Texas State alum honored with 2012 Leon Jaworski Award

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
January 5, 2012

Kelly Frels, a 1966 graduate of Texas State University-San Marcos, has been honored as the 2012 Leon Jaworski Award recipient by the Houston Bar Association Auxillary.

The HBAA established the award in 1987 to honor an outstanding lawyer in the community who has given of his or her time and service and whose efforts benefit the city of Houston and its citizens.

Frels is a recipient of the Texas State Distinguished Alumni Award in 1978, is a sustaining member of the Liberal Arts Advisory Board and a 2011 recipient of the College of Liberal Arts Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award. He was recognized by the HBAA for his dedication and commitment to various volunteer efforts. His involvement in representing public school districts led him and five others to organized the School Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, which he later chaired. He also served as president of the Education Law Association and has chaired the Nation School Boards Association Council of School Attorneys. In 2004, Frels received the inaugural “Chairman’s Achievement for Lifetime Achievement” from the National School Boards Association’s Council of School of Attorneys.

He has served as a member of the board of directors and executive committee of the Greater Houston Partnership and chaired its government relations committee for two years, and the environmental advisory committee for an additional two years. In 2002, he chaired the partnership’s quality of life advisory committee and was named director emeritus of the Greater Houston Partnership in 2004. In 2003, he served as the chair of the Houston Area Flood Control Task Force. His other activities include membership on the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s air quality consensus group, chairing the Texas Environmental Research Consortium and co-chairing the Texas Clean Air Working Group.

He is married to Carmela Madden, the former assistant dean of women at Texas State.