vol. 45 no. 2 | Summer 2014 | A River’s Story p20 Castro goes from cook to ‘Hero’ p42 contents Summer 2014 p. Archaeology Eagle Nest Canyon lies within what is called the Lower Pecos, and during the last several years dozens of students have participated 3 in research expeditions such as the one currently underway. WIDE VIEWS CLASS VIEWS 7 Serving our troops 60 Alumni gather Program addresses needs of A look at three cities where veterans, families chapters are flourishing 62 Class Notes Big sticks Men’s lacrosse celebrates 25 years Media darling 10 Gloria Campos closes out her 30-year career as a Dallas news anchor 64 12 Mass 20 Yakona Communication Film tells the story of Staying ahead of the the San Marcos River 56 A big salute curve in media today Brigadier generals launched military careers here 67 Italian born From foreign student ABOUT: Hillviews is produced to senior lecturer by the University Advancement division. We’d love to hear from you. Send us your comments 70 From the Collection about the articles in this issue, or send story suggestions. Email [email protected]; fax to 512-245-3817; or mail to Hillviews, Texas State University, 601 University Drive, San Marcos, TX 78666-4613. vol 45 no 2 | summer 2014 Texas State University PRESIDENT Dr. Denise M. Trauth VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT Dr. Barbara Breier ALUMNI ASSOCIATION DIRECTOR Kim Gannon HILLVIEWS STAFF EDITOR Matt Flores MANAGING EDITOR Julie Cooper p. ART DIRECTION/DESIGN Kelly King-Green MARKETING DIRECTOR Diana Harrell PHOTOGRAPHERS FEATURE22 Chandler Prude | Leland Outz CONTRIBUTORS Steve Black | Natalie Chandler David Flores | Dan R. Goddard BIG NUMBERS/BIG FUTURE John Goodspeed | Bryan Kirk The Pride in Action Campaign that began in 2006 concluded this Mariah Medina | Jennifer Rodriguez Kathleen Scott | Tammy Valentine year with an astounding $151 million total. Most of the money is already hard at work in the form of new facilities, scholarships, PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Becky Lockhart expanded programs and endowed professorships. THE TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM BOARD OF REGENTS Donna N. Williams, CHAIRMAN | ARLINGTON Ron Mitchell, VICE CHAIRMAN | HORSESHOE BAY Dr. Jaime R. Garza, SAN ANTONIO Charlie Amato, SAN ANTONIO “I came to Texas Kevin J. Lilly, HOUSTON State because…” David Montagne, BEAUMONT Vernon Reaser III, BELLAIRE Rossanna Salazar, AUSTIN William F. Scott, NEDERLAND Anna Sandoval, STUDENT REGENT | ALPINE Dr. Brian McCall, CHANCELLOR TXSTATE.EDU 1 (from the president’s desk) Dear Friends, Chances are, if the last time you ever set foot on the campus of Texas State was more than 10 years ago, there’s a high probability now there will be many things about the university that are unrecognizable to you. New buildings, renovated facilities, reconfigured spaces and inviting landscapes dot every quadrant of the university. And just as there are so many new or refurbished areas that you can see for yourself, there are many other enhancements that aren’t so visibly apparent: new academic programs, boosted research capacity, expanded counseling and advising, added scholarships, and new endowments for chairs and professorships. If you are a recent graduate and you had a mother or father who attended Texas State a generation ago, it clearly isn’t the same institution they attended. Texas State is evolving to meet the needs of a changing Texas, one that increasingly is moving toward a labor force that requires more sophisticated skills than ever before and one that requires a well-educated pool of workers. We knew this when we embarked on a campaign back in 2006 to raise funds that would help us build excellence at the university in ways that would best benefit the Texas State community. The results of that campaign, which we called Pride in Action and ended in February, were nothing short of astounding. We raised $151 million, $41 million more than our stated goal, and 85 percent of those funds are already at work for the university. Those funds are making Texas State better in virtually every way imaginable. Inside this issue, you’ll see a breakdown of how those funds are being used, not to mention a range of other stories that highlight some impressive activities and achievements of some of our students, faculty and alumni. Among them is a look at a multiyear project researching rockshelters and caves in the Lower Pecos region that feature 4,000-year-old pictographs; an interview with El Paso businessman/philanthropist Richard Castro, who used to flip burgers to help pay his way through college and now owns two dozen McDonald’s restaurants and has established a scholarship fund; and four brigadier generals who all received their commissions at Texas State. Indeed, Texas State is changing. And our university is making contributions to change Texas for the better. Sincerely, Denise M. Trauth 2 SUMMER 2014 (wide)views Eagle Nest Canyon On the Trail of Ancient Southwest Texans Dr. Stephen L. Black is an assistant professor of anthropology at Texas State University, and is concentrating his research efforts on the Lower Pecos Canyonlands on the northeast edge of the Chihuahuan Desert. He shares his story here. Ancient Southwest Texas (ASWT) is an ongoing long- term research program Black launched in 2009 with the broad aims of improving our understanding of the prehistoric human record of southwestern Texas and adjacent northern Mexico; sharing what we learn with the scholarly community and the public; and training the next generation of archaeologists. In January 2014, ASWT launched the Eagle Nest Canyon (ENC) Expedition. The ENC project is a multi-year program investigating the human and natural history of Eagle Nest Canyon and conserving the canyon’s archaeological sites for future generations. The project is a collaborative endeavor led by Black in partnership with the Skiles family, the Shumla School, and contributing scientists, students and volunteers. It is late afternoon and I sit in the mouth of Eagle Cave staring at the towering cliff face across Eagle Nest Canyon. To my left the boulder-strewn canyon floor rises in twists and turns before it reaches Bonfire Shelter, scene of spectacular bison kills 12,000 years ago and again 9,000 years later. To my right I see the mouth of Eagle Nest Canyon, where it joins the Rio Grande. I can’t see the river, but the rugged terrain in the far background is in Mexico. As the cliff turns dull orange and echoes the setting sun, I ponder the links between what lies buried beneath my feet and the faded images painted on the wall behind me. Eagle Nest canyon is a mile-long box canyon that drains into the Rio Grande just below Langtry, the small border town where Judge Roy Bean once enforced the “Law West of the Pecos” from his courthouse saloon, the Jersey Lily, which visitors can still see at the Roy Bean Visitor Center. Local historian Jack Skiles, head of the family that owns and protects the canyon, ran the center for many years and wrote the book Judge Roy Bean Country (Texas Tech University Press, 1996). The canyon lies within what archaeologists call the Lower Pecos Canyonlands, or simply the Lower Pecos. Here, just below the southwestern edge of the Edwards Plateau, the Pecos Jacob Sullivan (B.A. 2013) holds a small digital microscope/camera very and Devils rivers carved deeply incised limestone canyons that close to a polychrome pictograph that is possibly 3,000 years old. drain into the Rio Grande between Del Rio and Langtry. TXSTATE.EDU 3 (wide)views Eagle Cave of artifacts are found. Most of this material Unbeknownst to most, the region has was carried bit by bit into the shelter by the a remarkable world-class archaeological hunters and gatherers who frequented Eagle legacy left by the ancestors of today’s North Nest Canyon for so many generations. American Indians. The Lower Pecos is Dozens of students have taken part in renowned for its dry rockshelters and caves, my research here in the Lower Pecos over the which native people used for millennia as past several years through archaeological witnessed by vivid pictographs and thick field schools and research expeditions like deposits of well-preserved habitation debris the one now underway. My students and I are ranging from basketry and sandals, to food using modern scientific methods to better remains and coprolites (dried feces). Perhaps understand the long history of the small- most striking is the amazing rock art – scale societies who called the Lower Pecos polychrome compositions painted in mineral home for millennia. pigments as early as 4,000 years ago. Rock Cutting-edge approach art panels, some quite vivid, some faded, are I work in tandem with Dr. Carolyn found in many sheltered places in the region, E. Boyd, adjunct professor and executive such as Eagle Cave. director of the Shumla Archaeological Eagle Cave is a huge rockshelter used Research and Education Center, a non- as a temporary home and work station for profit organization headquartered in more than 8,000 years. Technically, caves are nearby Comstock. A preeminent rock art deeper than they are wide and rockshelters expert, Boyd is pioneering new systematic are the other way around, but ranchers call scientific approaches to documenting and them caves. Eagle Cave is about 100 feet studying the pictographs of the Lower Pecos. deep and 200 feet wide, and its ceiling rises Although dirt and rock art archaeology 50 feet above the floor. Over time cultural are traditionally seen as separate research deposits over 10 feet thick accumulated — domains, we are taking a more integrated plant remains, animal bones, ash and spent approach. While Boyd and her team study cooking stones — amid which many kinds the images painted on the walls, my team focuses on what is beneath the ground using many of the same research techniques.