Dr. Roberto A. Galván was born in San Antonio, Texas where he received a large part of his training. He graduated from the San Antonio Vocational and Technical High School in 1941 where he received a book called The Grace of Guadalupe autographed by the author, Frances Parkinson Keyes. It was an award presented to him for having the highest scholastic average of a third-year student in Spanish. He was also installed as a member of the National Honor Society and awarded a scholarship to attend the San Antonio Junior College, from which he obtained an Associate of Arts Degree with honors (Phi Theta Kappa) in May of 1943.

A hiatus of some three years found him in the service during WWll. After the hostilities had ceased, he attended Shrivenham University in England while waiting to be redeployed and discharged. He earned six hours of Spanish there that would later be validated at Trinity University from where he would graduate with honors (cum laude) in 1948. While an undergraduate and later, following his graduation, he accompanied several students and the chairman of the Foreign Language Department to Trinity’s Extension School in Mexico City, the first time (1948) as a student and the second time around (1949) under a scholarship, and as an assistant of the chairman.

Dr. Galván received his M.A. Degree from the University of Texas in the summer of 1949 where he was an Honor Day student and where he was installed as a member of the Zeta Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, The National Hispanic Collegiate Honor Society.

He studied for his Ph.D. at Tulane University from the fall of 1949 to the summer of 1954. There he was awarded a teaching fellowship and a Carnegie Corporation Grant (May 29, 1952) to do research on his doctoral dissertation at the Library of Congress. He was also inducted as a member of Phi Sigma Iota, the National Romance Language Honor Society.

Professor Galván’s career as an educator at the post-secondary level spans for over half a century. Most of said interim covers his tenure in a school that has undergone three name changes since his arrival there-: Southwest Texas State College, Southwest Texas State University, and Texas State University. His work in these excelled in the areas of publications, teaching, and service.

Publication: He has written many articles, most of which deal with Spanish linguistic usage in Texas and in other parts of the Spanish-speaking world. All have received favorable reviews, as have the two dictionaries, one on chicano Spanish and the other on tejano Spanish  and the monograph Chicano, vocablo controvertido. He has also had published an anthology of poems in Spanish (188pp.), many of which have been recited by professional readers in Mexico City. Over 200 were published elsewhere, one in Ireland in English, several in the U.S. in English and in Spanish, and several in Spanish in Latin America. Some of his poems have won first second, and third place, and honorable mention. Some have received cash prizes. He was also the founder and editor of the poetry journal Al Principio  still published today.

Teaching: The many awards, other honors or recognitions, as well as the letters received from his students, reflect the quality of his teaching: 1) 1968: the Minnie Stevens Piper Professor /1969: The Grammatical Structure of Spanish, a course taught by Dr. Galván in a summer Language Institute for Teachers, was rated by the participants as one of the two most valuable classes/1973: The Assistant Commissioner for Bilingual Education presented Dr. Galván with a Dedication and Excellent in Teaching and Profession Award/1973: The Alamo Valley Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese honored him with the Cervantes Award/1976: The Alumni Association of SWTSU presented him with the Distinguished Teacher Award/1981-82: The Student Body of SWTSU recognized him as one of Fifteen Outstanding Educators of the 1981-82 academic year/1964: his department and his students have been sending him letters praising his teaching.

Service: (1) In his service to the university, he served in scores of committees as a member or as a chairman. He translated many documents into Spanish for the registrar and an invitational letter that president Supple sent to President Salinas of Mexico. For these and many other contributions Dr. Galván was awarded the Service in Excellence Award by the College of Liberal Arts.

In the service to his Department, he also served in scores of committees as a member or as a chairman. He was the coordinator of the Spanish Division for over eleven years. He also served as interim chairman of his department three times. He obtained $15,000.00, $5,000.00 of which wet for scholarships for its postgraduate students majoring in Spanish and $10,000.00 which was used to repair its language lab. He also served as an adviser for five student organizations. The most successful one being the Epsilon Beta Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, which under his direction was designated an Honor and Merit Chapter 14 years in succession in competition with over 500 chapters nationwide. Only from 15 to 20 chapters are thus honored annually. The second most successful was AMAS which he cofounded and which after its third year he remained its sole adviser until 1992. During that interim the club, under his direction, sponsored many cultural activities and awarded several scholarships, to graduates from the local high school. Dr. Galván also served as the language coordinator for two Peace Corps Training Programs in the summers of 1965 and 1966 whose trainees were sent to Costa Rica.

• In his service to other departments, he obtained $5,000.00 for scholarships for music majors of the Department of Music. He also developed a course of study in basic language skills for majors in both criminal justice and social Dr. Galván served as an interim director of the Bilingual-Bicultural Education Program for two years during which time he obtained state endorsement for the program, increased the enrollment of majors from 39 to 139 and got $10,000 from the Texas Education Agency to provide a Spanish Language Institute for monolingual English-speaking teachers in New Braunfels, a program which he organized and instituted.
• His service to the community can best be assessed by the honors that were bestowed on him by a service organization, The San Marcos Noon Lions Club, of with he has been a member since They designated him the Lion of the Month seven times and the Lion of the Year three. They also awarded him with the Melvin Jones Fellowship, the highest award that is given by the Lions International Club. Additionally, the club has been funding in his name, an annual scholarship of $1,000.00 for a deserving Spanish major or minor. Dr. Galván and his wife counted the alms received by St. John’s Catholic Church for years. He also has been serving as an usher during its masses for several years. He served three years on the nomination committee of the church.
• Service to the profession: Dr. Galván is listed in the three editions of Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola, the official dictionary of Spanish Royal Academy, of the Mexican Academy of Language, and a regular member of the North American Academy of the Spanish Language. In this last one, he has been the president of both its commission of Lexicography and of Admissions.