Co-Founder of Texas A&M System’s Veterans Supports Office Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Rod Davis, co-founder and former director of The Texas A&M University System’s Veterans Support Office, has received the prestigious Bill Pearson Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award from the Western Association of Veterans Education Specialists (WAVES). The honor was announced at the 2017 WAVES Conference, which was held July 9-12 in Phoenix, AZ.

WAVES is the largest national organization of higher education veteran support providers and works closely with educational, veteran, and military institutions, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Presented by WAVES President Tracy Copeland, the award recognizes “individuals who have made outstanding contributions through constructive participation in veteran’s organizations thus demonstrating a deep sense of caring for the veteran.” It is named for the late Bill Pearson, longtime director of the VA’s regional Educational Processing Office in Muskogee, OK.

Davis served in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant during the Vietnam Era. Though he retired earlier this year, he continues to assist the A&M System with veteran-related projects. Under his direction, the A&M System VSO provided coordination, communication and guidance to the system’s 11 universities and engaged in outreach on veteran education support issues throughout Texas and nation. An award-winning author of four books and dozens of magazine articles, Davis received degrees in political science from Missouri State University and Louisiana State University and studied at the University of Virginia.

About The Texas A&M University System
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $4.2 billion. Through a statewide network of 11 universities and seven state agencies, the Texas A&M System educates more than 148,000 students and makes more than 22 million additional educational contacts through service and outreach programs each year. System-wide, research and development expenditures exceeded $972 million in FY 2016 and helped drive the state’s economy.

Contact: Laylan Copelin
Vice Chancellor of Marketing and Communications
(979) 458-6425
(512) 289-2782 cell
lcopelin@tamus.edu