Pro Bene Meritis

The Pro Bene Meritis award is the highest honor bestowed by the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. The purpose of the award is to honor individuals who are committed to the liberal arts, who have made outstanding contributions in professional or philanthropic pursuits, or who have participated in service related to the College of Liberal Arts. In addition to expressing appreciation to those distinguished individuals so honored, the College of Liberal Arts, through this award, is seeking to heighten public awareness of the critical role played by the liberal arts in education and society today.
The award is presented annually at a dinner in the fall. The alumni, faculty, students and staff of the college take pride in these individuals and the legacy of their character and achievements.

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Pro Bene Meritis Award

The award is presented annually at a dinner in the fall. The alumni, faculty, students and staff of the college take pride in these individuals and the legacy of their character and achievements.

2026 Pro Bene Meritis Recipients

Scott Cohen

Scott Cohen has more than three decades of experience in the financial industry, and has built his career on thoughtful leadership, long-term perspective, and service to others.

He founded CD Wealth Management in 2014 as a Dallas-based independent wealth advisory firm serving families, corporate executives, closely held businesses, and nonprofit institutions, and today, the firm oversees more than $1.5 billion in assets under management through a highly personalized, relationship-focused approach. CD Wealth has been recognized multiple times by the Dallas Business Journal as a Best Place to Work, and Scott has been recognized nationally, with annual inclusion on Forbes’ Best-in-State Wealth Advisors list and Barron’s Top 1,200 Financial Advisors.

Scott has been an active leader and volunteer in the Dallas community for many years, including serving as Chairman of the Board at the Aaron Family Jewish Community Center from 2013 to 2015. He also has spent two decades as co-chair of the center’s annual golf tournament, raising more than $3 million for programs for children and seniors. He and his wife Barbi served as event chairs of the 2025 Hope for Humanity dinner benefiting the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum, attracting 1,300 people and raising $1.9 million in support of its mission.

He has held advisory and philanthropic roles for the Parish Episcopal School, the Shelton School, and the Da Vinci School in Dallas, as well as serving on the Chancellor’s Parent Leadership Council at the University of Denver.

A proud graduate of the University of Texas, Scott earned his degree in economics, a discipline he credits with shaping his analytical and big-picture thinking. During his time on campus, Scott was active in student leadership, including Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and the Silver Spurs.

Scott remains deeply engaged with the University of Texas community, serving on the UT Economics Advisory Committee, UT Development Board, the Liberal Arts Advisory Council, and the Longhorn Foundation Advisory Council. He mentors Silver Spurs members and alumni, advises Zeta Beta Tau, and has established two endowed scholarships, one in the College of Education and one for Economics students in the College of Liberal Arts.

Through CD Wealth and Kestra Financial, Scott created formal internship programs that have supported more than 20 students, reinforcing his commitment to education, mentorship, and developing the next generation of Longhorn leaders.

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Kim Monday, MD

Kimberly Monday, MD, serves as Vice Chair of Clinical Operations and Associate Clinical Professor of Neurology at UTHealth Houston’s McGovern Medical School. In these roles, she is the Medical Director for six outpatient neurology clinics, teaches the medical student neurology rotation, oversees the neurology resident continuity clinic, and mentors graduating neurology residents through employment offers and contract reviews.

Dr. Monday is fellowship-trained and board-certified in general neurology, clinical neurophysiology, and sleep medicine. She cares for adult general neurology patients, with particular clinical interests in epilepsy and movement disorders. She has also been repeatedly recognized in Top Docs, an annual distinction based on physician peer nominations.

Before joining the Department of Neurology at McGovern Medical School, Dr. Monday co-founded the Houston Neurological Institute, a private neurology and sleep medicine practice with locations in Pasadena and Clear Lake, Texas, where she practiced for more than 20 years.

Her career reflects a deep commitment to service, leadership, and advocacy for underserved communities. She is a former Chair of the Harris Health System Board of Trustees and currently serves on the MHMD Board and the Texas Medical Association Board. She has also previously served as President of the Harris County Medical Society, the Houston Academy of Medicine, and the Texas Neurological Society.

An alumna of the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Monday earned her B.A. from the College of Liberal Arts through the Plan II Honors Program, a highly selective interdisciplinary curriculum integrating STEM, social sciences, and the liberal arts.

She currently serves as Chair of the UT Austin College of Liberal Arts Advisory Council where she’s served for ten years, and proudly leads members while advocating the importance of a liberal arts degree. Dr. Monday is also a proud newer member of Longhorn Family Partners.

In addition to her service on the Council, Dr. Monday is a strong advocate for undergraduate research. Together with her wife, Laura Marangell, she established the Monday Family Endowment for Liberal Arts, a scholarship honoring Kim’s parents—both UT alumni and lifelong influences as educators, physicians, and community leaders.

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Lorraine Pangle

Dr. Lorraine Pangle is a Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, where she teaches and researches the history of political and moral philosophy. Her work centers on classical thought, with particular emphasis on authors such as Homer, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Rousseau, and Nietzsche.

She earned a B.A. in History from Yale University, a B.Ed. from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought.

In addition to her faculty role, Dr. Pangle serves as Co-Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. The Center offers an interdisciplinary program focused on the great books and ideas that have shaped Western civilization and the American republic, providing undergraduates across all colleges and majors a structured pathway through UT’s core curriculum. The program aims to prepare students for thoughtful, engaged lives as citizens and leaders.

Dr. Pangle is the author of five books and numerous scholarly articles. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Earhart Foundation.

Her current research explores a wide range of themes, including the relationship between Plato’s political and epistemological thought in the Theaetetus; the dialogue between Plato and Homer, with a focus on moral psychology in the Iliad and the Republic and the enduring “contest between philosophy and poetry”; the role of contemplation in Nietzsche’s political philosophy; insights from evolutionary psychology and their resonance with ancient accounts of human nature; and Aristotle’s moral psychology, particularly his claim that human beings are political animals and its implications for modern liberalism.

Publications include Reason and Character: The Moral Foundations of Aristotelian Political Philosophy (University of Chicago Press, 2020), Virtue is Knowledge: The Moral Foundations of Socratic Political Philosophy (University of Chicago Press, 2014), The Political Philosophy of Benjamin Franklin (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007), Aristotle and the Philosophy of Friendship (Cambridge University Press, 2003), The Learning of Liberty: The Educational Ideas of the American Founders (co-authored with Thomas L. Pangle, University Press of Kansas, 1993), and articles on Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, the American founders, and the philosophy of education.

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