His art took him from the cotton fields of Texas all the way to the White House. His granite sculptures and plazas express art in unexpected places: building lobbies, city squares and public parks.

Born to cotton-pickers in Corpus Christi, Jesús Moroles displayed an artistic talent from a young age and experienced early success as a painter and silk-screener. But it wasn't until he attended the University of North Texas that he had his first experience with sculpting and encountered a mentor who stoked this passion.

Jesús is my nominee for Texan of the Year because he has defied the odds to bring art into our everyday existence and help shape the way we live. Believing that art can make a difference in people's lives, he has shown us that it has value beyond a museum and should be part of the natural world. Art can motivate us to follow our passion, as it has for Jesús, and art can move us, as it has for the thousands of people who have walked through his granite-and-earthen monument for the Houston Police Officers Memorial.

For his achievements, Jesús recently received the National Medal of Arts, the highest award given to artists and art patrons by the U.S. government. He also is a recipient of the 2007 Texas Medal of the Arts Award by the Texas Cultural Trust.

Just as important, Jesús embodies the American Dream, the tale of a man born into poverty who got an education, worked hard and paid his dues to become the success he is today. And he is a man who believes strongly in using his talent and success to lift up our communities. His story is one that we should never tire of hearing, because it is a reminder that education will take us anywhere we want to go, even places we never dreamed about.

His story strikes a particular chord for me, because, as president of one of Texas' largest and most diverse universities, it is my mission to give rise to many more students like Jesús. And as president of Jesús' alma mater, I am proud that we helped launch his career. He took a workshop with Luis Jiménez, who lectured at the university, and after earning his B.F.A. through our College of Visual Arts and Design, Jesús spent a year as an apprentice learning from the master sculptor. He spent another year in Italy, and during a visit to Monte Altissimo, where Michelangelo acquired his marble, Jesús was inspired to create sculptures in harmony with nature.

Since then, Jesús has crafted works that reflect our place in nature. He has honed a signature style to symbolize that relationship, carving and polishing half of a granite slab while leaving the rest raw and untouched.

His work is shown throughout the world, in museums, in corporate and public spaces and in private collections. His piece Stele Gateway graces Lubben Plaza in downtown Dallas, across from the Belo Building. Lapstrake, across from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is one of his most visible. His work was part of the landmark exhibition Contemporary Hispanic Art in the United States, which was shown at major American museums. He received a Visual Arts Fellowship and his pieces were included in a two-year traveling museum exhibition. He also earned a National Endowment for the Arts Matching Grant for an environmental installation of 45 sculptural pieces and fountains for the Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

In becoming one of the world's master sculptors, Jesús is a role model for anyone who believes that art can change lives, whether one is creating it or experiencing it.

Gretchen M. Bataille is president of the University of North Texas. Her e-mail address is president@unt.edu.