L.T. Jordan Institute for International Awareness

The Memorial Student Center Leland T. and Jessie W. Jordan Institute for International Awareness first opened its doors in December 1986 through a generous endowment by Mrs. Jessie Wright Jordan (1907-1996) in the name of her husband, Leland “L.T.” Thomas Jordan ’29 (1906-1976). Mr. Jordan, a native of Lufkin, Texas, was born in 1906. As a mechanical engineering student, he began his career in the oil fields of Kansas and Oklahoma during summer breaks from Texas A&M University. Mr. Jordan was also captain of Battery A in the Corps of Cadets and a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers upon graduation in 1929. After graduation, Mr. Jordan was hired by Gulf Oil and was given his first assignment in Maracaibo, Venezuela, as a production engineer in 1929. He would later be general manager of Gulf Oil’s Western Division in Maracaibo by 1945. During their time in Venezuela, Mr. Jordan and Mrs. Jessie Wright married after she left Tulane Medical School to move down with him. In 1934, the Kuwait Oil Company was formed as a joint venture between Gulf Oil and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, now British Petroleum, and in 1948 picked Mr. Jordan to manage the young company. Along with employees from twenty-nine other countries, Mr. Jordan transformed the company into a highly successful and technical commercial enterprise in just thirteen years. In recognition of his service to British interests in Kuwait, Queen Elizabeth II appointed him Honorary Commander of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire in 1958, and Honorary Knight Commander in 1961, honors rarely conferred upon a non-British subject. Mrs. Jordan also often acted as the Queen’s representative, working at official events in Kuwait and acquiring numerous gifts from the royal family. Upon retirement in 1962 after over thirty years in the industry with Gulf Oil, Mr. Jordan moved back to Lufkin with his wife of twenty-seven years, Mrs. Jessie Wright. He continued to play an integral role in the affairs of the Kuwait Oil Company and was actively involved in the Association of Former Students as Texas A&M University, becoming a charter member of the Century Club. Having lived abroad for most of their lives, the Jordans knew the importance of traveling abroad and wanted to give Texas A&M students the opportunity to experience it for themselves. Since receiving the endowment, the Leland T. and Jessie W. Jordan Institute for International Awareness has evolved into a flagship organization, providing students with innovative and creative international education programs at Texas A&M University.