2005 ALUMNA OF DISTINCTION FOR PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT

ANTOINETTE POLLOCK MULVANEY, BA English 1978

Antoinette Pollock Mulvaney stands out as the first undergraduate alumna to achieve the rank of full Professor of Business Law at the College of Business at Lamar University since 1989.

What makes it more interesting is the fact that her undergraduate major at Incarnate Word was English. Toni also went on to receive a JD degree in law at St. Mary’s University in 1981. Until 1986 she was a trial lawyer in Beaumont and then for three years a trial lawyer in general civic practice with her husband in the Law Offices of Tom Mulvaney.

In addition to her teaching in the business law program, she is an active athlete and a leader in her church and the community. Toni is a member of the Lamar University Honors Council, Director of the Lamar University Ambassadors Program, and chairs the joint Lamar University/Texas Tech Law School Scholarship Committee. In 1993 she received the Regents Merit Award for distinguished teaching, and additional teaching awards in 1995, 1997 and 1999.

True to the Incarnate Word mission, her volunteer work for her church and the community is equally impressive. This year she received the first annual Diocese of Beaumont “Faithful Steward Award” for outstanding service to her parish and faith community, St. Anne’s. She continues to serve on the St. Anne School Foundation. She served as chair of the Pastoral Council, directed the Vacation Bible School, and is a director of the Friends of Jesus and Mary Prayer Groups for elementary school children. For the Diocese of Beaumont she continues to serve as a member of the Retirement Committee.

Since 2001, Mulvaney has served as President of the St. Anne ACTS Core Team (sponsoring adult and teen retreats for St. Anne and other churches in the diocese), and since 2004 has been a member of Southeast Texas ACTS Mission Chapter. In 2004, she was an organizer of San Felipe de Jesus Mission to Brownsville, Texas and Matamoros, Mexico in cooperation with Habitat for Mexico. The mission includes building houses, providing dental care and other basic human needs for the poorest parish in the U.S.

Not to mention, she is a member of the St. Katharine Drexel Humanitarians Neighborhood HealthCheck in Beaumont and chairs the Birthright of Beaumont Board of Directors.

One thing about Mulvaney that has not changed since her Incarnate Word student days when she played tennis with the late Professor of Theatre Ronnie Ibbs, she is still a top tennis player. Her United States Tennis Association league team has qualified for sectionals two years in a row. She is an important part of the team ranked at 4.5, the highest level in Beaumont.

And of course Mulvaney’s life is fully involved with the life of her family, her husband Judge Thomas Mulvaney, and their children, Katherine, 18, Erin, 17 and Daniel, 14. In addition, her mother, Mrs. Jo Pollock, holds a degree in Medical Technology from Incarnate Word College.

Recently Mulvaney reported that on one weekend she attended four basketball games and five baseball games in Beaumont watching her son Daniel play to two championships; another weekend watched her daughter compete in the State Mock Trial Competition, trying 5 lawsuits in 3 days; and another weekend with her daughter in Brownsville, planned a service project in Mexico, to build houses for the poor.

Her family, especially her husband, are equally supportive and active in her efforts. “It is,” she says, “a full and wonderful life.”

Indeed it is, and a distinguished one, too.