Texas State to honor brothers John and Nelson Avery with honorary doctoral degrees during summer 2024 commencement

Texas State University presented John S. Avery and Dr. A. Nelson Avery with honorary doctoral degrees for their contributions to the TXST Round Rock Campus, making them the 19th and 20th individuals to be so honored by the university.

Their degrees, Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, were awarded on Saturday, Aug. 3, during the 10 a.m. commencement ceremony featuring degree candidates from the College of Fine Arts and Communication, College of Education, College of Health Professions and Graduate College.  

"The contributions of John Avery Sr. and Dr. Andrew Nelson Avery have been nothing short of transformational for our university" said TXST President Kelly Damphousse. "Because of their vision, support and generosity, we are growing a TXST campus in Round Rock poised to thrive over the next decade. We are proud to recognize them for their commitment to our students, to the Round Rock community, and to the future of TXST." 

The Avery brothers were instrumental in the establishment of TXST’s Round Rock Campus. Formerly known as the Round Rock Higher Education Center, TXST’s presence in the city was established in 1996, consisting of several temporary buildings. In 2003, the Avery family donated 101 acres of land that had been in the family for six generations to TXST for a permanent Round Rock Campus. The first building on the Round Rock Campus opened in 2005 and was named in the family’s honor. Currently, there are three educational and administration buildings on the campus with construction scheduled for another classroom building and a new life sciences incubator to serve the Round Rock area and north Austin.

John Avery practiced law in Austin for 34 years before moving his law office to Round Rock in 2004. His practice focuses on real estate development and related issues. He is a founding member of the Greater Round Rock Community Foundation and has served the community as a board member of the YMCA of Central Texas, Old Settlers Association of Williamson County and the Williamson County Economic Development Partnership of the Round Rock Chamber of Commerce. He now serves as a partner of the Avery Ranch Company, LTD, which was founded by the Avery family in 1998. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1968 and Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1970, both from the University of Texas. 

Nelson Avery has nearly 27 years of experience in higher education as a healthcare educator and program administrator. From 1996 to 2009, he served as professor and director of occupational and environmental medicine for the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He served as associate dean for development for the Texas A&M Health Science Center in Round Rock from 2010-14. From 2009 until his retirement in 2022, he served in a joint appointment as clinical professor in the primary care and rural medicine departments at TAMUHSC and as director of the preventive medicine residency program. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969 and his Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch in 1973. 

More than 1,300 candidates for bachelor’s, master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees are crossed the stage during three commencement ceremonies at TXST.

All commencement ceremonies are held in Strahan Arena at the University Events Center. Transportation and parking information is available at www.txst.edu/commencement.

Degree candidates from the College of Liberal Arts, College of Science and Engineering and Graduate College will attend the 2 p.m. ceremony.

Degree candidates from the McCoy College of Business, College of Applied Arts and Graduate College will attend the 6 p.m. ceremony.

While there is no substitute for attending a commencement ceremony in person, Texas State will stream the ceremonies live over the internet for friends and family members who are unable to attend. That live-stream is available on the TXST commencement web page at www.txstate.edu/commencement.