Outstanding Americans by Choice
The Outstanding Americans by Choice initiative recognizes the outstanding achievements of naturalized U.S. citizens. Through civic participation, professional achievement, and responsible citizenship, recipients of this honor have demonstrated their commitment to this country and to the common civic values that unite us as Americans.
USCIS will recognize naturalized citizens who have made significant contributions to both their community and their adopted country on a case-by-case basis.
Note: The following biographies have been provided by the ABC recipients.
2007
Katja Bullock was born and raised in Germany. She emigrated to the United States in 1965, having seen the conclusion of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War that divided Germany.
Antonio M. Taguba was born in Manila, Republic of the Philippines. His father was in the U.S. Army while his mother raised seven children. When Major General Taguba (ret.) was eleven years old the family moved to Hawaii where he graduated from high school.
Emilio Estefan arrived in the United States from Cuba as a teenager during the 1960s. He has been instrumental in the careers of many artists such as Carlos Ponce, Ricky Martin, Marc Anthony, Jon Secada, Victor Manuelle, Carlos Vives, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, among many others.
Born Gloria Maria Fajardo in Havana, Cuba, her family fled Cuba in 1959, when Fidel Castro seized power of the country, and settled in a neighborhood behind Miami’s Orange Bowl Stadium. In 1975, she met Emilio Estefan, who invited her to join his band, which eventually became the Miami Sound Machine.
Franklin Chang Diaz is an astronaut, rocket scientist and a new space entrepreneur. He was born April 5, 1950, in San José, Costa Rica and, after completing his secondary education, immigrated to the United States in 1968 to pursue his dream of space flight.
Peter W. Schramm is the executive director of the John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs and a professor of Political Science at Ashland University. Prior to his work at Ashland, he served in the Reagan Administration as the director of the Center for International Education in the United States Department of Education.
Eduardo Aguirre, U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra, was appointed by President George W. Bush and sworn-in by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. He presented diplomatic credentials to H. M. King Juan Carlos I of Spain on June 29, 2005.
Vartan Gregorian is the twelfth president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, a grant-making institution founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1911. The pledge Mr. Gregorian made early in life to become “a person of learning and consequence,” has served him well.
Dr. Samuel G. Saldívar is a professor emeritus of Spanish and director of instruction at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Saldívar was born in Mexico, and in 1956, he was invited by Mr. Merrill Hathaway Ruggles, a high school teacher from Punta Gorda, Florida, to study in the United States.
As a Houston City Council Member, Mr. Khan has a long record of community service. He has served as Vice President of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston and President of the Pakistan American Association of Greater Houston.