Brite's future

The stars at Brite are shining after a Texas family donated the largest gift from living donors in the seminary's 90-year history. Thanks to a $3 million gift from the Harrison family in July, Brite Divinity School's goal for the $19.5 million Building a Brite Future capital campaign has nearly reached the midpoint.

Siblings Michael A. Harrison '64, Kathryn Harrison and W.O. "Bill" Harrison Jr. '67 each donated $1 million toward the gift, in memory of their late parents, the Rev. Dr. W. Oliver Harrison and Nell Betty Harrison. Harrison was minister of First Christian Church of Corpus Christi for 36 years before his death in 1978.

The son of a Disciples minister, Harrison received a B.A. degree in religion studies from TCU in 1932 and a bachelor of divinity degree from Brite in 1935, a master's degree from Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago in 1937 and an honorary doctor of ministry degree from Brite in 1948.

During the course of his career there, Harrison was named a trustee of TCU and of Brite, as well as a longtime member of the board of trustees of the Pension Fund of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

"We are grateful for their faith and generosity," said Newell Williams, president of Brite Divinity School. "Through their gift, and the gifts of others, Brite will have an academic building that will serve its current and future needs."

To date, Brite has received gifts of $9 million toward the campaign, aimed at expanding academic facilities adjoining Robert Carr Chapel on campus.

Spaced out

It was a welcome invasion in May as TCU hosted the first Lockheed Martin Space Day. During the day, a host of fifth- through eighth-graders spent a half-day being "spaced out" in classes taught by TCU students.

Evening brought out the commmunity to hear a former astronaut and a Deep Impace Mission scientist, study the heavens during a telescope and skymap class and gaze at the stars during a telescope party.

The was designed to teach teachers and students about NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Impact space exploration mission.

A new core curriculum

After a decade of development, the new TCU Core Curriculum debuted this fall. Constructed by faculty, the new core reflects the TCU mission statement's emphasis on global awareness and ethical leadership while maintaining the institution's 132-year-old heritage in the liberal arts.

The result is a set of "basics" that are anything but. The new core requires between 39 and 63 hours, plus an additional six hours of writing emphasis, in three components. "It's important to say that nothing was wrong with the old University Core Requirements," says Ed McNertney, economics professor and director of the TCU CC. "In fact, the UCR provided a legacy from which we built the TCU CC. But the new core is better organized. It's clearer."

One goal was flexibility. Developers wanted it lean enough to not overburden students in professional programs, allowing them to earn a degree in four years. Yet it also needed to be expandable so individual colleges could add their own requirements.

Another new element is a focus on educational competencies and outcomes, moving emphasis from the content of the curriculum to the knowledge and skills that students are expected to master. "In other words, courses must focus on what students are expected to learn and how they will demonstrate that they have learned, not just on the material that faculty will teach," says McNertney.

Best of all, students can take four years to complete the core requirements, mixing the courses in with classes in their major and minor. So there's no rush. No need to get the "basics" out of the way. The most important requirement: Enjoy the journey in TCU's world of learning.

TCU Core Curriculum Components

Human Experiences and Endeavors -- 27 hours, or nine courses, including three in humanities; three in social sciences; two in natural
sciences; and one in fine arts.

Essential Competencies -- 12 hours, or four courses, including one each in mathematics and oral communication, and two in written
communication. Two writing emphasis classes also must be completed, but they can count toward other parts of the core or a major or minor.

Heritage, Mission, Vision and Values -- 18 hours or six courses,
represent the ethos of TCU, requiring one class each in
religious traditions, historical traditions, literary
traditions, citizenship and social values, cultural awareness and global awareness. Many of these courses also satisfy requirements in other parts of the core, allowing students to double up on credits.

Ad students scream Yahoo!

A team of TCU advertising/public relations students earned a bittersweet victory in May as first runners-up at the annual National Student Advertising Competition. Had one more team competed on the regional level, the TCU students would have gone to the national level as a wild card team. Still, the 15-member campaign team got closer to winning than any of their Horned Frog predecessors, and took some comfort in knowing that the team they lost to won the national championship later in the semester.

Yahoo!, the Internet giant, was the lucky client that received a comprehensive marketing and advertising plan as part of the students' project. The team worked day and night over a nine-week period with an imaginary $10 million budget to ultimately help Yahoo! reach youth ages 13 to 17. The result: a creative tagline, HOOK UP, radio and television commercials (developed with assistance from students in TCU's radio/television/film department) and promotions such as free giveaways and direct mail campaigns to reach their target audience. Taking the tagline idea a little further, the TCU team also created a magazine called The HOOK UP, a teen-styled publication which explained their comprehensive advertising and marketing plan to NSAC judges.

Mike Wood, professional-in-residence at the Schieffer School of Journalism, teaches the campaigns class and led the students to their victory.

Capitol Frogs

In July, Secretary of State Roger Williams ‘72 gathered this group of purple politicos on the steps of the state capital. Standing, back row, are from left, Terry James '03, Texas legislative internship program; Kenny Thompson '03, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce; Williams '72; Keith Graf '92, governor's advisor, aerospace and aviation; David Zimmerman '81, assistant general counsel to the governor. Front row, from left, Mary Kelly ‘00, social work intern; Heather Bradford ‘03, policy analyst; Amy Solomon ‘03, legislative assistant; Laura Hunter '03, legislative aide; and Jillanne Johnson '03, campaign manager for State Rep. Lon Burnam. Not pictured is Bruce Gibson '75, chief of staff for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst.

Coffee talk

TCU students are making no beans about their support for coffee growers around the globe. They've organized a new student group named Frogs for Fair Trade aimed at bringing fair trade coffee to campus.

The group's adviser, University Minister Rev. Angela Kaufman, says she's amazed by how quickly the student movement has taken off.

"Especially at a place like TCU, talking about fair trade is such a great entry point, because everyone controls how they spend their money. Making a decision in the morning at Starbucks to buy their fair trade coffee sends a message, and it's such a low level of engagement," she said.

TCU religion sophomore Rory Phillips initiated the organization after unsuccessfully seeking out an active social justice group on campus.

In February, he and Megan Severns ‘05 accompanied Kaufman to the United Students for Fair Trade 2005 National Convergence in Chicago where they heard from producers from Central and South American and African developing countries. Within weeks the students organized Frogs for Fair Trade (FFT) on campus and committed two TCU entities to make the switch to Fair Trade brews: the student government and the TCU Bookstore.

"[Fair trade] is a very good solution when you're actually paying the workers what they've earned and assuring they're not going into poverty," said Phillips, who is a USFT regional coordinator. "It's actually fixing the problem, not just putting a band-aid on it."

FFT's plans for fall include a directory of local businesses and stores that offer fair trade-certified products -- designated by a label that certifies the growers or vendors were paid a fair wage for their work -- as well as activities during October, National Fair Trade Month.

For more information, go to www.frogsforfairtrade.org.

Did you know?

There are 30 million coffee-farming families whose only source of income is the profit they bring in from their crop. In the basic market, the crop must go through middlemen and exporters who often have the advantage of exploitation through loans and debts.

This exploitation results in losses for the farmer. These farming families can no longer afford basic necessities for production (i.e. fertilizers, tools, technologies), and often end up losing their land, their only source of income.

The men move to more urban areas to look for a second source of income, rarely finding one, while the children must forgo their education in order to help on the land.

Say "ah"

Turning students with little or no medical background into nurses usually takes several years. But in August, TCU's first accelerated nursing students finished up course work in only 15 months and were ready for board exams.

Designed for college graduates with degrees other than nursing, students in the accelerated BSN earn a nursing degree in less than two years. Twenty students with varied backgrounds, such as a PhDs in applied mathematics, public health and law, began the program in May 2004 and seventeen graduated in August. The other three students will graduate in December or May.

The innovative program, funded by a grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, will accept another 20 next spring.

It's a good way to attack the growing shortage of nurses in the country, and a great opportunity for students, said Charles Walker, a co-director.

"This program has been very successful. We have learned a lot from this first class and will implement new changes that will further enhance the program," he said

Great performances

Lauded by critics and considered a leading component of chamber music in the southwestern United States, the eighth annual Mimir Chamber Music Festival brought musicians, students and music lovers to campus in July.

Prominent performers from leading American symphony orchestras and music schools from across the globe performed for appreciative audiences and coached students in the finer points of chamber music during master classes.

Only 19 students were chosen by audition to participate in the concerts and classes, where they received intensive daily instruction by the Festival's faculty.

A highlight for many was learning from Jose Feghali, winner of the 1985 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and member of the piano faculty. Feghali and Curt Thompson, professor of violin, organized the 10-day festival.

Musicians who participated in the festival included Italian concert pianist/SMU music faculty Alessio Bax; Stephen Rose, principal second violin for the Cleveland Orchestra; violist Kirsten Docter, a member of the award-winning Cavani String Quartet; and Brant Taylor, award-winning cellist who teaches at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts and Northwestern University's National High School Music Institute.

Shown above are Julian Taylor, violinist with the SMU Meadows School of Music, Ted Rankin-Parker, cellist with the Oberlin College/Conservatory of Music, and Nathan Brandwein, pianist with Mannes College of Music in New York City.

Cheers

The 2004-2005 TCU Cheerleaders brought home the coveted Sportsmanship Award from the Daytona Chick-Fil-A Nationals College Cheerleading Competition this summer. The team competed against more than 200 college teams in dance and cheer events.

Dancing at Nagaoka

This summer TCU faculty and students danced their way across Nagaoka, Japan -- Fort Worth's Sister City -- and had the local dance community stepping along with them by trip's end. Ballet and Modern Dance Department Chair Ellen Page Shelton, faculty members Elizabeth Gillaspy and Andrea Harris and 15 TCU dance majors performed to a sold-out crowd in Nagaoka's Lyric Hall Theatre. They also led interactive sessions with two high school dance teams and 230 kindergartners.

Texas' top Big Sister

Kelly Imig '01, assistant director of sports marketing, was recently selected as 2005's outstanding Big Sister in Texas.

After watching the interaction between a TCU friend and her little sister, Imig was matched with 7-year-old Cedrica by BBBS match consultant Stephanie Moore '03. Imig and Cedrica have done everything that big and little sisters do -- paint each other's fingernails, shop, bowl, bake cookies, even take an airplane trip to Galveston. Four years and thousands of quality-time hours later, Cedrica now has dreams of going to college and being a surgeon.

"I have learned a lot about parenting, setting an example and about another culture," Imig said. "Cedrica has taught me awareness and forced me to re-examine my priorities."
Imig was chosen out of 14,000 volunteers by Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies across the state.

Whiz kids

TCU opened the doors of stock market investing to seven area high school seniors this summer at the High School Investor Challenge. The program, offered by the Luther King Capital Management (LKCM) Center for Financial Studies, gives students the opportunity to learn to manage investments during their senior year of high school from investment professionals and finance faculty.

Following training, students are placed in charge of a $10,000 stock portfolio, which they manage throughout their senior year of high school. They return to campus one Saturday each month and present proposed stock trades to security analysts, who critique their analyses and coach the students in the finer points of stock picking. Dr. Joe Lipscomb, the center's director, said the challenge "exposes them to the realities of managing a portfolio in today's market."

Fidelity Investments and McGraw-Hill Irwin Publishing are also participating sponsors.

Nursing Texas to health

The Texas Nurses Association honored four faculty members from TCU's Harris School of Nursing (HSN) as "Great 100 Nurses" for 2005 during an awards ceremony in May.
The awardees include Marinda Allender, the assistant dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences and a tenured nursing instructor at TCU since 1990; Patricia Bradley HSN, associate professor who developed the "Healthy Weigh" program for Fort Worth; Marilyn Duran, a lecturer for the Harris School of Nursing who has taught at TCU since 2001, and assistant professor Melissa McIntire Sherrod.

Summer school for teachers

Advanced placement teachers from across the country attended summer school during three one-week sessions at TCU's AP Summer Institute. The decade-old institute also offered a forum this year with participants including AP Executive Director Trevor Packer; Jay Kurima, FWISD AP science teacher; Ray Brown, TCU dean of admission; Kathy Aro, AP coordinator at McKinney ISD and an AP student's parent.
Presenters covered 48 AP sections and offered new lecture materials and units for educators, as well as 32 hours of continuing education credit.

New faces

Brian G. Guiterrez, formerly the associate vice president and controller for the University of Texas, is TCU's new vice chancellor for finance and administration.
Gutierrez' extensive experience in managing capital funding plans, overseeing various business functions at large and small institutions, improving communications among university business officers and pro-actively reducing expenses made him an impressive candidate for the position, said Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr.
Gutierrez also worked for Dallas County Community College District. Although his blood runs orange -- he received his undergraduate and master's degrees from UT -- it has been turning purple since June.

Darron Turner '87, associate dean of student development since 2003, was appointed assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, heading a newly created unit called Inclusiveness and Intercultural Services. IIS's objective is to promote diversity and inclusivity at TCU as well as providing support services for students of color.

The goals in his new position -- promoting diversity efforts on campus and supporting the needs of all students, particularly those of color -- haven't changed much from those he held as director of minority affairs, his first job at TCU nearly a decade ago.

"This new position gives a broader platform from which to work," he said. "As the Title IX officer I will be able to work more closely with athletes, as the Affirmative Action and EEOC officer I will work with faculty and staff, and with programs such as Community Scholars, I can work with various community organizations and schools."

Mauricio "Mo" Rodriguez, finance department chair at the M.J. Neeley School of Business, was recognized for his research contributions to the real estate discipline, and honored with the William N. Kinnard Young Scholar Award presented by the American Real Estate Society (ARES). He was also elected to serve on the board of directors of the International Real Estate Society, in addition to his current seat on the ARES board.

Library Dean Bob Seal has accepted the position of Dean of the Library at Chicago's Loyola University. Seal has been at TCU for 11 years. He will begin his new position in the early fall.

Briefly

Dining for a good cause

LeapFrogs, the fund-raising arm of TCU Kinderfrogs, raised $75,000 at a May progressive dinner and silent auction attended by 180 guests. Proceeds will provide operations and scholarship funds for students of the on-campus laboratory school for children with Down's syndrome and other developmental delays.

Kudos

TCU's School of Education has been ranked once again among the top teacher preparation programs in the state of Texas. This time, due to a revamped teacher certification process, TCU graduates from the 2004-2005 school year achieved a summary passing rate of 100 percent on the TExES exams required for initial teacher certification. The 100 percent pass rate places TCU in the top quartile of Texas teacher preparation programs, surpassing almost all other colleges of education in the metroplex.

Gay Boydston, Kelly Center coordinator and a 16-year employee of TCU, was named recipient of the Chancellor's Staff Award for Outstanding Service. She was the nominee from the University advancement division. When Boydston came to work at the Kelly Center in 1998, there were 375 meetings and events scheduled for the year. Last year, the number of activities had risen to 746.

Kathy Cribari Hamer, publications coordinator for student affairs and yearbook adviser, earned a first-place award for her North Texas Catholic newspaper column in the "Best Regular Column, Family Life" category from the Catholic Press Association of the U.S. and Canada.

Suzanne Huffman's book, Reporting from the Front: The Media and the Military, co-authored with Judith Sylvester at LSU, has won the national first-place award for research in the National Federation of Press Women's annual communications contest.

Three TCU students were named Clark Scholars in recognition of their leadership abilities and contributions to the quality of life at TCU. Antoine Scott, a biology major from Killeen, Amanda Valasquez, a speech pathology major, and Whitney Merritt, a history/finance major, were named winners. The students were selected out of more than 20 applicants. Each student will receive $3,000 toward tuition.

TCU Tomes

Reconciling Modernity: Urban State Formation in 1940s Leon, Mexico
By Daniel Newcomer '00 (Ph.D)
University of Nebraska Press

Reconciling Modernity provides a new interpretation of how radically opposed conservative and revolutionary elites came to a political détente in the traditional Catholic stronghold of Léon, Guanajuato, during the 1940s. Newcomer, an assistant professor of history at Stephen F. Austin University, reveals in how history written by the victors can obscure the processes of historical change. For more information, go to www.nebraskapress.unl.edu.

Bioethical and Medical Issues on Literature
By Mahala Yates Stripling ‘97
Greenwood Press

Tremendous advances in science and technology have made bioethical and medical issues central to contemporary philosophical debates, and this reference discusses literature as a means of approaching the topic. Stripling discusses such broad concepts as technology's creature, illness and culture and end of life issues through works like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein or Albert Camus' The Plague. For information, go to www.greenwood.com

New from TCU Press
Jim Courtright of Fort Worth: His life legend
Robert K. DeArment
TCU Press

Robert K. DeArment deconstructs the myth of one of Fort Worth's most colorful western characters in his book, Jim Courtright of Fort Worth: His Life and Legend. Isaiah Timothy "Longhair Jim" Courtright operated as both a lawman and an outlaw. He seemed to attract and escape trouble, until his shootout death, followed by the longest funeral procession Cowtown has ever seen. The book was named a finalist for the Speer Award in the Western Writers of America historical nonfiction category. For information call 1.800.826.8911 or write tcupress@tcu.edu.

A conversation with Dan Jenkins '53

Slim and None
By Dan Jenkins '53
Doubleday

Slim and none are the chances there will ever be a writer of golf as bawdy, bold, brilliant and Texas-sized as our own Dan Jenkins '53. Slim and None also happens to be the title of Jenkins' new book, which returns to the antics of tour pro Bobby Joe Grooves, his buddies and new love interest Gwen Pritchard through a season of majors.

Q: For fans who pick up Slim and None, how has Bobby Joe Grooves changed from Money-Whipped, Three-Jack, Give-Up Artist? Do you see your characters evolve?

A: I didn't write Slim so that you had to have read Money Whipped to understand or enjoy it. All Bobby Joe did was get a little older, and hopefully a little smarter. He's 44 now. He's been through another divorce. He's a more cunning golfer. He's still learning things. Like he says, he's finally figured out, after all these years, that the secret to golf (or anything else in life, I might add) is how you handle bad breaks. I always see my characters evolve, even the ones that don't have parts of me in them. People evolve. I try to put myself in their heads and figure out what they might think and believe about this or that.

Q: What's it like to return to a character as you have with Bobby Joe, and previously with Billy Clyde Puckett? What's challenging about it?

A: To return to old characters is not so much challenging as it's just, well, sort of fun. They've grown. Maybe it's a sin, but I've always liked my characters and I always write happy endings. I prefer them.

Q: Where do you get your snappy dialogue?

A: Snappy dialogue, huh? Well, let's see. I have known, and do know, a lot of witty people. All over the country. I, myself, like to think I have a humorous attitude about life and stuff, and often express it in person as well as in journalism. Somebody says something funny, I remember it and wonder if I can doctor it in some way and use it in fiction or journalism. It's a good writer's trait, I think. And as Elmore Leonard, one of my heroes says, "If it sounds like ‘writing,' I re-write it." Not bad advice. I am, as you know, fiercely anti-precious.

Q: In Slim and None you have a young teen-age female character playing Bobby Joe. What's your opinion of real-life players like Michelle Wie playing in pro events?

A: I really like and am interested in the young girls that are coming along. I like to think I "discovered" Paula Creamer right here in Fort Worth five years ago in the Kathy Whitworth Cup at Mira Vista. Paula and Michelle and Brittany Lang (from McKinney, now at Duke) are the future, and what a grand one it is. And they're not spoiled or overpaid yet. It's sort of why I now prefer women's college basketball. They're students, they play below the rim, they're coachable.

Q: You're running the PGA Tour for 24 hours. What's the first rule you change?

A: I'd take away exemptions. Take it back to 60 instead of 125 or 175 or whatever the hell it is. Put fear back in the game. Right now, the exempt player can shoot at the pins all four rounds, who cares? He's still going to be exempt if he misses every cut. I'd also do away with corporate names on tournaments, but that's probably the fault of newspapers. They don't have to call it the Bank of America Colonial. They could still call it the Colonial National Invitational.

Q: What's your writing routine like? Do you have a favorite time of day to write?

A: I used to be more of a workaholic, 12 hours a day guy. But I'm older and tireder and slower. I'm still fairly meticulous. I write "clean." It's an old journalism habit. And I try to write to "fit," if you know what I mean. Back in the Sports Illustrated days I'd always know my line count -- 1,567 words, let's say, on a piece -- and I would try to write exactly that many words. Never give an editor choices, was my motto. They'll make the wrong ones every time. I work best in the mornings and daytime. I've never worked at night, unless I was covering a night event and was on deadline. Nor have I ever drank and written. And for all of my hanging out over the years, I never drank whiskey at home. Home is for root beer floats. Coffee and cigarettes used to be my crutches.

Q: You have said that you usually start with a beginning and an end and there are surprises in the middle. What surprises were there in Slim and None?

A: I do know how a novel is going to start and end and try to surprise myself in the doing. Characters you haven't planned on creep in. In Slim the young girl, Tricia Hurt, crept in. I needed a rules thing and it struck me that she would be the perfect prop. Also, I'm convinced that someday a girl is going to make it into a men's major, and I thought I'd get ahead of the game.

Q: How many more novels do you have in you? What keeps you going?

A: What keeps me going is curiosity and journalism. Whether I ever write another book is going to depend on economics and my health. Like somebody once said, the two greatest motivations for a writer are poverty and deadlines.
Find out more about Jenkins on page 60, and read the full text of this interview at www.magazine.tcu.edu.