Broken gas line shuts down TCU buildings

Wednesday, April 23 at around 11:30 a.m., construction workers hit a buried gas line on the north side of the Brown-Lupton Student Center. Both the student center and Foster Hall were closed while utility workers repaired the line, and officials from the Fort Worth Fire Department were on hand in case they were needed. The line was fixed at about 2 p.m.

Illness does little to impair singer’s delivery

A fundraiser for TCU’s School of Music hosted Frederica von Stade, an American opera singer, at Ed Landreth Auditorium at TCU.

Although she was nursing a cold, indicated by a couple of coughs between numbers, it was hardly noticeable. She delivered a wide array of songs in effortless manner with an accompaniment by Laurana Rice Mitchelmore, a pianist and TCU graduate.

The program was neatly arranged in six chapters named for the subject of each song set. Roses led off; then we had Paris, Religion, Lullabies, Shady Ladies and Moi.

Students experience area’s natural gas

A recent tour of two Chesapeake Energy Corp. natural gas drill sites provided a group of students the opportunity to experience first-hand an industry that has had an enormous impact on the Fort Worth area. Adjunct professor Larry Brogdon and his TCU Energy Institute class toured the drill sites to see the company and its contractors actively drilling and executing a frac job.

“It was great,” Brogdon said. “You can sit in the classroom and talk about drilling rigs and frac jobs all you want, but until you get out in the field – a light turns on in a lot of the students.”

At TCU, Pundits talk issues – and age

Columnist Robert Novak, USA Today founder Al Neuharth, and former CBS and NBC reporter Robert Mudd along with Bob Schieffer comprised the fourth annual Schieffer Symposium at TCU. Questions surrounding the 2008 election were the topics of discussion, especially questions of importance in age, race and gender, and who has a potential for vice president.

Schieffer is the namesake of the university’s school of journalism.

Gala kicks off public phase of TCU fundraiser

The Campaign for TCU kicked off its public phase of the fundraising campaign at a gala complete with an edible version of the new Brown-Lupton Student Union, a speech by honorary chairman of the campaign Bob Schieffer and numerous musical performances.

The goal for the campaign is to raise $250 million and will end in 2012. “We’re at 62 percent of our goal,” Don Whelan, TCU’s vice-chancellor for advancement. “We see this as a historic event for the university.”

To give call TCU’s development office at 817-257-7299 or toll free at 877-TCU-GIVE (828-4483).

TCU finds new business dean in old alumnus

This article also appeared in: Bizjournals.com, Fort Worth Business Press, Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal, Dallas Business Journal

TCU announced Homer Erekson, dean of the Bloch School of Business at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, as the new dean of the Neeley School of Business. Erekson is a TCU alumnus and member of the school's National Alumni Board.

Erekson has been the Bloch School dean for six years. Before that, he was at the Miami University of Ohio for 24 years, serving as associate dean for academic affairs, economics chair, planning and operations director, and associate dean for graduate studies.

Rev. Jeremiah Write cancels Texas events

This article also appeared in/on: Daily Vidette, Houston Chronicle, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Austin American-Statesman, Boston Globe, CNN.com, The Daily Sentinel, Dallas Morning News, EURweb.com, The Galveston County Daily News, KLAS-TV, KPSP-TV, KSBY-TV, KTRV-TV, Marshall News Messenger, Paris News, Philadelphia Inquirer, San Antonio Express-News, WANE-TV, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, WTEN-TV, WSTM-TV, The Ledger-Independent, Enquirer-Herald.

The Brite Divinity School in Fort Worth will go ahead with its plans to honor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright this weekend, even though Barack Obama's controversial former pastor decided to skip the ceremony.

The divinity school announced on its Web site that Wright will not attend its 4th annual State of the Black Church Summit and awards banquet. Wright had been scheduled to appear there Saturday evening, following a luncheon panel at Paul Quinn College, a historically black school in South Dallas.

Wright has also canceled plans to speak at three services Sunday at Houston's Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church and an appearance Tuesday at a Tampa-area church at the request of church officials. He cited security concerns for the cancellations.

The Connected Child

Freelance writer, Wendy Lyons Sunshine, co-authored a book called The Connected Child, which was inspired in part by a cover story in Fort Worth Weekly two years earlier. The book, written with TCU researchers Dr. David Cross and Dr. Karyn Purvis, helps families deal with troubled adopted children. Cross and Purvis' groundbreaking work on brain chemistry and therapy techniques deals with deeply disturbed, often violent children.

Connected Child has won a national award from the American Society of Journalists and Authors, in the category of self-help books, to be presented next month in New York City.

Divinity school at TCU still plans to honor Obama pastor

The story also appeared in/on: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, FOX News Channel, FOX NewsEdge, Galveston County Daily News, Inside Edition, KSAT-TV, Paris News, Dallas Morning News

Controversy surrounding the longtime minister of Democratic presidential candidate Barak Obama is not deterring Brite Divinity School from honoring the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a ceremony later this month. TCU, the campus where Brite Divinity School is located, issued a statement Monday opposing that decision in light of video that shows Wright delivering racially tinged sermons and him railing against the United States.

Wright is to be honored March 29 at the Black Church Summit and Awards Banquet at the divinity school. Despite being on the TCU campus, Brite is a separate school with its own officers and board. In a statement on its Web site, Brite said the school affirmed its decision after "understanding the sincere concern" in response to media coverage of Wright's comments.

TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini said that he is in favor of free speech rights even if the topic is controversial, but that giving an award is another matter.

Event honoring controversial pastor moved off TCU campus

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The Brite Divinity School’s Black Church Summit and Awards Banquet will be moved off Texas Christian University's campus for security reasons, the school said Wednesday. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barak Obama’s long-time controversial pastor, is to be honored March 29 at the event. The divinity school is located on TCU's campus, but is a separate school with its own officers and board.

TCU said in a statement on its Web site Wednesday that the executive committee of TCU's Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to move the Brite Divinity School's Black Church Summit events off campus. TCU says that the divinity school agreed to the move. The decision was made in light of security concerns from campus and Fort Worth police, TCU said.

Research in the Wind

The article also appeared in/on: The Engineer - London, U.K., East Bay Business Times, RenewableEnergyAccess.com, KTVT-TV, Fort Worth Business Press, Energy Current

TCU has partnered with Oxford University to study the ecological and socio-economic impacts of wind power.
This five-year research initiative, funded by FPL Energy, will attempt to better understand the impact that wind turbines have on birds and bats, as well as their ecological and socio-economic implications.

The research will be coordinated by TCU’s Institute for Environmental Studies (IES) and Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute (ECI). All the field research for the project will be conducted at FPL Energy’s wind farm locations across the US.

TCU makes Barnett Shale play with Energy Institute

When the potential of the Barnett Shale began to grow in Tarrant County, TCU wondered how it could get involved. The answer came in the Energy Institute, a collaboration between the College of Science and Engineering and the M.J. Neeley School of Business. The institute offers programs to further the learning of those people already in the oil and gas field, and provide training courses for those wanted to join. The growing pains of the oil and gas business could use the extra hands. Professors for the courses are veterans of the field, which what makes the program appealing.

Communities Foundation of Texas announce grants

Communities Foundation of Texas trustees have approved grants totaling $999,779 to 17 area nonprofit community organizations. TCU received grants totaling $80,000 to begin development of nine DVDs for the Healing Families training program for the Institute of child Development.

"Communities Foundation of Texas is pleased to support these diverse organizations in their programs to assist so many in our community," said Brent Christopher, president and chief executive of the foundation. "These organizations make North Texas a healthier, happier place to live, and we are grateful to the generous donors who make it possible for CFT to respond to these needs."

‘Word of mouth’ continues as a valuable marketing tool

Marketing is often focused on the mass media, while turning a blind eye to one of the most important marketing tools — word of mouth. In a study conducted by three university professors, include Robert P. Leone of the Neeley School of Business at TCU, found that mass marketing is costly and inefficient, but referrals from existing customers are much more personal and more effective. Although mass marketing is needed, in our current day, we need to focus on personal contact again.

Symphony conductor will be a guest professor at TCU

During the last eight years, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra Musical Director Miguel Harth-Bedoya has made a place for himself. He's taken the orchestra to new heights -- and to Carnegie Hall, where years ago he led the New York Youth Symphony.

Miguel, a graduate of New York's famed Juilliard School, has recently been named Distinguished Guest Professor of Conducting at the TCU School of Music. Miguel will keep up his work with FWSO and guest conducting in other orchestras, but he will now share his knowledge with TCU students.

Area students promote safety in a national contest

Five TCU students are competing in the Bateman Case Study Competition established by Public Relations Student Society of America with other schools across the country. This year, the competition covers a campaign to promote Chevrolet’s Safe Kids’ Buckle Up, a program to reduce injuries in children resulting from improper seatbelt use. The Competition was created to allow organization members an “opportunity to exercise the analytical skills and mature judgment required for public relations problem-solving,” according to the PRSA. The five students organized an event at an area school, which helped to teach the proper use of a seatbelt.


Studies from TCU provide new data on life sciences


Data detailed in a study article in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment explored the epidemiology of co-occurring disorders (COD’s) with an emphasis on the implications of study findings for the functioning and potential of substance abuse treatment. Severity of disorder is discussed as an issue that may have particular significance for the selection of specialized as opposed to traditional substance abuse treatment forms. P.M. Flynn conducted the study at the Institute of Behavioral Research at TCU with the help of other colleagues.

Business Honors

Business Week recently ranked the M.J. Neeley School of Business at TCU as 32nd of 196 business schools in the third annual ranking of U.S. undergraduate business programs.

America’s Muslim population is gaining a Hispanic accent

Since 2001, Hispanics have embraced Islam in growing numbers. Estimates vary widely, largely because mosques do not keep membership numbers, but scholars believe there is somewhere between 75,000 and 200,000 Hispanic Muslims, which is an 88 percent increase since 1997. Hijamil A. Martinez-Vazquez, a professor at TCU who is writing a book about Latino Muslims says, “ The fastest growing religion in the world is Islam. The fastest-growing group in the country is Latinos. There is no way you cannot see the relationship with it.”

Under God: meaning in There Will be Blood

S. Brent Plate, a religion and visual arts professor at TCU, recently authored an essay “There will be a Nation” that analyzes the religious meaning in the Oscar-winning movie, There Will be Blood, with actor Daniel Day-Lewis and based on the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair. Plate argues that films often use the religious aesthetics to help relate a world to an audience. Religious stories are so popular, because they have survived and people can recognize them easily. Plate says, “Its about mythology, and about how we collectively make meaning of our lives in response to the stories and questions and answers from old.”

Boardroom women not less experienced
The Times of India

Women have historically been thought to posses less business experience than men in the corporate world, but according to a new study, women bring different, but not less-experienced, views in the boardroom. Siri Terjesen, an assistant professor of management at the M.J. Neeley School of Business at TCU and the study’s author, says this outdated belief is why men vastly outnumber women in board roles. She and two colleagues of Cranfield University in the United Kingdom, examined new appointees to the boards of the Financial Times Stock Exchange's 100 most highly capitalized blue-chip firms in the UK, and discovered female directors were much more likely to have MBA degrees than their male peers and were twice as likely to have earned their degrees from elite institutions.

Kay Sanders, C.R.N.A.

Kay Sanders, the director of the School of Nurse Anesthesia at TCU, knows the importance of teaching students what could be as important as life or death while learning in the classroom. Sanders has directed the at TCU for five years, and says, “We have very focused people who have to be successful, because they are going to have a lot of responsibility.”

Doctor of Letters from TCU

Best-selling author Sandra Brown was unaware of her importance at a black-tie dinner party for pianist Van-Cliburn. When she arrived through the doors of the ballroom, she was honored with a Doctor of Letters from TCU and with the news that an annual Sandra Brown Excellence in Fiction Writing Scholarship Award will encourage young writers in the future. Bob Schieffer was master of ceremonies and Chancellor Victor Boschini conducted the hooding ceremony.

Program focuses on keeping black children out of foster care

In 2006, TCU partnered with Catholic Charities and Tarrant County Child Protective Services to provide a program to help prevent black children from entering foster care. In 2004, Tarrant County had twice the number of black children in foster care than the national average. The program sponsored by TCU and Catholic Charities includes classes in parenting, but these classes focus on black families in specific. The effects of the program are not known extensively yet, but the future looks promising. Those taking the parenting classes have not been referred to CPS since finishing the class. The program is funded through a grant by the Amon G. Carter Foundation awarded to TCU, as well as a grant awarded to Catholic Charities by the Carter Foundation.

New seating in TCU stadium collapses

A portion of the end zone construction in the Amon G. Carter Stadium collapsed early Friday. Nobody was injured in the incident. The structural engineers and contractors are conducting a thorough investigation. TCU will also conduct a third-party investigation as well.

Five questions with Ron Watson

Ron Watson, a native of Scotland, was recently chosen to direct the new TCU-sponsored gallery Fort Worth Contemporary Arts on W. Berry Street. The gallery will host art from mid-career and emerging Texas artists. Watson hopes the gallery will promote full interaction with students and people in Fort Worth. He believes there is a sophisticated art community within the city, which attracted him to the job initially.

Top teen business people get a head start

Young entrepreneurs often begin to make money before they can even drive, David Minor, the director of the Neeley Entrepreneurship Center at TCU, says. Minor in the creator of the TCU Texas Youth Entrepreneur of the Year awards, which honor students who have started their own business. A panel of business leaders will choose the entrepreneur of the year along with runners-up. Finalists come from high schools across the North-East Texas area.

Bookstore for college and community

TCU's newly opened bookstore has already received great reviews by TCU and the surrounding community. The new two-story building on the corner of University Drive and Berry Street sells texts, Horned Frog merchandise and other school and art supplies, but it also houses a comfy seating area and a Starbucks. The design of the building puts the parking lot behind it, so the façade of the building adds to the newly redesigned Berry Street.





Student loan consolidator settles inquiry, will stop using school, team names in marketing

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo settled an investigation of a student loan consolidation company that paid fees to colleges and sports marketing firms to directly market to students. Of those colleges, TCU and the University of Texas at El Paso, had an agreement with a sports marketing firm that did business with Student Financial Services, Inc., the loan consolidation firm. Mark Cohen, a spokesman for TCU's athletic department, said TCU received no direct revenue from its agreement.



When adoption goes wrong

Adopting foreign children can often be a rewarding experience, but sometimes the stress of gaining a child with numerous emotional, behavioral and physical problems due to their life before adoption can prove to be more than difficult. Cases in the United States of adoptive children causing problems have often been a result of their traumatic pasts, but parents sometimes cannot cope with the extreme situations. Psychologist Karyn Purvis, of TCU, has done extensive research dealing with troubled adoptive children. Her research has helped to create new methods of handling these outbursts. With further research into the high levels of stress hormones in troubled adoptive children, Purvis may be able to further help families who have no solutions.



Trustees approve 8.4% tuition increase

The Texas Christian University Board of Trustees approved an 8.4 percent tuition increase for the 2008 - 2009 academic year. Both new and returning full-time students will pay a combined tuition and fees of $26,900 for two semesters. The board also agreed to increase financial aid by 18 percent to help students meet the higher costs. The aid will consist of grants and scholarships, according to TCU spokeswoman Tracy Syler-Jones.



Rancher earns honor

When Terry Stuart Forst was enrolled at TCU in the Ranch Management program 15 years ago, she devised a plan to make her family's Oklahoma cattle operation more profitable as a project for a Ranch Management class.

The plan divided the operation into two calving seasons, which most people found radical but it worked, Forst said.

She was focused on helping the Stuart Ranch, which was established in 1868, to recover from their financial stress. This savvy business decision not only helped her family ranch to recover and profit, but was also the reason Forst was inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.




Ft. Worth is the second most-affordable US college town

Fort Worth, home of Texas Christian University, was ranked the second most affordable college town in the third annual Coldwell Banker College Home Price Competition Index. The Index looks at the markets of 119 Football Bowl Subdivision schools and compares the prices for a standard 2,220 square-foot house with four bedrooms and two and a half baths. Two other Texas towns made the top 10 list of the most affordable as well - Lubbock and Houston.




Private equity chief leaves teacher pension fund

Keith Garrison, who helped to make drastic changes to the Teacher's Retirement System by moving it into private market investments, has announced he will be leaving the pension fund to go to Texas Christian University to work on its $1 billion endowment. Garrison joins his former coworker at the pension fund, Jim Hille, who was the teaching fund's chief investment officer until resigning to go to the University in April 2006. Garrison said one reason he took the job is to get back to the on-the-ground deal making instead of in administrative positions.




The hand that feeds you

Relationships between suppliers and businesses is becoming more critical with the demand in the market and technological advances Nancy Nix, as associate professor for supply chain practice and director of the Supply and Value Chain Center at TCU, says. Companies are looking to outsource the production of components of their products such as batteries for cell phones in order to keep up with demand of technology. Companies must follow four critical elements to make collaborations work - be willing to engage, build a collaborative environment, learn from your partner and bring expertise to the table. Companies must learn to keep open lines of communication in order to be successful in collaboration. By doing so, information and ideas flow smoothly from one to the other, creating the best collaboration possible.




Violent video games can be a tool for ministry

Lately, video games such as Halo 3 have been used within youth ministries in churches across the nation. Some people feel that the violence within the games questions the message of the church to the youth, but some feel that these video games provide another use of fellowship within the youth community. S. Brent Plate, an associate professor of religion and visual arts at TCU says, "There is a deeper thing going on here. What has happened in our contemporary culture is we've kind of eliminated traditional rituals. Video games offer - though I'm not convinced they are a complete replacement - but what they at least promise, is a substitute ritual. Playing video games involves at least a couple people, a bodily interaction even if just sitting there, moving thumbs and fingers around." Plate studies visual images that religious people interact with to strengthen their faith. In the end, it is up to the individual church as to whether or not video games should be allowed at youth functions.





Dating Violence Awareness Campaign kicks off at TCU

Bright red signs coated Texas Christian University's campus Monday to shed light onto the definition and dangers of relationship violence.

The messages such as, "What is love?" and "Are you dating someone who controls you?" are a part of the three-year, $2 million statewide Red Flags Awareness Campaign sponsored by the Texas Council on Family Violence and funded by the Texas Attorney General's Office and the Texas health and Human Services Commission.

According to a study released by the council, half of people aged 16-24 had experienced relationship violence, and the Red Flags Awareness Campaign is a way to combat the problem.

This week campaign organizers handed out pens and cups to TCU students that accompanied wallet-sized cards with information about warning signs and emergency numbers. Officials from SafeHaven will speak to sororities and fraternities about dating violence.

"By bringing up the topic and making people more comfortable discussing it, people will realize, 'No, it's not OK,' " Heather Tansill, a senior TCU student from Seatle, said.




Speaker Jim Wright, 84

Speaker Jim Wright has had an accomplished life. Jim Wright is still an icon of Texas and known around the world. During his career in Congress and as Speaker of the House of Representatives, many changes took place. But even before being elected to Congress at 31, Wright was elected to the Texas Legislature at 23 years of age. Wright was also the youngest mayor in Texas history in Weatherford at 26 years of age.

During his 18 terms in Congress, Wright assisted in achieving peace agreements between Egypt and Israel, as well as advocating an energy policy to decrease the U.S.'s dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

For the past 17 years, Wright has enjoyed being a distinguished lecturer at Texas Christian University, in the Political Science Department lecturing in a class called, "Congress and the Presidents."

With all of the accolades that surround Wright, he says, "Maybe it would be nice to be remembered as a peacemaker who loved his community, his country and most of mankind, but never forgot where he came from."





Entrepreneur creates software for scheduling in business

Warren Prescott began his company, Rent a Frog Valet, 10 years ago out of his apartment after just graduating from Texas Christian University. From that business Prescott has launched four additional businesses each attributing to his original venture.

Prescott named Rent a Frog Valet after hiring a TCU student to help him with answering phones and taking orders, and things kept growing from there. Prescott parked cars all throughout college, and kept it on as moonlighting after he graduated with a degree in journalism and business.

Today, the business has grown into two companies and three locations to each with about 400 part-time staff, of which most are college students. Prescott is happy that he is providing a service to people, and proud that he has many return clients.

Clients are happy that Prescott runs a tight ship and has a good business, says Peggy Ivey, assistant director of facilities at the University Christian Church in Fort Worth.

Prescott owns and operates Rent a Frog Valet, Golden Triangle Valet and has now just created software called PepperNet, which helps to schedule employees and manage companies like these.