Tarleton State University Magazine 2014-2015

The Tarleton State University Magazine 2014-2015

Playing Carnegie Wind Ensemble wows ’em in New York

History in plain sight

Stories are embedded in the rock walls, sewn into traditions, rooted in time

With strings attached

Evidence suggests a decline in critical thinking

Focus your gift on our students, and you will change the world Join these members of Tarleton State University’s Student Life Circle today. $1,000

The Gates are Always Open Mr. and Mrs. Truman T. Bell Mr. and Mrs. Darrell W. Brown Mr. Ray Browning Dr. Stan Carpenter Mr. and Mrs. Bobby M. Doty Mr. and Mrs. James B. Douglass Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Mr. Jim R. Hatchett, Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Russell E. Jergins Mr. and Mrs. Ed Knoll Dr. and Mrs. Mike Leese

Members Trust Federal Credit Union Mr. W. R. Sandford Mr. and Mrs. Darryl W. Schriver Mr. and Mrs. Todd W. Searcy Southwest Dairy Museum, Inc. Mr. Jon Bradley Spencer Mr. and Mrs. James R. Sullins TexasBank Ms. Lathes A. Towns TSU Partners LTD - Mustang Ranch Mr. and Mrs. Jim I. Tucker Mr. and Mrs. Dave Turley Mr. Lance G. Zimmerman

$750 Purple & White Dr. Ashley Tull and Dr. Kathryn Cavins-Tull

$500 Texan $250 Plowboy Anonymous Mr. Paul A. Caldwell Mr. and Mrs. Caleb E. Chapman Dr. and Mrs. Dennis M. Hallford Mr. and Mrs. David H. Kincannon Mrs. Kim Miller

www.tarleton.edu/giving

The Honorable and Mrs. Mike Moncrief

$100 JTAC Ms. Bridgette A. Bednarz Ms. Kristie Bint Ms. Shelly S. Conboy-Brown Delta Zeta Mr. Mark E. Eakin Mr. and Mrs. Milam D. Hefner Mr. and Mrs. Darren F. Keith Mr. Geoffrey R. Kraatz Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin J. Kunze

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Inside Playing Carnegie The Wind Ensemble’s long and winding road to Carnegie Hall ended with the performance of a lifetime.

22 26

With strings attached What’s behind the seeming decline in critical thinking skills among young people, and what are universities such as Tarleton doing to reverse the trend?

History in plain sight

History is Tarleton’s lifeblood. It’s alive, in bits and pieces, in various buildings and campus sites, waiting to be rediscovered and relived.

3 the first word A message from President Dottavio

14 The oldest living graduate

Maxine Price Ray, 103, attended Tarleton in 1928-30. Here she recalls the boys, the classes and the tenor of the times on a college campus in the Roaring ’20s.

30

sports

Sports briefs, new Hall of Famers and a profile of student-athlete Sharon Lau.

4 Could these guys revolutionize learning?

Mr. and Mrs. Rob Lloyd Ms. Nelda Moore Mr. and Mrs. Clell D. Murray Mr. and Mrs. Robert M. Nimmo Drs. Troy and Stephanie Robertson Ms. Tanya Staggs The Pizza Place Mrs. Caris B. Thetford Mr. Daron M. Trussell

Business professors Dr. Nathan Heller and Dr. Gerald Burch are researching student engagement in the classroom. Their findings could have far-reaching implications. Plus, highlights of faculty teaching and research.

8 Shorts

Briefs on picker-poet singer Dr. Craig Clifford; a new Sustainable Teaching Garden; 3-D printing technology; the new Library Learning Commons; the university’s fun and surprising lost and found department; and postcards from the past. Plus, a few choice words overheard around campus.

TEXANS 34 Alumni

Profiles of Dallas Cowboys manager of client services Kerrie Bryant ’08, ’09, and David M. “Matt” Brockman ’84, director of the National Ranching Heritage Center.

Plus, updates on dozens of alums.

40 Remembering Barry B.

Excerpts from the eulogy for Dr. Barry B. Thompson by President Dottavio.

41 Silver Taps

12 The professor who changed my life

Alumna Danika Kent recalls the powerful presence and influence of Dr. Don Henneke.

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Volume 5

Tarleton State University Magazine

2014-2015

President Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio

Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications Harry Battson

Editor Joe Michael Feist

Associate Editor, Photographer Kurt Mogonye

Production Manager Alyson Chapman

Contributors Nathan Bural, Jessee Horwedel, Dameon Myres, Sue Goodman, Gary Spurr

Design Molly Murphy Blank Canvas Graphic Design

Division of Advancement and external relations Box T-0415 Stephenville, TX 76402 254-968-9890

Senior Vice President, Advancement and External Relations Dr. Rick Richardson

Assistant Vice President, Development Janice Horak

Assistant Vice President, External Relations Sabra Guerra

is published annually by the

Department of Marketing and Communications Tarleton State University Box T-0730 Stephenville, TX 76402

On the Cover: Members of Tarleton’s Wind Ensemble Tanner Jordan (from left), Cameron Serrano, Arianna Smith and Cordell Jarzombek stroll down West 57th Street in New York after the band’s performance at Carnegie Hall April 23. See Page 18.

Cover photo by Kurt Mogonye

2

The sun sets over Memorial Stadium during a Texan football scrimmage.

N at C hittamai P hoto

Go online!

Need more information?

Check out these resources.

For information about enrolling at Tarleton, go to

tarleton.edu/ becomeatexan Discover ways to give back to your university at

tarleton.edu/giving Check out the latest sports stats and information at

tarletonsports.com Reconnect with old classmates at

tarleton.edu/ alumniassociation

The First Word Our special spirit

I

n his 1982 inaugural remarks, Tarleton’s 13th president, Barry B. Thompson, pledged to “seek new ideas and new directions without abandoning the old and proven traditions” and to be “stewards of Tarleton’s special spirit.” Upon his passing on March 1, 2014, I reflected on those words and his remarkable contributions to Tarleton and to higher education in Texas.

Excerpts from my eulogy are on Page 40 of this magazine. The strength of Tarleton today is, in great measure, built on our special spirit, our proven traditions and a vision to be the premier student focused university in Texas and beyond. Our programs continue to change and adapt to the opportunities and expectations of a 21stcentury education. New tools and techniques are changing teaching and learning. They are extending the borders of the university around the globe. Students gain real-world experience so that as Tarleton graduates, they are prepared to contribute to careers now and to fields as yet unimagined.

In the pages that follow, you will see ways the Dick Smith Library is changing to create learning spaces that support technology and collaboration, and you will learn more about how our students engage differently in their learning.

At the core of this university is what President Thompson called “the unexcelled spirit of Tarleton, a spirit that has enabled so many of our graduates to achieve great accomplishments, to dream great dreams.” The stories that follow illustrate Tarleton spirit. From the historic rock walls marking the campus boundaries to the latest in 3-D printing, from a singing/songwriting professor to Carnegie Hall, this publication reflects a vibrant institution whose students, faculty, staff and alumni live the Tarleton spirit.

Grounded in our traditions, shaped by our commitment to developing moral and ethical thinkers, Tarleton spirit encourages discovery and embraces service. I encourage you to join us in celebrating Tarleton State University.

For everything else, go to

tarleton.edu Chat with us!

We’re on Facebook.

facebook.com/ tarletonstate Tweet us!

@tarletonstate

texan facts

820

Number of Texas high schools from which students applied in 2010

1,337

Number of Texas high schools from which students applied in 2013

230

Number of colleges and universities from which transfer applicants came in 2010

313

Number of colleges and universities from which transfer applicants came in 2013

8,000

Number of students and guests taking guided tours in 2012-13

F. D o m i n i c D o tta v i o , P r e s i d e n t

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Teaching and Research Dr. Omar A. Esqueda, assistant professor of finance, published in Research in International Business and Finance in May 2014. He has research papers forthcoming in Review of Accounting and Finance and Journal of Economics and Finance. Esqueda has been a professor at Tarleton since 2012 and has published 11 articles in peer-reviewed journals since 2011.

Billy Gray, assistant professor of engineering technology, published two articles in the International Journal of Supply Chain Management in 2013 and coauthored a nonacademic book, Tracked, What Everyone Should Know About Invisible Inventory, Monitoring and Tracking, The Official RFIDSCM Certification Handbook, PWD Group, in June 2014. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in industrial and manufacturing systems engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Dr. Daniel Marble, professor of physics, has been named chairman of the Texas Physics Consortium. Marble worked to set up the consortium of eight physics programs across Texas and to obtain authority from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for a new jointly awarded B.S. degree in physics. The Texas Physics Consortium is now the second largest producer of physics graduates in Texas behind the University of Texas at Austin. Marble has taught at Tarleton since 1998.

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Could these guys revolutionize learning?

Business professors believe they’ve found a key to student success

R

B y J o e M i c h a e l F e i st

emember that high school or college class where the instructor stood behind his lectern or sat behind her desk and never moved? And in a perfect monotone lectured on and on and on about whatever it was until you were virtually rendered catatonic by sheer boredom?

Chances are, you’d rather forget. Chances are, you don’t remember a thing that was said, anyway.

Two Tarleton business professors are out to change that way of teaching forever.

Teaching and Research Dr. Jason Sharp, associate professor of computer information systems, published an article titled “Investigating Ways to Use Facebook at the University Level: A Delphi Study,” in Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology.

Dr. Ebony L. Hall, assistant professor and campus coordinator in the social work program, coauthored an article with undergraduate student, Sheila Lindsey titled, “Teaching Cultural Competence: A Closer Look at Racial and Ethnic Identity Formation,” which will be published in the fall issue of The New Social Worker magazine. Hall has taught at Tarleton since 2012.

Dr. Tom Faulkenberry, assistant professor of psychology, published four papers in numerical cognition this year. The most recent appeared in Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. He also received a QEP startup grant to develop an applied learning experience in undergraduate research, which three students completed in spring 2014.

He has been with Tarleton since fall 2013.

Dr. Nathan Heller (left) and Dr. Gerald Burch are researching student engagement.

J eremy E nlow photo

Challenged recently to describe ways in which the College of Business Administration was engaging students, Dr. Gerald Burch and Dr. Nathan Heller began looking through academic literature for research on student engagement in the classroom and ways to measure it.

The two professors quickly found there were no proven methods of calculating involvement in the classroom.

“There are measurements of an individual’s engagement at the university level,” Heller said. “And we want high scores there because those lead to retention. And that’s a critical element…. But it doesn’t give us a complete picture. We want to know about the classroom level.”

So, modeled after studies of engagement in the business/ labor world, Heller and Burch began putting together a survey on classroom engagement.

Engagement means “how much time and energy are you willing to invest in something,” Burch said. “And if we look at engagement on the job site, it’s three things. It’s physical engagement, that you’re willing to work, it’s affective or emotional engagement, that you like what you’re doing, and it’s cognitive engagement, that you’re willing to think about it….” 

Dr. Laurie Sharp, assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, published six refereed journal articles, one book chapter and two conference proceedings, and presented research findings at national and international conferences during the past year. Sharp has taught at Tarleton since 2009.

Dr. Rajani Srinivasan received an external grant from Columbia Biogas in California for her research on developing plant derived nontoxic food grade flocculants for treatment of suspended solids from municipal wastewater. Based on her research, a provisional patent has been filed with the A&M System. Srinivasan, assistant professor of chemistry, also contributed two chapters to the book Green materials for sustainable water remediation treatment, published in 2013 by the Royal Society of Chemistry. She joined Tarleton in 2012.

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Teaching and Research Dr. Randy McCamey worked as committee chair and advisor for graduate student Brooke Wilson in the completion of her thesis, “Conflict Management and Communications Medium in the Workplace.” This is the first thesis to be completed under the new thesis option in the graduate programs in the College of Business Administration. McCamey is an associate professor and has been at Tarleton since 2003.

Dr. Garry Smith, assistant professor of marketing at Tarleton since 2011, conducts a recorded mock job interview and a recorded sales role play with his “Personal Selling” students each semester. Students receive detailed verbal and written feedback as well as video copies of their role play. Students learn to be poised, professional, and persuasive through such activities.

Dr. Julie A. Chappell, professor of English, had three books published this academic year: her monograph, Perilous Passages: The Book of Margery Kempe, 1534-1934 and her poetry collection, Faultlines: One Woman’s Shifting Boundaries, and Writing Texas, coedited with Dr. Marilyn Robitaille. This fall, her sixth and seventh books will be published: Spectacle, Sex, and Property in Eighteenth-Century Literature and Culture, and Women during the English Reformations: Renegotiating Gender and Religious Identity. She won the COLFA Excellence in Research Award in spring 2014.

Dr. Jennifer T. Edwards, associate professor of communication, presented a paper coauthored with undergraduate researchers titled “Domestic and International Hotel Use of Twitter to Connect with Businesses and Tourists Across the Globe” in the Top Papers in PR session at the Southern States Communication Association conference. Edwards has taught at Tarleton since 2007.

Dr. Russ Higham, associate professor of education, was named director of Tarleton State University—Waco programs in October 2013. He also received the Faculty Excellence in Student Success Award in 2014.

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And, Heller added, it’s not only engagement inside the classroom, but outside, after the class is over. Do students discuss new concepts and ideas with roommates, friends, parents?

In the past couple of semesters, more than 1,000 Tarleton students in various disciplines have taken the survey on engagement, yielding a wealth of information on who is engaged and, more importantly, why. What is the instructor doing, or not doing, that increases or decreases engagement?

Although preliminary, Heller said, “we’re getting some interesting results. One of the things we’ve seen is that our nontraditional students have a tendency to be more engaged on the physical, the emotional, and the out of class levels…. Our theory is that they have experience to hang the theories on. They can see applications in the real world.”

And seeing those practical applications of what’s being taught is crucial to learning, the professors said.

While it’s impossible to create years of experience in the workforce for a 19-year-old, what can be done is give them what’s called applied learning exercises.

In other words, get real.

“What we’ve found,” Burch said, “is that students love simulations.

There’s a very strong relationship between having a simulation in a course and student engagement. It could be any kind of work simulation…. If we can come up and simulate the real-world environment in some way, whether it’s on a computer or just a classroom simulation where we put them in a situation they consider real life, it drives engagement up.”

And with high engagement comes high levels of learning.

“We used to believe that instruction led to learning,” Burch added, “and we missed the whole point of engagement. Now we know that good instruction leads to engagement, which leads to learning.”

Apply yourself Some years back, Tarleton was challenged during an accreditation process to come up with some kind of academic quality enhancement program. Out of that process came R.E.A.L., or Real-world Dr. Wayne Atchley Experiences Applied to Learning.

Now, the university is striving to transition R.E.A.L. into a permanent part of the Tarleton culture.

Dr. Wayne Atchley, an assistant professor of agricultural and consumer sciences, is also the coordinator of the new Office of Applied Learning Experiences.

Such an experience, he said, could fall under one of five categories: undergraduate research and creative activities; leadership programs; service learning; internships and practicum; and study abroad or study away.

“There’s a whole body of work on applied learning and experiential learning,” Atchley said. “It basically says you’re going to retain more and your knowledge is going to grow if you’re applying what you’re learning instead of just hearing someone talk about it.”

Tarleton has deemed applied learning so important that it’s part of the Strategic Plan 2020. The plan says that by 2020 every student will graduate with at least three of these applied learning experiences.

“That will set us apart from other regional or national universities,” Atchley said. “When you come here you’re not just going to be sitting in a classroom. You get a chance to go apply it through field research or internships or service. It’s just built into the curriculum.”

—Joe Michael Feist

The approach “seems very intuitive,” Burch said, “and a lot of professors are already doing things in the classroom to try to increase student engagement. What we have done is provide a means by which we can measure that engagement so that we can definitively say that learning exercise X increased student engagement while learning exercise Y decreased student engagement.”

Heller and Burch pointed to other results of their research that indicate ways to enhance engagement.

“Individual instruction outside of class also drives up engagement,” Burch said. “That student who says, I don’t get it, I’m going to go talk to the professor. The minute they walk into my office and talk to me, engagement goes up. If they come in a second time, engagement goes up even higher…. The minute they take ownership of their learning and show up in my office, engagement goes up.”

“The goal is to put the student in the position to be successful.”

Teaching and Research History professors Drs. Patricia and

Donald Zelman have retired from the Department of Social Sciences. Don began his Stephenville career in 1969; Pat joined the faculty in 1982. Both became legendary teachers, influencing thousands of students and winning major teaching awards. In addition, Pat served as director of the Presidential Honors Program and published a landmark book in women’s history; Don served in numerous administrative roles, including dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

— Dr. Gerald Burch

Likewise, simply allowing time for group discussions in class increases engagement and learning, the professors said.

Another result is that online courses can be just as engaging as face to face courses. “Engagement is driven by the learning elements the professor uses, regardless of the curriculum delivery mode,” Burch said.

Measuring engagement and acting on the results could shake up college classrooms across the country, Heller and Burch believe.

“We have professors, especially here at Tarleton, who want to connect, who want to teach, who want to engage more effectively,” Burch said.

With the research in hand, “we can start changing our curriculum to where we drive that engagement.”

It would be possible, he added, to “get prescriptive about each course, where each instructor has a menu, if you will, where if they say, my students are low in affective engagement, they can go to a resource and find ways to increase affective engagement.”

Tarleton could set up an experiential learning database, by topic, so when an instructor needs a simulation that would increase emotional engagement or physical engagement, for example, they could go to a “library” and pull it off the shelf, Burch said.

“If a student goes in a classroom and has to sit for an hour and listen, there’s no way he’s engaged,” Burch said. “He might try to be. But in this world, when they’re used to seeing texts come in at two or three a minute, with being pinged constantly with what’s going on, where they’re interacting with their world all the time, [universities] are being challenged to find ways to engage them.”

A student, Heller said, who’s in a fraternity, plays intramural sports, shows up for all the student life activities, lives on campus and has a lot of friends is engaged in the university but may or may not be engaged in the classroom.

“And that, in my opinion, is where the rubber meets the road for our students,” he added. “Because it doesn’t matter how many university related activities my marketing students participated in if they can’t develop a marketing strategy when they leave Tarleton.”

The current research results, Burch said, are just the tip of the iceberg.

“Once we complete this initial research, we will be able to start talking about other course elements that can drive engagement,” he said. “These include classroom settings, the time courses are offered, duration of classes, how frequently a hands on exercise should be included, how stress affects engagement, student preferences and student learning styles, and many other elements.

“The goal is to put the student in the position to be successful.”

Could these guys revolutionize learning?

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has awarded more than $600,000 to Department of Wildlife, Ecosystems and Sustainability researchers Dr. Jim Muir, Dr. Jeff Breeden and Dr. Roger Wittie to carry out a statewide research effort to replace Bermuda grass, originally introduced into Texas as a cattle forage, with native grasses more conducive to wildlife habitat and feed. A second team will focus on replacing Texas winter grass (also known as spear grass) with more palatable native species. Although a native, this species can become dominant in over-grazed pastures to the exclusion of more diverse and wildlife-friendly plant communities. This team is exclusively from Tarleton: Muir, Dr. T. Wayne Schwertner, Darrel Murray, Jim Eidson and Wittie.

Tarleton’s top teaching awards for 2014 included the Barry B. Thompson Service Award to Dr. Max Sanderford, associate professor of biological sciences; the Jack and Louise Arthur Excellence in Teaching Award to Dr. Richard Winton, professor in the Department of Mathematics; the Faculty Excellence in Scholarship Award to Dr. Jason Sharp, associate professor in the Department of Computer Information Systems; and the Faculty Excellence in Student Success Award to Dr. Russ Higham, associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies. Dr. Christopher Guthrie, head of the Department of Social Sciences, was named a Regents Professor

by The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. The award recognizes faculty who have made exemplary contributions to their university, the community and the state of Texas.

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Picker-poet prof

a

—Joe Michael Feist

How does your garden grow?

T kurt mogonye photo

ucked away on a sun-drenched strip of grass between the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center and Lillian Street are nine raised beds packed with tasty, healthy potential—vegetable plants.

More than a dozen vegetables ranging from carrots to squash, plus an herb garden, make up the offerings in Tarleton’s new Sustainable Teaching Garden, built with recycled materials.

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J eremy E nlow photo

W

hether he’s flying solo or as the frontman for the Accidental Band (with Jim and Nancy Easterling), Tarleton professor Dr. Craig Clifford is relentlessly true to the Texas singer-songwriter tradition.

Clifford, a philosophy professor who directs the Honors College, writes most of the songs he performs and records. It’s not the bluebonnets and pickup trucks of “modern country,” a genre he calls stupid.

“It’s more powerful if you can tell a story that makes people see something they wouldn’t ordinarily see, a different perspective, instead of just telling them directly,” Clifford said. “That appeals to me. In this tradition I’m coming out of, that’s a big part of it. Telling stories.”

His songs talk about the violent end of a cruel job foreman, a broken woman by the edge of a lonesome lake, the cage of a Houston freeway, drinking hard in Austin.

Clifford’s musical influences include Towns VanZandt, Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver. That first generation of Texas singer-songwriters, he said, “were essentially trying to do the same thing in Texas that Bob Dylan was doing in Greenwich Village, with one important exception. These Texas songwriters were really rooted in their place. They were trying to write ruthlessly poetic lyrics.”

Clifford’s message and his music, he said, is a nod to origins and community and our common human nature.

“Pay attention and listen to the words,” he added. “We’re going to tell you about your life…. I think the greatest literature is like that, in a sense. Through telling stories about particular people in a particular place, something universal gets revealed.”

“What we’re trying to build is a field-to-plate concept,” said Paula McKeehan, a registered dietitian and assistant professor in the Department of Wildlife, Sustainability and Ecosystem Sciences.

“I feel like, in order to engage students in healthy eating and to know about food, they need to grow their own food. That’s part of the concept of the garden—teaching kids to grow their food.”

McKeehan describes the garden as a first step in what she hopes will be a campuswide effort to emphasize sustainability, increase consumption of fruits and vegetables, help students become better environmental stewards and provide research opportunities.

She wants the campus to become more of an “edible landscape” with gardens at multiple sites.

Eventually, farmers’ market type arrangements could make fresh vegetables available to students, or the produce could be sold to Sodexo, Tarleton’s food service provider.

While vegetable gardens scattered across a college campus might seem unusual to some, it’s a perfect match for McKeehan.

“We could have put it out at the farm,” she said of the teaching garden, “but no one would see it and students wouldn’t be involved…. That wouldn’t engage the students. This will.”

—Joe Michael Feist

overheard around campus “The Twitterverse Bleeds Purple! Excited to connect with more Texans on MoveIn Day - On Ye Tarleton! #TexanTWeek #NLT2017 @ tarletonstate” — Dr. Dottavio’s (@tarletonprez)

first tweet, Aug. 25, 2013

“In every legislative session there are efforts to erode transparency in government.

It’s the job of Texas newspapers to keep that from happening…. It’s a neverending fight.”

Fabricating the future

Dr. George Mollick and undergraduate student Rachel Fleckenstein work with the 3-D printer in engineering technology.

T

he arrival of high-resolution 3-D printing will add a whole new dimension to the Department of Engineering Technology.

While in the beginning stages of introducing the technology at Tarleton, Dr. George Mollick, associate professor and head of the department, said 3-D printing will allow students to move beyond just modeling objects as part of their coursework, but open doors for rapid prototyping.

“We’re staring a huge game changer in the face, in terms of what our students can now do and what we can push them to do at the design-skill level,” Mollick said. “Before, students’ designs were merely on paper but now we can design, document and produce using 3-D printing.

And the speed of the process allows us to have that happen during instruction in a 16-week semester.”

Using 3-D printing, students will soon be designing solid modeling projects in the lab, and have the ability to conduct design analysis, such as testing strength and how the design might work in a real-world application.

“The other key of this is the ability for us to work with our industry partners who may need a prototype designed by students who can then come back to campus and design it, build it, test it and then give industry not only specs and designs, but a working prototype … it’s groundbreaking for not only us, but for our partners throughout our 120-mile service region,” said Mollick.

— Donnis Baggett, executive vice president of the Texas Press Association, Oct. 23, 2013

“Mexico is experiencing tumultuous times. A hundred thousand people have been killed or disappeared in recent years, and 100 journalists have been killed. As an American journalist, who is also a Mexican, I felt a sense of responsibility that their stories not be forgotten.”

— Alfredo Corchado, author of Midnight in Mexico: A reporter’s journey through a country’s descent into darkness, Sept. 18, 2013

—Kurt Mogonye

kurt mogonye photos

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kurt mogonye photo

overheard around campus “The Mexican government is fully aware that it cannot stop the brain drain to the U.S. There are structural problems [in Mexico] that are not going to disappear.”

— Dr. Jesús Velasco, Tarleton professor of social sciences, Nov. 7, 2013

“People ask me all the time, how did you get that job?

And one thing that I learned over the years, and what I tell them, is just be bold enough to ask.”

— David Valdez, former White House photographer and personal photographer to President George H.W. Bush, Nov. 18, 2013

“Television is the greatest thief of time that there is.”

— Tarleton professor Dr. T. Lindsay Baker, explaining why he and wife, Julie, don’t own a TV set, Dec. 18, 2013

“I believe that character is the root of all success and achievement is just the fruit.”

— Motivational speaker and Texas State University professor Dr. Beverly Chiodo, Jan. 8, 2014

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Not your father’s library

F

resh thinking on student engagement has led to a remarkable transformation of the main floor of the Dick Smith Library into a technology-rich, interactive Learning Commons. The recently completed $1.9 million commons reflects new models of learning and creative thought, said University Librarian Donna Savage.

“If you think about the traditional library—quiet, study, meditative—that’s not the whole picture anymore,” Savage said. “The Library Learning Commons is a socially interactive place.

A place for collaborative study and work spaces where students can interact with cutting-edge technology, research resources, support services, good coffee and each other.”

Designed with student success in mind, the commons features collaborative workspaces and access to technology, easy access to resources/services that support and enable research, writing, and technology skills development, and comfortable study options for students who want to learn in social groupings.

“The Learning Commons will be technology-rich, but it will be people rich, too,” Savage said.

“The ‘Tech Spot’ is staffed by Information Technology Services and the Blackboard Help Desk to deliver technical assistance with the campus network and Blackboard. The Writing Center and Tutoring Services will have a presence here as well, and library reference and periodical services remain nearby to help support student research and their academic work.”

Funding for the project, which began last August, includes $1.1 million from the library access fee (paid by students), $160,000 from Permanent University Funds, $100,000 from the instructional equipment fund and $600,000 from Sodexo, Tarleton’s food service provider. In addition to the donation, Sodexo provided additional funding for equipment and fixtures for the expanded service in the Study Grounds Café, located in the Learning Commons.

—Joe Michael Feist

I was once lost, but now….

L

ook high and low on the Tarleton campus and it’s a safe bet you won’t find a more surprising stash of trash and treasures than inside a couple of large, deep drawers in a filing cabinet in the university’s police department.

“We had lipstick turned in last week,” said Judy Geye. “It’s used lipstick. It goes in the trash…. We had a pink baby doll. We have some red high heels now,” she adds.

“We get lots of USB thumb drives,” chimed in Nelda Moore. “We have a laptop. We have a lot of keys. Costume jewelry. We had a rash of hoodies and jumpsuits. We don’t get as many wallets as you’d think, but there are weird things in the wallets, too.”

“Only in the young men’s wallets,” Geye said with a slight smile.

Moore and Geye together coordinate Tarleton’s always interesting lost and found operation.

“We’ve had underwear turned in,” Geye added. “Nobody wanted to

touch them to log them in, but we did. No one claimed them, so we surplused them.”

Moore and Geye are constantly receiving items turned in by individuals, by police officers or by departments that bring in boxes of lost objects. They are logged in and the owner, if he or she can be identified, is notified. And lost items are posted on the Internet. Objects are kept for up to a year, depending on value.

It’s fun and surprising, Moore and Geye say, and always gratifying.

On one occasion, around $700 was turned in, and Geye was able to track down the owner.

“The girl called in, just crying,” she explained.

“This was right before Christmas. And this was her Christmas money that she’d lost…. I said, oh honey, don’t cry, and she said it had been an awful day. Her dog had died and she’d lost the money and on and on. It was just very rewarding to me to be able to give it back.”

The underwear? Not so much.

—Joe Michael Feist

overheard around campus “If you can raise standards and increase the number of students, which is what we’re doing, that’s the best of all worlds.”

— Dr. Craig Clifford, Honors College director, talking about both the Honors College and the university as a whole, April 23, 2014

“No, I’m not doing it again for you, Kurt.”

— Tarleton professor Dr. George Mollick, speaking to a photographer after kissing a pig as the “winner” of an American Cancer Society fundraiser, April 25, 2014

“Having a smart phone in your hand all the time does not make you smart. Talk to people face to face.”

— President F. Dominic Dottavio, speaking to graduate students at commencement, May 9, 2014

texan facts

2,022

Campus acres in Erath County

Deja view

T

hese vintage postcards depicting the campus of Tarleton College were created in 1935 by the Chicago-based Curt Teich & Co. Inc. For decades, the company was the world’s largest printer of advertising postcards, many of which bore the “Greetings from …” style with vivid colors and large type. Teich & Co. operated from 1898 until 1978. Its archives, some 360,000 catalogued images, is housed at the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, Ill. The bottom postcard, showing what was then the Administration Building (now the E.J. Howell Education Building), is titled “The Campus Beautiful.” The top postcard, showing what is now known as the Trogdon House as seen from the east gates, is titled “Waiting Co-eds.”

173 56 25

Main campus acres

Main campus buildings

Number of elevators on the Stephenville campus

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The professor who changed my life

T

By Danika Kent

he best teachers in life seem to command your attention in such a way that you don’t ever stop learning from them.

Equine exercise physiology was the topic of the first course I took from Dr. Don Henneke. In his opening lecture, he pointed out the fact that the classes he taught were electives, meaning we didn’t have to be there; we chose those classes. Reading between the lines, we weren’t about to waste each other’s time. He had accumulated a wealth of knowledge in his decades

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of academic and applied education, and he was willing to share what he knew to the fullest extent—at least with those who wanted to learn to the fullest extent. He had a nononsense air about him that commanded the attention of his students. When necessary, he commanded our attention with a flying eraser.

Classes like his were exactly what I was looking for when I transferred to Tarleton in 2008. Life for someone in the agriculture industry rarely goes by the book, but it does go hand in hand with intangibles like hard work, inherent passion and an ability to see a bigger picture. On that note, I think I bought a total of two textbooks for the five classes I took from Doc. The majority of the material he wanted us to learn was stored in a vault between his ears. It wasn’t printed beyond the chalkboard, but all it took to gain access was the genuine desire to learn. Dr. Henneke dedicated himself to and was highly regarded in many facets of the equine industry, yet he

The late Dr. Don Henneke competes at the 2011 National Cutting Horse Association Summer Spectacular in Fort Worth.

remained both a steward and student of the horse. That was contagiously commanding.

I took every class I could from Doc, and when I ran out of electives, we created another in the form of an independent study. The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn. But it didn’t come easy, at least in the academic sense. There were no multiple choice answers where you could roll the dice. All quizzes and exams required a thoughtful written response. If you simply regurgitated his notes, the best grade you could reasonably expect was a C with a searing “So?” written in pen over what you had previously thought was the right answer. If you demonstrated an understanding of his lectures, you might get a B. But if it was an A you were after, you had better demonstrate how to apply your newfound knowledge.

He gave you the grade you deserved, but he also gave you every opportunity to get it right. In short, you got out of it what you put into it, and that is even more commanding later in life than it was then.

Through his role as a professor, Dr. Henneke bridged the gap between the real world and the classrooms

at Tarleton. His example as an instructor and a horseman made making a living out of a lifestyle an encouraging and attainable thing. Perhaps the most commanding part of it all was that the education we received under Doc’s tutelage had a residual aspect to it.

As I put it into practice in my own life experiences and professional endeavors, those lessons have surfaced time and again—not as cut and dried answers, of course, but as opportunities to dig deeper, ask the right questions, and apply what I know to learn what I don’t. It’s continuously commanding.

Dr. Don Henneke, professor of animal sciences and director of equine science, died in November 2012 after a battle with cancer. He was 60.

Danika Kent, ’09, lives in Fort Worth and is managing editor of Barrel Horse News magazine, an avid barrel racer and active in Kent Limousin, a family beef cattle operation in Lancaster, Minn.

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Oldest living recalls campus life

Roaring in the

B y J o e M i c h a e l F e i st

M

axine Price Ray, who turned 103 years old on June 29, is believed to be Tarleton’s oldest living graduate. She was born

on the Texas Gulf Coast in Collegeport and grew up on the other side of Matagorda Bay in Palacios. She was a student at John Tarleton Agricultural College in 1928-30, and now lives in an assisted living facility in Plano.

The following are excerpts from an interview conducted Feb. 14, 2014.

H istorical photos from T h e G r a s s b u r r

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graduate

20’s Tarleton Magazine. You grew up in Palacios, on the coast. How did you end up in Stephenville?

Maxine Price Ray. We had relatives there. My folks came from Stephenville. My grandparents and my aunt and uncle lived in Stephenville.

We just always thought Stephenville was a pretty nice place. And that was it.

That’s how I got there.

I lived with my aunt and uncle when I went to Tarleton. We lived on Tarleton Avenue, so we walked everywhere we went.

I never ate on campus. I’d have classes on the campus and then walk to my aunt’s house, eat a hurried dinner (lunch), then hurry back.

TM. Did your parents value education?

MPR. Yes, they did. But they didn’t have the money to send me to the big schools. And we all knew about Tarleton. My daddy thought he could afford to get me there, so that’s why we chose it. 

Maxine Price was sponsor of cadet Company C.

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TM. What did you study at Tarleton?

MPR. To teach. I wanted to be a teacher.

But really I went just because the boys were kinda cute. I found one.

TM. Yes, you and Earl Rudder [future World War II hero and president of Texas A&M University] were mentioned several times in the JTAC as sweethearts. What was he like?

MPR. He’s dead, bless his heart. But what was he like? He was real nice. And he was athletic and he played football. He treated me nice. A gentleman. I really fell for him.

TM. Why was that?

MPR. Because he was big and strong and he acted like he liked me.

TM. What kind of dates did you have?

MPR. Just walked to the picture show. He didn’t have a car.

He wasn’t just terribly good-looking, I don’t think. I went for the football part of it. And he was popular at school, so I went with somebody who was popular. Well, it made me popular, you know. He was pretty goodlooking but I wouldn’t think he was the best looking man in the world.

TM. What other kinds of things did you do for fun?

MPR. Rudder didn’t do this so much but I did with other boys—skating. We would go to the skating rinks and partner up and skate and skate and skate. I was good at that. The school approved of that, so we’d get off and go to the skating rinks.

We didn’t have a radio. I don’t know what we did for entertainment, but we just seemed to be busy all the time. Going to classes. We sat on top of that rock wall that ran in front of the dormitories. We’d sit on it and visit for the longest time.

Maxine (front row, center) was a member of the Rifle Club.

TM. You mentioned that Rudder didn’t have a car, but Tarleton had some pretty strict rules about cars anyway, didn’t they?

MPR. Oh yes. No riding in cars. That was wicked. One time we rode in a car and we got ‘campused’ for it. It was just right around in town. ‘Campused’ just means I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. They had some kind of school picnic and they wouldn’t let us go ’cause we’d driven around town a little bit!

They were pretty strict. I mean you couldn’t smoke or drink or anything like that. You had to do the rules.

Since I lived with my aunt and uncle, they had boys, my cousins, who had cars.

And they’d drive us wherever we wanted to go. But I didn’t have dates in cars, if [college administrators] knew about it. Occasionally I did but they didn’t know it.

TM. Did you go to dances?

MPR. Not at school. It wasn’t allowed. But I remember house dances.

TM. You were the sponsor of cadet Company C. What did the sponsor do?

MPR. I was elected to be sponsor by the company. Each company had a girl sponsor. The school had to approve it, of course. You had to have the grades and the character and all that. It was great fun.

I’d meet the [cadets]. They’d come walking by our house and I’d get in line in front carrying the flag. And we’d march all around town and back to campus.

We’d march like that two or three times a week. I had a good bunch of boys. They were real nice.

Maxine Price in 1929

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And I liked that. I marched and carried the flag, and when we got to the grandstand I’d lower the flag. That was hard. It was heavy. Hard for me to do, but I did it.

TM. Your name was in the JTAC quite a lot. For instance, you were a member of the O.W.L.S. What was that?

TM. Tell me a little about your life after Tarleton.

MPR. It was an organization.

MPR. I went to TCU for one

TM. What did they do?

MPR. Nothin’. Oh we’d get together and talk, but it wasn’t anything important. Kinda like we’re doing here now. It was sort of a social club.

TM. And you were in the girls’ Rifle Club. What did you do there?

MPR. We practiced shooting a lot and had contests with other schools. Our scores would be on that target paper we shot and we’d mail that to the other school and they’d mail us their scores. That’s how we did it.

TM. You had to wear a uniform, right?

MPR. [The girls] wore uniforms that were made out of chambray material. Kind of a blue uniform with a wide belt…. And it had white collars. I don’t remember any (girl) ever wearing pants or slacks. Just dresses. And no one had blue jeans. I don’t think they’d been invented yet. For football games we had white, pleated skirts, out of some kind of wool material, with a white top. You had to wear uniforms to school.

semester and then Sam Houston [State University] briefly, but didn’t get a degree… Still, I taught elementary school for two or three years before settling down to raise a family.

I really thought at that time that I’d marry Rudder. He didn’t ask me to marry him. But after I got Maxine Price in 1928 through with Tarleton, I went home, and the Baptist church had just had a new pastor come that was not very old. I got to dating him and didn’t want to marry Rudder any more. I wanted to marry him and I did.

Maxine Price married Carroll Ray in 1932. He had pastorates all over Texas, including Houston, Laredo, Clarksville, Italy and Perryton. After he retired, Carroll Ray became a tour guide for Dan Dipert Tours, allowing him and Maxine to see the world. They had been married for 72 years when he died in 2004. Carroll and Maxine had three children (one of whom is deceased), eight grandchildren, 16 great grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren.

TM. So you have happy memories of Tarleton?

MPR. I loved it. All the teachers were nice and kind. I remember [English teacher] Miss [Dollie] Glover. All the teachers would help you. They didn’t give you any trouble.

Tarleton is a great school, you can tell them that.

You go to school for an education. I had good teachers and was able to teach after I got out of college. But you know, humans… I went because the boys were cute, and they were nice. We didn’t have boys who were drinking and wanting you to do things that were not nice. They were just nice people. And I had such a good time.

Oldest living graduate recalls campus life

Roaring 20’s 17 in the

If you can make it there, You can make it anywhere, It’s up to you, New York, New York.

S t o r y a n d p h o t o s b y Ku r t M o g o n y e

H

alfway through the performance, many of those seated in the plush, red upholstered chairs were moved to tears by sheer beauty. And before the concert was even done, the pounding timpani sets and booming brass roused the audience to cheers and a standing ovation, surprising both performers and conductor.

Stealing glances when they could, the musicians on stage looked out, awestruck,

on one of the world’s most revered and historic musical venues, Isaac Stern Auditorium in renowned Carnegie Hall.

From the opening downbeat by conductor Dr. Anthony Pursell to yet another standing ovation and thunderous applause at the end of the concert, the students in Tarleton’s Wind Ensemble gave their all in the performance of a lifetime. It was April 23, 2014. 

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Playing Carnegie To hear a portion of the Wind Ensemble’s performance at Carnegie Hall, visit tarleton.edu/band/carnegiehall

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Showtime

Getting there The road to Carnegie Hall for Tarleton’s premier ensemble, a band comprised of both music and non-music undergraduate majors, began months prior to the Easter Sunday morning when nearly 100 students, faculty and staff departed Stephenville for Manhattan and the 8th annual New York International Music Festival. The journey began with the submission of an audition CD containing recordings from previous concerts.

“The audition CD wasn’t flawless but was a great representation of our ensemble’s growth,” Pursell said. “I just remember the first year I applied and we were denied, and a little more than a year later I applied again for the opportunity to play Carnegie.”

When the invitation came, Pursell learned that Tarleton was the sole university selected among 12 applicants.

“I was shocked, and of course surprised,” the director said. “I also think I laughed a little because it was either a cruel joke or I wasn’t prepared for the news.”

Having less than three months to prepare for Carnegie Hall, the maestro and his musicians immediately went to work, the conductor finalizing selections for the 45-minute concert before the musicians could pore over the music and the nuances of its notes.

Joining the ensemble for rehearsals was university President F. Dominic Dottavio, who accepted the director’s invitation to serve as guest conductor for the band’s performance of Tarleton Forever, an obscure piece of marching music that was resurrected from a display case in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center and rearranged by Pursell.

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Arriving Easter Sunday to throngs of New Yorkers enjoying a beautiful spring day in the city, Tarleton students hit the streets to explore the Big Apple ahead of their scheduled performances at Central Park’s neo-classical Naumburg Bandshell at noon the following day. Under bright blue skies and the canopies of American elms and flowering dogwoods and cherry trees, Tarleton’s Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble took to the stage for their final warm-up concert.

The hour-long performance attracted a hundred or so passersby who gathered at the outdoor venue where such greats as Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington entertained, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech and John Lennon was eulogized. It was also a moment for Tarleton’s jazz band, under the direction of Greg Ball, to be showcased as part of the students’ New York experience—their lone public performance of the trip.

After a full day of sightseeing and exploring the city on their own, and a planned visit to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty, the wind ensemble took advantage of one final rehearsal in the hotel ballrooms before finally crossing 7th Avenue to Carnegie Hall for their pre-concert sound check, a half-hour slot to allow the musicians and conductor to get a feel for the world-class acoustics. For many in the band, this would be their first aweinspiring glimpse of the 2,084-seat, five-tiered cream and gold-gilded Stern Auditorium.

“I have so many thoughts running through my head right now,” percussionist Haden Capps said after the sound check. “I may be the first person from a small town of 800 people who’s flown to New York to perform on one of the most prestigious stages in the world. I find that not only a great honor and privilege to represent where I came from but where I’m coming from, which is a great school.”

Dressed in black formal concert attire and gathered in a waiting room an hour before showtime, students began their warm-ups while some took selfies and other photos to document their experience. The long-awaited moment drew closer as the musicians attempted to contain their excitement and remain focused on the performance.

“The fact that I’m about to step onto the biggest stage and that I’m walking through the halls here and everyone is seeing me with my bassoon, telling me ‘good luck,’ I’m excited,” said Rachael Perkins. “I toured the hall earlier and got to see Benny Goodman’s clarinet. Growing up he was one of my biggest idols when learning my instrument. It’s mind blowing to think I’m about to perform on the same stage he played on.”

Entering the auditorium amid applause and cheers, the musicians wore beaming smiles as they settled into their seats on the Perelman Stage. It

The Wind Ensemble on the Ronald O. Perelman stage in Isaac Stern Auditorium.

Spirits rising, after the applause was the long awaited moment as the ensemble was introduced and Pursell took the podium where Leonard Bernstein presented one of his compositions, Overture to Candide in a January 1957 world premiere. Indeed, Bernstein’s overture was the wind ensemble’s opening work.

Any anxiety quickly faded as the ensemble beautifully performed its opening work with enthusiasm and skill, followed by the world premiere of Charles Fernandez’s Spirits Rising, The Texan Rider, a composition commissioned by the university.

The ensemble performed Joseph Turrin’s Fandango and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, Movement No. 4, Urlicht, featuring a vocal accompaniment by Tarleton alumnae and soprano Dr. Heather Hawk.

Dottavio, a novice conductor, then bowed before taking the podium to lead the ensemble in polished form in Tarleton Forever, a uniquely Tarleton march composed by Joe Edwards.

But Pursell saved the most exciting for last, or so he thought. David R. Gillingham’s Concertino for Four Percussion offered fast passagework on the dual marimbas and pounding timpani sets, accompanied by eruptions from the woodwinds and horn-andtrumpet combos. The thunderous percussion allowed the audience to actually feel the music, eliciting an unexpected and collective standing ovation from the more than 1,000 guests in the auditorium.

After Jacques Press’ Wedding Dance, a raucous finale filled with fanfares and percussion outbursts, it happened again—a second standing ovation from an approving and discerning audience of New Yorkers. The maestro, acknowledging his musicians with a wave and bows, concluded a spectacular performance in a hallowed musical setting.

Backstage, the musicians were reeling from the experience. Casey McKinnerney, alto saxophone, said he felt “chill bumps” and tears welling up when Spirits Rising was next up. He had to tell himself to “hold it together.”

When the composition was finished, he added, “I looked over and saw others in the ensemble wiping tears, too. It was that powerful and emotional.

Dr. Anthony Pursell and musicians celebrate outside Carnegie Hall after the concert.

That piece is my favorite of all of them.”

Dottavio told the students he’s proud of them every day, “but tonight, during the debut of Spirits Rising, I had tears in my eyes like others sitting near me when we heard the alma mater. It was so special, and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced…. Goosebumps and tears welled up and you guys made that happen.”

Trumpet section leader Stephen Braack called the experience mesmerizing.

“Just looking out from the stage and how the auditorium rises up into almost infinity was incredible,” he said.

As the ensemble was ushered out of the building after the performance, the musicians paused on the sidewalk just outside the doors to Carnegie Hall. Almost in unison, the Texans spontaneously raised one finger skyward and paid homage to Tarleton with a pitch-perfect impromptu singing of the Color Song, the perfect finale to a perfect evening.

Reflecting on the experience a few days later, Pursell said the trip “did everything it needed to do to move the ensemble forward musically, but also socially. I’ve seen them start talking more and coordinating their efforts and becoming their own leaders after navigating and exploring all that New York has to offer. That was a key part of what this trip was able to do outside of both our band hall and Carnegie Hall. This experience gave Tarleton’s students the opportunity to become a unit in a sense that they’re here for each other. Now, because of it, I think we have the momentum to take our music program to the next level. We may not be on the same stage again at Carnegie Hall, but the preparation will need to be just as serious.

“There hasn’t been a day that has gone by since we returned to campus when I don’t think that was the highlight of my career so far,” Pursell added.

“Down the road, five or 10 years, I believe we’ll be able to look back and it’s going to be the one event that will have changed the overall face of our program…. It was a life changing moment, not only for our students, but for our program’s life.”

Playing Carnegie

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B y K at h r y n J o n e s

G

reek philosopher Socrates’ most enduring legacy is his style of teaching. The

“Socratic method” involves relentless questioning to expose contradictions, fallacies and erroneous assumptions in an idea or point of view in a quest for truth. The questioning is as important as the end result.

With gs n i r t s attached Technology, media among factors that pull at students’ critical thinking skills

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I l l ust r at i o n b y D a v i d H o w a r d

Socrates’ method might well be called “critical thinking.” That term arrived in 1962 when the Harvard Educational Review published “A Concept of Critical Thinking” by Dr. Robert H. Ennis. Now emeritus professor of philosophy of education at the University of Illinois, Ennis has a website, CriticalThinking. net, to elaborate on the concept.

He defines critical thinking as “reasonable, reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.”

A critical thinker should: be openminded and “mindful of alternatives”; be well-informed; judge the credibility of sources well; identify reasons, assumptions and conclusions; ask appropriate, clarifying questions; judge the quality of an argument well; develop and defend positions; formulate “plausible hypotheses”; plan and conduct experiments well; define terms appropriate to the context, and draw conclusions “when warranted—but with caution.”

Ennis adds that critical thought is not the same as persuasion, but he hopes it often will be persuasive. Nothing short of the “future of democracy” rests on it, he said.

With Ennis’ definition in mind—and a nod to Socrates—let’s take a critical look at critical thinking.

the inte rnet

t paren

helicopter

social media

s

What is the state of critical thinking?

Some educators fear that critical thinking is on a steep decline. Surveys show students falling short in critical thinking skills such as complex reasoning, experiences with diverse perspectives and analytical writing.

Dr. Craig Clifford, professor of philosophy at Tarleton State University and director of the Honors College, said he doesn’t even like the term “critical thinking,” preferring to describe it as “thinking reflectively.”

“This is one of the reasons critical thinking is on the decline—because critical thinking has become a buzzword, and we associate that with things that may be just a part of it,” Clifford said.

Critical thinking isn’t just about processing information, he added.

“Critical thinking, in the philosophical tradition, which indeed does go back to Socrates, includes the ability to figure out what the right questions are,” Clifford explained. “It certainly includes questioning authority, thinking for yourself, having an imagination so you can see things from different perspectives and applying those to areas where we have to make judgments.” 

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What evidence points to a decline?

One of the most widely used devices to assess and improve undergraduate education is the National Survey of Student Engagement, or NSSE, managed by Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research. Tarleton is among more than 580 U.S. and Canadian universities that participated in the 2013 survey of firstyear and senior students. The Office of Institutional Research reports the results at www.tarleton.edu/institutionalresearch under “Assessment Findings.”

The survey compared Tarleton students with those at universities in three groups—public universities in the Southwest, “Carnegieclass” universities (as defined by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching) and all participating colleges and universities.

As one might expect, Tarleton students scored above average in some categories and below average in others, but notably fared well on “supportive environment” and “quality of interactions.”

Asked about their perceived gains, however, 81 percent of seniors reported they “very much” or “quite a bit” improved in their ability to think critically and analytically at Tarleton.

Is there another measurement?

Tarleton is in its second year of using the Educational Testing Service’s “Proficiency Profile” for first-time students. Dr. Michael Haynes, director of the Office of Institutional Research, said it’s designed to measure proficiency in academic skills such as reading, writing, mathematics and critical thinking, rather than reflect a student’s perceptions.

In the critical thinking part of the test, students were scored on their ability to distinguish between rhetoric and argument in nonfiction prose, recognize assumptions and “infer and interpret” a relationship between variables. In fall 2013 during Transition Week, 350 entering Tarleton students answered the profile questions.

Student scores came in lowest for critical thinking. Classed by skill level, zero percent scored as proficient in critical thinking, 6 percent were rated “marginal” and 94 percent were “not proficient.”

Haynes said he presents assessment findings to the Office of Academic Affairs and the Deans’ Council for “deeper discussion.”

Tarleton is by no means unusual in seeing declines in critical thinking proficiency and seeking to address those trends in core curricula.

New York University sociologist Richard Arum was the lead author of an unprecedented study published in 2011 that followed more than 2,300 students over four years at 24 U.S. colleges and universities. His conclusion: 45 percent of students did not significantly improve their critical thinking during the first two years of college. More than a third—36 percent—did not show significant gains in “higher order” thinking skills.

Clifford, the Honors College director, said Tarleton’s core curriculum should promote critical thinking if it’s “taught the way it should be.”

“The objective in a core course is not only to enhance student understanding of valuable subject areas but also to aid students in developing critical thinking skills,” Clifford said.

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What factors account for the lack of proficiency?

Not surprisingly, the Internet gets much of the blame, as television did decades ago. Students today have a world of information literally at their fingertips. If it’s on the Internet, it has to be true, right? Hence, the growth of sites such as Wikipedia, which still shows up as a source on student research papers despite teacher warnings that it’s not reliable.

Dr. Patricia Greenfield, professor of psychology at UCLA and director of the Children’s Digital Media Center, concluded in research published in the journal Science that, as technology plays a larger role in lives, critical thinking and the ability to analyze falter, although visual skills improve.

“Studies show that reading develops imagination, induction, reflection and critical thinking, as well as vocabulary,” she continued. “Reading for pleasure is the key to developing these skills” because it “enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not.”

But many students don’t read for pleasure.

Greenfield concluded that wiring classrooms for the Internet and giving students access during lectures does not enhance learning either, because students cannot gain a “deeper understanding of information” by multitasking.

What about parents and teachers?

Much of the responsibility for teaching students to think more critically has been laid squarely at the feet of faculty as well as parents. The Foundation for Critical Thinking, a California-based nonprofit that seeks to promote change in education and society, noted that “lecture, rote memorization and (largely ineffective) short-term study habits are still the norm in college instruction and learning today.”

Hovering parents—so-called “helicopter parents” who are so involved in their college-age children’s lives that some even try to negotiate grades, deadlines and job offers— hinder self-sufficiency, an article in USA Today concluded.

Kathleen Elliott Vinson, a professor at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, went a step further and warned college professors not to fall into “helicopter teaching,” or “constantly reminding students of deadlines, continuously checking up on students, being available or reachable at all times, continuously giving them extensions, or inflating grades, rather than see their student falter.”

Her recommendation: “Let the child think. Not every minute of the day has to be scheduled with an activity.

Simply allowing a child to have down time can help develop critical thinking skills.”

How do students handle differing viewpoints?

In the latter half of the 20th century, American kids mainly had newspapers, radio stations and three television networks to keep them informed of the world around them. Today, students routinely use technology and social media in their daily lives and have access to hundreds of TV channels, Internet websites, blogs, talk radio, newspapers and other media. If they want to tune in only to media that reinforces their viewpoints, they can do so.

Dissenting viewpoints often are not considered and are even demonized.

Dr. Jennifer Edwards, co-director of Tarleton’s Social Media Research Institute and associate professor of communication studies, said social media allows people to “self-select” their news sources—both first-hand sources such as news networks and second-hand sources such as friends—and focus on their own personal interests and political views.

“When individuals experience a wealth of information from a certain perspective, the individual experiences the confirmation of their viewpoint because they do not receive messages from another perspective,” she said.

A student only viewing information with Democraticfocused views and values (or Republican) would be perceived as biased, she noted.

“If the same person is active on Facebook/Twitter and has friends with a different viewpoint on a heated issue, I have seen individuals delete ‘friends’ from their Facebook account because they did not want to view any messages other than the messages confirming their viewpoint,” she continued.

Self-selecting news may make it less likely to “adopt diverse perspectives or to think critically about issues.”

Can you teach critical thinking?

Can teachers actually teach critical thinking when parents, society, technology and media pull at students like puppets on a string? Absolutely, Ennis said, by encouraging them to be reflective, to seek out reasons for their views and to search for alternative explanations, conclusions, sources of evidence and points of view.

In Clifford’s Honors College course in spring 2014, students read Neil Postman’s The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School. One of its key points is that education concerns itself too much with “delivery systems.”

“That’s like [saying], I can put it in a package and give it to you,” Clifford said.

He also is critical of relying too much on PowerPoint lectures that don’t allow student engagement. That boils down to: “I’m the teacher, I’m giving you this information, you write it down and you feed it back to me on a test,” he said. “One of my biggest goals is to get students to think for themselves.”

When the Honors College’s best graduates come back to campus, they often tell Clifford their most valuable experience, in addition to learning how to write, was to sit around a table in a seminar and be able to hold their own in a discussion. “The biggest thing is: we have small classes to promote individual discussion,” he said. “In teaching, one of the things you have to do is not just expect them to get the right answer, but be able to explain how they got the right answer.”

As Socrates proved in his method of teaching by questioning, the journey to enlightenment matters even more than the destination—in the case of university students, the piece of paper that graduates frame and hang on a wall. Critical thinking is the means, and education is the end—and the beginning.

Isn’t that worth reinforcing and enhancing?

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S t o r i e s b y J o e M i c h a e l F e i st

Step on the Tarleton campus and, whether you know it not, you’re wrapped tight in the stories and legends of generations of educators and students, of characters and character, of history pure and not so simple.

History is the lifeblood and the fabric of this place and every place. Our inner beings are nothing but history, as philosophers have long observed. At Tarleton, stories are embedded in the rock walls and gates, sewn into traditions, rooted in time.

History is omnipresent here. And it’s not hidden or inaccessible. It’s alive, in bits and pieces, in various buildings and sites across campus, waiting to be rediscovered and relived in the imaginations of today.

Hist ry kurt mogonye photos



A uniform past

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From its very beginnings, Tarleton had a strong military component.

Male students were called cadets, and were required to wear a military-style uniform and participate in military drills. The Texas A&M cadet gray uniform was adopted. In 1918, the administration began requiring female students to wear a blue chambray dress and belt with a white Cambric collar and black Windsor tie and black shoes. The uniforms had to be worn to classes, assemblies, the library, labs and other occasions as ordered by administrators. A shortage of material during World War II led to a suspension of the uniform requirement for females; after the war the policy was abandoned.

Doc Blanchard’s fire chief’s car E.A. “Doc” Blanchard, a legendary Tarleton figure, was associated with the school for more than 70 years.

A World War I veteran, Blanchard came to Tarleton in 1926 and was part of numerous momentous decisions and events at Tarleton through the years. A campus street was named after him in the ’70s. He spent much of his retirement rebuilding Model T Fords.

He meticulously rebuilt the famous 1911 fire chief’s car, now displayed in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center, and donated it to the university. Blanchard remained a familiar figure around campus until his death in 1997 at age 100.

Plain Sight in

Stenholm memorabilia Charles W. “Charlie” Stenholm is one of Tarleton’s most notable alums. A West Texas native, Stenholm received an associate’s degree from Tarleton in 1959 and went on to earn two degrees from Texas Tech. In 1978 he was elected to Congress and immediately gained a reputation as an expert on agriculture policy. In the mid1990s he was one of the founders of the Blue Dog Democratic Coalition, a group of conservative, mostly Southern Democrats. He continued to serve until 2005, and he is now a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. Stenholm left all of his congressional papers—some 660 boxes—as well as memorabilia from his days in Congress, to Tarleton. Pictured are his golf bag, Blue Dog ball cap and sunglasses from the 1996 Democratic National Convention, and wooden Easter eggs from the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. 

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Barry Thompson’s chancellor’s robe The late Dr. Barry B. Thompson was chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, of which Tarleton is a part, from 1994 to 1999, but his association with Tarleton goes back much further. Thompson attended Tarleton and graduated with an associate’s degree in biology in 1956. He taught in public schools, served as a university administrator, got a Ph.D. from A&M, and eventually led Tarleton as president from 1982-1990. He went on to lead West Texas A&M University for four years before beginning a successful tenure as system chancellor.

The robes he wore as head of the A&M System are on display in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center, named in his honor.

Astronaut’s ring In June 1991, Dr. Millie Hughes-Fulford, a Tarleton alumnae who graduated in 1968, flew aboard a NASA Space Shuttle mission as a payload specialist. A molecular biologist with a Ph.D. from Texas Woman’s University, Hughes-Fulford was one of the first pure scientists sent into deep space to do biomedical research. During the nine-day mission, the crew conducted 18 experiments and brought home more data than had ever before been collected in space. And with her on that journey was a gold 1987 Tarleton ring now displayed in a glass case in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center. The Tarleton Alumni Association had given her the ring for the historic flight. It has the letters TAA on the side and bears the number 0001, signifying it as the very first redesigned Tarleton ring.

What a blast The silenced cannon that stands vigil in front of the E.J. Howell Education Building has a special place in Tarleton’s storied past. The model 1902 artillery piece was brought to campus in 1922 for military training purposes. It was also fired on special occasions and was considered a campus treasure. In 1928, students from Tarleton’s rival North Texas Agricultural College (now the University of Texas at Arlington) stole the cannon and apparently wanted to take it as a prize back to Arlington. Probably because it was hard to transport, the thieves instead dumped it in the nearby Bosque River. Faculty member E.A. “Doc” Blanchard saved the day, retrieving the cannon and then restoring its broken wheels.

The wheels and spokes were again refurbished in 2011 by a group of Tarleton physical plant workers led by Alan Magnini.

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Poo pigs The origins of the Purple Poo, arguably the oldest spirit organization in Texas, can be traced to the 1920s and the “Ten Tarleton Peppers” and “Ten Tarleton Sisters.” The groups had a fondness for secrecy; they held secret meetings, and at official events dressed in robes and disguised their identities. Sometime in the mid-1960s, the Peppers and the Sisters became known collectively as the Purple Poo. The origins of the name are unclear, with some stories a bit more earthy than others. During President Barry B. Thompson’s tenure, graduating members of the Purple Poo began slipping the president, who himself had been a member of the Poo, a small purple pig when shaking his hand on the commencement stage. The tradition continues. A collection of the pigs that presidents Dennis P. McCabe and F. Dominic Dottavio received is displayed in a glass case in the Barry B. Thompson Student Center.

From Tarleton to Meuse-Argonne

The rock walls The famed rock walls on Tarleton’s campus were built in stages during the 1920s and ’30s. In his book, John Tarleton and his Legacy: The History of Tarleton State University 1899-1999, Tarleton history professor Dr. Christopher Guthrie says that the retaining wall along Military Drive was designed by Tarleton instructor E.A. Funkhouser, who also designed the gates at Military and McIlhaney streets. The gates and this wall were constructed by students in 1925. Embedded in the wall are four hearts engraved with the initials JTAC, standing for John Tarleton Agricultural College. Despite periodic suggestions to tear them down, wrote Guthrie, the walls “remain one of the more interesting architectural features of the campus.”

Ammon Turnbow was a strapping young man from Alexander, near Stephenville in Erath County, when he came to Tarleton in 1916. He played football and basketball, was highly popular, and apparently was a gregarious fellow, as he was listed as “Jokes editor” of the very first Grassburr. When the U.S. went to war in 1917, Turnbow withdrew from Tarleton, joined the Marines and was sent to the front lines. There, during the battle of Meuse-Argonne, he was killed by machine gun fire Nov. 1, 1918, just 10 days before the Armistice. His father, Erath County Sheriff “Big Jim” Turnbow, was shattered and died less than a year later, many said of a broken heart. After the war, Ammon’s mother had his remains brought back from France and reinterred next to his father in the Turnbow family cemetery. The photo and flag that draped his coffin are on display in Tarleton’s Welcome Center. Turnbow is representative of the many Tarleton alums who have served in the military.

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Cross country Football

Coach Cary Fowler’s Texan football team finished the regularseason 7-3 overall and 5-1 in Lone Star Conference play, claimed its first LSC title since 2009 and third title overall in school history.

The season saw 19 All-LSC Team honors, which included a pair of first team honorees, six second team selections and 11 players named to honorable mention.

Senior linebacker Marquis Wadley was also named a Daktronics First Team All-Super Region Four selection.

Men’s basketball

Head coach Lonn Reisman had one of his best seasons at the helm of the Texans in 201314, notching 28 wins and just three losses, and was named the Lone Star Conference and South Central Region Coach of the Year. The Texans won their second straight LSC tournament championship and its third in school history. The team set new program records in scoring (2,660 points), free throws made (679) and free throws attempted (928).

Chuck Guy was named a National Association of Basketball Coaches All-American, becoming the first Texan to earn All-American honors since 2007.

Women’s volleyball

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The women’s cross country team became the first Tarleton team to qualify for the national championship meet with a sixth-place finish at the regional meet and a second-place finish at the LSC championship.

Senior Lindsey Hinton was named the LSC Women’s Runner of the Year while Aly Coughlin was named the LSC Newcomer of the Year, Audrey Shelton racked up LSC Freshman of the Year honors and head coach Pat Ponder was named the LSC Coach of the Year. On the men’s side, injuries devastated the Texans en route to a fifth-place LSC championship finish.

For the fourth consecutive season, the Tarleton volleyball team qualified for the postseason after claiming the No. 5 seed in the Lone Star

Conference tournament with a 15-14 record.

Tarleton fell in the LSC championship quarterfinals to end the season, but not before creating a few memorable moments along the way.

Stacie Murrah, the LSC’s Co-Offensive Player of the Year, joined the 1,000 career kill club while Emily Klein, the LSC Libero of the Year, became the school’s second all-time leader in career digs. Danielle Barker became the school’s all-time leader in assists in her final season.

Women’s basketball

In head coach Ronnie Hearne’s final season with the TexAnns, Tarleton enjoyed one of the best seasons in school history with a 22-9 record, a trip to

the LSC tournament championship game and an appearance in the NCAA tournament round of 32, tying the farthest advance through the NCAA playoffs in school history. Kiara Wright racked up the awards in her final season, being named the LSC Player and Defensive Player of the Year, the South Central Regional Player of the Year and the 2014 Daktronics National Player of the Year.

Indoor track and field

Tarleton made its NCAA debut in indoor track and field and found much success in the inaugural season. Both the men and women finished fourth in the LSC championships as a team while Chase Rathke became the first Tarleton athlete to qualify for the NCAA Indoor National Championships. The junior from Crawford didn’t disappoint on the nation’s top stage, taking third place in the 800-meter run to earn All-America status.

Baseball

The Texans went 3123 and finished in third place in the Lone Star Conference following the regular season in 2014. Tarleton posted a 30-win season for the fourth consecutive year and made its sixth straight trip to the LSC tournament. Tarleton then went on to win three straight games in the tournament and capture the school’s first tournament title before making the program’s third appearance in the South Central Regional Tournament. Tarleton had six players selected to the all-conference team and had two players (Jared Musgrove and Rustin Thomas) earn all-region honors.

Softball

Tarleton softball wrapped up its season in the LSC tournament after suffering a hardfought 5-4 loss to No. 3-seeded Texas Woman’s University. This marked the thirteenth time in the 19-year history of the softball program that Tarleton has qualified for the postseason, all within the 18-year tenure of head coach Julie Mata. Tarleton had three players named all-conference including third-team selections, Mikayla Stogsdill and Melody Mayse, and second-team honoree, Katelyn Conlee.

in round one of the tournament. The No. 4 seed was given to the winner of the RMAC Tournament.

Golf

The TexAnns won three straight tournaments to end the regular season, including the Doc Housewright Invitational after carding a school-record lowround of seven-under par, 281. Tarleton then went on to win the LSC tournament championship for a seventh straight year, then captured the school’s seventh Super Region Four Tournament title as well.

Tarleton made its eighth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II Championships and claimed the program’s best finish after placing third overall. Sophomore Isabel Jimenez-Perea was named the LSC’s Player of the Year for a second straight year.

Tennis

The TexAnn tennis team saw its season come to an abrupt end, despite appearing destined for their 10th regional appearance in 12 years. The TexAnns entered the LSC championship tournament in fifth place in the region—needing to be in the top four to advance—and were scheduled to open the tournament against Cameron, ranked No. 3 in the region. Tarleton dismantled the Aggies and advanced to the LSC championship, where they fell to Midwestern State. But by beating Cameron, Tarleton was expected to advance to the regional tournament.

However, the Aggies maintained the No. 3 seed despite a loss

Outdoor track and field

Tarleton had six athletes earn AllAmerican accolades at the conclusion of the outdoor track and field championships in Allendale, Mich.

Chase Rathke won the national championship in the men’s 1500m race while Dylan Willett finished in eighth place in the same race. The Texan men’s mile relay

team concluded the championship event with a sixth-place finish, which propelled Cameron Krc, Gilson Umunnakwe, Michael Eschbach and Clarencio Guerrero to All-American honors.

On the women’s side, Aly Coughlin ran in the 3000m steeplechase and Lindsey Hinton ran the 5000m. Two-time All-American Nikki McNorton made her third straight trip and, this time, competed in the 100m hurdles. Tarleton finished third in the girl’s meet and fourth in the men’s meet in the LSC championships and boasted 13 all-region selections.

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What do you miss about home “I miss my family. … And the weather. Here it gets hot and cold, and in Malaysia it’s always warm….

I didn’t own a jacket until I came here. I always wore shorts, and now I have to check the weather every morning to see if it’s cold.”

rituals or superstitions “I don’t but my teammates do. They play a ball with a certain number on it or something. I just try to think positive and go play.”

Favorite shot “I like to hit the ball.

The drive. I hate putting.”

Favorite food in Malaysia

Favorite athlete “Michael Phelps, because he is one of the most successful athletes ever. And he likes meatball subs and he plays golf.”

B y J o e M i c h a e l F e i st

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ine thousand miles is a long way to go to hit a golf ball. But Tarleton golfer Sharon Lau jumped at the chance. A college education was part of the package.

Lau, who graduated in May with a B.S. in manufacturing engineering, grew up in Kuantan, Malaysia, on the South China Sea. When she was 8 years old, she and her entire family—parents, a brother and a sister—took up golf as a family activity. Sharon excelled.

She’s the third woman golfer from Malaysia to play for Tarleton. She’s here, in fact, because she knew Tarleton four-year standout Jackie Lau (no relation) back home, and her mom wanted her to go to a school where she at least knew one person.

Now she has friends from around the world.

In addition to Malaysia, Tarleton golf has players from Spain, Australia, New Zealand, and, of course, the U.S. Last summer, Lau went to Spain to visit teammates Isabel JimenezPerea and Beatriz Prados.

Lau plans on staying in the States to get a job because, she said, the opportunities are so much better. She’s looking at positions in the oil and gas industry, aviation, anything really.

“Even golf clubs,” she added, smiling.

“Designing and manufacturing new golf clubs would be cool. I love golf, so it would be great to get a job in the golfing industry.”

“Malaysia is weird because we have three races and cultures: the Malay, Chinese and Indians. I actually like Indian people’s food. Curry. I eat Indian food whenever I can. I like spicy food.”

Spotlight

Sharon Lau

Read any good books lately?

Favorite Music “I’m starting to like a little country now.

When I was in Malaysia I’d never even heard of country music.

After four years I kind of like it.”

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Favorite american food

“I like the food here, but the problem is it’s not very healthy. I like chicken fried steaks and burgers, but my mom is worried about me eating too unhealthily. Because in Malaysia, we have McDonald’s and things, but nobody really eats there.”

Favorite movie “I like comedies but I don’t watch many movies. But I did like Thor.”

“The problem with me is I find it hard to read…. My mom and dad found it funny that I could get through college. The only books I can read through fast are textbooks. I did kind of like The Alchemist, but it took me a while to read it.”

ATHLETICS

Tommy Keeling was a four-year standout outfielder for the Texans from 199497. He was a two-time team MVP and a three-time All-Lone Star Conference First Team selection. Keeling was Tarleton’s Newcomer of the Year in 1994 and was also awarded the team’s Big Stick Award in 1994, 1996 and 1997. In his final season with the Texans, Keeling was tabbed a Second Team All-American selection after hitting .417 with 25 doubles, 12 home runs 53 runs batted in. Keeling still owns career school records in at bats (750), hits (283) and doubles (72). His 25 doubles in 1997 still rank first all-time in a single season in school history, as do his 157 total bases he tallied in 1996.

Eddie Washington was a two-year letter winner for the Texans from 1990-91. He led the team in sacks both seasons he played and still holds the school’s single-season record for sacks with 23 total during the 1990 season. A two-time First Team TIAA selection, Washington was also tabbed the team’s Defensive MVP both seasons he donned the purple and white. Washington was a two-time All-American selection as well and finished his career with more than 120 tackles with 13 of those netting for loss in yardage. His career total of 36 sacks still stands as the school’s all-time record for sacks in a career.

2014 Induction Eight former student-athletes from baseball, football, women’s tennis, men’s basketball and men’s track and field teams were inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame on May 2-3. With these inductees, the Athletics Hall of Fame now boasts 148 members, including 67 football players, 16 baseball players, three women’s tennis players, 37 men’s basketball players and two track and field teams.

Alicia Cummings was a four-year letter winner for the TexAnn tennis team from 2003-06. She helped guide the TexAnns to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Championships in 2006. She was the LSC’s Freshman of the Year in 2003 and also earned First Team All-LSC honors in all four seasons on the court. Cummings was a three-time LSC All-Academic selection and was named an ESPN Academic All-American in her final season with the TexAnns. In her senior season with the TexAnns, she helped guide the team to a 20-3 record and was named the LSC’s Player of the Year. Cummings earned the Arthur Ashe Award from the ITA in 2005.

Jeffrey McFadden was a two-year letter winner for the Texan basketball team from 1988-90. McFadden helped guide the team to a 44-16 record and two TIAA Championships. He led the Texans in shooting percentage, points per game and rebounds in each of his two seasons. At the time of his graduation, McFadden held six school records, with two of those records still intact, including: field goals made (275) and field goal percentage (.661). McFadden was a two-time All-TIAA selection, a District VIII Player of the Year and a NAIA Second Team All-American selection during his career.

The 1959 Tarleton State Men’s Sprint Relay Team, which consisted of Franklin Wood, Jackie Russell, Guy Golden and Larry Jones, were the National Junior College Track and Field Champions in the 440-yard sprint relay event. The sprint relay team was Tarleton’s first-ever national championship team in school history.

Tarleton’s new Athletics Hall of Fame members include Guy Golden (from left), Larry Jones, Franklin Wood, Jackie Russell, Jeffrey McFadden, Alicia Cummings, Eddie Washington and Tommy Keeling.

C o u r t e s y o f B r i tta n y B r o uss a r d

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Texans

Star quality A l um n i P r o f i l e

Tarleton alumna Kerrie Bryant is manager of client services for the Dallas Cowboys.

Courtesy of Dallas Cowboys

Kerrie Bryant B.S. ’08, M.S. ’09 B y M a r y G . S a lta r e l l i

A

bove her desk deep in the heart of Valley Ranch, Tarleton graduate Kerrie Bryant proudly displays two inscribed NFL footballs. It’s just her second year working for “America’s Team,” but the Dallas Cowboys have already honored Bryant with two “game ball” awards.

The team awarded her the first football for hitting a company season-ticket milestone at AT&T Stadium when Bryant worked in her initial job as service

34

coordinator. She received the second game ball from coach Jason Garrett last year for involvement in the team’s community outreach initiatives.

“Giving back to my community is something that is really important to me,” said Bryant, now manager of client services for the Cowboys. “Community relations touch every area of our business. The Cowboys brand is so recognized globally that people want to associate with ‘the star’ and use that platform for the greater good.”

Bryant works with the team’s corporate partners such as American Airlines, MasterCard and Albertsons, fulfilling contractual agreements. She and her corporate partnership colleagues share

an office tucked away in a corner of the Cowboys Valley Ranch complex in Irving, outside Dallas.

During football season, Bryant works 85 to 90 hours a week and attends every home game, creating memorable sports experiences for her corporate clients.

She enjoys meeting people, from famous football players to fans, community leaders to employees of partner companies.

“My work is very ‘client-facing,’” she said. “It’s all about building outstanding relationships. Those bonds really help when we’re working on business arrangements.”

Bryant learned how to forge strong working relationships from her business professors at Tarleton, including Sue Lewis and Reggie Hall. She said their open-door policies and the countless hours they spent counseling her demonstrated that they really wanted her to succeed in the business world.

As she moved from undergraduate studies to her graduate classes in business management and leadership at Tarleton, business professor Dr. Tom Bradley exposed her to real-world experiences similar to those she has encountered during her professional career.

“It’s as if he were asking, ‘These things are going to happen, how will you handle it?’” Bryant said. “Now I want to tell him that I actually used what he said I was going to use.”

During her four-and-a-half years at Tarleton, Bryant led cheers as a member of the Texan squad and coached cheerleaders as a graduate assistant. She said both experiences prepared her to be a role model and leader.

Because Bryant always knew she wanted to work in sports, she scouted for internships during her graduate studies.

Her professional career kicked off in 2009 with the Kansas City Chiefs, where she organized youth cheerleading and coordinated events and services for season ticket holders, suite owners and team alumni. After three years with the Chiefs, Kerrie was thrilled to come home to Texas and work for the Dallas Cowboys in her “dream job.”

And she enjoys promoting her alma mater within the world of football.

“In sports, the big-name schools get all the attention,” Kerrie said. “I want to inspire other students to have the same great experiences that I had at Tarleton State University.”

A ranching heritage A l um n i P r o f i l e

Brockman on the grounds of the National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock.

C o u r t e s y o f As h l e y R o dg e r s

David M. “Matt” Brockman B.S.’84 B y J o e M i c h a e l F e i st

S

imply put, Matt Brockman was born in a saddle, spurs jangling and a lasso in his hand. He’s all about ranching.

A 1984 Tarleton graduate, Brockman, 53, is now the executive director of Texas Tech’s National Ranching Heritage Center in Lubbock, a museum and historical park dedicated to preserving ranching history.

In his office overlooking the center’s grounds and structures, Brockman chats easily about his years in various aspects of the agriculture industry and his formative years at Tarleton.

“I worked on ranches from the time I was 14 all the way through my [college] years,” Brockman said. “I broke colts, cowboyed. That helped pay my way through Tarleton. I’ve been blessed to have worked in a lot of different industries in agriculture, but I got my start in ranching. Now I’m back in ranching.”

After graduating from high school in Granbury and taking a few classes at Weatherford College, Brockman enrolled at Tarleton in 1981, about the same time Tarleton got a new president, Dr. Barry B. Thompson.

“That was a very special time at Tarleton,” he said. “If you’ve been around Barry Thompson at all, his enthusiasm, his devotion, his optimism is just contagious. Dr. Thompson made every student, as far as I’m concerned, made you feel like the boundaries were limitless.”

He worked for a time in the president’s office and for Thompson personally on his ranch.

Tarleton “ laid the foundation for me, professionally, to be able to go and have some really awesome experiences after I left Tarleton…. I was trained to be an ag teacher, but I think more importantly, what they did in that ag ed program, you were taught to be a professional.”

After graduating, despite having no political connections,

he landed a job in Washington, D.C., on U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm’s congressional staff, working on agriculture policy.

“It was intense,” Brockman recalled. “I was a kid from Young County that had gotten through Tarleton, and I was working alongside young men and women with Harvard MBAs, with Ph.D.s from Purdue, from the Wharton School of Business.

I was working so hard at the time that I didn’t realize the pedigrees of my peers. But there came a point when it dawned on me that I could hang. That a kid from Young County who went to Tarleton could go to Washington, D.C., and hold his own and work in a professional environment with peers with Ivy League degrees…. I give so much credit to people like Barry Thompson and [ag professors] Bill Irick and Johnny Johnson.”

He went on to work in management roles for the National Grain and Feed Association, the Texas Department of Agriculture under then agricultural commissioner Rick Perry, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association and finally administrative manager of the Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show in Fort Worth for more than six years.

In 2013, Brockman took over as director of the Texas Techrun National Ranching Heritage Center, a 27-acre museum and historical park. It’s composed of 48 authentic, furnished ranch buildings and structures that represent the history of ranching from the 1780s to the 1950s.

But preserving history is only part of the mission, Brockman said. The chance to address ranching’s contemporary issues was equally appealing he said.

“The men and women who are on those ranches today have got to be able to stay on those ranches if we’re going to perpetuate our heritage,” he said. “So when we can … publish papers on ranchland management or habitat management, or when we can hold symposia on things like water or wind power, when we can help educate the public about the fact that ranchers are stewards of the land and livestock … then I think we serve a greater purpose that goes beyond simply preserving and interpreting history.”

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Renew your

Homecoming 2014!

Come home to Tarleton on October 11.

purple!

Save the date

Join the Tarleton Alumni Association today and help more students realize the impact of a Tarleton education.

Every dollar of TAA memberships goes directly to scholarships for students.

Annual membership  Loyalty $50  Joint Loyalty $75  Century Club $100  Joint Century Club $150  Purple Century Club $500  Joint Purple Century Club $750

Benefits of joining the TAA  Access to membership to the Tarleton Rec Sports Center  Free Tarleton alumni swag  Discounts to hotels and rental cars

To learn how to join or renew, go to www.tarleton.edu/org/alumniassociation or call the Alumni Center at (254) 968-9682.

Connected for Life

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The official Tarleton ring story The official ring of Tarleton State University embodies the pride and possibility that have built our heritage of excellence and achievement since 1899.

It is a lasting symbol of your lifelong connection to that heritage and the people and experiences that are your Tarleton State University.

This beautiful, commemorative ring has a unique and meaningful design. The top of the official ring is adorned with the traditional border of the University seal encircling the Tarleton “T”. The sides reflect the university—the campus gates and cannon surrounded by the oaks and antique lamp posts on one side, and on the other, the impressive architecture of the administration building.

The Tarleton State University class ring was the first ring in the world to feature series numbering as part of the design. As graduates and alumni order the new ring, a series number is etched into the outside of the ring adding to the tradition and meaningful achievements it represents.

The official Tarleton State University ring serves as a constant reminder of the lifelong friendships and achievements that you have gained. The official ring also tells the world that you are loyal to the Tarleton heritage and proud to be affiliated with the prestige and distinction reserved for Tarleton alumni. Congratulations on your outstanding accomplishments and welcome to the Tarleton State University alumni family.

You’ve earned the right to wear the official Tarleton ring...wear it well!

To order call 1.800.854.7464 or visit www.jostens.com In addition to the traditional design, new options will be available for students in the coming year.

Class Notes ’51

John M. Weaver went on to graduate from Texas Tech and

serve as an Army officer for more than 20 years. He later was city manager in DeLeon, worked in HUD housing programs, and was Comanche County judge for eight years, retiring in DeLeon in 1998. He is now an active community volunteer.

’75

Glenn West, B.A. in government, and his wife, Christy Bounds West ’75, B.S. in elementary education, live in Dallas. Glenn is a partner in the international law firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP. He also speaks and writes on legal issues and is an adjunct professor of law at SMU and Texas Tech Law Schools.

’58

’76

in Ingram, Texas. Harold graduated from Texas A&M University in 1960 and began an Army career. He was wounded in combat in Vietnam in 1966 and retired with the rank of major in 1968. He then worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and retired in 1993. He owns and manages an RV park in Ingram.

AgriLife Research scientist in charge of daily operations of the Bill Sims Wool and Mohair Research Laboratory in San Angelo, Texas. Ron holds a doctorate in wool science from the University of Wyoming at Laramie.

Harold Wunsch and his wife, Judy Maxwell Wunsch ’59, live

Ronald E. Pope, B.S. in animal science, is the Texas A&M

’78

’68

Johnny Gann, B.S., M.S. ’79, and his wife, Linda Gann, B.S. ’77, M.S ’79, M.S. ’85, live in Ranger, Texas. He is dean of

State Farm agent in Stephenville since 1972.

students at Ranger College. She is dean of work force education at Ranger College.

David Kincannon, B.A. in history and government, has been a

’69

’71

LuAnn Johnson Massey, B.B.A. in business, is a teller at Keystone Credit Union in Tyler, Texas, where she has worked since 2011. She retired from telecommunications after 30 years of service. During her tenure with Sprint, she earned an M.B.A. from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1994.

’72

Ronda Inez May, B.B.A., M.Ed. ’80, is a salesperson for Read’s Jewelers in Fort Worth. She retired from teaching after 18 years and lives in Weatherford, Texas.

Mike Copeland, B.S., a veteran Stephenville ISD teacher and coach, was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor in July 2013.

Truman T. Bell, B.S. in math, is headquarters manager for community relations at Exxon Mobil Corp. in Houston.

Dwaine Brown, B.S., is vice president of First United Bank.

He has 14 years of banking experience and is a lending officer in Lamesa, Texas. He is a member of several organizations, including Lamesa Chamber of Commerce, Lamesa Kiwanis Club and Dawson County Central Appraisal District.

’74

Liz Bentley, B.B.A., is director of development for the Amarillo Symphony. She previously served as director of development and communications at the Don Harrington Discovery Center from 2007 to 2013.

Martha Davis Fuller, B.S. in health and physical education, and Russell Fuller, M. Ed., have been married more than 40 years.

Martha retired in 2006 after 27 years of teaching mostly special education in several Texas towns. Russell was a band director and history teacher for 30 years, retiring in 1995. They live in Robinson, Texas.

Mark Martin, B.S. in business, is president of the Central Texas region of InterBank, based in Stephenville. He oversees the company’s banks in Stephenville, Bluff Dale, Granbury, Glen Rose and Aledo. He has worked for the parent company of InterBank, Olney Bancshares of Texas, since 1994.

Gene Stewart, B.S. in agribusiness, has been the owner of Gene Stewart Real Estate in San Saba, Texas, since 1988. He previously was assistant VP/loan officer for Cattleman’s PCA in San Saba.

’79

Terry Dunlap, B.S. in agriculture education, M.S. ’83, works for Heartland Crop Insurance and resides in Loving, Texas, with his wife, Nancy, where they farm and ranch. He recently retired as principal at Olney Junior High after 32 years in education.

Johanna Easdon Hicks, B.S. in human sciences, has been Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service family and consumer sciences agent in Hopkins County (Sulphur Springs) for 17 years.

Steve Trogdon, B.A. in speech, retired from state service in August. Most recently, he was the state exercise coordinator in the Community Preparedness Section of the Texas Department of State Health Services. He worked for the Texas Department of Public Safety—Emergency Management Service for 20 years.

’81

James H. Ponder, B.S. in plant and soil science, is a thermal tech for Schlumberger in Fort Stockton, Texas. He is also the owner/operator of a family pest control company.

’86

Mike Dumas, B.B.A., is district vice president in the Phoenix office of Graybar, a distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products. He joined the company 27 years ago as a management trainee in Dallas.

Gathered from alumni submissions and news stories from various media outlets.

37

Diane Fox, M.B.A., is a senior engineering specialist at Bell Helicopter/Textron in Fort Worth, specializing in cost estimating for military production and development programs. Prior to Bell, she owned an executive search and HR consultancy firm.

Debbie Phillips Hataway, B.S. in elementary education, has taught kindergarten at All Saints Catholic School in Fort Worth since 1992.

’87

Will McSwane, B.S. in agribusiness, is the owner of McSwane Resources LLC, in Teague, Texas. The company provides oil and gas land services. He also runs a cow/calf operation in Freestone County.

’89

John M. Bailey, B.A., is a justice on Texas’ 11th Court of Appeals in Eastland. He is a graduate of the Texas Tech University School of Law. Kelly Doggett, B.S. in biology, is a physician practicing family medicine in Stephenville. He attended medical school at Texas Tech and completed his residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.

’90

Laurie Harveson Barker, B.S. in physical education, is a Presbyterian minister. She and her husband, Jim Barker, are co-pastors of First Presbyterian Church in Junction, Texas, and Harper Presbyterian Church in Harper. She earned her master of divinity degree in 2001 from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary and was ordained in 2002.

’91

Kimberly Pack Wilson Leaverton, B.A. in English, is an attorney/shareholder at Fraser, Wilson & Bryan, PC in Stephenville. She earned her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 1996.

’95

Tylor Chaplin, B.S. in exercise and sports studies, M.Ed. ’06, is superintendent of Falls City ISD, south of San Antonio.

Chaplin spent 12 years as a teacher and coach in his hometown of Stephenville before moving on to administrative positions.

John C. Crawson, B.A. in history, is a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 636 Brigade Support Battalion based in Marshall and Dallas. He previously served as the chief of staff for Joint Task Force-136 that supports FEMA Region VI with the Homeland Response Force.

Kevin Hamlin, B.S. in exercise and sports studies, M.Ed. ’96, teaches English and coaches baseball at Little Elm High School, where he has worked since 2008. Kevin was the Little Elm High School Teacher of the Year for 2012 and the Little Elm ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year for 2012.

David Vogel, B.B.A. in marketing, is the owner of Vogel Insurance Agency in Sherman, Texas. The Denison native and former Tarleton baseball player has served on the Denison Little League Board of Directors and the St. Mary’s Catholic School Advisory Council.

’96

Brodie Miller, B.S., is Region 5 director of the Texas Animal Health Commission, based in Beeville in South Texas. Miller earned a veterinarian’s degree from Texas A&M University and practiced large animal medicine and surgery in a veterinary clinic in Stephenville for nine years.

Chad A. Stevens, B.S. in kinesiology, is K-12 Strategist for CDW-G in Chicago. He previously worked at Dell Inc. and Clear Creek Independent School District. In 1999 he earned his M.S. in educational management from University of Houston-Clear Lake and in 2006 earned his Ph.D. in educational administration from Texas A&M University.

’97

Stephanie Gamble, M.Ed., is the head girls basketball coach

’93

Traci Hall, B.S., is district assessment coordinator for the McKinney ISD. She has more than two decades of education experience as a teacher, campus administrator and district-level coordinator.

’94

Susan Ballabina, B.S. in education, is associate director for program development for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.

Susan joined AgriLife Extension in 1994. She earned a master’s in communications from Stephen F. Austin in 1998 and a doctorate in public affairs from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2007.

Lance Speer, B.S., is quality assurance representative in the Fort Worth district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

He was the district’s 2012 Hard Hat of the Year recipient for his contributions in support of the district’s engineering and construction efforts.

and athletic coordinator at Smithville High School. She has coached girls’ basketball and volleyball at schools in San Marcos, Temple, Copperas Cove and Kerrville.

’99

Jeff Clarkson, B.S. in education, is head boys basketball coach at Plano East Senior High. He was head boys basketball coach at Naaman Forest High School for nine seasons. He was a two-year letterman for Tarleton basketball in 1996-98.

Colby VanGundy, B.S., is director of parks and recreation for the city of Victoria, Texas. VanGundy has 14 years of experience in municipal parks and recreation management, most recently as the parks and recreation director in Greenville, Texas.

’00

John Graham, B.A. in history, M.Ed. ’05 in education, is principal of Rouse High School in Leander, Texas, where he has worked since 2008. He previously taught social studies at Killeen High School in Killeen, Texas, and was an assistant principal at Cedar Park High School in Cedar Park, Texas.

James Keith, B.S., is an associate and department manager in

38 Texans

the Denton, Texas, office of Dewberry, a national professional services firm. He is responsible for overseeing hydraulic

Contact us Send your alumni and class updates to Tarleton State University, Box T-0730, Stephenville, TX 76402

analyses and flood control design for a variety of agency and municipal clients in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

worked since 2011. He previously worked at Community Bank and Trust in Waco before earning an M.B.A. in business administration from Texas A&M University-Central Texas in 2011.

John F. Kerby, B.S., is a major serving full-time in the Texas Army National Guard in Austin. He joined the Army in 2000 and was deployed to Iraq three times. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration from St. Edward’s University.

Cynthia Miller Buster, B.A. in history, is a nursing student at Covenant School of Nursing in Lubbock after earning her master’s degree in heritage management at Texas Tech University in 2013.

’01

Adam Harris, B.S. in computer science, is a web developer at

Allison Wier Olofson, B.S. in horticulture, M.S. ’02, is a plant quality program specialist for the Texas Department of Agriculture. She was named vice president of the Horticulture Inspection Society-Southern Chapter in 2013.

Gary Pryor, B.S in exercise and sports studies, has taught physical education in La Vega ISD for 13 years.

’04

Jeremy Raines, B.S. in industrial technology, is the vice president of operations at RMP Industrial Supply in Fort Worth, where he has worked since 2005.

’10

Turnkey Social in Provo, Utah, where he has worked since 2013.

’11

Amber Leigh Gentry, M.Ed., is the lead counselor at Morningside Elementary School in Fort Worth ISD, where she has worked since 2008.

Prastut Pandey, M.S. in information systems, is a software developer at United Airlines in Houston, where he has worked since 2011. He previously worked at IT companies overseas before coming to Tarleton.

Jason Beaty, M.Ed., is principal of McCall Elementary School in

Chris Werner, B.S. in kinesiology, is a teacher/coach at Karnes City ISD, where he has worked since 2012. He teaches sixth grade science and is the head baseball coach at the high school.

Aledo, Texas. He was recognized as Aledo ISD’s Principal of the Year for 2011-2012.

’12

’05

Sam Kieschnick, B.S., is the first naturalist in Mansfield, Texas, with special duties surrounding the city’s new 80-acre Elmer W. Oliver Nature Park.

Kelly Reyna, B.S., is executive director of UNT Quail, a research and landowner extension program at the University of North Texas aimed at restoring the dwindling quail population in Texas.

The goal is to create large corridors of habitat with sustainable populations of quail and other wildlife.

Cheyanne Choate, B.S., is the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agriculture and natural resources agent in Stonewall County, near Lubbock.

Natalie Rohde, M.S. in psychology, is a research associate for the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio working for the Center for Improving Veterans’ Health Through Research at the South Texas Veterans Health Center: Audie L. Murphy.

Sarah Zeisler, B.S. in biomedical science and B.S. in animal

Caleb Walls, B.S., is head boys basketball coach at Baird High School. He most recently was the head girls basketball coach at Huckabay High School.

science, is a second year veterinary student at Texas A&M University. She plans to graduate in 2016 as a member of the Texas A&M veterinary school’s centennial class.

’06

’13

Drew Howard, B.S., is the principal of Gilbert Intermediate School in Stephenville. He previously served as the assistant principal at Henderson Junior High and also coached and taught at Lipan ISD.

Amber Hawkins Sharp, B.S. in interdisciplinary studies, is a fifth grade math/science teacher for Anna, Texas, ISD, where she has worked for the past seven years. She earned her master’s of education degree from Texas A&M University-Commerce.

’08

Megan Logan, B.S., is the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service program specialist in 4-H and youth development for District 10, based in Uvalde.

’09

LaMendy “Mendy” Davis, B.S. in business, works for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and is superintendent of Purtis Creek State Park in Eustace, Texas.

Jesse Gaston, B.S. in business administration, is director of credit analysis at Lone Star Ag Credit in Waco, where he has

media@tarleton.edu | (254) 968-9076

Steve Adcock, M.S. in criminal justice administration, is the police chief in Bastrop, Texas. He is a former DPS trooper and police chief in Clifton, Texas.

Kimberly Davis, B.S. in biology, is a nurse tech and unit secretary at Baylor Medical Center at McKinney, Texas, in the intensive care unit. She is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Johnny Emmons, B.S., head rodeo coach at Weatherford College, was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2014.

Jenna Sanchez, M.B.A., is administrative coordinator at the Stephenville Medical and Surgical Clinic, PA, where she has worked since 2009.

Class Notes

39

D

r. Barry B. Thompson, a Tarleton alumnus who returned to serve as president of the university and later became chancellor of The Texas A&M University System, died March 1, 2014. A memorial

service was held March 9 in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center Auditorium. Following are excerpts from the eulogy delivered

by Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio, Tarleton president.

Remembering Barry B. Barry B. had a 60-year passion for Tarleton—from his undergraduate days to becoming our 13th president, as Texas A&M System chancellor, as president of the Tarleton Alumni Association, member of the Tarleton Foundation Board, and as a dad and grandfather of Tarleton graduates.

As he said: ‘At the centerpiece it will always be the purple and the white.’

Standing on the stage of this auditorium, I cannot help but think back to an October day in 2009, and Barry being at this podium, when I was inaugurated as president. Many of you here now were present for that occasion and can remember his enthusiasm for this university….

You cannot think of Barry Thompson without smiling. As I look back at photos of him on campus, everyone around him is smiling. He was the optimist—not blind to the issues and struggles of the day, but confident in our ability to overcome them together….

He loved students and put students first when decisions were being made. His student focus was grounded in his own undergraduate days at Tarleton in the 1950s.

He was a member of the Purple Poo, Tarleton’s legendary spirit organization, and carried that Purple Pride with him always. His door was open to students and he was a mighty presence around the campus.

He was so pleased when he learned that Tarleton’s new vision statement

40 Texans

adopted last year includes these words: To become the premier student focused university in Texas and beyond.

It is certainly fitting that his name is on Tarleton’s Student Center. A student who became the president—can there be any better role model for loyalty and achievement?

On his watch, Tarleton grew rapidly and developed nationally recognized alternative teacher certification and computer information systems programs.

Our academic programs were enriched by these new degree programs and the creation of the College of Business Administration. Nine new buildings were added to the campus, and others were renovated, including improved facilities for Tarleton sports teams.

He transformed the Ex-Students Association into the Tarleton Alumni Association; initiated Tarleton’s endowment campaign; and increased Tarleton’s funds from the state.

His persuasive, persistent manner truly paid off. When Barry Thompson spoke, people listened. Not because he was loud, but because he cared so deeply about others and about our shared future. The breadth of his experience and the depth of his commitment gave his insights great weight.

Tarleton would not be the vibrant, healthy university it is today without President Thompson’s drive to never settle for what was, but to seize the opportunity to be more, for our students, our communities, our state and nation….

Barry’s counsel and support meant a lot to me as it has to a number of others here today.

I will miss his guidance, his wit, his wisdom, his warmth. I was able to track the history and personalities behind public policy and university decision making over many years simply by calling Barry.

What a gift he was to me and to all of us.

The words President Thompson spoke to end his inaugural speech on this stage in 1982 stand today as a worthy charge to all of us who love Tarleton. He said, quote: ‘I pledge to each of you that we will keep your trust; we will seek new ideas and new directions without abandoning the old and proven traditions, we will, along with all of you who care and have gone before us be stewards of Tarleton’s special spirit.’

Tarleton does indeed have a special spirit—in no small measure because of Dr. T. To honor President Thompson, let us take up his charge to make Tarleton, as he said many times, ‘better than it ever was,’ for it was never better than in the mind and heart of Dr. Barry B. Thompson.

SILVER TAPS Honoring the sons and daughters of Tarleton who passed between:

March 15, 2013 – March 15, 2014

Herbert Harold Adams Margurette Alexander Joann (Edwards) Alexander Bud Alldredge Eugene Angermann Lee Ansell Laura (Lednicky) Arney Jessie (Pruett) Autry John Ballard James A. “Jimmy” Bass Charles D. Beck David Russell “Rusty” Best Van Marlin Boozer Lamona (Low) Boyd Sandra Ruth (Hull) Boyd Silas Brandenberger Gwen (Gordon) Bray Donald Wayne Brooks Alvah Brown Dr. Oscar H. “Brownie” Browning Florence Brown-Willingham Robert H. “Bob” Bunting Ransom Walter Burke Stephen Burnett Donnie Da Butler Bob Campbell Cecil Lavaughn Caraway Nancy Arnold Carrier Betty Jo Cary Horace Christian John “Johnny” Clark Ronny Clifton A.B. Copeland Gilbert Paul Copeland Erin (Wilcox) Corbin Gary Lynn Cox Janice (Parish) Cox Stephen McKay Cruse Will Joe Cummings Kenneth Dale “Kenny” Cummings

David Thomas Darter Lena Deaver Tyrrel E. DeVolin Wallace Dove Aaron Dover A. Ben Dowdey Sherman Durst Michael Heath Edwards Kathryn Hicks Ellis Betty Ruth Ellis George W. Ellis Norma Joy “Polly” Erzinger Michael Keith Finch Jeffery Kevin Fleck Truett Jesse Ford Donald Fraser Bailey Gasch Donald Glenn Anthony J. Gonzales Anna Melissa “Chissa” (Hogsett) Gordon Francis (Wilson) Gordon Samuel Dale Graham Patsy Rae Brown Griffin George Bryan Griffin Frances Grobe Eva Dell Grote Dr. Delta Ree (Holdridge) Hafford Helen Lorica (Norton) Haralson Martha Lynne Hardin Laverne (Thomason) Harding Beatrice Hargrove Tom Harkey Billy F. Harris Martha (Emmett) Harris George Anna Harris Mary Elizabeth Northcott Harris George Thomas Harris Virginia Ann Hays Lois Mondell Helms William Ray Herring

Gladys Ellen Hicks Floyd Edwin Hollabaugh Billie Wayne Holladay Billie Wayne Holladay Viola Hooker Frances Louise Oliver Horn John Lee Hornaday Thomas Riley Horner Patsy Housewright Corey R. Hudgins Elmer B. Hudspeth Jr. Michael Jones Daniel Rodney Jones John King Michelle (Walton) Kinser Ronald Krc Jr. Walter E. Kruse Novella (Abbe) Laffoon Carol Lee Lang Bob Lawrence Martin Lebrecht Mark Lewis Betty Lindley Joe Lindley Kyle Little Doris Ewald Lock Agnes Long M. L. Manley Danny Marwitz James McAnelly Robert McBride Janice Gutherie McCullough Dr. Jack Dennis McCullough Jr. John William McCutcheon Leonard “Clark” McDonald Henry James McElreath Devin Chase McGarraugh Richard Gregg McKenzie Michael Aaron McLearen Mack E. McLeod Joseph Hampton McMillan Martin C. Meissner

Kevin Mickan Sammy Jack Miller Lynda Morrison Danny Fred Morrow Dahlee Morton Vivian Joan Mosley Lt. Col. Jody Eugene Naron Patricia Marie Needham Willie Lancaster “Bill” Nix Sherman Eugene Noble Jr. Rebecca Norrell Charles Alan “Charlie” Norris James Ray “Jamie” Oden Eldon L. Odom Merle Oldham Randall Odes Owens Otto Marvin Patterson Kimberly Peacock Donna Pearcy Roy Peek Connie Lee Penny Royce Glenn “Pete” Peterson Linda (Scarborough) Powell Dr. Rodger A. Powell Jr. Philip Price James Victor “Coach” Prince Kyle Pruitt Wilber Rasberry Nat Ellis Read Donald Reed Mary Margaret McDonald Rhea Sandra Rider Frank Larry Robinson Carl E. Ryden Clifford Lee Schaefer Arnold Schecht Melissa Schneider Thomas “Tommy” Milton Schroeder James Robert Sharp Frederick Nelson Shave Sylvia Jane Sherrard

Jerry Don Slawson Courtney Kay Smalley Patti Jo (McIntyre) Smith Robert Spotz Missy Spurgin John G. Srader Jay Verner “Big Daddy” Stockton Flavius Blailock “Strick” Strickland Jr. William Sullivan Neill Edward Sutton Thomas Tolbert Tackett Jimmy Tate Olga Marie Lieb Taylor Dr. O.C. Mike Taylor Laverne Thompson Dr. Barry B. Thompson William Tidwell DeLana Renee (Hilley) Trogdon Lizette Vavrina Virginia (Ramage) Vickers Monte Nell (McCown) Warren Robert W. “Bob” Wells Charles Wesson Gregory West Capt. Samuel W. White Donald Eugene White James R.C. Whiteley Sidney D. Whitman Lee A. Whitten Randall L. Williams Robert Lee Williams Jr. John Willis William C. Willmann Mike Wood Martha Lee (Frazar) Woolf Louise Woolley William Clark Wright Charles Edwin Youngblood Kay Warren Zinsmeyer

If we have inadvertently omitted your loved one, please contact Tarleton External Relations at sgoodman@tarleton.edu

Box T-0570 Stephenville, TX 76402 (2 54 ) 968- 9000 | www.tarleton.edu

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