"I believe our role in life is to be true to ourselves and make the world a better place. The role of government is to help that happen."
Profile
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- Native West Texan; graduate of Texas Tech University (1965)
- Doctoral degree in biochemistry and physiology from the University of Kansas (1969)
- UTEP professor and former Chair of Biology
- Doctoral degree in biochemistry and physiology from the University of Kansas (1969)
- UTEP professor and former Chair of Biology
- Co-creator and former Program Director of the UTEP Border Biomedical Research Center
- Science Educator for Jet Propulsion Lab, NASA
- Democratic Precinct Delegate in Detroit, MI (1974-1976)
- Four-term alderman in Newton, MA (1984-1991)
- El Paso resident in district 78 for over 16 years
- 65 years old; married, 3 sons
- Four-term alderman in Newton, MA (1984-1991)
- El Paso resident in district 78 for over 16 years
- 65 years old; married, 3 sons
I was born in the West Texas town of Big Spring in 1943, spent two years in Venezuela as a child, and grew up in San Antonio, with frequent visits to Mexico. I was graduated from Texas Tech in 1965, where I did field work in zoology in both West Texas and Mexico. During graduate work on a doctorate in biochemistry and physiology at the University of Kansas, I met and married my wife, Carol. We moved to the east coast in 1970, where I held a variety of teaching and research positions in New York, Detroit, and Boston.
We lived in a biracial neighborhood in the inner city of Detroit during the mid-70s, where African-American and white families lived and worked together to bring the community back to life and harmony after the devastation of the 1967 riot. There I ran for and was elected precinct delegate to the State Democratic convention. In the Boston suburb of Newton during the 1980s I was elected an Alderman for four terms.
In 1991 we moved to our current home in El Paso. I became Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at UTEP. The next year, Dr. Rey Elizondo and I wrote the grant proposal that established the Border Biomedical Research Center. Later I served as its Program Director. In 1999, I resigned from the Chair to devote full time to teaching and research in my specialty of neurobiology. I was also selected at that time to become a science educator for robotic space exploration by NASA.
My career as a teacher and biomedical researcher has been very rewarding, but I feel the time has come to devote myself more fully to public service. Health care and education are clearly among my high priorities, but I am also distressed by the obstacles faced by so many to achieve the stability, security, and well-being that an affluent and compassionate society should make possible.
Government can not provide for all our needs, but it should do a better job of helping us help ourselves. My mission as a State Representative will be to do what I can to make state government responsive to the real issues that affect our daily lives, and to emphasize that we are the government, with the power to exercise our collective responsibilities to make the world a better place, while ensuring the private rights and blessings of liberty that both our federal and state constitutions guarantee.
Political ad paid for by the Louis Irwin Committee, Carol Irwin, Treasurer,
600 Skydale Dr, El Paso, TX 79912