BEAUMONT – Woodville’s Brian Babin, who currently serves as the U.S. House of Representatives member for Texas’s 36thCongressional District, has accomplished many things in his life of public service, and he recently had more reason to celebrate.
Babin, an alumnus of Lamar University in Beaumont, who graduated in the class of 1973, was named as one of the institution’s “Distinguished Alumnus” awards.
“I am humbled and honored to be named a Distinguished Alumnus by Lamar,” Babin said.
“Lamar has had a lasting impact on my life, and I am proud to join the distinguished men and women who have received this recognition.”
Babin earned his bachelor’s degree from Lamar and later went on to earn a dental degree from the University of Texas, and practiced dentistry in Woodville for 35 years before being elected to Congress in 2014.
He joins a roster of accomplished Lamar graduates with the honor, which was first established by the school’s Alumni Association in 1970 in order to “recognize extraordinary alumni who have enhanced the reputation of the university by distinguishing themselves in their careers or life’s service and have made significant contributions to their community, state and nation through professional service, public service and civic activities,” according to the Lamar Alumni Association website.
Babin was named alongside Jane Fitch; Thomas E. Long and J. Robert McLendon to the honor. The honorees are typically recognized at an awards dinner held in February. Other notables on the list, through the years, include former Lamar baseball coach Jim Gilligan; broadcast journalist Larry Beaulieu and artist Keith Carter.
