The mission of the Thomas F. Freeman Honors College Advisory Board is to help the College attract, retain and cultivate scholars, preparing them for citizenship and leadership in the global community.
The Honors College Advisory Board embodies all aspects of our core values - honesty, integrity, community, creativity and excellence.
Members of the board represent diverse walks of life, including international diplomacy, global corporations, health care, legal professions, education, and the general community. They offer guidance to the College and will help it identify support for initiatives such as:
- Academic Program Enhancement: support through internships, externships, job-shadowing; career opportunities and placement
- Community Outreach: establish community service projects that reflect our commitment to service and servant leadership; projects may also serve as recruitment opportunities for high-achieving high school students.
- Fundraising: raise funds through events and campaigns; support funding for program enhancement activities such as conferences; scholarships for application to professional and graduate programs; support for study abroad participation.
She is the first woman of African descent to be elected to the Executive Committee of the World Federation of UNAs. Dr. Banks also serves as a former Consul General of the Republic of Liberia appointed by the President, the former Executive Director of the King Association for Nonviolence appointed by Mrs. Coretta Scott King, and a former liaison for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
She has served at several universities including Spelman College, Rutgers University, Washington University and Prairie View A&M University. She is a senior advisor to the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives by appointment by the great- granddaughter of Frederick Douglass. She attended Wellesley College, Howard University, Wayne State University and Oxford University. She is a member of the Texas Spring Cypress Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and an Honorary Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. She is the recipient of many awards and recognitions for human rights advocacy.
Dr. Gloria Batiste-Roberts serves as the Director of the Thomas F. Freeman Center for Forensic Excellence at Texas Southern University and adjunct professor of Social Work. She also serves as a Permanency Convener for Children’s Protective Services.
She received her undergraduate degree in Social Work from Texas Southern University (TSU), her MSW degree from Howard University and a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Texas, School of Public Health.
For 29½ years she worked full time at the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services as a Child Protective Services Supervisor. She retired on August 31, 2003. While working at CPS, she also worked for 21 years, part-time, at Ben Taub Hospital as a social worker in the emergency room. For eight years, she did private therapy at a facility for delinquents and for other youth on adjudicated probation.
For 38 years, Dr. Batiste-Roberts served as assistant Debate Coach of the TSU Debate Team, along with the renowned Dr. Thomas F. Freeman, Head Coach Emeritus. She was among his most outstanding students.
Dr. Batiste-Roberts has served as Head Coach of the TSU Debate since 2011. In this position, she also serves as coordinator of the Annual Barbara Jordan Memorial Lecture.
Dr. Batiste-Roberts is a former president of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW). She received the Educator of the year award in 2014 at NABSW’s 46th National Conference April 17th in Indianapolis, IN for her decades of professional service to NABSW, her students and her clients. Immediate past NABSW National President, Joe Benton said the Executive Committee of the organization enthusiastically selected Dr. Batiste-Roberts because of her commitment to advancing student development through mentorship, scholarship and tireless service. He called her “a model of the best in social work education,” and added that she is a most worthy social work scholar and community leader.
Dr. Batiste-Roberts does workshops and is invited to speak all over the country and abroad. She feels that parents, caregivers, teachers and other professionals, should teach discipline by example, consistency, encouragement and reward; that adults should look at the positive things youth are doing and give them positive recognition at home and at school. Her vision for all youth is that they will be empowered to face this nation and the world with confidence and determination.
Ms. Charlotte Lang Booker began her legal career as an Assistant District Attorney for Harris County in 1993. She served there until 1997, when she accepted a position with the State’s Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) where she served as Regional Attorney, Managing Attorney, and Acting Chief Attorney of Field Operations. She then served as Supervising Attorney for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS). Ms. Booker assumed the position of Deputy Director/Clerk of Court for the City of Houston Municipal Courts in late 2010 serving until 2015. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 and her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 1993. As the Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer, Ms. Booker oversees the Court’s compliance, internal auditing and external third-party collections.
Mr. Rodney Cox is the Director of Pharmacy at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center, a 440-bed community flag ship hospital for the Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, Texas. Mr. Cox also serves as the Residency Program Director for their Pharmacy Administration and Leadership/MS PGY2 Residency Program, a charter member of the Houston Program in the Texas Medical Center.
Mr. Cox received his B.S. in Pharmacy at Texas Southern University and M.S in Pharmacy Administration from the University of Houston and he continues to serve as adjunct faculty to both Universities. He is an active member of both local and state professional organizations, serving on the Texas Society of Health System Pharmacists board for over five years and is the former President of the Gulf Coast Society of Health System Pharmacy. In addition to the Thomas F. Freeman Honors College Advisory Board, Mr. Cox serves on several other advisory boards including: the National Health Career Association and the National Healthcare Executive Forum.
Mr. Cox is also a proud TSU alum. He graduated from TSU’s Frederick Douglass Honors Program with honors, class of 1999.
Mr. Larry Dennis has spent 46 years in various positions for engineering, technology development and manufacturing. His span of experience includes advanced systems and product development for the automotive and the aerospace industry.
Mr. Dennis has spent many years promoting and advocating for the inclusion of minorities into the engineering profession including the following activities and programs: He was a General Motors Institute Minority Engineering advisor; McDonnell Douglas, and Martin Marietta Engineering recruiter for Southern University, Howard University, Prairie View A&M University, Louisiana Tech University, Louisiana State University and Texas A&M University. He also served as a member of the Hughes Electronics team that helped Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD, develop its School of Engineering. Additionally, he has supported minority engineering programs at Cal State Riverside and LA, UCLA, LSU and Uni. Of California, Irvine.
He was an Engineering Consultant to NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for the Space Launch Systems (SLS) Program. He provided program management, systems engineering, mission assurance (systems safety engineering and quality engineering) and manufacturing operations expertise to the SLS Program.
Mr. Dennis retired from Boeing Company in 2009 where he served as Boeing’s Director of Safety and Mission Assurance for NASA’s ARES 1 program. However, he has recently returned to the aerospace industry to support NASA’s Gateway Program as a Lead Technologist for Booz Allen Hamilton.
Mr. Dennis received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Louisiana State University and is a registered Professional Engineer.
Dr. Reagan Flowers is the President and CEO of C-STEM Teacher & Student Support Services. She has been at the forefront of all matters related to STEM education, leadership, entrepreneurship, community advocacy, and professional motivation throughout her career. Her incredible talents were demonstrated at a young age, as she overcame failing third grade, and through the encouragement of her teachers was able to complete high school early. A proud alum of Texas Southern University, she was the first person in her family to graduate from college. Her passion for STEM education was born while working as a science teacher at Jack Yates High School. Thanks to a grant provided by NASA, her students were able to build a one-of-a-kind robot, to compete in the school’s first-ever robotics competition. The success of her students and her recognition of the importance of mathematics and science motivated her to create more positive changes at the local level, and she made it her mission to ensure that each child had access to enriched STEM education programming. She has raised millions of dollars towards efforts to close achievement gaps that disadvantaged students face in underfunded schools and undeveloped communities. As chief knowledge officer of Education Consulting Services, she works tirelessly to provide businesses, organizations, and academic institutions with the resources to implement effective strategies that will help resolve issues associated with barriers in education.
Through Dr. Flowers’ STEM driven initiatives, public speaking, and similar engagements, she continues to make certain that communities are strengthened to their highest degree. Perhaps one of her most notable ways in which she fortifies communities is through C-STEM, a nonprofit organization she founded in 2002. The mission of C-STEM is to ignite the light within students to help them obtain a passion for communication, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Over the years, her organization has provided immeasurable support for tens of thousands of teachers, students, organizations, and parents around the country. Dr. Flowers has been named the White House STEM Access Champion of Change and is counted among the top 100 Women Leaders in STEM.
Attorney Sandra Weber Fullerton is a native of Port Arthur, Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Texas Southern University (Houston, Texas) and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Thurgood Marshall School of Law, Texas Southern University.
As a licensed attorney of almost 30 years, Attorney Fullerton is in private practice as a civil litigation attorney representing private individuals, for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations. Her primary areas practice include administrative law, family law, probate, estate planning, and personal injury. Attorney Fullerton is also an arbitrator and mediator; and she serves as a guardian ad litem and attorney at ad litem in Harris County civil court cases.
Prior to founding her own firm, Attorney Fullerton served as an administrative law judge (State of Texas), an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Texas Attorney General (Austin, Texas), deputy in-house counsel for the Houston Police Department.
In addition to serving on the Thomas F. Freeman Honors College Advisory Board, Attorney Fullerton is also a member of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law Alumni Board, the Houston Lawyers Association, William and Hannah McClain Foundation Board of Directors, The Cross Church—Richmond/Rosenberg Advisory Board (Richmond, Texas), Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity.
Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. He is also a University Professor at Baylor University, a Fellow in Disease and Poverty at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy, a Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, a Faculty Fellow with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Studies at Texas A&M University, and Health Policy Scholar in the Baylor Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.
Dr. Hotez is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. As co-director of the Texas Children’s CVD, he leads a team and product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the United States.
In December 2021, Dr. Hotez led efforts at the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development to develop a low-cost recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine for global health. This resulted in emergency use authorization in India.
He obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (phi beta kappa), followed by a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1986, and an M.D. from Weil Cornell Medical College in 1987. Dr. Hotez has authored more than 600 original papers and is the author of five single-author books, including Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press); Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth (Johns Hopkins University Press); Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism (Johns Hopkins University Press); and Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science (Johns Hopkins University Press).
Dr. Hotez previously served as President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and is founding Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative, he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for hundreds of millions of people. He is elected to the National Academy of Medicine (Public Health Section) and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Public Policy Section). In 2014-16, he served in the Obama Administration as a US Envoy, focusing on vaccine diplomacy initiatives between the US Government and countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2018, he was appointed by the US State Department to serve on the Board of Governors for the US Israel Binational Science Foundation and is frequently called upon frequently to testify before US Congress. He has served on infectious disease task forces for two consecutive Texas Governors. For these efforts in 2017, he was named by FORTUNE Magazine as one of the 34 most influential people in health care, while in 2018 he received the Sustained Leadership Award from Research! America. In 2022 Hotez and his colleague Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for “their work to develop and distribute a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine to people of the world without patent limitation.”
In 2019, he received the Award for Leadership in Advocacy for Vaccines from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. In 2021 he was recognized by scientific leadership awards from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) and the AMA (American Medical Association), in addition to being recognized by the Anti-Defamation League with its annual Popkin Award for combating antisemitism, and in 2023 he received the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science ) Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility for his “scientific work in vaccine development and his work as a public voice promoting and defending vaccines.” Dr. Hotez appears frequently on television (including BBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC), radio, and in newspaper interviews (including the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal).
Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. He is also a University Professor at Baylor University, a Fellow in Disease and Poverty at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy, a Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, a Faculty Fellow with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Studies at Texas A&M University, and Health Policy Scholar in the Baylor Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.
Dr. Hotez is an internationally recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. As co-director of the Texas Children’s CVD, he leads a team and product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the United States.
In December 2021, Dr. Hotez led efforts at the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development to develop a low-cost recombinant protein COVID-19 vaccine for global health. This resulted in emergency use authorization in India.
He obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (phi beta kappa), followed by a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1986, and an M.D. from Weil Cornell Medical College in 1987. Dr. Hotez has authored more than 600 original papers and is the author of five single-author books, including Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press); Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth (Johns Hopkins University Press); Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism (Johns Hopkins University Press); and Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science (Johns Hopkins University Press).
Dr. Hotez previously served as President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and is founding Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative, he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for hundreds of millions of people. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (Public Health Section) and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Public Policy Section). In 2014-16, he served in the Obama Administration as a US Envoy, focusing on vaccine diplomacy initiatives between the US Government and countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2018, he was appointed by the US State Department to serve on the Board of Governors for the US Israel Binational Science Foundation and is frequently called upon frequently to testify before US Congress. He has served on infectious disease task forces for two consecutive Texas Governors. For these efforts in 2017, he was named by FORTUNE Magazine as one of the 34 most influential people in health care, while in 2018 he received the Sustained Leadership Award from Research! America. In 2022 Hotez and his colleague Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for “their work to develop and distribute a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine to people of the world without patent limitation.”
In 2019, he received the Award for Leadership in Advocacy for Vaccines from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. In 2021 he was recognized by scientific leadership awards from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) and the AMA (American Medical Association), in addition to being recognized by the Anti-Defamation League with its annual Popkin Award for combating antisemitism, and in 2023 he received the AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science ) Award for Scientific Freedom and Responsibility for his “scientific work in vaccine development and his work as a public voice promoting and defending vaccines.” Dr. Hotez appears frequently on television (including BBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC), radio, and in newspaper interviews (including the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal).
Dr. Bruce Matson is a native Californian. His undergraduate degree is in Chemistry and Biology from Texas Southern University and he received his Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1989 from the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Matson keeps his professional skills current through frequent continuing education. He has been a member of the American Orthodontic Society since 1998 with certification in Straight wire Orthodontics. Dr. Matson completed endodontic certification in 2001 and certification by the Institute for Advanced Dental Studies in 2006. Houston Magazine nominated Dr. Matson as one of the city’s Top Dentists in 2008, 2009.
Inspired by his father who won silver and bronze in the 1952 Olympics and whose successful career earned him a place in the NFL Hall of Fame, Dr. Matson believes in the power of hard work and attention to detail. He brings that philosophy into his practice of dentistry, making sure that each and every patient receives a world-class standard of dental care. Dr. Matson is a devoted husband to Jocelyn Matson and father of two children, Kyle and Paige.
Dr. Angela C. Riley is the Director of Community and Provider Engagement for the American Academy of HIV Medicine. She recently concluded her term as the second person of African descent elected as Councilwoman for the City of Binghamton, NY.
Riley, a native of Chicago, IL, was a proud Frederick Douglass Honors Program student and graduated from Texas Southern University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences with her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy. She later obtained her PharmD. from Midwestern University Chicago College of Pharmacy and a Master of Public Health Degree with an emphasis on Rural & Underserved Populations from Oklahoma State University.
With over 25 years as a licensed clinician and academician, Dr. Riley’s practice, service, and scholarship activities are closely intertwined with her areas of interest, focusing on health promotion and education in minoritized and underresourced communities, emphasizing HIV prevention and care. Dr. Riley has obtained several grants and contracts, including a Community Action Grant from the American Heart Association, and recently received support from the Barbara H Chaffee MD, MPh Educational Fund.
In addition to serving on the Thomas F. Freeman Honors College Advisory Board, Dr. Riley serves on several national, regional, and local boards and committees within various organizations, including the TSUNAA JML COPHS Alumni Chapter, the National Pharmaceutical Association, Broome County Office for Aging Advisory Board, the Leadership Committee for the Community Foundation for South Central New York’s Women’s and Racial Justice and Equity Funds, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.