FLIGHT FROM NICARAGUA CREATES DRIVE TO PLAY POSITIVE ROLE IN WORLD

Faulkenberry elected Texas representative for association

Dr. Thomas J. Faulkenberry, assistant professor of psychology and counseling, recently was elected as the Texas representative of the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) for a twoyear term. As Texas representative, Faulkenberry will serve on SWPA’s executive council and act as the primary liaison for the state’s membership within the organization. Previously, Faulkenberry served as chairman of the nominations committee within the association.

Faulkenberry joined the faculty of Tarleton’s College of Education and the Department of Psychology and Counseling in fall 2013. He holds a bachelor of science in mathematics from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, a master of science in mathematics from Oklahoma State University and a Ph.D. in psychology from Texas A&M–Commerce.

Mathematics instructor recognized as ICTCM Fellow

Dr. John Gresham, instructor of mathematics, was recognized as a fellow by the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics (ICTCM) during its 27th annual conference in Las Vegas.

Gresham is one of just eight educators of mathematics from across the United States who have been named ICTCM Fellows. The designation recognizes faculty who have indicated a sustained effort to use technology for teaching mathematics, and implies a record of research, innovation, command, leadership, contributions and a long-term commitment to the ICTCM environment.

Greshman joined the Tarleton Mathematics Department faculty in 2011. He has taught courses ranging from college algebra, trigonometry, contemporary mathematics as well as elementary statistics and calculus.

A graduate of Tarleton with a bachelor’s in mathematics, Gresham later earned both a master’s and Ph.D. in mathematics from Texas Christian University.

Faculty Focus

Dr. Alex del Carmen hoods a master’s student during Tarleton’s Commencement ceremony.

Flight from Nicaragua creates drive to play positive role in world

BY MARY G. SALTARELLI

Dr. Alex del Carmen learned to be a leader at age 14, when his parents loaded him on a plane in Managua to escape Communist rule in Nicaragua. “Take care of your sister,” his father told him as he slipped Alex money and entrusted him with his younger sibling’s hand.

After enduring years of civil war in their home country, Alex and his sister, Marcela, found themselves living in Alabama with a Nicaraguan couple and attending school where they couldn’t speak the native language.

“My experiences formed who I am,” said Alex, executive director of Tarleton’s new School of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Strategic Studies. “While enduring the pains and anguish of war, I saw things, especially the exposure to death at such a young age, that will never leave me.”

While waiting for his parents to join him and his sister, Alex took advantage of the educational opportunities in Huntsville’s schools.

“It was like leaving hell and arriving in heaven,” Alex said. “I had seen the worst of human nature and I vowed to truly affect, in a positive manner, the quality of life for all people.”

A doorway to achieving his avowed goal opened while Alex studied for his undergraduate degree at Florida International University, where he found the field of criminology. He went on to receive his master’s degree and doctorate from Florida State University.

During his time as professor and department head at the University of Texas at Arlington, Alex discovered a passion for research. His studies in racial profiling made him an expert in the field. Through the Law Enforcement Institute of Texas, Alex instructs police chiefs statewide about preventing racial profiling.

“Within the criminal justice field, there’s a great need to provide an educational experience to practitioners who do so much for all of us,” Alex said. “I call it ‘serving those who serve.’”

During his first year at Tarleton, Alex opened a new school of criminology, which will feature five research institutes. With encouragement from President F. Dominic Dottavio and Provost Karen Murray, Alex is developing a doctoral program in criminology and reinstating Tarleton’s historic Corps of Cadets, which dates back to 1917.

Tarleton’s new corps will be open to students next fall. Members will enroll in military science classes, but not be required to join the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). The lower floor of a new residence hall, Traditions, will house the corps office, and cadets will live together there. Through structure, discipline, and a code of ethics, Tarleton’s Corps of Cadets will enhance student leadership skills.

“Both the private and public sectors today are in need of strong leadership,” Alex said of a quality he learned early in his life. “Tarleton’s Corps of Cadets will nurture individuals who will go out into society and become our leaders.”

Alex believes education and leadership training is crucial to the success of law enforcement officials during a culturally pivotal time within the field of criminal justice.

“Tarleton is positioning itself to be a major stakeholder in historic developments taking place,” Alex said. “Through research and training leaders, we’re affecting the decision-making processes of generations of criminal justice professionals. There is no greater way to shape change than to impact the critical thinking of our leaders.”

Tarleton professor promoted in Texas State Guard

Dr. Wendell Sadler, professor of kinesiology and Texas State Guard Officer, was promoted to lieutenant colonel in a ceremony held at the National Guard Armory in Stephenville.

Active in the Texas State Guard since 2005 and currently serving as operations officer with the 19th Regiment in Dallas, Lt. Col. Sadler was promoted by Col. Robert Hastings, 19thRegiment Commander and praised by Brigadier General Howard N. Palmer, Army Component Commander and former 4th Regiment Commander in Fort Worth. Sadler served in various positions with 4th Regiment as an administrative officer and battalion commander before serving with the 19th.

Prior to joining the Tarleton faculty, Sadler served as an assistant professor at the University of South Dakota, an instructor at Temple Junior College, and as a lecturer at Texas A&M University. In 2009, he received the O.A. Grant Excellence in Teaching Award from Tarleton, and the Barry B. Thompson Service Award in 2014.

Historian Landis elected to international anti-slavery board

Dr. Michael Landis, assistant professor of history, was elected to the Board of Directors of the international Historians Against Slavery organization.

Founded in 2011, Historians Against Slavery is a group of scholars whose mission is to bring historical context and scholarship to the modernday antislavery movement in order to inform activism and develop collaborations.

Landis, whose book Northern Men with Southern Loyalties: The Democratic Party and the Sectional Crisis, was published in 2014 by Cornell Press, joined the Tarleton faculty in 2013. His scholarship focus is on the intersection of politics and slavery in the 19th century.

After earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston University, Landis received his Ph.D. from The George Washington University. He currently is focused on the Georgia political culture in the Civil War and antebellum eras.

Stars Shine Bigger &Brighter at Tarleton

Improved planetarium features high-definition video and surround sound

BY MARY G. SALTARELLI

Stars will shine big and bright, day and night, deep in the heart of the Tarleton State University campus this fall, when the university’s planetarium reopens with digital high-definition technology. Two projectors will cover the planetarium’s interior dome, which is 40 feet in diameter, with full-motion video of the night sky.

“Our new technology will let us fly you through the galaxy and put you on the surface of Mars. Or we’ll put you on the Hubble Telescope and send you soaring through space,” said Larry D. Barr, manager of Tarleton’s planetarium. “The sensation of motion is so realistic that I’ve seen people grab onto the arms of their seats to hold on.”

Located in Tarleton’s Lamar Johanson Science Building, the planetarium’s grand reopening will be early this fall. Its new high-definition technology will feature 4,000 lines of resolution per projector, which is higher resolution than most movie theaters and closer to watching Blu-ray discs. Full 5.1 digital Surround Sound will enhance the space travel experience at the planetarium.

“Audiences will discover the unbelievable feeling of watching a show that wraps around them even more than an IMAX theater,” Barr said.

Dr. Shaukat Goderya, director of Tarleton’s Program for Astronomy Education and Research, said the new planetarium will be much more interactive for students and audiences. Each public showing at the planetarium ends with an interactive “Star Talk,” where instructors share tips on that night’s celestial viewing.

“Professors will transport students and audiences around the galaxy, zoom in on a celestial body, reveal it in full detail and rotate it around,” Goderya said. “They’ll bring up film related to their class topics so students can respond to what they’re viewing.”

Because of the planetarium’s new sophisticated technology, Goderya foresees the facility becoming a “visualization

laboratory for any subject,” including biology, chemistry, geology, mathematics, oceanography, weather, cinema and art.

“Old planetariums are very focused on astronomy,” Goderya said. “But we‘ll be able to offer content in other areas, with high-resolution video examining the crystalline structure of rocks or the makeup of DNA.”

The new planetarium meets the objectives of Tarleton’s Strategic Plan by providing innovative instructional delivery and learning environments.

Through community and student outreach within the 75-mile radius in Central Texas where it’s the only planetarium, Tarleton’s programs encourage young people to pursue studies and careers in STEM disciplines, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“If you get students excited while they’re young, they stay that way,” Barr said.

The upgrade of Tarleton’s planetarium added new, comfortable seating and increased its capacity by 30 seats, so it will now accommodate up to 86 visitors per show. Barr invites students and visitors of every age to visit the planetarium when it reopens in the fall.

“Come experience the excitement on opening day,” Barr said.

Preview Tarleton’s Breathtaking Planetarium Shows

Precise detail and vibrant life-like images projected at Tarleton’s planetarium will capture your attention and immerse you in outer space.

Designed to present breathtaking shows, the planetarium’s new Christie 4k projector is one of the first 10 new 4k projectors manufactured by the company that features breakthroughs in high-frame rate and high-resolution video, along with ultra-realistic images.

For a preview of the amazing shows Tarleton will present at the new planetarium, visit ES.com, the website of Evans-Sutherland, a company that provides Tarleton with planetarium equipment and shows. Search for Lamps of Atlantis or Stars of the Pharaohs to view trailers for two of Tarleton’s upcoming planetarium shows.

Now you’re ready to sit back and enjoy the stellar shows beginning this fall.

Monumental.

A 10-foot bronze sculpture of John Tarleton.

Set in the center of a rebuilt campus core, the newly renovated Alumni Island, Tarleton towers over campus visitors as a symbol of history, tradition and far-reaching vision.

Tarleton, a businessman and farmer with little formal education, bequeathed nearly $100,000 to found the college that has become Tarleton State University. More than 100 years later, the university has installed this monumental bronze as an iconic focal point to honor its legendary founder. 

Monu mental

For renowned painter and sculptor Kenneth Wyatt, art is about reflecting character.

“Rocks are harder to paint than people,” he said. “People have character. John Tarleton had character.”

That character was what Wyatt sought to capture in creating the statue for the newly renovated Alumni Island at the heart of Tarleton’s campus.

“I was trying to get a likeness with almost no likeness to look at,” he noted, alluding to the one photograph known of Tarleton taken shortly before his death.

Wyatt did extensive research, he reflected on Tarleton’s life and he created a look for the visionary founder as a man 20 years younger than in the photo, a serious man, a business man.

The Tarleton statue flows from the thousands of paintings and sculptures that Wyatt has done over the past 40 years, primarily celebrating his Texas and Western heritage and his strong religious convictions.

An ordained minister, Wyatt spent 30 years preaching. He graduated from Tarleton College in 1946, and attended McMurry University in Abilene, Baylor and the Iliff School of Theology in Denver. He later received honorary doctorates from both Tarleton and McMurry.

Turning to art as his life’s work, Wyatt found success, even accolades as the Norman Rockwell of the West. Founder and first president of the Texas Cowboy Artist Association, he has won numerous awards. His art can be found in more than 90 nations.

Former President George W. Bush and Queen Elizabeth II are among the famous patrons who own his art. His portrait of major league baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, also larger than life (by a few inches), hangs in the Oklahoma State Capitol.

“I met 72 of those ex-baseball players” at the Mickey Mantle statue dedication ceremony, Wyatt says, naming famous New York Yankees Yogi Berra, Bobby Richardson and Bill Skowron. “All my heroes at one time. A couple of them asked me for my autograph and I had to leave. These were my heroes!”

In addition to his studio in Tulia, where he and his wife, Veda, reside, the Wyatts also maintain galleries in Amarillo and in Ruidoso and Red River, New Mexico. Son Mark, daughter Jill Wyatt-Marshall, and grandson Jake all participate in the business.

“I was talking to my wife about slowing down and maybe quitting,” Wyatt said, but he had just finished a painting where every line was exactly where he wanted, where everything had come out just as he had envisioned it in his mind when he started the piece.

“I finished that up and I thought, ‘I’m getting better!’ I realized I couldn’t retire when I’m still getting better. You quit when you’re getting worse, so I guess I’ll just keep on working.”

The sculpture was unveiled during a ceremony that included a fireworks display in the new Alumni Island. Unveiling the bronze were (l-r) Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio, Tarleton Alumni Association President Mike Kornegay, artist Kenneth Wyatt, Alpha Building Corporation CEO Kathy Acock and longtime Alpha Building Corporation employee Richard H. Booher.

World-famous painter and sculptor Kenneth Wyatt, a 1946 Tarleton graduate, created the likeness based on the one known photo of John Tarleton—a photo taken when he was in his 80s, shortly before his death.

“I had to be a little creative with the face,” Wyatt said. “When I got to the point where I thought it looked enough like the picture, I quit. I put a little smile on his face, not much, because I think he took learning seriously.”

Wyatt recalled when the university approached him to create the statue. “If you’re going to have a hero, let’s make him a hero. So when they said John Tarleton was only 5’6, 5’7 at most, and they said they wanted him 10’ high, I said, ‘Whoops, that’s taller than I had in mind, that’s monumental.’”

The key to creating a monumental sculpture, Wyatt explained, is the mathematics developed by Leonardo da Vinci. The famous Italian artist and inventor calculated that a typical man stands eight heads high. Wyatt began with a 24inch model—the head then takes the top three

inches. The rest of the anatomy is similarly proportioned.

Working with aluminum wire to hold the clay, Wyatt began creating the details.

“I read everything I could about Mr. Tarleton,” Wyatt said. “I wanted to know what was inside of Tarleton’s head.

“He was a gentleman, and he wanted a college to be built in Stephenville, Texas, and he gave the money to do that.”

Clothes were of particular interest to the sculptor. “Most of the time, he wore overalls, but he did have good clothes… We put him in his best.” That led to the silk vest, the watch chain, and 1880s style coat with piping along the edge and sleeves. Because Tarleton washed and mended his own clothes, Wyatt left the pants uncreased.

“He was a walker. He walked everywhere he went,” Wyatt recalled. “He must have been a speed walker.”

Wyatt tells the tale of a man watering his horses when Tarleton walks by, offering Tarleton a ride. Tarleton responded, “No, I’m in a hurry.”

He walked in specially made, square-toed shoes, in which he kept gold coins for safety. “When I read that,” Wyatt noted, “I knew I had to put those on that boy.”

Tarleton was a businessman and farmer, not really a rancher, which led to the bowler in his hand, not a 10-gallon hat.

The monumental statue has one additional feature—a duck at his heel. When friends heard that Wyatt was doing the statue, they told him to include Tarleton’s legendary companion, Oscar P, “so I put the duck in there with him.”

The duck serves another purpose—a third point for anchoring the steel rods that will hold the statue steady against Texas winds.

When Wyatt finished the 24-inch clay sculpture, it traveled to an Oklahoma foundry. To create the statue, the foundry poured the bronze in 250- to 300-pound segments, and welded them together. The foundry delivered and installed the monument in mid-July.

“I loved getting to do it,” Wyatt said.

“That’s the way that people are going to remember how Tarleton looked. I wanted Tarleton to look like a person.”

A monumental person.

To watch Kenneth Wyatt working and explaining the statue process, see

www.tarleton.edu/jtstatue

President Dominic Dottavio places two Core Values coins under the base of the statue—a reminder of Tradition, Integrity, Civility, Leadership, Excellence and Service.

Alpha donation brings John Tarleton statue to Alumni Island

The monumental artwork of university Founder John Tarleton stands at the heart of the Tarleton campus in the newly renovated Alumni Island, constructed by Alpha Building Corporation.

Alpha President Kathy Acock has undertaken much more than just creating the Alumni Island― she has financed the casting and installation of the 10-foot-tall bronze likeness of John Tarleton. The donation honors Richard H. Booher, a more than 20year Alpha employee, “instrumental in developing our relationship with Tarleton and the members of the facilities management team,” Acock said.

Through her generosity, faculty, staff, students, alumni and visitors will be able to enjoy the updated Alumni Island with the larger-than-life statue of Tarleton, along with a water feature and beautiful landscaping.

Designed by Turner Land Architecture and constructed by Alpha Building Corp., the project creates a magnificent pedestrian mall as a gateway to the university’s historical center.

The newly finished project preserves the “3 Penny Triangle” and the “Muleshoe” as traditional elements of Alumni Island.

It complements Tarleton’s campus master plan to create bold entrances and aesthetically pleasing green spaces. A dedication ceremony for the renovated Alumni Island is planned for Oct. 17 immediately following the Homecoming parade.