Mr. John M. Heasley Re-Elected to McDonald Observatory Board of Visitors

8 August 2013

FORT DAVIS — Mr. John M. Heasley of Austin has been re-elected to a three-year term as a Member of The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and Department of Astronomy Board of Visitors. Mr. Heasley is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of the Texas Bankers Association.

 Mr. Heasley has headed the Board of Visitors Legislative Affairs Committee since he joined in 2001. He served as the Board of Visitors Chair in 2008 and 2009.

 The Board of Visitors is a supporter’s group for the Texas Astronomy Program. It has accomplished great things, from funding chairs, professorships, and fellowships at the University, to developing private contributions for the Hobby-Eberly Telescope and the Frank N. Bash Visitors Center at McDonald Observatory. The Board’s Planned Giving Committee raises funds for the Observatory’s future, and the Lighting Ordinance Committee ensures that McDonald enjoys the darkest night skies of any professional observatory in the continental United States.

 Established in 1932, The University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory near Fort Davis, Texas, hosts multiple telescopes undertaking a wide range of astronomical research. McDonald is home to the consortium-run Hobby- Eberly Telescope (a joint project of The University of Texas at Austin, The Pennsylvania State University, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen). An internationally known leader in astronomy education and outreach, McDonald Observatory is also pioneering the next generation of astronomical research as a founding partner of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

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John Heasley

John Heasley