32 minute read
FACULTY FOCUS
Richardson named CFO, senior vice president of Tarleton finance division
Dr. Rick Richardson was named chief financial officer and senior vice president for the Division of Finance and Administration. Richardson has led the division in an interim capacity since last August. During that time, he helped the university explore issues for a potential move to an athletics Division I conference and implemented processes to improve the management of contractors and vendors. As part of Tarleton’s leadership team, Richardson oversees the budgetary and fiscal affairs of the university, including planning, monitoring and managing overall financial plans, policies, programs and operations.
Dr. Chris Shao was appointed dean of the College of Business Administration. Shao joined Tarleton full time in 2015 as professor of marketing, advancing to head of the Department of Marketing and Computer Information Systems. He was named associate dean in 2016. He is an active scholar with more than 15 journal publications and eight conference proceedings.
Faculty Focus Heeding the Sign
Dr. Ann Calahan lives and breathes education
BY PHIL RIDDLE
A society that tolerates mediocrity among its learners is remiss. A society that tolerates mediocrity among its teachers is doomed.
The sign above Dr. Ann Calahan’s office door says that. She lives by the words.
She has dedicated her professional life to making sure learners and teachers alike have the resources they need to succeed.
In short, she is ultimately involved in education.
“About as involved as I can be,” she said.
As the head of curriculum and instruction at Tarleton, Calahan’s job is teaching teachers. But she works for students, too. She’s a Texas Association of School Boards director and a six-term president of the Stephenville Independent School District Board of Trustees.
“I feel very strongly that our children need the best opportunities possible,” she said, “and it’s our responsibility as citizens and adults to provide that opportunity. Education opens doors.”
A 1965 graduate of Winters High School (south of Abilene), Calahan came to Tarleton in 1977 as an administrative assistant in the department of physical science and chemistry, where she worked for two years before beginning her higher education. She liked the university so much that after more schooling she returned and never left.
She credits long-time professor and administrator Dr. Lamar Johanson with showing her the value of education. She had earned her bachelor’s degree and followed it with her master’s and was preparing to enter the classroom when Johanson gave her some critical direction.
He said, “You’re going on to A&M. If you stop going to school now, you’ll become so involved with your kids you won’t ever go back.”
She followed his advice, earned her doctorate, and proceeded to make a career in education.
“She is one of the smartest people I’ve ever been around,” said Dr. Randal Ford, who worked with Calahan in Tarleton’s alternative teacher certification program, TMATE. “She is bright, kind and intelligent, and that’s a nice combination.”
Calahan’s duties as school board president and head of curriculum and instruction enable her to create relationships between the district and the university that benefit both.
“That connection with our public school partners is what makes our program here unique,” she said. “It is important as an educator
in teacher preparation to know what’s going on in public schools and what teachers are being expected to do. Not only do I try to keep up with what is impacting teacher preparation, but what’s impacting our Texas public schools.”
She is proud of her achievements leading Stephenville schools, citing upgraded technology as among the most recent.
“We worked really hard on a strategic plan to provide one-on-one technology,” she said.
Under her direction, the Stephenville ISD just rolled out a program providing tablets to first- and second-graders, giving all classes in the district personal technology devices.
Additionally, she spearheaded the drive to provide internet access on four of Stephenville’s school buses, so kids can do schoolwork online going to and from campus.
“We’ve worked hard to keep up with technology,” she said. “It’s a struggle because it changes so fast.”
Now a grandmother of six from her son and two daughters, Calahan and her husband, John, a Tarleton biology professor, enjoy hitting the open road when time allows, heading to Creede, Colo., each year in their RV.
“He fly fishes and I read,” she said. “Plus, there’s a repertory theater, so we see three or four plays there every year.”
Having been part of the university landscape for more than four decades, it’s no wonder Tarleton commands such an important place in her heart.
“It’s a big family that holds you and says, ‘You can do whatever you want to do; we’re going to support you,’” she said. “Tarleton opened doors for me that I’m not sure I would have seen as possibilities had I not had the support of lots of people.”
Above one of those doors just might be a sign with a very profound message.
Dr. Vicky Johnson was inducted into The Texas A&M University System 2018 Chancellor’s Academy of Teacher Educators. The academy recognizes individuals who make significant contributions to teacher education. An associate professor of music within the university’s College of Liberal and Fine Arts, Johnson joined the Tarleton faculty as an instructor in August 1999. She has a doctorate of musical arts from Boston University, a master of arts from Sam Houston State University and a bachelor’s in music education from Tarleton.
Steed receives Texas Health’s J. Andy Thompson Award
Dr. Steve Steed, who retired as dean of the College of Business Administration in May, received the Texas Health Resources J. Andy Thompson Award. He has given 17 years of dedicated service to the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Stephenville Board, and has been a tireless advocate for the hospital, helping to spearhead philanthropic efforts in the community to construct the Terrell Family Emergency Center. He served as board chair from 2011-14.
Involved students are more successful and stand a better chance of finishing college
BY PHIL RIDDLE
It’s tough being the new kid.
It was true in kindergarten, it’s true in high school, and it’s true in college.
Research shows that first-generation college students face unique difficulties obtaining a higher education. For two years, Tarleton has been part of a nationwide consortium trying to help.
Re-Imagining the First Year of College (RFY) is a three-year initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. For its part, Tarleton has implemented best practices for increasing retention and academic success of firstyear students.
RFY focuses on the success of all students, although emphasis goes to firstgeneration students and students from underrepresented populations.
Three programs, specifically tailored to drive first-year student engagement and retention, highlight Tarleton’s work in this area. Texan Debate, Tarleton Town Hall and Phage Hunters are drawing accolades for immersing freshmen in Tarleton culture.
Early Adopters
Texan Debate
Based on a successful program at California’s Chico State University, Texan Debate gathers students in communication classes to consider arguments on various sides of controversial topics.
Participating students, divided into teams of two, do not get to choose which side they argue.
“It’s not about belief, it’s about developing and presenting an argument,” said Dr. Delwin Richey, who leads the program. “I want them to think more like an attorney with a client, and they have to advocate for that client, whether they agree with the client or not. That teaches them how to look at things, not just in a personal manner. They are working on an argument to be successful.”
Successful describes Texan Debate, at least in the number of students participating. According to Richey, 54 teams, counting debaters from Central Texas College, Ranger College and TCU, came to Tarleton for a competition April 12. The program began with 15 teams just three semesters ago.
Students prepare for each semester’s debate in weekly workshops, which Richey, a communication instructor, calls key to the program’s success.
“Obviously, there’s a social element to it. They may not know their teammate in the beginning, but it helps link them together for an academic purpose. For students considering dropping out in their first semester, this is good. It’s like they’re on a team. I think that’s very encouraging for the majority of them.” The competition also spawned a Tarleton debate squad, sponsored by Richey, which has traveled to meets at the University of Oklahoma and TCU. “So far it has been a very successful program,” he said. “We have a lot of fun.”
Early Adopters
Also in its third semester, the political science program already boasts more than 600 students who work throughout a semester researching a policy matter relating to civic engagement.
Issues confronting federal and state lawmakers like immigration, the Affordable Care Act and the Second Amendment are researched by students and presented in breakout groups of 20, who then hear experiences from topic experts in the community.
“Whatever the issue, we’ve got someone who not only has theoretical experience but also real-world experience, and can share it with our students,” said political science instructor Casey Thompson.
“They’re not picking a side. This isn’t a persuasive argument or a debate environment. The real goal is to be able to understand what’s broken, how to fix it and what tools you use to fix it.”
Faculty members guide students through their research. Students also spend time with an agency, organization, individual or other political actor to advocate for a position.
“The Town Hall Meeting course is designed to help them better understand their role in government, politics and the process,” Thompson said.
Program intern and former participant Peyton Martin, a sophomore early education major, said she gleaned helpful lessons from the class. Her research topic was abortion, and she developed a healthy respect for those on the opposite side of the argument.
“I was very aware of where they were coming from and what they might want that was different than what I did. I learned a lot about current laws, and how they could be changed, and how I’d like to see them change. It helped me discover what I really wanted.”
Thompson said that even though the program requires a rigorous schedule of assignments, his experience shows that the students are more involved and have a higher class-completion rate.
“It’s harder,” he said, “yet we have more students who are finishing the class and we see more students who are staying engaged with their student career because of it.”
Phage Hunters
Looking for microscopic organisms could prompt huge returns in the educational experience of first-year students.
Phage Hunters is a national initiative of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through which students at about 100 participating universities, including Tarleton, apply scientific research principles in their search for viruses.
To do that, participants have to seriously play in the dirt.
“What we’re doing is looking for new bacteria phages that have never been identified before,” said Dr. Dustin Edwards, a Tarleton assistant professor of biological sciences. A bacteria phage is a virus that can infect bacteria so it doesn’t infect people or animals.
“It’s a good project for students to work on since there is less risk of injury. Students are going out into their communities and looking through soil samples. We go through steps trying to isolate viruses that may be in that soil.”
Once the phages are identified, student researchers extract the DNA and sequence the genome of that virus.
“We discovered 16 (phages) this past year,” Edwards said. “That’s a lot higher than I thought we’d find. Students are going through them right now looking for all the pieces of the puzzle of the viruses.”
The program is a true research course designed to accelerate student independence.
“We want to get everything into their hands and give them ownership in the project. In just a few months, they are asking amazing questions, some that don’t even have answers. They have to find the answers themselves. They get really excited about working on their projects.”
The rally drew John W. Thiele II like a magnet.
Seven hundred students had gathered to honor Tarleton’s traditional gateway the night before it closed. The year was 1984, and the rush of student spirit sparked the Tarleton sophomore’s sense of camaraderie and common cause.
“It got me involved in student government,” recalled Thiele, who would go on to be student body president his senior year. “I was very fortunate to be able to embrace the full experience of college and work together with my fellow officers for the larger student body.”
For 100 years, students and their governing body have had a dynamic impact on Tarleton. Leaders held spirited elections, wrote and revised their constitution, and broadened student representation. They’ve inaugurated traditions on campus, appealed to administrators for faculty pay raises, and given aid to those in need.
“The voice of many becomes the voice of one when students connect with each other,” said Mike Moncrief, student body president in 1967-68 and a former state lawmaker and Fort Worth mayor. “A representative government teaches students to work together in concert to help move the university forward.”
One hundred years ago, Tarleton’s Grassburr noted the organization of the Students’ Council and ran photographs of Fred Chandler Jr., president, and Esther Wilkerson, secretary. In 1920 the university newspaper, The J-TAC, urged students to be involved in their government.
“Let’s have the kind of students’ council that we heard about today in chapel,” the paper said in an editorial. “If we ever expect to do anything, we’d better begin. Do your part and don’t be a knocker or ‘I don’t care.’”
Student Government Celebrates 100th
Bob Glasgow (left) and Jerry Golden
Student Government Celebrates
Chance Cerda
Anniversary
As Tarleton became a four-year university in the early 1960s, nationwide social change influenced students to form a Progressive Party and nominate a slate of candidates for student government offices. They sponsored debates, wrote a party platform and defeated establishment contenders.
“I vividly remember the enthusiasm,” said Senior District Judge Don Jones, who served as student body president in 1964-65 and district judge for Erath County for 31 years. “It was an interesting and exciting time. We worked hard on party goals, and I developed an interest in making things better for people.” With new degree programs, Tarleton’s student body flourished. In 1966 and 1967, Bob Glasgow, president, and Jerry Golden, vice president, proposed and passed a new constitution creating a student senate. Glasgow continued his public service after graduation, serving as a state senator and Erath County district attorney. “Developing a student senate seemed appropriate for a four-year college,” said Golden, who had a long career in government and private consulting. “We had a growing student body who weren’t well-represented, so we brought in a cross-section of students.”
The next year, students elected Moncrief president after he erected a sailboat emblazoned with campaign signs in front of the student center and dispatched “voter toters” to pick up students and transport them to the polls. In fall 1967, Moncrief and the larger student government collected relief items for victims of Hurricane Beulah on the Texas coast.
Students opened the door to a legacy of female leaders in the late 1970s when they elected Golden’s sister, Nancy Golden Turley, the first woman student body president in the university’s 80-year history.
“It was a pretty exciting time” for Turley, who is now chief financial officer for Tarleton Distinguished Alumnus Mike A. Myers. “I had strong support and, when I prevailed, it was a positive endorsement for women in leadership by fellow students.”
When Thiele served as president in the late 1980s, he attended meetings of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents and Tarleton’s Faculty Senate on behalf of the student body. After listening to professors’ concerns, Thiele and his fellow student leaders appealed to the administration for a faculty raise.
“Student government allowed me to be involved and see things that inspired me to succeed,” said Thiele,
who is executive vice president and chief lending officer of Citizens State Bank. “Being exposed to accomplished regents like Henry Cisneros gave me focus to strive for similar personal achievements.”
The constitution written in 1967 was replaced before the end of the 1990s, and by the early 21st century student government consisted of a three-branch system with a twohouse legislature. By 2006 the organization became known as the Student Government Association.
When Chance Cerda ran for president in 2013, he won by two votes in a runoff that attracted more than 1,000 student voters. After his election, Cerda and fellow officers worked to strengthen involvement in the association.
“I learned that the tiniest things I thought never mattered, actually matter 100 percent,” said Cerda, a business entrepreneur. “Serving gave me confidence and taught me leadership. I became a professional who could make a difference and a change.”
Past officers of Tarleton’s student government agree that the experience had a positive impact on their personal and professional lives. They forged lifelong friendships, benefited from networking and discovered new passions.
Several student body presidents transitioned into careers in public service. During the 1990s, when Moncrief and Glasgow served in the state Senate together, two of Texas’ 31 senators were Tarleton alumni.
“Student government gave me my start in politics,” Moncrief said. “It taught me to lead by example, that I’m only as good as the people I surround myself with, and what a group can accomplish when they don’t care who is getting credit.”
Serving as student body president taught Judge Jones to understand and consider different viewpoints, a skill he refined as a past mayor of Stephenville and strives to practice today in Texas courtrooms.
Former Student Government Association officers were honored at a banquet held in April 2018.
“There were 28 people on the student council, so I saw a little bit of both sides of every issue,” Jones said. “I learned to listen carefully and resolve issues in ways that bring justice to both sides.” For Thiele, student government offered a glimpse of what he had to do to succeed in business. “When you go out in the real world, you’re not always going to make people happy. People who come together and work for a common goal have unique passions, but we have to resolve issues to accomplish something.”
As the Tarleton community celebrates 100 years of organized student government, past officers commend its accomplishments. Turley said students’ unified voices have effected change and played a key role in Tarleton’s global influence.
Cerda praised the impact of decades of student advocacy on the university’s mission.
“There is a very important growing and dynamic relationship between student government and the president’s cabinet,” he said. “To see that sustained and deepened over 100 years speaks volumes about the administration’s goal to be student-focused.”
Tarleton’s Student Government Association
celebrated its 100th anniversary with a week of activities in March, including a town hall meeting and “Coffee with Congress,” where students visited with their elected officials. Leaders designed an anniversary logo, and a banquet in April honored past student body officers and current association members.
“We can’t imagine the accomplishments by student government during the past 100 years,” SGA President Mason Barker said, speaking for himself and Vice President Dominic Procaccino. “We want to continue to be the voice of students, create changes, make students feel at home and instill student spirit—we want our campus to bleed purple.”
Under their leadership, student government is implementing a new constitution approved by students last year that reduced its legislative branch from two bodies to one elected congress. Six active committees are in place.
Last fall, Barker and Procaccino presented nine pieces of legislation; eight passed and have been enacted.
One of the bills creates “Rudder’s Two Cents,” which hopefully will become a tradition, where students leave two pennies at the base of the statue of Maj. Gen. James Earl Rudder, the 16th president of Texas A&M University, former Texas A&M University System chancellor and a Tarleton Distinguished Alumnus. One penny honors Rudder, and the other brings the student good luck. The money will fund an annual giving program. “Student government’s 100th anniversary is a testament to the longstanding value Tarleton has for student voice and learning governance,” said Dr. Laura Boren, vice president for the Division of Student Affairs. “Today’s SGA represents the essence of the university’s core values of tradition, integrity, civility, leadership, excellence and service.”
Friends and Tarleton colleagues, Barker and Procaccino are proud to leave a strong, restructured organization in place that will support growth in student involvement for the next 100 years. They encourage fellow students to develop passion for participation at Tarleton.
“Students don’t realize the power for change they have when they speak out and advocate,” Barker said. “It develops pride of ownership in our school. Tarleton has a special place in our hearts.”
For information on other activities celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Student Government Association, visit www.tarleton.edu/sga or call (254) 968-9082.
The Best Kind of Give and Take
BY MARY G. SALTARELLI
On a sunny spring Service Day morning, Tarleton construction science and technology students worked side by side with military veterans to rehabilitate the American Legion Hall in Stephenville.
As junior Sheldon Stone removed rotted boards from a doorframe, a veteran shared stories about his service in Vietnam, where he flew helicopters above dense jungles. During their conversation, the veteran reminisced about the brothers he left behind and told Stone that the old hall had become his second home.
“In that somber moment listening to his stories, I recognized this wasn’t just a stone-and-mortar building, but a special place where our veterans can interact with others who understand them,” Stone said. “We were helping preserve a safe space for a group most of us don’t realize need a secure haven.”
American Legion Post 240–Turnbow-Higgs hired Fort Worth architect Wyatt Hedrick in 1938 to design the limestone hall, which opened in 1940. The 78-year-old landmark needed tender loving care when faculty and students undertook its rehabilitation as part of Tarleton’s Service Day the past three years.
Students have replaced doors, rehabilitated old wooden windows, removed debris from around the foundation, painted, cleaned the interior and gussied up the landscaping.
This year on March 22, thousands of Tarleton students, faculty and staff members fanned out across eight communities in North Texas to serve 67 agencies and their clients. In its third year, Service Day offered 158 projects with 4,400 volunteer opportunities.
Initiated by the Center for Transformative Learning as part of Service Week, the day presents hands-on experiences in a student’s discipline and embodies Tarleton’s core value of service.
“Tarleton has made a strategic commitment to service and meeting the needs of our communities,” said Dr. Denae Dorris, director of the Center for Transformative Learning, which was created in 2014 as the Center for Community Engagement. “Service Day provides students with distinctive engagements in their fields, teaches them social responsibility and clarifies perceptions of their future professions.”
Professors submit service opportunities for their colleges, and
Service Day
each project has at least one faculty supervisor. This year, 151 faculty members oversaw projects that included nursing students creating Disney character wigs for pediatric patients in children’s hospitals, science majors conducting magic shows at elementary schools, environmental science and chemistry students testing residential water wells, English majors preserving living history through oral interviews with senior citizens, and agriculture students organizing Tarleton’s FFA Invitational. “Serving others has given me a new perspective on community and the value of individuals we encounter every day,” Stone said. “It has helped me become a more caring and understanding person.”
Last year on Service Day, Dorris visited Foster’s Home for Children in Stephenville, which provides sanctuary to young victims of trauma. There she watched as students in the child and family study program and criminal justice majors talked to the residents about overcoming adversity. The students even helped fashion costumes for an upcoming dance at the home.
“There’s not a part of the population in our communities that we don’t touch,” Dorris said. “The effect on clients, community residents and our students can’t be put into words. Watching students and children making poodle skirts together for a sock hop was uplifting and jubilant and brought a lot of joy to everyone.
“When you walk away from that, you’re charged. When you talk to a veteran who is tearfully appreciative, it’s very rewarding.”
For several years, Tarleton students have helped prepare Stephenville ISD pupils for the local Special Olympics track meet. This year, after Dorris offered encouragement, the school district scheduled the meet for Service Day. One hundred Tarleton education and kinesiology students helped Sabrina Carter, the district’s Special Olympics coordinator, produce the event and mentor about 40 special-education athletes of all ages. “It was a great initiative on Tarleton’s part to reach out to help us,” Carter said. “It was an amazing experience to collaborate with the university and its students. They were extraordinary and super positive while helping me design the track meet, train students and coordinate volunteers.” For Tarleton students, Service Day ignites an existing passion or introduces new interests. Rehabilitating the old American Legion Hall strengthened Stone’s enthusiasm for historic preservation, which he cultivated growing up in Brownwood surrounded by antique Texas architecture. After graduation in May, he’ll work in safety and quality control for a North Texas construction company. “I’m interested in integrating the modern construction technology I’ve learned at Tarleton with the historic value of buildings,” he said. “Working on the American Legion Hall was a highlight of my semester and gave me a different viewpoint of preservation. The sentimental value of the building and the amount of non-physical help we were providing to veterans and the community went far beyond the physical restoration.” This year Service Day spread from students, faculty and staff to alumni, who provided services to their communities throughout the county on the university’s dedicated day. In addition to Service Day, the university’s studentled Round Up supports Tarleton’s core value of service. Round Up takes place annually in partnership with the city of Stephenville, with students, faculty and staff rolling up their sleeves to help local residents with everything from cleaning windows to garden work. “It’s the lifestyle of Tarleton Texans to help our neighbors with whatever situation arises,” Dorris said. “We want students to graduate and leave Tarleton determined to practice a culture of service all year long in the communities Watch students in action on Service Day at they call home.” trltn.info/serviceday. 13
Up to Bats
Tarleton researcher studies bats for Texas Military Department
BY PHIL RIDDLE
Tarleton’s Dr. Christopher Higgins has studied bats in lots of places—Costa Rica, Mexico, all over Central and South America.
Now, the Texas Military Department wants Higgins to research the nocturnal flying mammals at home.
Higgins, associate professor of biological sciences and director of the university’s Timberlake Biological Field Station, was recently contracted by the TMD for a two-year field study of bats at Camp Bowie and Camp Swift military training facilities.
The survey will aid the agency’s habitat plan, helping to maximize the diversity of wildlife at the sites near Brownwood and Bastrop, and to monitor the spread of an affliction proving devastating to bat populations, according to Higgins.
White-nose syndrome, a fungal disease, was first recorded among bats in New York in 2006. Since then it has worked its way down the eastern seaboard and into Texas. A recent case was noted in the Texas Panhandle, near the Caprock.
“We’re trying to see if it is spreading to the southwest,” Higgins said. “It can have major impact on the diversity of bats we have in Texas. The first six years it killed six million bats. This thing is killing at least a million to two million bats a year as it moves through the United States.”
While many may not see the value of research on the nocturnal flying creatures, Higgins recognizes the environmental advantages of a healthy bat population.
“Bats are important for several ecological reasons,” Higgins said. “For pollination, just like bees, bats play a huge role. In seed dispersal—one of the things bats eat is fruit. They will digest the seeds and, as they fly from one location to the next, disperse those seeds. It’s a mechanism for plants to move away from their place of origin.”
Maybe most important is the bat’s part in natural pest control.
“Bats can eat their weight in insects per night,” Higgins reported. “A study in South Texas showed that bats saved local farmers millions of dollars annually in pesticide since the bats were consuming the insects that potentially could harm their crops.”
Bats are the second most diverse order of mammals, after rodents, representing almost 20 percent of all classified mammal groups worldwide,
with more than 1,200 species. They also occur globally, with possible exceptions of remote locations far from the mainland.
Higgins and graduate students Jarrett Vincik and Vanessa Hays, along with undergraduate research assistants Elexus Hargis and Madison Gover, trap bats on the almost 20,000 acres of the two sites, using fine mesh mist nets. If the captured specimens show symptoms of white-nose syndrome, they are euthanized. If they appear to be healthy, the bats are weighed, measured, photographed and released. “For me, it’s just the fact they have such a wide range of ecological roles,” Higgins said. “They can disperse pretty great distances. It’s not like a mouse, which is going to live its life within 20 yards. Bats can fly miles on a nightly basis.”
His research also points to the fact that bats, like other organisms, are sensitive to climate change. “We can monitor bat populations and connect results to the environment to see how any changes in temperature and precipitation are impacting bat populations,” he said. Higgins, who is bestknown for his work involving stream fish communities in Texas and parts of Europe, also has published papers on the effect of hurricanes on Puerto Rican snails. He currently is involved in a project involving African arthropods, invertebrate animals with an external skeleton, segmented bodies and paired appendages. “Bats are just one of the groups of organisms I work with,” he said. “I am mostly question-driven— What is the diversity of this area? What are the environmental impacts that are affecting that diversity?” In a couple of years, he should have some answers.
A Hidden Gem
Biological research, recreational opportunities flourish at Tarleton field station
A hidden gem of Tarleton’s biology department is its massive outdoor learning venue, Timberlake Biological Field Station.
Part of the Timberlake Ranch, donated in 2013 by university benefactors Dr. Lamar and Marilynn Johanson, the Timberlake Biological Field Station is a prize location for researchers.
“More and more people are taking advantage of what the Johansons have offered,” said Dr. Christopher Higgins, associate professor of biological sciences and director of the field station. “We’ve branched out. Researchers from the University of Oklahoma have come down and used it. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is partnering with us to do some work. We’ve also received a $350,000 National Science Foundation grant that is tied to the field station.”
Covering 1,700 acres in Mills County near Goldthwaite, the field station is home to a vast array of indigenous plants and wildlife, allowing students and researchers to study aquatic, plant, community and restoration ecology; environmental biology, chemistry, engineering and sociology; geospatial analyses, hydrogeology, wildlife and landscape management, sustainability, water quality and other specialties.
Participating in a NSF funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program, Tarleton uses the ranchland as a laboratory to study environmentally relevant issues, allowing 10 undergraduates from across the country an opportunity to conduct research and present their findings in summer projects.
The field station also attracts students to Tarleton.
“We’re heavily recruiting from two-year community colleges and four-year universities that really don’t have these undergraduate research opportunities,” says Higgins.
In addition to its academic applications, the field station will serve as an outdoor recreation area for Tarleton students interested in hiking, camping and fishing.
“We also have an outreach program in which we are trying to get local school districts to come to the field station for outdoor education and hands-on experiences,” Higgins said.
“It’s really something that will develop and turn into a prestigious long-term asset that Tarleton will be proud of.”
New Chapter. New Campus. Same Commitment.
From left, Tarrant County College District Chancellor Dr. Eugene Giovannini, State Rep. Craig Goldman, State Sen. Konni Burton, A&M System Board of Regents Chairman Charles W. Schwartz, Tarleton President Dr. F. Dominic Dottavio, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, A&M System Regent Bill Mahomes, Fort Worth Councilman Jungus Jordan, West Region Walton Development and Management President John Vick, West Region Walton Development and Management General Manager Matt Robinson and Tarleton Vice President for Institutional Advancement Dr. Kyle McGregor.
Beneath cloud-filled skies, Tarleton State University broke ground Feb. 27 for the first building of its 80-acre campus along the bustling Chisholm Trail Parkway in Fort Worth.
Several hundred people—Tarleton administrators, Fort Worth business and education leaders, elected state and city officials—crowded under a big top to tout the new campus and its potential to improve access to affordable higher education.
Tarleton President F. Dominic Dottavio said the campus advances the university’s plan for strategic growth.
“At the heart of our presence in Fort Worth, this building is a nod to our rich heritage and bright future,” he said. “Our founder, John Tarleton, had dreams of making education accessible and affordable. Now we have an opportunity to extend that dream to more than just the students we serve at our Stephenville campus.
“That’s exactly what is happening in Fort Worth.”
The Walton Group of Companies donated the land, and The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved $41 million for the first phase.
Construction is under way on the initial project, a 76,000-square-foot, three-story multipurpose academic building, scheduled to open in fall 2019.
The building will house innovative learning areas, common gathering spaces, a large event area and a community counseling center offering assistance on a sliding-fee scale.
“It won’t be long until this single building grows to a second and then a third,” remarked Charles W. Schwartz, chairman of the A&M System Board of Regents. “We are in the business of making aspirations a
reality. Today’s groundbreaking is just one small step in accomplishing that mission.”
John Vick, president of West Region Walton Development and Management, Inc., said Tarleton fits perfectly with the company’s vision for Chisholm Trail Parkway.
“Higher education is critical to our community,” he said. “As the city competes nationally and internationally for business, education is a key component and one where we can prove that Tarleton’s new campus in southwest Fort Worth is a great step in that direction.”
Tarleton opened in Fort Worth in 1978 with only eight students. Forty years later, the university serves almost 2,000 students at two locations, the Richard C. Schaffer Building on Enderly Place and the Hickman Building on Camp Bowie Boulevard.
Now the university needs more space.
Fort Worth enrollment at move-in is expected to approach 2,500 students. With additional buildings, the campus could serve 9,000 students by 2030.
Many of those are transfers. Tarleton-Fort Worth has seen a sharp increase in transfer students from other Texas colleges and universities—nearly 41 percent in the past five years. Tarleton enjoys a close partnership with several area schools, including the Tarrant County College District, whose chancellor, Dr. Eugene V. Giovannini, spoke at the groundbreaking.
“We share programs. We share services. We share resources, and we’re really excited to be an ongoing partner,” he said. “We have a shared vision, and that is being student-centered. We have a wonderful collaboration.”
Tarleton-Fort Worth offers more than 40 undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs to a diverse student population of working adults, community college graduates and returning students.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said the campus will fill a need in the rapidly growing city. To remain competitive, Fort Worth must have an educated workforce.
“Our great nation was founded on great public schools and great universities,” Price explained. “To continue that, we have to continue to provide wonderful, highquality, affordable universities for all of our children to come to.”
More than a year before it opens its doors, Dottavio joked that the Fort Worth campus already has “a big problem.”
“We will be out of space the day we open the first building on our new campus,” he said. “Tarleton is quickly becoming a university of choice for students who want to start a new chapter in their lives with a highquality, affordable college education.
“We are committed to them. To Fort Worth. To becoming the premier student-focused university in Texas and beyond.”
