyball coach.

“It’s as simple as this, I have had many firsts in my career as a woman in a male-dominated field. I would not have accomplished anything in my career without Texas A&M and my journalism degree from the Liberal Arts department. It set in motion everything that has happened since.”

  - Charean Williams '86

Dr. Jimmy Williams, Jr. '83
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Year Awarded: 2022

Wexford, PA

To Dr. Jimmy Williams, Jr. ’83, Texas A&M means family. He said, “Family shapes your values, helps you to maintain your humility. They challenge you to be your best, they protect you in the most fierce manner, they honor and applaud your growth, they deeply care.”

Williams knows what it means to contribute to a large family: He grew up the fourth child out of 10. He is a first-generation college graduate, and was the first in his family to study engineering. He joined the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as a student, and soon accomplished his goal of earning a mechanical engineering degree.

Williams returned to Missouri for his MBA, and stayed for a Ph.D. in engineering and public policy. During this time, Williams began a 20-year career with Boeing, eventually becoming director of research and development. Boeing honored Williams with its Black Engineer of the Year Award in 2001. Williams then moved to Alcoa, again with a focus in research and development, and later moved to Pall Corp., where he was made senior vice president of global engineering. Williams retired from industry in 2015, taking on a new role at Carnegie Mellon University as the executive director and distinguished service professor of the university’s Engineering and Technology Innovation Management Program.

In addition to his notable engineering career, Williams has also served on the boards of many organizations. In 2020, he co-chaired Texas A&M’s task force on diversity, equity and inclusion, with findings that directly impacted the university’s current initiatives. He became the first Black chair of the board of The Association of Former Students in 2018. He also served as president of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation board and on the boards of Innovation Works, Tech-Solve Corp. and the Washington University Alumni Association.

Williams and his wife, Valerie, have two children and a granddaughter.

“He is not only an outstanding engineer but also an outstanding and compassionate leader and a great example of the Aggie core value of selfless service.”

  - Dr. John E. Hurtado '91

Clayton W. Williams, Jr. ’54
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Year Awarded: 1981

Midland, TX

Williams received a bachelor’s degree in Animal Husbandry in 1954. In 1957 he entered the oil and gas business as an independent producer, and since that time has been active in all facets of the industry. During his business career, he has organized 23 major entities, ranging from Clajon Gas, the largest privately owned natural gas company in Texas, and Williams Company, which has drilled more than 800 wells across the country, to his newest company, Clayton Desta Communications, which has built the first totally digital microwave long distance network in Texas. His farming and ranching operations encompass more than 450,000 acres of land in Texas and Wyoming. He serves as President of Clayton Williams Energy Inc.



Williams has demonstrated his loyalty to Texas A&M in a number of ways, from serving as Visiting Executive in residence at the College of Business Administration to underwriting the Clayton Wheat Williams Texas Life Series to be published by the Texas A&M Press. He has contributed funds for a President’s Endowed Scholarship as well as funds for general use by the University. Williams served on The Association of Former Students Board of Directors. Clayton W. Williams, Jr. epitomizes the best of Texas A&M: integrity, a concern for others, and unwavering support of his alma mater.

"A&M taught me that you have to go after things, do something and do it right. I’m proud to be a part of it."

James E. Wilson ’37
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Year Awarded: 1991

McKinney, TX

Wilson received a bachelor’s degree in Geological Engineering in 1938. After graduation, he began a career with Shell Oil Co. holding various staff and management positions in the Gulf Coast, mid-continent and Rocky Mountains regions. In 1960 Wilson was named vice-president for exploration and production in Houston – the first geologist and, at that time, youngest vice president in the company’s history. As a leader at Shell, Wilson was an industry pioneer in melding the disciplines of geology, engineering, and geophysics into teams and fostering communication and cooperation toward common goals.



He served on The Association of Former Students Board of Directors in 1967 and donated his vast collection of foreign maps to Texas A&M.

"Jim Wilson is a personable man, very intelligent, an excellent geologist and well rounded gentlemen. Texas A&M University is lucky to have alumni like Jim Wilson."

  - Ted L. Bear