Dr. Keene announces bid
for re-election as LCC trustee

Dr. Gladys Cronfel Keene has announced her bid for re-election to Position 8 of the board of trustees of Laredo Community College. She has served on the board for 12 years, first elected at large in 1990.

"The work of this board of trustees is evident in the physical appearance of our campus, the growth in student enrollment, and the expansion of curriculum," Dr. Keene said. "The college is a gem of education for our community, something we have worked hard to care for and expand," she said.

"In the years that I have served on the LCC board, I believe we have expanded the mission of the college to cover all sectors of the population and to provide accessibility for all Laredoans. This is evident in the scope of the educational curriculum -- especially in health careers -- in distance learning, and in the decision to build a South Laredo campus. I would like to see us increase curriculum in technology and in international trade," she continued, adding that the Laredo workforce is in need of employees well trained in those areas.

"It is the South Laredo campus of which I am most proud as a trustee. I felt a commitment to address the growth of South Laredo and its educational needs. The community will be very proud of this $50 million learning resource that will be completed in 2004. If there is a reason for which I would like to continue board service, it is to see this project to completion. It will change lives," she said.

Keene also highlighted the importance of two new additions to the main LCC campus -- the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center and the Fine Arts Center.

"I am very aware that we need to be doing a better job communicating with the community, as I am aware that communication within the institution needs to be improved," she said. "As chair of the board's program and policy committee, which sets policy, I am very interested in opening channels of communication," she continued, adding, "We are listening and we will modify our policies to have more community, faculty, staff, and student input into our decisions."

Of her 12-year tenure as an LCC trustee, Dr. Keene said, "It has been a pleasure to work on that board. It's been all business among a group of honorable, hardworking people. I'm very proud of the steps we have taken to move forward. These good things have happened because the school has a board that has experience and has been selfless about service.

"I have been involved in the health and educational issues of this region for over 25 years. I feel that I know my community and have represented its wishes well as a trustee," she said.

Dr. Keene, a pediatrician/allergist, has served as Chief of Pediatrics at both Mercy Regional Medical Center and Doctors Hospital. She has served a 12-year term on the governing board of St. Augustine High School and on the board of Ursuline Elementary School. She served four years as president on the Diocesan School Board.

For the past eight years she has dedicated her time to Respira, an asthma research project for the development of an educational and medical management plan for asthma in school children. Since 1993, she has served as the Director of the Mid Rio Grande Area Health Education Center of the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. The center focuses on developing health educational resources at all levels -- elementary, high school, post-secondary, graduate, and professional continuing education.

"My parents were immigrants who struggled to educate my sisters who then educated me," she said. Dr. Keene graduated valedictorian of her class at St. Augustine Parochial School and magna cum laude from Our Lady of Lake College in San Antonio. She completed medical studies at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where she also completed residency training in Pediatrics and Allergy Immunology. She was recognized in medical school as the highest scholastic ranking female. She is Board Certified in Pediatrics and in Allergy Immunology.

She is married to Dr. Roger H. Keene, and they are the parents of twins: Marissa, an obstetrics and gynecology physician practicing in Baltimore, and Mark, a partner in the Austin law firm of Davis & Davis.