We Are LU | A Catalyst for Change

Hyattye Simmons ’79 instills this idea into the advice he shares with the students and professionals he mentors.

“Regardless of where we are, we all have a certain wisdom of life that we can pass on to the next generation. We can't force them to take it, but we can make ourselves available to be there and offer it to whoever wants to receive it. I believe that will make the next generation that much better at being successful.” Hyattye Simmons wasn't born in Texas, but in good Texas fashion he says, “my mother got me here as fast as she could.” He was the first African-American male valedictorian to graduate Burkeville High School in 1977. Two weeks after graduation his mother signed him up for summer school at Lamar University. He credits LU as “the bridge that helped him prepare for the outside world.” He completed his B.S. in government in two and a half years, taking huge course loads, up to 21 hours a semester. He attributes two major building blocks at Lamar University to helping pave the way for him to become the attorney he is today. The first was the LU speech program which gave Simmons the tools he needed to get rid of a career-limiting stutter. The second was his mentor, Jim Love, in the Criminal Justice Program. Love, who retired as associate professor in 2007 and is a current adjunct professor, steered him in the direction of the University of Texas law school, where he graduated UT law in 1984 and was able to keep the promise of becoming a lawyer, which he made to his late brother.

Simmons was appointed general counsel to the Texas Secretary of State at the age of 26. After serving the State of Texas, Simmons moved to Dallas County and served as assistant city attorney for the City of Dallas for one year, then began a 24-year career at Dallas Area Rapid Transit. He retired from DART in 2012 at 53, but he did not retire from law. He quotes a mentor, “when you come to an organization, come with a mission plan, fill that plan and then move on, there are other things for you to do.” So feeling as though he had accomplished everything he could and more at DART, it was time for him to move on and do some of the things that he wanted to do.

He began mentoring students and other lawyers as well as community outreach as general counsel for non-profit organizations. Simmons currently serves as general counsel or several non-profit organizations, including serving as general counsel for InfraGard National Members Alliance, the organization which oversees a national information sharing program (InfraGard) between the FBI and private sector with the goal of increasing protection of the nation’s critical infrastructure. Simmons previously served as the first general counsel for the North Texas chapter of InfraGard.

In 2017, Simmons received the LU Distinguished Alumni Award, sharing the evening with three other incredible alumni. Simmons’ mentorship of LU students who were at risk and helping to keep them on the path to graduation, earned him the prestigious award. “There are a lot of distractions, especially for minority students,” he said. He teaches his students, “You have no control over how others behave; you have control over how you behave. By conducting yourself to be the best you can be every day, you might be able to change other people’s lives. You can't force the individuals; those individuals need to make that change on their own. As a mentor, you can be a catalyst for that change.” Simmons accepted students who had a thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn. He describes mentoring “like parenting, you don't expect anything back. You don't expect praise or a reward, You do it simply because you really love to do it, and that in and of itself is where you experience the reward.“

“I've been fortunate with the students that I have mentored, and they have been very appreciative of the help I've given them along the way,” Simmons said. One important lesson he instills in his students is to learn patience. “In life, there will always be painful failures and setbacks, but remember to take the pain with the celebration,” he tells his students. “If you can learn patience, then hopefully with the grace of God you can get to the goals and dreams of your life.”

While describing his relationship with past mentees, Simmons references the movie, Good Will Hunting. He describes the scene when Ben Affleck and Matt Damon discuss Damon's brilliance and how Affleck hopes that one day he will drive by Damon's home to find Damon gone. Simmons relates to this scene and knows that if he doesn't hear from his students, that means they've learned what they needed from him and have moved on. “As they become more and more successful in their career, their need to contact me diminishes, and that is fine,” he said. “They have grown and can go out on their own; they have grown their own wings to fly.”

This article originally appeared in Cadence, the official magazine of Lamar University. Subscribe to Cadence by contacting Alumni Affairs.