Lamar University held a naming ceremony honoring Dade Phelan, Feb. 12 at the Dade Phelan building, formerly known as the Center for Innovation, Commercialization and Entrepreneurship.
Phelan served two terms as the 76th Speaker of the Texas House representing District 21.
“He’s been in the legislature for 12 years, and when I first came here five years ago, the very first thing I walked into was a whole lot of new funding from the state of Texas,” LU President Jaime Taylor said.
“It was very much due to his leadership that funding came in. Having that funding has allowed Lamar University to just do some really transformative things for our students.”
While Phelan did not go to school at Lamar, he said that being local allowed him to see how the university changed over time.
“I was born and raised here,” Phelan said. “When I was 18, this was not an attractive place to go to school. The opportunities were not obvious, but things have changed.”
Phelan said that he was a congressional staffer when he was 18, and was there when the Lamar Board of Regents shifted to the Texas State University System Board of Regents.
“We joined the larger system, and things changed, and it took a while, but here we are,” he said. “I mean, this campus is beautiful. We’re creating the jobs, the careers for tomorrow. We really are. Maritime programs, nursing programs, engineering programs, some of these are being recognized not just in Texas, not just nationally, but globally. Some of these programs are now seen as top five, top three, and that wasn’t the case when I was 18. Here I am 50, and it’s just kind of icing on the cake to see that happen.”
Brian McCall, chancellor of the Texas State University System, said that Phelan has helped beyond what people may see online.
“For most Texans, Dade Phelan, or any speaker for that matter, is a two-dimensional figure,” McCall said. “The only thing that we know is what we see in the news or read on social media.
“But let me tell you what I know of Dade Phelan, who, in 2017 during Hurricane Harvey, was in boats and up to his waist in water and spending nights working for the people of this country, this region, to get through a horrible calamity. How do I know that? Because he called me a couple times a day to let me know what was going on on these campuses, at Port Arthur, Orange and Lamar.”
McCall said that Phelan has a remarkable ability to treat each court with dignity and made sure that he could help others help the people in their districts.
“There are a lot of people that are in politics that are not in public service,” he said. “Dade Phelan is a public servant.”
Phelan said that he has seen significant changes over the last 12 years and the success story is here in Southeast Texas.
“While I will not be in office next session, there will be others who will come in and fill that role, and they will have the same opportunity and the same, I hope, experience that I had, and be able to tell that story to not just legislators across Texas, but really the whole country,” he said. “You know, at the University of Texas, they say what starts here changes the world. Well, what starts here kind of fuels the world, and that really does mean something in Southeast Texas.”
Phelan said he was thankful and excited for the honor of the naming.
“It’s become a shortcut of colloquialism that students who work out at the Sheila Umphrey workout center say they’re going to the Sheila,” McCall said. “I can’t wait to hear what they’re going to do at the Dade.”
The Dade Phelan building is located at 5091 Rolfe Christopher Drive.
