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Recognizing Distinguished Alumni

Looking Back: Recognizing Distinguished Alumni

Date published: Mar. 28, 2016

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Braniff Graduate school, we look back on the remarkable achievements of the University of Dallas' many distinguished alumni.

Doug Lattner, MBA ’75, recalled learning professionalism from a professor who required MBA students to wear suits and ties to class. The Most Rev. Daniel Flores, BA ’83 MDiv ’87, credited the Core with teaching him to relate ideas to each other, reading Aquinas alongside the Federalists, Augustine in conjunction with Joseph Conrad.

“By this, we discovered the human terrain when it seeks to relate the apparently unrelated,” Flores said. “If books are written to relate to others in an enduring way, it is because persons are made for relation.”

During the annual Distinguished Alumni Awards dinner of 2014, each of the three 2014 recipients shared UD-related memories and insights.

John McCaa, MA ’02, summed up the way many alumni feel about UD. “Our education has been unique, reminding us who we are, not just Americans, but heirs of a Western heritage that really values freedom.”

The Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize alumni who have demonstrated “sustained, distinguished accomplishment and contribution to any field of human endeavor.” This is the highest honor UD can bestow upon its alumni.

Flores leads the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville (Texas), a border town in which 85 percent of the population is Catholic – the highest concentration of Catholics in the United States. During his four years as bishop, Flores has devoted himself to multifaceted causes such as religious liberty, vocations and cultural diversity within the church.

As a retired chairman and CEO of the Manhattan-based firm Deloitte Consulting, LLP, Lattner maintains a legacy that includes being named one of 2005’s “25 Most Influential Consultants” by Consulting Magazine. Active Dallas Catholics, Lattner and his wife are dedicated supporters of the Bishop’s Annual Appeal for Catholic Ministries and co-chaired the Bishop Farrell Invitational golf tournament in 2013.

A familiar face to many in Dallas/Fort Worth, WFAA News Anchor McCaa has reported the evening news for 30 years. McCaa is the former president of the Press Club of Dallas and also an active volunteer in Irving; he has hosted the Irving Schools Foundation’s “Breakfast with the Stars” for eight years.

Originally published in Tower Magazine, Winter 2015.

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