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COVETED ENDOWED POSITIONS
ATTRACT EXCEPTIONAL SCHOLARS
NEW BASEBALL FACILITY UPS THE
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Endowed faculty positions are among the most prestigious and most impactful types of
investments a donor can make. Endowed positions, such as chairs, professorships and
fellowships, bolster the long-term status and standing of the University. They protect
TCU’s intellectual capital — its faculty — from being recruited by other universities while
they enable TCU to recruit top scholars away from other schools. Endowed positions
also ensure a dynamic and thriving academy, in which faculty research invigorates the
classroom and informs the discipline.
RETAINING
DISTINGUISHED
PROFESSORS
Dr. Richard Hanson, who holds
the
Harold D. and Imogene
Herndon Professorship
in Geology
, has long been a
leading scholar. Now two of his
papers have challenged long-
held theories. One deals with
two ancient crustal blocks that
are separated by a major fossil
mountain belt — a formation
that is often cited in relation to
how the two blocks collided. But
paleomagnetic data for both sets of rocks now suggests that conventional wisdom about
the formation has been incorrect. “What we found indicates the two blocks didn’t collide
2.5 billion years ago,” Dr. Hanson explains. “They had to have collided sometime after 1.8
billion years, which — assuming we are correct — totally changes how we view the ancient
crustal evolution of southern Africa.” The other paper, coauthored by Dr. Hanson, pertains
to a small ancient crustal block in Antarctica with igneous rocks that are roughly 1 billion
years old. It’s long been thought that rocks of that same age from Africa were related, but
studies now show that they cannot be. Tests show another field of igneous rocks in North
America to be the same age and have the same isotope concentrations as in Antarctica.
“It’s like a smoking gun saying that these southern continents really collided with North
America because there is a detached small bit of North America now contained in the
Southern Hemisphere.”
RECRUITING THE BEST
IN THE WORLD
Renowned leadership scholar
Mary Uhl-Bien has joined the
Neeley School as the
BNSF
Railway Endowed Professor
of Leadership
, a new position
made possible by a strategic
investment from BNSF Railway.
An expert on complexity
leadership, relational leadership
and followership, she previously
served as the Howard Hawks Chair
in Business Ethics and Leadership
at the University of Nebraska. “Dr.
Uhl-Bien brings impressive insight and experience to the Neeley School as we continue to
hone the BNSF Next Generation Leadership Program into a premier global program for
undergraduate student leaders,” says O. Homer Erekson, the John V. Roach Dean of TCU’s
Neeley School of Business. “In addition, Dr. Uhl-Bien’s leading research and instruction
will significantly impact leadership initiatives in the TCU Executive MBA program and
Tandy Center for Executive Leadership.” Recognizing that traditional, hierarchical views
of leadership are less and less useful given the complexities of our modern world, Dr.
Uhl-Bien is developing new leadership approaches that account for the entrepreneurial
and adaptive needs of organizations. Her passion is to generate theories of leadership that
have impact for practice and enhance leadership capabilities of organizations operating in
the connectionist, knowledge era. To do this, she shows how business can move beyond
leader-centric, top-down assumptions to models of leadership that are collaborative
and adaptive.
ENSURING A DYNAMIC AND THRIVING ACADEMY
Dr. Paul Schrodt, definitely a rising academic star, holds the
Philip J. and Cheryl
C. Burguières Professorship in Communication Studies
. His courses on
interpersonal communication, family communication and conflict resolution are full.
An avid researcher, his work has been published in more than 60 articles in leading
communication journals. This prolific research brought him the Early Career Award from
the National Communication Association (Interpersonal Communication Division) that
recognizes significant contributions from scholars who are no more than seven years into
their postdoctoral careers. Now his studies are filtering into popular media.
The Wall Street
Journal
recently published an article “How and Why to Ban the Silent Treatment from Your
Relationship” based on research Dr. Schrodt and colleagues conducted through an analysis
of 74 studies involving more than 14,000 participants. The findings show that the “silent
treatment” demand-withdraw pattern is one of the most damaging types of relationship
conflict. But there is hope. Dr. Schrodt advises that becoming aware of the pattern is the
first step in breaking the demand-withdrawal cycle. Each partner should consider his or
her role in the cycle and the other person’s viewpoint, then talk it out. “I think the media
latched on to the topic because it’s so relatable,” he says. “At some point in our lives, we’ve
all been the receiver — or the giver — of the silent treatment.”
A Big 12 championship and a second College World Series appearance in five seasons
have raised the Horned Frogs’ profile. Now a top-notch new player development center
should further TCU’s ascent in the sport. The center is named in honor of Trustee G.
Malcolm Louden ’67, who has been a member of the Board for more than three decades
and chaired its Intercollegiate Athletics Committee in 1983 and from 1991 to 2006.
Dedicated this fall, the G. Malcolm Louden Player Development Center for Baseball is “the
premier facility of its kind in all of college baseball,” says head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
“The opportunities it creates for our players and the versatility of instruction it allows for
our coaches is endless.”
The center features a new hitting facility and a FieldTurf practice area. The hitting facility
alone is 9,000 square feet and includes four 80-foot cages, as well as indoor pitching
mounds, a tee and toss area, and the latest in video analysis software. The cage system will
allow the coaching staff to maneuver the nets to allow for as many as eight players to hit
at once or to set the facility up as one large cage for pitcher versus hitter simulated games.
The FieldTurf practice area will be used primarily for individual defensive improvement for
all players as well as practice in base running,
Mr. Louden’s service to the Board of Trustees began as president of the TCU Alumni
Association in 1978-79. He was again elected to the Board in 1980, and has since led
transformational efforts as chair of the Development and Investment committees, as
well as Intercollegiate Athletics. Mr. Louden has been recognized as an Honorary TCU
Letterman and with the President’s Service, Valuable Alumnus and Royal Purple awards.
MEET THE NEXT
GENERATION OF
DONORS
“Attending this wonderful university has made
me realize that the experiences I have here
shape who I am now and who I will be in the
future. I have this opportunity because of the
Horned Frogs who gave before me. I want to
be a part of helping future Horned Frogs have
this opportunity too.”
“I give back to TCU because the University has given so much to me. I
have four sisters, so my family could not afford to help me with school. If
it weren’t for the academic and journalism scholarships offered to me
by TCU and its donors, then I would not be able to receive this
education.”
Travis Evans ’16 and Derek Odell ’16 present a Horned Frog jersey and bat to Trustee Malcolm Louden ’67, who has supported baseball — in fact, all TCU sports programs — over the years.
Endowed positions attract and retain upcoming young scholars like Dr. Paul Schrodt, who has been recognized with the Early Career Award from the National Communication Association
(Interpersonal Communication Division).
Freshman Connor Wanhanen demonstrates how the new cage system is used for
batting practice.
Samantha Forshaw ’16
TCU Donor, Speech-Language Pathology Major
Student Foundation Officer and Caller
Deans Scholarship
John V. Roach Honors College
Molly Spain ’15
TCU Donor, Journalism Major
Caller & Head Training Specialist, Calling All Frogs Phonathon
Deans Scholarship, Phil Record Endowed Scholarship
John V. Roach Honors College
ENDOWED FACULTY POSITIONS ARE
AMONG THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS
ANDMOST IMPACTFUL TYPES OF
INVESTMENTS A DONOR CANMAKE.
LEARNING ABOUT
LEADERSHIP FROM
LEADERS
Sixteen Bob Bolen Leadership Scholars toured the offices of Ross Perot, Sr., in Plano,
discovering a virtual museum that showcases the many honors Mr. Perot has received
during a lifetime of philanthropy. The site also chronicles the daring 1979 rescue of EDS
employees from the Middle East, as retold in Ken Follett’s book
On Wings of Eagles.
The tour was followed by lunch and a question-and-answer session where Mr. Perot
shared his observations on leadership. The trip was arranged by Ross Perot, Jr., and
Mike Berry of Hillwood Properties. The Sarah and Ross Perot, Jr., Foundation initiated
the Bob Bolen Leadership Scholarship fund. Bolen scholarships honor Fort Worth’s
longtime mayor and are awarded to students who demonstrate leadership ability and
commitment to their community.
Outlook
is published by University Advancement, Texas Christian University. Editor, Dee Dodson,
d.dodson@tcu.edu.
Associate editor, Ma’lisa Yost. Photos, Glen Ellman. Designer, Polly Mullens.