See. Think. Do
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OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF TEXAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY SPRING 2014 SEE. THINK. DO. ways Texas Wesleyan is putting critical thinking at the 3 forefront of education. ContentsLetter from Texas Wesleyan High Endeavors President Frederick G. Slabach Photos from the Rosedale 1 16 Renaissance groundbreaking, brick dedication and the Trending NOW Business Hall of Fame Our latest points of pride 2 Golf Alexis Belton goes the distance Rams in Focus 19 Soccer 3 Former Rams goalkeeper Faculty Spotlight 20 Dejan “Milo” Milosevic kicks off Biology Professor Bruce Benz professional career dishes on corn 4 Athletics Student-athletes help beautify Student Spotlight our campus { SGA President Kelsi Holland gets 21 5 up close and personal Alumni Message from Alumni Association Alumni Spotlight 22 President Karen Cole ’99 MBA ’04 Author Julie Murphy ’10 shares tips for budding writers Alumni Stories 6 Charles Willett ’66 recalls life at Wesleyan and a lifelong friendship Alumni Spotlight 24 Jeffrey Yarbrough ’85 has a Alumni News 7 Texas-sized passion for chicken fried steak 26 Tribute Gift Recognition Top Tier Value The Ben Hogan Foundation 28 8 and Texas Wesleyan partner to In Memoriam provide a unique combination of mentorship and scholarship 29 The Last Word Professor Carl Schrader makes a Cover Story difference then and now See. Think. Do. Texas Wesleyan 32 students and faculty integrate 10 Applause critical thinking in the classroom The School of Arts & Letters honors its and beyond 33 Distinguished Alumni My Major WEB EXTRA Athletic training is one 14 of the hottest majors in the country Look for this icon for video and and Texas Wesleyan prepares other features connected with this students with hands-on practice article online. PRESIDENT Frederick G. Slabach EDITOR Ann Davis CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Nancy Bartosek Strini Elaine Sharpe Dave Ferman Darren White Josh Lacy COPY EDITORS DESIGN Janna Franzwa Canard J.O. Marci Linn PHOTOGRAPHY Dear Alumni & Friends, Chuck Greeson Welcome to the spring 2014 edition of Wesleyan magazine. Spring brings to mind a time of renewal and rebirth, which, as many of you know, is OFFICE OF ADVANCEMENT exactly what is happening now at Texas Wesleyan. AND ALUMNI RELATIONS 817-531-4404 | 817-531-7560 fax It was my great pleasure to see students, community leaders, esteemed [email protected] alumni, members of the board, faculty and staff rally together for the official Rosedale Renaissance groundbreaking last November. Wesleyan is an official publication for Together, we raised $6.7 million in capital to fund the project, and the alumni and friends of Texas Wesleyan University. The Office of Marketing and transformation is now well underway. The project is revitalizing the Communications publishes it in the fall University and East Fort Worth, and we hope you’ll continue to visit the and spring. The views presented are not campus during this stage of transformation. necessarily those of the editors or the We are making great strides toward our 2020 University Strategic Plan official policies of the University. as well, a transformation and renewal that is not marked by orange cones BOARD OF DIRECTORS and construction signs, but by student success stories and an increase in Trista Allen ’98 applications and admissions. We are creating a learning environment that Barry Baker ’84 cultivates critical thinking and prepares students for graduate school and Patsy Clifford ’55 professional careers. Last year, the University welcomed its largest and Karen Cole ’99 MBA ’04, president highest-performing class, and the University’s accreditation was reaffirmed Martha Cole ’62 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Julie Croft ’98 Colleges, the highest possible accreditation for the University. Martha Earngey ’77, treasurer Brandy Gonzales ’97 As our cover story exemplifies, critical thinking is one of the main pillars Presley Hatcher ’74 of our University. It is a skill we emphasize for the benefit of our students, Syndi Hillberry ’86, secretary faculty, staff, alumni and community. Critical thinking is what will help us David D. Martin MBA ’04, past president transform our strategic plans for the future of the University into reality. Gladys Moore ’73 Lisa Ramos ’06 MBA ’06 Thank you for your commitment to Texas Wesleyan’s renaissance. I could Glen Tuggle ’85, vice president not be more pleased with the work we have achieved together, the work Emily Milutin ’09 we are accomplishing, and what the future holds for our great University. Jorge Vivar ’76 Kathy Walker ’97 Sincerely, Ben Younger ’63 EX-OFFICIO MEMBER Dr. Carl G. Schrader TEXAS WESLEYAN STAFF Frederick G. Slabach Joan S. Canty, vice president for President university advancement Gina Phillips ’97 MS ’07, director of development and alumni relations DeAwna Wood ’05, assistant director of alumni relations John M. Veilleux MBA ’04, vice president for marketing and communications TXWES.EDU Wesleyan { 1 TRENDING NOW THE LATEST FROM TEXAS WESLEYAN 2011 + 2012 + 2013 + 2014 = 4 TOP 7% YEARS U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT HAS WHERE TEXAS WESLEYAN RANKS IN TEXAS COLLEGES AND RANKED TEXAS WESLEYAN IN THE TOP TIER UNIVERSITIES FOR STUDENTS GETTING A LIFETIME RETURN OF REGIONAL UNIVERSITIES ON INVESTMENT BY AFFORDABLE COLLEGES ONLINE $53 MILLION $$ 18 AWARDED IN TOTAL $ AVERAGE CLASS SIZE FINANCIAL AID LAST YEAR AT TEXAS WESLEYAN 92% 393 DORM OF STUDENTS RECEIVED STUDENTS NOW sweetsweetDORM SCHOLARSHIPS AND/OR GRANTS LIVING ON CAMPUS OF 160 FULL-TIME YEARS OF TEXAS PROFESSIONAL FACULTY HOLD A WESLEYAN’S THEATRE AWARDS WON FOR DOCTORATE OR DEPARTMENT’S 17 TEXAS WESLEYAN’S HIGHEST DEGREE UNPARALLELED “SMALLER. SMARTER.” 81% IN THEIR FIELD 60 PRODUCTIONS CAMPAIGN $ 32 MILLION $6.71 MILLION DEDICATED TO STREET IMPROVEMENTS ALONG EAST ROSEDALE (SLATED FOR COMPLETION IN 2014) FOR NEW BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES AS PART OF THE ROSEDALE RENAISSANCE CAMPAIGN One-year-old Katelynn Reed, great granddaughter of Jack Morton ’43, enjoys a in focus Ramsday of laughter and legacy in the building established in her family’s name at the Brick Dedication Ceremony Oct. 19, 2013. The Jack and Jo Willa Morton Fitness Center opened in 2010. Photo by Chuck Greeson Visit the Office of We’veAdvancement moved! and Alumni Relations at our new home, located in the Oneal-Sells Administration Building. You can still contact us at 817-531-4404. Come by! We’d love to see you. Faculty Spotlight Engaging Educators Bruce Benz The professor of biology dishes on corn, the growing world population and exactly what an “ethnobotanist” is. By Dave Ferman | Photo by Chuck Greeson s a kid growing up in North Which leads to a bunch of other Together with Michael Blake and Dakota, Bruce Benz spent questions that we asked — and Benz others, we have documented the his summers on a farm that answered — about why corn is so history of maize diffusion through the produced small grains and cattle important to today’s world. Americas, deciphering the impact of a andA wondering, as he puts it, “what staple cereal on the human biological we did to crops to get them to do and social milieu in pre-Columbian America. A book I co-edited/co- what they do.” So, why care about corn? wrote with John Staller and Robert “Maize is the second most important In a lot of ways, Benz, who has Tykot called Histories of Maize in cereal on the planet. Products Mesoamerica recounts the history and been a biology professor at Texas coming from this plant are more prehistory of maize and its impact on Wesleyan since 1997, is still asking widely used than any other indigenous populations.” the same question. He has devoted cultivated plant. Only rice is more much of his career since earning important, but that’s only because his doctorate in botany from the more people eat it on a daily basis. As the population grows, University of Wisconsin-Madison in Maize has the most genetically how important will corn be for 1986 to studying corn, or maize, and variable genome known.” feeding the world’s people? “Maize directly feeds many people its interaction with people. in the world and is the second You are described as an most important cereal in the world In doing so, he says, he’s asking ethnobotanist. What does because so many people depend fundamental questions about that mean? on it for their daily ‘bread.’ Maize is “An ethnobotanist studies plants humanity. different from other cereals in that people use and the people that maize provides raw material for a use them. My interest focuses on “The human population has been wide variety of products including dependent on grain and livestock the domestication process and the high fructose corn sugar, which is for less than five percent of our time impact of human use on plants that one of the leading causes of obesity on earth,” Benz said. “Before that, are modified for their desirable in the world. Corn will continue to we were predators and hunters and characteristics.” feed the human population, the we became dependent on other world’s domesticated livestock and organisms, and all of a sudden What is the benefit the human race’s continuing love we became sedentary, literally of your research? affair with the automobile.” “My research on maize has and figuratively. So why did we documented the rate of change over domesticate the crops we did, when the last 5,000 years. It documented we did? Corn is such a useful crop evolutionary-punctuated equilibrium, WEB EXTRA and so readily manipulated — it’s suggesting that maize could be different from other crops in our effectively manipulated in a relatively Learn more about Professor Benz at ability to change it.” short time. txwes.edu/engagingeducators 4 } Wesleyan SPRING 2014 Student Spotlight Critical Thinkers Kelsi Holland We sat down for a conversation with SGA President Kelsi Holland about her favorite Wesleyan moments, life aspirations and favorite study hideout.