Born in Gallup, New Mexico, Dr Fernando C. Gomez earned degrees from the University of New Mexico (B.A. cum laude) and the University of Michigan (J.D. and Ph.D., American Culture). He attained tenure at Michigan State University before serving as assistant attorney general in Michigan and in Texas and as California State University System general counsel. He has served as Texas State University System vice chancellor and general counsel for twenty years (1986-1990 and 1994-Present). He has authored books on educational law; published short stories and poetry; and lectured throughout the United States and overseas, including Cuba and Yemen.
Born in Madison, Wisconsin, Keith Carter is an internationally recognized photographer who holds the endowed Walles Chair in Fine Arts at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Carter's work is included in numerous private and public collections, including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery; Art Institute of Chicago; the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and the George Eastman House. The Wittliff Collection of Southwestern & Mexican Photography at Texas State University archives more than 1,000 of his photographs.
