The Texas State University System Board of Regents has authorized Texas State University to award honorary doctoral degrees to Jack Martin, Taylor Sheridan and Nathali Parker Weisman.
The Board of Regents approved the honors during its quarterly meeting Feb. 13-14 in Austin.
Martin, Sheridan and Weisman will be the 19th, 20th and 21st individuals to be so honored by the university. Their degrees, Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, will be awarded at a future date.
Martin is widely recognized as a thought leader in communications, politics and business. In 1988, after gaining prominence as a top adviser to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, he founded Public Strategies Incorporated (PSI). Martin has served on the boards of the LBJ Foundation, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Baylor College of Medicine, as chair of Baylor Scott & White Health, and as chair of The Texas State University System’s Board of Regents from 1985-1991. He was honored as a TXST Distinguished Alumni in 1990 and was inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 2023.
Sheridan attended TXST as a theatre major until 1991. After nearly 20 years as an actor, Sheridan transitioned to screenwriting and directing at the age of 40. He has written several films, including the screenplay for Sicario, for which he was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for best original screenplay. Sheridan is a co-creator of the Paramount Network television series Yellowstone, as well as Landman, 1923, 1883, Tulsa King, Lioness and others. In March 2021, he was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Weisman graduated from TXST in 1998 with honors. She is the co-owner, CEO and president of KLP Construction Supply, which she founded with her sister in 2012 to become the go-to supplier for prime contractors and customers with large projects. In January 2024, Governor Greg Abbott appointed Weisman as chairwoman of the Governor’s Commission for Women. Weisman also serves on three committees for the Austin and DFW Chapters of the Association of General Contractors and on two committees for the Texas Asphalt Pavement Association.
Texas State awarded its first honorary doctorate in 1962, when the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, was conferred upon Lyndon Baines Johnson. At the time, Johnson was vice president of the United States and had already served as a U.S. representative and a U.S. senator. He would go on to serve as president of the United States, the only president to have graduated from a Texas university. Johnson graduated from TXST in 1930.