School to honor five outstanding former students at annual event
Five former students from the Texas A&M School of Architecture who have distinguished themselves as leaders and humanitarians in their respective fields have been selected as Outstanding Alumni and will be honored at a banquet Nov. 10, 2023 at the Texas A&M Hotel and Conference Center.
The 2023 Outstanding Alumni were nominated by former students and selected for their outstanding achievements by a school committee.
Less than one percent of the school’s more than 16,000+ former students have been recognized as Outstanding Alumni, the highest honor bestowed by the school to its graduates.
The 2023 Outstanding Alumni are:
Mary Mitchell Bartlett ’86
Bartlett, a partner at Marmon Mok Architecture, is a respected leader in the central Texas design community. As both an architect and interior designer, she specializes in workplace design and large capital improvement projects. Her work includes the Texas Department of Transportation Campus, Tobin Center of Performing Arts, Veterans Memorial Plaza, Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center Expansion, Lila Cockrell Theater Renovation, Houston Street Redevelopment, and the San Antonio Main Library.
She is heavily involved with the American Institute of Architects at the local, state, and national levels, serving as a San Antonio Chapter President, Texas Society of Architects Board of Directors, and a Committee Chair on the AIA National Convention. In addition to many community-minded activities such as mentoring students, she also serves on multiple advisory boards, including the University of Texas at San Antonio School of Architecture + Planning, and University of the Incarnate Word Interior Design Advisory Board.
Her work has earned fifteen local and regional AIA awards and twenty-four regional and national industry awards. She has been a featured speaker at many industry conferences across the country and has numerous publications about her projects.
James E. Carrillo ’85
Carillo, vice president of Halff Associates Inc., has led city and regional planning and placemaking efforts for numerous cities in Texas and neighboring states, benefitting countless residents, communities and regions with his visionary perspective honed over four decades of practice.
Throughout his tenure, he introduced a broad “designer’s” perspective to park and open space planning, special area planning and active transportation planning. His master plans often set new standards for detail and comprehensiveness and his ideas for urban trail systems across entire communities have paved the way for trail corridors and bicycle infrastructure that are now commonplace.
His planning and design efforts have been recognized more than 45 times by multiple professional organizations, and he was inducted as a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners in 2012, the highest honor bestowed on planners across the United States.
Ming-Han Li ’98
Li is director of the School of Planning, Design and Construction at Michigan State University and has a rich history leading and elevating the fields of landscape architecture, urban planning, interior design and construction management in the higher education space.
Recently, he was appointed to serve as Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington. He was also previously a professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at the Texas A&M School of Architecture and was a researcher with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.
A registered engineer, landscape architect and certified planner, Li’s knowledge base is a boon to his work in academia, where he has guided the school’s strategic planning process, increased enrollment and giving and enhanced interdisciplinary research.
Jeremy Stovall ’99
Jeremy Stovall is president and co-owner of Brookstone Construction, where he began as an intern 26 years ago and now leads the company in its 60th year in business.
A dedicated supporter of the School of Architecture, Stovall serves on the Construction Industry Advisory Council, the College of Architecture Dean’s Advisory Council, the Center for Infrastructure Renewal’s Advisory Panel, and is a regular guest lecturer in the Department of Construction Science. He also established the Brookstone, L.P. Endowed Scholarship at the Department of Construction Science and championed Brookstone’s support of the Francis Hall Redevelopment.
He is the current vice chair of the Houston chapter of Associated General Contractors of America, where he serves on numerous committees, and is a former chair of the Texas Building Branch.
Russ Wallace ’80
Wallace led the Texas A&M University System Office of Facilities, Design and Construction for 14 years through a period of significant growth and expansion, overseeing a capital program that averaged $2 billion per year in planning, design and construction projects.
Projects included the establishment of three new Texas A&M System university campuses in Texarkana, Killeen and San Antonio as well as a new Health Science Center campus in Bryan, Texas. He was also responsible for the oversight and implementation of the $483 million Kyle Field Redevelopment, the renovation of the Memorial Student Center, the Corps Dorm and Quad renovations, the Military Walk project and the Williams Administration Building renovation.
After retiring from the System in 2021, Wallace founded Russ Wallace Consulting, Ltd., which serves numerous public educational facilities throughout Texas, including Texas A&M University.
