Inside
NEWSLETTER OF SCHREINER UNIVERSITY
President’s Perspective By Dr. Tim Summerlin
For the past five years, Schreiner University has planned and made decisions within the context of a mission and vision statement and core goals adopted by our board of trustees in February 2002. Those fundamental statements are printed on a page taped to my bookcase, and I share a copy with every potential faculty or staff member whom I interview. Though the document focuses on some precise numbers with regard to enrollment and endowment growth, it also makes clear the underlying purpose for what we are doing: “excellence in preparing students to live purposeful, humane and productive lives in their work, faith groups, families and communities.” Plans need periodic review and revision, and this year a team has been meeting toward that very task. It is made up of Schreiner faculty, staff, students, trustees, alumni and community representatives. The group is reviewing how far we have come in the last five years in order to plot out our course for the next five. Indeed, we have been thinking even further, envisioning Schreiner a decade down the road. “Ask yourselves, ‘after 1,200, what?’” said our board chair, Randy Roberts. As we find success in achieving that core goal of enrollment growth, what primary drivers will follow? No one expects that we will decide in this process to alter dramatically our values and goals. However, we are determining that critical external conditions continued on page 3
In This Issue... Distinguished Alumnus/ Athletic Hall of Honor New Student Residential Complex Calendar of Events Sports Honor Roll of Donors
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Winter 2007 Volume XI, Number 1
2007 Distinguished Alumnus and Athletic Hall of Honor inductees announced Schreiner University has announced its 2007 Distinguished Alumnus and Athletic Hall of Honor inductees. Theo Blue and Richard P. Marrs, M.D. have been named Distinguished Alumni. William Clifford “Cliff ” Kellett will be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Honor. Joseph Love Hedrick will be inducted into the Athletic Hall of Honor posthumously. The four men will be honored at a banquet on April 21 during Recall, Schreiner’s annual homecoming event. Theo Blue Theo Blue ’51 was once the subject of a story entitled, “There’s Only One Theo Blue,” and that story title pretty much sums up the opinions of those who know him. Martin Allday ’44, an Austin attorney and long-time friend of Blue’s, nominated him as a Distinguished Alumnus. “Theo has always been supportive of Schreiner and has a great love for the University,” Allday said. “He has given abundantly to Schreiner for many years, and his gifts have benefited the Annual Fund, the Alumni Fund, the Capital Campaign, and other University resources.” Spencer Blocker ’52 of Midland keenly remembers Theo from 1951 and asserts, “We at Schreiner, and Schreiner University itself, will never have another friend like Theo Blue.” Blue began his time at Schreiner in 1949, and, after graduating two years later found himself staying on to teach. After being drafted, he was sent to California where, after training, he was assigned to the base’s finance office. It was there that he met a California girl and Lynn Stallings became Lynn Stallings Blue. Even after leaving Schreiner as a teacher in 1956, Blue has continued to assist the University. He served for a decade as a Schreiner trustee from 1990 to 2000, and has been a life member of Schreiner Former Students
Association since 1985, serving as president from 1991 to 95. He was inducted into the Schreiner Oaks Society in 1995. “This place has been such a large part of our lives,” Blue said. “I’ve recruited many students to attend Schreiner, including my youngest son, Tom, and my grandson, Heath Gregory. I wouldn’t have done that if we didn’t firmly believe in this school.” During the course of his long and illustrious career in the oil industry, his colleagues were so moved by Blue’s dedication that they established the Theo Blue Endowed Scholarship in his honor. Presently, Blue continues his lifetime of service in his community of Tiki Island, near Galveston. Recently, his fellow citizens, declaring “Theo Blue Day,” proclaimed “Theo Blue has served Tiki Island with efficiency, impartiality, honor and pride.” This sentiment appears to be universal, for as Allday put it in his nomination of Blue for Distinguished Alumnus, “In my mind Theo Blue is one of the most important past graduates who has ever existed.” And definitely one of a kind. Richard P. Marrs, M.D. Dr. Richard Marrs ’68 grew up in Kerrville and graduated from Tivy High School, subsequently enrolling at Schreiner Institute in 1966. After going on to the University of Texas to complete his undergraduate education, he pursued his medical training at UT–Galveston Medical School, where he distinguished himself in both academic and leadership roles. Marrs is board certified in both obstetrics and gynecology and reproductive endocrinology and infertility. After graduating from medical school, he completed a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at the University of Southern California. During his fellowship training, he acquired skills in cell culture, studied the ultrasound continued on page 2