Aggie Women Honor Legacy Award Recipients

The Aggie Women, a chartered constituent network with The Association of Former Students, honored four Aggie women for their contributions to Texas A&M, their communities and the world, and for exemplifying the university's core values. 

"We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to all of this year's attendees for their continued support, as well as to our great sponsors, who help make it all possible. We hope that ... you will leave motivated and inspired to carry the Aggie Spirit forward in all that you do," the group said. 

The three Legacy Award recipients are:

• Mandy Scott '87: Scott was the first woman cadet selected to the Corps staff, and the first female to serve as Deputy Corps Commander. She was one of the first two women inducted into the Ross Volunteer Company, and received numerous awards and recognition on campus. She presently serves as the first woman president of the Ross Volunteer Association, and has been on its board since 2013. She has also held leadership positions in the Corps of Cadets Association. Scott is an active participant and panel member in the annual Corps Women Forum. 
• Ilya Marotta '85: Marotta attended Texas A&M at Galveston where she received a scholarship from the Organization of American States. She worked for the Panama Canal for more than 30 years in numerous capacities including ship repairs, dredging, construction, accounting, engineering and master planning. In 2012, Marotta was appointed executive vice president of the Panama Canal Expansion Project, a $5.2 billion project completed under her leadership in 2016. She has received numerous recognitions for her professional career. 
• Ethel Hutson, honorary Class of 1895: Hutson was presented a posthumous Legacy Award as she was the first woman known to have attended Texas A&M. Her father was a professor of English and history, and Hutson assisted in editing and illustrating the first yearbook, the Olio. She was known as the first "campus girl" and named an honorary member of the Class of 1895. Through her example, Hutson's younger sisters began taking classes in civil engineering in 1899, completing their coursework in 1903 but unable to attain a degree. Hutson laid the foundation for future generations of Aggie women.

The Aggie Women Network also presented Huyen Pham with the Eminent Scholar Award. This award is a joint recognition with the president of Texas A&M specifically for female faculty at A&M. It is designed to recognize outstanding research, scholarship and service, honoring those scholars who act as role models for all female students.

Pham has served as a professor of law at the Texas A&M School of Law for 10 years, focusing on immigration law. As one of the first legal scholars to recognize the significance of the sub-federal immigration regulation that grew after the attacks on 9/11, she has written extensively about the doctrinal and policy implications of this regulation. Born in Vietnam, Pham arrived to the U.S. as an unaccompanied refugee child. She ultimately graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, both with honors. She has volunteered in a Vietnamese refugee camp as an Echoing Green Fellow, clerked with a federal judge and has worked as an assistant attorney general and a corporate lawyer. 

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