Dennis D Golden

Dennis D. Golden of Carthage, Texas, was appointed to a six-year term to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board by Governor Rick Perry on September 1, 2009. Dr. Golden was appointed as Secretary by the Board and serves as a member of the Committee on Academic and Workforce Success, and Chair of the Task Force on Community and Technical Colleges.

Dr. Golden was appointed to the University of Houston System Board Of Regents in 2004 by Governor Rick Perry, and served as a member of the board through August 31, 2009. For fiscal year 2009, he served as chair of the Audit and Compliance Committee and as a member of the Finance and Administration Committee. His greatest joy while serving on the Board of Regents of UH was chairing the $130 million Health and Biomedical Center on Vision Institute Committee and testifying before the State Board of Nursing for the new nursing program at the University of Houston-Victoria. The Health and Biomedical Center on Vision is the first ambulatory surgical center in a college of Optometry in the World. 

Dr. Golden graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor's degree in optometry in 1976 and went on to complete his Doctorate of Optometry from the University of Houston in 1977. During his campus years, he served as president of the Optometric Student Association and was awarded Outstanding 4th Year Student.

He is chief of staff of Golden Eye Associates and has been in private practice in Carthage, Texas, since 1978. He is also a member of the medical staff at East Texas Medical Center Carthage, Texas, Willis Knighton Medical, Shreveport, Louisiana, and DeSoto Regional Medical Center in Logansport, Louisiana. Dr. Golden has been in private practice for 37 years and his primary areas of interest are glaucoma and ocular surgery.

Dr. Golden has been a member of the board of trustees for Panola College in Carthage for 21 years, with 6 of those as board chair. He is also a member of the American Optometric Association and the Texas Optometric Association. Dr. Golden served as president of the Texas Optometric Association from 1997-1998, and in 2003 he was named "Optometrist of the Year." He was named distinguished alumnus of the College of Optometry for 2004 and recently named distinguished alumnus of the University of Houston for the year 2013.

Dr. Golden calls home the historic Logan Plantation in Logan, Texas which is a 300-acre cattle ranch that he and his wife operate.  He also has interest in timber, oil and gas , and wildlife conservation.