Pete Sessions To Address Fall 2015 Commencement At Texas State

United States Rep. Pete Sessions will be the keynote speaker at one of five commencement ceremonies to be held at Texas State University on December 11-12 in the university’s Strahan Coliseum.

Sessions will speak during the 10 a.m. ceremony Dec. 12, to be attended by degree candidates from the College of Liberal Arts and the Graduate College.

Degree candidates from the College of Applied Arts, College of Health Professions, and the Graduate College will attend the 3 p.m. commencement ceremony December 11.

Degree candidates from the College of Fine Arts and Communication and the Graduate College will attend the 6 p.m. commencement ceremony December 11.

Degree candidates from the College of Liberal Arts and the Graduate College will attend the 10 a.m. ceremony December 12.

Degree candidates from the McCoy College of Business Administration, College of Science and Engineering and the Graduate College will attend the 2 p.m. ceremony December 12.

Degree candidates from the College of Education, University College, and the Graduate College will attend the 6 p.m. ceremony December 12.

More than 3,200 students are candidates for undergraduate and graduate degrees at Texas State this fall. An overflow room with live video of the ceremonies will be available.

Sessions, who represents the 32nd Congressional District, is a senior member of the Republican leadership team and serves as chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee. A native Texan, he grew up in Waco and attended Texas State. He later attended Southwestern University and graduated in 1978. He now serves on the Board of Trustees.

Prior to serving in congress, Sessions worked for then-Southwestern Bell Telephone Companies in the marketing department for 16 years. During this time he served in many leadership capacities in the community including chairman of the Greater East Dallas Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts of America and the YMCA.

As the father of a young man with Down syndrome, he is also dedicated to implementing leading edge ideas that help American families and individuals with disabilities through legislation such as the Family Opportunity Act and the ABLE Act.

Sessions is an Eagle Scout and a former scoutmaster for 13 Eagle Scouts. He is a recipient of the National Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and is a member of both the National Eagle Scout Association’s national committee and the executive board of the Circle Ten Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is also a Vigil Member of the Order of the Arrow.

The congressman is married to Karen Sessions. He is the father of two sons, Bill and Alex, and three stepsons, Conor, Liam and Nicholas. Sessions resides in Dallas and continues to be active in his community where he is an Adopt-A-Shoreline Team Leader in the effort to maintain White Rock Lake in Dallas and an advisor to the president of Special Olympics Texas