³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ

Edward Escudero

BBA in Accounting, 1992

Edward Escudero is a successful business leader who currently serves as president and CEO of High Desert Capital, LLC, an El Paso finance company specializing in capital alternatives for small and midsize companies, and Vice Chairman of WestStar Bank Holding Company, Inc. and WestStar Bank. Prior to his current role, Escudero held executive positions at C&R Distributing and Petro Stopping Centers, LP, where he contributed to substantial revenue growth and workforce expansion.

In addition to his professional achievements, Escudero is actively involved in community service. He serves on the boards of several organizations, including El Paso Electric, the Medical Center of the Americas Foundation and the Hospitals of Providence Memorial/Sierra Campus. Escudero is a recipient of the El Paso Community Spirit Award, the Hispanos Triunfadores Award and the ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ Gold Nugget Award in recognition of his generosity and community service. Escudero is a longtime supporter of ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ and was a co-chair of the 2014 Centennial Commission formed to celebrate the University’s 100th anniversary.

“To be selected as a Distinguished Alumnus feels like coming full circle,” Escudero said. “The experience that got me to this moment was built upon the knowledge and skills I gained as a ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ student. It is incredible to be recognized with this prestigious honor from where it all began.”

Hilda Galvan, J.D.

B.S. in Electrical Engineering, 1985

Hilda Galvan is a Dallas attorney with expertise in intellectual property and the intersections between law and technology. After receiving her electrical engineering degree from ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ, Galvan worked in the telecommunications industry before attending law school at The University of Texas at Austin. Throughout her 35-year legal career, she has provided strategic counsel to businesses about safeguarding their proprietary technology and advised her clients on the impact of emerging technologies on their operations. She is currently the partner-in-charge at the Dallas office of the law firm Jones Day, where she is responsible for strategic planning, operational oversight and profit and loss management.

Beyond her professional endeavors, Galvan strives to make a meaningful impact on her community. She frequently mentors students in ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ’s Law School Preparation Institute and founded the Galvan-Contreras Engineering Endowed Scholarship for ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ students along with her husband, Mike Galvan. Her contributions as a business leader and her commitment to the community have garnered significant recognition. In 2023, she was inducted into the Junior Achievement Dallas Business Hall of Fame.

“The education I received at ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ profoundly altered the course of my life,” she said. “As a result, being chosen as a Distinguished Alumna holds immense significance and fills me with a deep sense of gratitude.”

Lillian Williams Crouch

M.Ed. in Elementary Education Supervision, 1972

Lillian W. Crouch was a trailblazer who accomplished many firsts during a stellar 37-year career as a teacher and administrator. Crouch, who retired from the El Paso Independent School District in 2001 as executive director of human resources, was the district’s first African-American principal at a junior high school and the first to reach a director’s level. The 2012 recipient of the College of Education’s Gold Nugget Award praised the University for helping her develop her servant-leadership style, which she continues to use with organizations around the community and at ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ, especially those that support economic and educational development, and physical and mental health. Her ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ legacy includes an endowed memorial scholarship that she and her late husband set up in 1985 to honor their son, Frederick James Crouch.

“I am most grateful for this tremendous honor,” Crouch said. “I’m thrilled beyond words. I just try to make a difference.”

Keelung Hong, Ph.D.

M.S. in Chemistry, 1970

Keelung Hong left his native Taiwan in 1968 for ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ to be among the first cohort of chemistry graduate students. He praised his Miner mentors for making his experience successful. Hong said the research he conducted opened his eyes to future possibilities. From ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ, Hong enrolled at UC Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 1975. His subsequent studies resulted in breakthroughs and multiple patents tied to targeted drug delivery. Based on his technology, Hong founded Taiwan Liposome Company in 1997. Now he is chair and CEO of Privatized TLC, which has a portfolio of therapeutics that target unmet medical need in pain management, ophthalmology and oncology. Hong has stayed connected to ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ through financial donations and frequent visits as a guest speaker and mentor to faculty and students.

“A decade ago, I was honored as a Gold Nugget awardee from the College of Science,” Hong said. “Now I’m ecstatic as one of ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ’s Distinguished Alumni.”

William Franklin “Willie” Quinn

B.S. in Civil Engineering, 1954

William F. “Willie” Quinn was a professional civil engineer with El Paso Natural Gas (EPNG) for 41 years until he retired in 1997, after which he became a historian who focused his research on his alma mater, ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ. Quinn recalled how his instructors used their practical field knowledge to enhance the classroom experience. He said his Texas Western education made him a successful professional. After a respected and award-winning career with EPNG, Quinn became active in community and campus organizations such as ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ’s Heritage Commission, where he took on several leadership roles. He is part of the APO (Alpha Phi Omega) Social Fraternity Alumni Group, which oversaw the annual distribution of numerous scholarships to engineering and geology students until 2016.

“I was surprised, proud and humbled to be considered for this honor,” said the 90-year-old Quinn, who earned the College of Engineering’s first Gold Nugget Award in 1984. “I realized to be selected was an even greater honor, after I picked myself up off the floor.”

J. Steve DeGroat

BBA, 1972 | MBA, 1975

As a ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ alumnus, J. Steve DeGroat has remained engaged with the University as a volunteer and a philanthropist. He has served as president of the Alumni Association and as a member of multiple boards to include Friends of the Library, Legacy Campaign Cabinet, and the College of Business Administration Advisory Council.

In line with his belief in access to higher education, DeGroat and his wife, Martini, have established and funded two ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ scholarships — the J. Stephen DeGroat and Martini DeGroat Endowment Scholarship and the Robert C. Heasley Endowment Scholarship in Business. Additionally, DeGroat and some of his colleagues established the L. Marcus Fry Endowment Scholarship Fund.

DeGroat retired in 2019 as the longtime owner of Lincoln Financial Advisors’ El Paso branch, a financial planning firm. The leadership experience he has honed has yielded opportunities to serve the El Paso community as chairman of the board at University Medical Center and the YMCA, president of the Ronald McDonald House and the Sun Bowl Association, and currently as chairman of El Paso Health.

Joe M. Gomez

B.A. History, 1970

Joe M. Gomez serves as the director of business development and community affairs at Jordan Foster Construction in El Paso. He has served the El Paso community tirelessly and has received numerous awards and accolades for his service, such as the City of El Paso’s Conquistador Award and the McDonald’s Hispanos Triunfadores Award, and was inducted into the El Paso Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2017, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appointed him to serve on the Pathways to Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) Advisory Council.

Gomez’s contributions to the University have been numerous. He served on ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ boards, raised money for various departments and programs, and provided pro bono work for several campus projects. In 2006, the College of Liberal Arts selected him as one of its Gold Nugget Award recipients.

For decades, Gomez has been known for his steadfast dedication to promote and preserve the history of the 1966 Texas Western College (now ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ) men’s basketball team that won the NCAA Championship. He has worked on three documentaries about the team’s accomplishment, assisted the Disney production team on the 2006 film “Glory Road” by providing historical artifacts and memorabilia used in the movie that told the team’s story, and was awarded the El Paso Historical Society Hall of Honor Award for his work to preserve the team’s history.

“I graduated but never really left because of my love for ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ, and wanted to make things better through time or treasure,” Gomez said.

Buzz Graves

B.S. Physics, 1977 | M.S. Physics, 1979

The National Solar Observatory in Sunspot, New Mexico, immediately recruited Buzz Graves after he earned his graduate degree from ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ to assemble its refractive solar coronagraph telescope. Two years later, he joined Kitt Peak Observatory near Tucson, Arizona, where he pioneered the use of digital sensors for ultraviolet, visible and infrared observations. In 1989, Graves traversed the Pacific Ocean to join the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, home to some of the world’s largest optical telescopes atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island.

While in Honolulu, Graves obtained funding for 11 years from the National Science Foundation to invent adaptive optics, a concept that revolutionized astronomical observations. Ground-based telescopes with larger apertures could now surpass the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope once the atmospheric blurring could be removed. This emerging technology brought notoriety for Graves through abundant publications, citations and a place in astronomy textbooks.

In 2000, Graves founded Laplacian Optics Inc., which later became AOptix Technologies, in Campbell, California. At AOptix, he applied his adaptive optics experience to obtain 20 patents in areas of free space laser communications and iris identification. In recent years, Graves has worked as a consultant with Koshla Ventures, KLA-Tencor and SA Photonics. Today, he is a full-time employee with Apple who works on current and future products.

“I owe a great debt to so many people I have been privileged to know and work with over my career, understanding that accomplishing major goals is not a solo adventure, it is the collective work of many who can reach for amazing things,” Graves said. “³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ was critical in helping mold a work and relationship ethic that lives with me today.”

R. Noel Longuemare

B.S. Electrical Engineering, 1952

R. Noel Longuemare began his professional career with Westinghouse, where he played a lead role in the development of modern radar and avionics systems for airborne, land and surface applications, as well as advanced space systems. The Westinghouse Electronic Systems Group later named him corporate vice president and general manager of its systems development and technology divisions.

After 41 years at Westinghouse, Longuemare accepted a four-year appointment by President Bill Clinton to serve as the principal deputy under secretary of defense for acquisition and technology at the Pentagon, where he was responsible for the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) $100 billion acquisition budget. Within that assignment, he served as Acting Under Secretary of Defense, and represented the United States on the NATO Defense Ministers panel in Brussels, Belgium. Additionally, he hosted the 1997 Tri-Lateral Defense Conference in Vancouver, Canada. For his many contributions, he was awarded three DoD Distinguished Public Service awards and the prestigious David Packard acquisitions award.

Throughout his career, Longuemare has served in top-level management and technical positions for the DoD and the aerospace industry. Additionally, Longuemare holds eight patents and 17 patent disclosures.

Today, he oversees Longuemare Consultants Inc. and continues to participate in studies and advisory boards for the government and industry. He is a member of the executive advisory board for the U. S. Navy, the Strategic Red Team for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Lincoln Laboratories, and ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ’s Engineering Advisory Board.

“Attending ³ÉÈËÍ·Ìõ was a pivotal point in my life,” Longuemare said. “It opened up amazing new doors, and gave me the confidence to take advantage of the many resulting opportunities.”