Governor Abbott Appoints Farias To Higher Education Coordinating Board
Governor Greg Abbott today appointed Dr. Fred Farias, III to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for a term to expire August 31, 2019. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is responsible for promoting access, quality and cost efficiency in the state’s institutions of higher education.
Dr. Fred Farias, III, a Rio Grande Valley native, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980 before graduating a Doctor of Optometry from Southern College of Optometry in 1987 and opening his first practice, 20/20 Vision Care, Inc., in McAllen, Texas in 1988.
Dr. Farias currently serves as President of the Texas Optometric Association where he has been an active member since 1988. Farias is also a former president of the Rio Grande Valley Optometric Association and an active member of the American Optometric Association as well as an American Academy of Optometry Fellow. In 2001, Governor Rick Perry appointed him to the Texas Optometry Board where he served for seven years, in part as Chair of the Licensing and Administration Committee. Farias has also served on the University of Texas (UT) System Chancellor’s Executive Committee, the UT College of Communication Advisory Council (2001-2004), the University of Texas Longhorn Athletic Advisory Council and co-founded the University of Texas Hispanic Alumni Committee in 2001.
He now remains active in the McAllen community, serving on the McAllen Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors and chairing the Chamber’s Governmental Affairs Council. He has previously served on the Vannie E. Cook Cancer Center Board of Directors as well as the Rio Grande Valley Arthritis Foundation Board.
This appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.