Stephen F. Austin State University will honor its 2026 alumni award recipients and SFA Athletics Hall of Fame inductees at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25, at The Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches.
“These honorees exemplify the very best of the Lumberjack spirit,” said Craig Turnage, executive director of alumni relations. “Their contributions in their professions, their communities and to SFA demonstrate the legacy of excellence that continues to define our alumni.”
This year’s alumni award honorees are Emily A. Parker, Distinguished Alumni Award; Zachary Taylor, Outstanding Young Alumni Award; and Blake Westmoreland and Tish Wright, Lumberjack Pride Award. The SFA Athletics Hall of Fame inductees are Sanford “Sandy” Miller and Ashley Monteau.
The Lumberjack Legacies ceremony, which is open to the public, will begin at 6 p.m. with a reception followed by the program at 7:30 p.m. Guests are encouraged to attend in spirited cocktail attire. Tickets are $150 per person or $1,600 for a table of 10. To purchase tickets, visit sfaalumni.com/legacies, email lumberjacklegacies@sfasu.edu or call the Office of Alumni Relations at (936) 468-3407 by Sept. 16.
Distinguished Alumni Award
Emily A. Parker ’70
Parker, of Dallas, earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics and finance with highest honors from SFA in 1970 and a Juris Doctor from Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law with honors in 1973.
After law school, Parker was the first female lawyer hired by Thompson & Knight LLP, now Holland & Knight LLP, and later became the firm’s first female partner. She served as managing partner at the firm from 2012 to 2016 and retired in 2019. Currently, as consulting counsel to the firm and retired senior partner, Parker represents taxpayers in Internal Revenue Service audits and appeals proceedings, state tax audits and hearings, and federal and state tax refund and deficiency litigation. She also advises on federal income tax and Texas tax planning, with experience in taxation of natural resources and partnership and corporate transactions involving the petroleum industry. Parker has represented clients in several precedent-setting cases that decided important industry issues and developed previously unsettled issues of tax law. She also has served as acting chief counsel and deputy chief counsel for the IRS.
Parker is a fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and the Dallas, Texas and American bar foundations. She also is a member of SMU’s Dedman School of Law Executive Committee. Parker served as chair of the Section of Taxation for the American Bar Association’s Natural Resources Committee and as vice chair of the ABA’s Appointments to Tax Court Committee. She also served as chair of the State Bar of Texas’ Natural Resources Committee and as a council member of its Tax Section.
Parker was the first woman and ninth recipient to be named Outstanding Texas Tax Lawyer by the State Bar of Texas Tax Section. Her many other honors include the Distinguished Service Award from the ABA Tax Section and the SMU Dedman School of Law Distinguished Graduate Award. She also earned multiple entries on Best Lawyers in Dallas, Texas Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America lists as well as two Dallas Tax Lawyer of the Year awards. Parker was part of the Who’s Who of Texas attorneys, with the superlatives of best, outstanding and top-notch.
A native of Henderson, Parker created the Emily A. Parker Scholarship to benefit academically high-achieving students pursuing any major at SFA. She also supports Dallas Court Appointed Special Advocates, the Child Abuse Prevention Center, Easterseals North Texas and Texas Women’s Foundation.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Zachary Taylor ’11
Taylor, of Houston, earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in international finance and accounting from SFA in 2011 and pitched for the Lumberjacks baseball team.
As principal and senior vice president at Colliers commercial real estate firm, Taylor specializes in selling and leasing industrial real estate with a particular focus in southeast Houston and other markets along the Gulf Coast. He has experience working with local, national and international clients on their various real estate needs including site selection, tenant representation, building acquisitions/dispositions and build-to-suit projects.
Taylor has worked with industrial users, developers and investors on a variety of transactions totaling more than 3 million square feet of lease/sale transactions and hundreds of acres of land totaling more than $200 million in transaction volume. He has earned Colliers’ Titan Award and Colliers’ Million Dollar Producer Award and is a member of Colliers’ Everest Club.
Taylor is also a member of the Strake Jesuit Alumni Association, Houston Food Bank and Keep Houston Beautiful. He and his wife, Alexandra, have two sons, Owen and Benjamin.
Lumberjack Pride Award
Blake Westmoreland ’94
Westmoreland, of Nacogdoches, earned his Bachelor of Business Administration in finance and management from SFA in 1994. His more than 30 years in leadership roles, mostly in Fortune 500 companies, led to his current role as a general manager at Moore Supply Co., a wholesale distributor of plumbing, HVAC and industrial supplies that operates as a division of Hajoca Corporation.
Westmoreland is a board member for the Nacogdoches Hero Foundation. He also serves as one of the administrators of the “You Know You Went to SFA” Facebook page.
He married another Lumberjack, Julie, who earned her Bachelor of Science in rehabilitation in 1994. They have two grown children, one of whom is an SFA senior.
Lumberjack Pride Award
Tish Wright ’98
Wright, of Friendswood, earned her Bachelor of Science in deaf and hard of hearing from SFA in 1998 and a Master of Science in physical therapy from Texas Woman’s University in 2005.
Since then, Wright has worked as a physical therapist in a variety of settings including pediatrics, orthopedics, home health and assisted living. Initially focused on pediatrics, she later moved into orthopedics working with young athletes and post-surgical patients. A former clinic director and team lead of therapy, Wright currently works with the geriatric population in assisted living and memory care communities. She said hearing their life stories brings her joy.
As a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, Wright serves as an alumnae national officer for District 11 Gamma and as a member of the Theta Eta Chapter 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee.
Wright met her husband, Chris ’97, at SFA in summer 1995. They married in 1999 and have three children, Isabel, Ezra and Abigail, an SFA student. The Wrights travel to Nacogdoches often to walk the campus, check on their tree and visit Abigail.
Wright has cohosted Bay Area alumni socials with Mike Hahn for three years and looks forward to organizing more. She enjoys attending SFA Ballpark Days in Houston and volunteering with the SFA Alumni Association during Showcase Saturday, Houston Alumni Corner and SFA Move-In Day.
SFA Athletics Hall of Fame Inductees
Sanford “Sandy” Miller
Miller, of Nacogdoches, was a former assistant athletic director for sports medicine and former head athletic trainer at SFA. A native of Larned, Kansas, he earned a Bachelor of Science in education from the University of Nebraska and a master's degree from Northwest Missouri State University. Miller’s career began in Pampa as the first athletic trainer for the Pampa Independent School District. Two years later, he returned to Northwest Missouri State University as head athletic trainer.
In 1981, Miller joined SFA as head athletic trainer and would remain a Lumberjack for the rest of his career. During his time in this role, he worked for and with four athletic directors, 32 head coaches and many assistant coaches. Miller always prioritized student-athletes’ health care and athletic training students’ education.
By teaching as a part-time instructor in both the undergraduate kinesiology and graduate athletic training programs while serving as full-time athletic trainer, he helped prepare more than 150 athletic trainers with SFA ties to work in secondary schools, colleges and universities, professional sports, and the clinical setting. In 2012, Miller retired as assistant athletic director for sports medicine and head athletic trainer; however, he was rehired to teach in the graduate athletic training program for another five years. He said preparing future athletic trainers was his passion.
Miller was named to the Southwest Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame in 1999, National Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame in 2002, Texas State Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Honor in 2019 and East Texas Athletic Trainers Association Hall of Fame in 2021. In addition to being named Southland Conference Athletic Trainer of the Year in 1992, Miller received the NATA Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award in 1999, the Eddie Wojecki Award for Outstanding Contributions to SWATA in 2006 and the SWATA Frank Medina Award in 1992.
Miller also has served his profession in the following capacities: Master of Ceremonies for the SWATA annual awards ceremony, NATA District 6 director of the board of directors, NATA secretary-treasurer, NATA finance committee chair, NATA board of directors vice president, NATA District 5 secretary-treasurer, examiner for the NATA Certification Exam, and Texas Advisory Board of Athletic Trainers member. Miller has also served as volunteer athletic trainer for world track and field events in Birmingham, England, and Göteborg, Sweden. In 1990, he worked the Goodwill Games in Seattle, Washington.
Miller is married to his wife of 53 years, Madalene. They have two sons, Justin and Doug, and six granddaughters.
SFA Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee
Ashley Monteau ’08
Monteau, of Anahuac, earned a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology from SFA in 2008. While a member of the SFA women’s cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams for four years, she helped earn three team Southland Conference Championships — cross country in 2004 and women’s indoor track and field in both 2006 and 2007. She also earned the following honors:
• Two-time Southland Conference Cross Country Champion, 2004 and 2005
• Southland Conference Female Cross Country Athlete of the Year, 2004
• Southland Conference Outstanding Female Track Performer Indoor, 2006
• Southland Conference Outstanding Female Track Performer Outdoor, 2006
• Five Southland Conference individual championships
◦ Cross Country, 2004
◦ Cross Country, 2005
◦ Indoor 5,000 Meters, 2006
◦ Outdoor 5,000 Meters, 2006
◦ Outdoor 10,000 Meters, 2006
• Multiple All-Southland Conference honors
◦ Cross Country
◦ Indoor Track
◦ Outdoor Track
• Two-time NCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships qualifier
◦ Finished 75th nationally, 2004
◦ Finished 90th nationally, 2005
• SFA record holder and all-time top performer
◦ Indoor 5,000 Meters, 2006 (16:47.74)
◦ Indoor 3,000 Meters, 2006 (9:51.4)
• Still ranks among SFA’s all-time best
◦ No. 5 in the Indoor 3,000 Meters (9:51.10)
◦ No. 6 in the Outdoor 5,000 Meters (17:00.22)
◦ No. 10 in the Outdoor 10,000 Meters (36:14.14)
For the past 15 years, Monteau has taught and coached at Timpson, Liberty, Anahuac and, currently, East Chambers independent school districts. Still a marathon and other road race competitor, she has three sons, Jason, Ashton and Colton.
