Ramón Humberto Dovalina (born July 13, 1943) is the retired fifth president of Laredo Community College, a two-year institution with the main campus on the grounds of historic Fort McIntosh on the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

in his native Laredo in Webb County in

South Texas South Texas is a geographic and cultural region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of th ...

. With service from July 5, 1995, until August 31, 2007, Dovalina left the position with two years remaining in his contract. Under Dovalina, the physical appearance of the college was upgraded, the

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

endowment fund increased from $100,000 in 1995 to more than $1 million in 2007, the institution advanced a 10-year master plan for new technology, and a $50 million South Campus was opened. On September 28, 2007, Dovalina and his predecessor, Roger L. Worsley, were each named

president emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some ca ...

during the sixtieth anniversary celebration of the founding of LCC, originally Laredo Junior College.

Uncle

One of Dovalina's uncles, Alfredo G. Dovalina (1915–2017), was awarded three

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious a ...

s and other citations with the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and played professional baseball for teams in both Texas and Mexico, including Lockhart,

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fif ...

, and

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

. He was an inductee of the Laredo Latin American Hall Fame and the Rio Grande Valley Baseball Hall of Fame. For thirty-two years, Alfredo Dovalina was the Laredo fire marshal. Upon his death at the age of 101, he was the oldest living firefighter in Laredo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dovalina, Ramon H. 1943 births Living people American people of Mexican descent Heads of universities and colleges in the United States People from Laredo, Texas People from Corpus Christi, Texas Laredo Community College alumni University of Texas at Austin College of Education alumni Texas A&M University–Kingsville alumni Martin High School (Laredo, Texas) alumni United States Marines Texas Democrats Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights American civil rights activists Chicano Activists from Austin, Texas