S E C T I O N T I T L E

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Mischer’s VisionHollywood producer reflects on TLU experience

Krost SymposiumEvent focuses on cultivating innovation

Ethiopian AidAlumnus journals Africa experience

THE MAGAZINE OF TLU | FALL 2013 EDITION | VOL. 38, NO. 1

Meeting the demands of today’s market with new majors and programs

ACADEMIC GROWTH AND INNOVATION

—Earl Weaver, legendary manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Momentum? Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.

Torch is a semiannual publication by the Texas Lutheran University Marketing office. Inquiries and submissions should be directed to the editorial staff at torch@tlu.edu. AlumNotes submissions and change of address may be sent to the Alumni Relations office at alumni@tlu.edu

The Magazine Of Texas Lutheran University

Vol. 38, No. 1

Sarah Story

Ashlie McEachern

Jenni Morin

Mike Bulsiewicz

Terry Price David Edmondson

Mike BulsiewiczJudy Samford

omentum is important on a college campus,

just as in baseball.

It enhances faculty and staff morale, builds alumni pride, and delivers a compelling case for donor support.

Positive expectations also impact enrollment: prospective students are looking for a school they believe will grow in recognition and a diploma that will gain value. I believe there is a groundswell of momentum building in TLU’s favor.

Consider last year:

Centennial Hall, a $10 million freshmen residence hall, encompassing the Greehey Academic Center, was dedicated—the first step in the master plan to transform the campus;

The university awarded its first master’s degrees at May commencement;

The Board of Regents approved a new Bachelor of Science in Nursing;

TLU was cited as a “A Great College to Work For” by The Chronicle of Higher Education, and a “Top Workplace” by the San Antonio Express-News;

The university was one of only four Texas universities named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction;

Our faculty and staff launched an innovative new core curriculum;

TLU was cited as the No. 1 “Best Value” among Western regional colleges by U.S. News and World Report.

But one is wise to heed the warning of Mr. Weaver. Our momentum depends upon following up with more good news and outcomes. Looking ahead to next year, however, gives me confidence. TLU is again a “Best College to Work For,” but this time was included on an honor roll of just 30 universities that have exceptional work environments. We have hired Dr. Kathy Aduddell to head the new nursing program that is set to launch next fall. Bulldog athletics moves this year to the prestigious Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, competing against traditional rivals like Trinity, Southwestern and Austin College, and new foes Colorado College and Centenary University. Our faculty and staff are following up the curriculum revision with an integrated program to make TLU a leader in advising and career development. We also will continue to seek out new academic programs and majors to stimulate growth.

Most visibly, TLU will take the next step in the campus transformation by a multi-million dollar investment in new and upgraded athletic facilities. This project does much more than bring football back to campus for the first time since the mid-1930s. The new facilities will be used by all students, will build campus spirit and pride, and make TLU more attractive to prospective students. This project accelerates the momentum of the campus transformation, and points to more to follow.

Each of these investments in the campus and academic program makes sense on its own. Collectively, they make a statement that Texas Lutheran University has real momentum and a bright future.

Dr. Stuart Dorsey

President, Texas Lutheran University

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THE MAGAZINE OF TEXAS LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY | FALL 2013 EDITION | VOL. 38, NO. 1 contents

FeaturesMischer’s Vision Professor Sits Down with Emmy Award-Winning Director and Producer Don Mischer

Academic Excellence and Innovation TLU Launches New Academic Majors in Nursing and Social Entrepreneurship

Cultivating Innovation 2013 Krost Symposium Discusses How We Generate New Ideas and Put Them Into Action

Harlaxton Offers Immersive Experience Abroad Harlaxton College Hosts TLU Contingent

An Unforgettable Adventure Trip to Ethiopia a Life-Changing Experience

IN THIS ISSUE Learn Boldly 2 Students of Note

Live to Inspire 3 Alumni of Note

TLU Today 5 Feature Articles

Growing + Giving 18 From the Office of Development

Newsworthy 22 TLU Headlines

Scoreboard 24 Sports Highlights

Alumni Relations 27 Staying Connected

Alumnotes 30 Catching Up with Alumni

Calendar 33

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New Academic MajorsLaunching at TLU

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Alyssa Tieman

sCrIPtING tHe Future

Alyssa Tieman came to Texas Lutheran University with her sights set on an English degree and two published books to her credit. However, her love for the written word guided her into dramatic media. With a focus in script writing, she immersed herself into the tight-knit art community of the TLU theatre department where she is honing her filming, editing, writing and producing skills.

The change in disciplines, Tieman ’13 said, allowed her to not only continue writing, but made her feel at home with other students who shared her same interests, quirks and eccentricities.

“When I became part of my first ensemble production, I felt at home,” Tieman said.

“It was refreshing to be around people who were weird like me, enjoyed genres like sci-fi and fantasy, and appreciated how much goes into making a production happen.”

Working with Shannon Ivey, assistant professor of Dramatic Media, allows Tieman to study under someone with professional experience in writing, directing, filming and acting. Tieman said Ivey’s career has helped her in numerous areas, including the writing of her 106-page sci-fi fantasy script, Asen Coss, which was submitted to the Austin Film Festival.

“When you’re learning from a person who has actually worked in the industry, you’re taught what other professionals are looking for in terms of content and structure,” Tieman said. “Although being involved with dramatic media productions and balancing a full course load is tough, it’s worth it when you get to come together with other people who share the same love of the arts as you. I’m learning so much about myself and how I work with different people and environments.”

Tieman has also had several professional opportunities open up as a TLU dramatic media student and through her social drama course.

“I was able to shoot and edit the Luminaria event in San Antonio with two other students and work on several projects with Child Advocates San Antonio through Shannon’s group Theatre For Change,” Tieman said. “This summer, I’ll be teaching a two-week production camp for The Playhouse in San Antonio on script writing, filming and acting for a group of 12 to 18-year-olds. I feel very fortunate to be selected for these roles.”

Ivey said she has industry friends approaching her all the time asking for recommendations for both paid and unpaid positions, and students like Alyssa make her job of choosing which student to recommend very easy.

“Alyssa’s dedicated, ridiculously talented and an extremely hard worker. She’s a natural storyteller with an excellent work ethic and a hunger to learn. She always says yes to every opportunity that comes her way, which is why she was a natural fit for my organization, Theatre For Change.”

While she might have changed paths at TLU, Tieman said she’s thankful for the creative aspect of course work in English that has transferred into her script writing. With plans for graduate school or perhaps a filming internship at a local news station now on her mind, she said she never could have imagined the opportunities TLU has brought to her.

“The combination of working with industry professionals like Shannon and her constant push to get TLU and the work the program does out to the public is very beneficial,” Tieman said. “Something great is going on here at the TLU campus with dramatic media and we have students and faculty who do a great job of sharing that with others.”

Read more about

TLU students and faculty

who Learn Boldly at  www.tlu.edu/torch.

To learn more about

Shannon Ivey’s organization,

Theatre for Change, go to www.theatreforchange.org.

WHEN SHE’S NoT BuSy WRiTiNG SCRiPTS, editing film, or studying for class, Alyssa operates the TriCaster—a three-camera setup that merges live video switching, broadcast graphics and web streaming. In addition to her involvement with Theatre For Change and The Playhouse, Alyssa is the author of two books. Civent, published in 2006 when she was only 15, is a fantasy novel set on the mysterious island of Civent in the watchtower Tirith Aear. The protagonist, James B. Lyonsbanner, revisits the island and as the mystery unfolds, he must protect the Elven sisters Nessa and

Inwe when strange things start happening to the tower’s occupants. Her second book, Erin Mitchell, is a departure from her fantasy and sci-fi works. Released in 2009, Erin Mitchell follows the story of a teenage girl who falls in love with a boy while she’s recovering from an accident. As their relationships develops, Erin starts realizing there is something very odd about her new love interest. Alyssa cites the Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings series as major influences in her writing.

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Laurie Corbelli

PLaYING tO WINDuring her junior year at Texas Lutheran University,

Laurie Corbelli packed up her entire life and left Seguin.

She traveled to California and began training for the Summer Olympics with the women’s junior national volleyball team. Although it was difficult to leave behind her coach, teammates, family and university, Corbelli knew if she declined the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she’d forever regret it. Now the most successful head volleyball coach at Texas A&M University, the Olympic silver medalist continues to use her experience as an athlete to not only coach her players, but to challenge them as individuals.

It was 1977 when the 20-year-old middle blocker first arrived in Huntington Beach, Calif. After missing a season the year before because of a broken foot, Corbelli was determined to start playing again. From 6 to 11 p.m. every day, the team trained at any open gym they could find. After a short time on the West Coast, Corbelli and her teammates were the first team ever invited to train in Colorado Springs at a former U.S. Army base—now the U.S. Olympic Training Center. After three years of training eight hours a day, Corbelli and her team knew they were ready. However, on Jan. 4, 1980, the team was told the U.S. might boycott the Olympic Games in Moscow because of the Soviet Union’s refusal

to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.

“We didn’t let the news phase us,” Corbelli said. “All the other U.S.

teams stopped training and we kept going. We picketed with other athletes asking people

to please not boycott the games and we even went on ‘Good Morning America.’

We wanted to show people how hard we had worked and how much we wanted to compete.”

It wasn’t until an afternoon in late April of 1980 when Corbelli knew her dream of Olympic gold would not come true that summer.

“My teammates and I were actually traveling to San Antonio for a match when we got off the plane and I saw the faces of my family,” Corbelli said. “I knew it had been officially announced while we were on the flight that the U.S. would not be playing in Moscow. It was devastating to think we had worked so hard and were not going to compete. We had a match that evening and it was very hard to hear ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ play.”

After the disappointment of the 1980 Olympics, Corbelli took the summer off and debated whether or not to begin training for the 1984 games. The 23-year-old decided after all the traveling and hard work she put into the past three years, she wanted to go for it one more time and committed to the ’84 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“I knew we weren’t going to boycott our own games,” she joked. “We would also be able to have family there since it was in our own country. So I went back at it again. I trained eight hours a day and by the time the games were upon us, I knew we were ready.”

Pictured at Left: In 2012, Corbelli received

a commemorative jersey

from Texas A&M University

athletics director Eric Hyman

celebrating her 500th win

as head volleyball coach.

Pictured at Upper Left: Laurie Corbelli, then Laurie

Flachmeier, was a middle

blocker for the U.S. women’s

volleyball team during

the 1984 Olympics in Los

Angeles where they won

the silver medal.

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L I V E TO I N S P I R E

The No. 3 ranked U.S. Women’s Volleyball Team defeated the No. 1 ranked China Women’s Volleyball Team in a first round match. The two teams met again four days later in a battle for the gold medal. That match, and the subsequent loss, is something Corbelli still carries with her. Receiving her silver medal was bittersweet and full of mixed emotions as she and the rest of her team stood up in front of the world.

“I cried tears of joy but also tears of regret,” Corbelli said. “Losing that match was heartbreaking. But, I had my medal and I was just so proud and happy. I remember standing up there and thinking, ‘What am I going to do now?’ I didn’t have

my degree and there was a scariness that I was going to be leaving my teammates who had become my family for the past eight years. After all the celebrating was over, we realized we didn’t know how we would get jobs or support ourselves without college degrees. A lot of people doubted us and we sat out to prove them wrong.”

She enrolled at San Jose State in California to complete her kinesiology degree. While there, Corbelli was offered the head coaching position at the University of San Francisco where she also finished her degree. After four seasons at USF, Corbelli became the head coach at Texas A&M University in College Station and both she and her husband,

John, have coached there since 1993. Now, as the winningest coach in A&M volleyball history and coach of three-time Olympian and silver medalist Stacy Sykora, Corbelli still uses her two decades of experience to lead, encourage and challenge athletes.

“I tell them following your dreams shouldn’t be easy,” Corbelli said. “You must take risks and expect failure because that’s how you learn not just as an athlete, but as a person. My most important role is a motivator. The X’s and O’s are the easy part. The challenge is convincing players they can go out and be great. Susan Duke was my wonderful coach at TLU and she was our No. 1 fan. You have to be your player’s No. 1 fan and vice versa. Everything I did and continue to do is an incredible emotional investment. It can wear on you. But in the end, it’s worth every minute.”

EdiToR’S NoTE: Laurie Corbelli comes from a long line of TLU alumni and friends. Her grandfather, Raymond Flachmeier, Sr. graduated in 1924, her father Raymond Flachmeier, Jr. graduated in 1954 and her three sisters Lin F. Cerles, Lee F. Davis and Leslie Love graduated in 1976, 1978 and 1981.

Corbelli says her most important role is being a motivator to her players and challenging them to take risks.

Read more about TLU

alumni who Live to Inspire

at www.tlu.edu/torch.

President’s Report

Texas Lutheran university

20122013

Look for the President’s Report on october 1, 2013 at www.tlu.edu/giving.

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Mischer’s Vision

A DAy In The LIfe of A hoLLywooD ProDucer

To watch Price’s interview with Mischer, visit TINYURL.com/DoN mIScHER.

“The thing that made the greatest impression on me was how generous he was with his time,” Price said.

“He was in the final stages of developing a major television special that was to be aired in just a few weeks, but he sat with me for almost two hours to talk about his experiences here at TLU and afterwards. His love for TLU was very evident.”

During the interview, Price also gets to know the man behind the awards, as viewers glimpse into the life of Mischer.

“It was certainly not the grand Hollywood producer’s office one would expect,” Price said. “In fact, there were prized awards sitting on the floor while pictures of family, friends and the shows he enjoyed directing most were hanging on the wall. You can tell a lot about a person by what they treasure. As soon as I walked in, I knew this was the office of a person who loved what he did and cherished his relationships.”

TLu Professor chronIcLes vIsIT wITh Don MIscher

an Antonio native Don Mischer is an award-winning producer and director of television and live events. With notable credits ranging from the Academy

Awards and Superbowl halftime shows to The Obama Inaugural Celebration at The Lincoln Memorial and The 100th Anniversary of Carnegie Hall, Mischer’s career in television and broadcast is highly regarded by his peers. The 15- time Emmy Award-winning producer and director attended TLU from 1958 to 1961 and went on to receive a Master of Arts from The University of Texas at Austin. Recently, TLU Professor of Dramatic Media Terry Price traveled to Hollywood, Calif., to sit down with Mischer in an on-camera interview discussing his lifelong connection to TLU and the art of directing and producing.

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his year, TLU can talk about both. Creating and launching new academic majors – nursing and social entrepreneurship – implementing

a new General Education Curriculum – Compass – and hosting a Krost Symposium centered around the idea of “Cultivating Innovation” is creating an exciting buzz around campus about how we’re innovating as much as what we’re innovating.

TLU has entered a new era of innovation and academic excellence. With administration, faculty and staff collaborating and supporting the idea of innovation, great things are happening at TLU:

The new social entrepreneurship major, beginning fall 2013, allows students to take a socially minded idea and turn it into a for-profit or nonprofit business venture.

The nursing program, set to begin fall 2014, sets students on the path to becoming a registered nurse—one of the nation’s fastest-growing and highly demanded professions.

Compass equips students with a robust academic foundation that rewards learning outside the classroom and tracks the skills and competencies developed during their four years at TLU.

And, this year’s Krost Symposium, “Cultivating Innovation,” exposes students to the ways people generate ideas and collaborate to address the world’s problems. Our students will even get the opportunity to tackle a problem and develop their own idea to solve it through Idea Map programs.tlu.edu/ideamap.

a new era of academic excellence and innovation

BA in Social Entrepreneurship Aligns with Learn Boldly. Live to Inspire. Continuing the college’s focus on recruiting and graduating students who have a social conscience and an entrepreneurial spirit, TLU launched a Bachelor of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship this fall. The program, designed for undergraduate students who have a passion for a particular academic area combined with a desire to start a venture addressing a social issue, is one of the few undergraduate degrees in social entrepreneurship in Texas and many of the surrounding states. The major includes concentrations in faith, culture and diversity, nonprofit leadership and social justice. Students within this degree plan will have opportunities to participate in internships, study abroad programs and student- run businesses on the TLU campus. The major also supports the required civic engagement competency of TLU’s new general education curriculum, Compass. Visit tlu.edu/entrepreneur for more information. Compass Gives Direction To Students’ ExperienceWith ongoing changes in what employers and graduate schools want from recent college graduates, as well as changes in how students learn and retain information, general education curriculum requires ongoing review and revision. TLU’s faculty did just that when the full faculty completed a curriculum revision throughout the 2010-2011 academic year with the final proposal approved by the

Faculty Association in December 2011. Implementation of the new curriculum began with the 2012-2013 freshman class. Named Compass, the new curriculum gives direction to a student’s academic experience with a focus on four parts– Foundations, Distributions, Activity Modules and Competencies.

While the foundation and distribution classes serve as an educational base that students build on, Compass is unique because students get to apply what they learned in class to activities outside the classroom, or activity modules. Compass is also different from other programs because students are assessed in 11 different competencies, or skills. TLU students will be able to show prospective employers that they have mastered skills such as creative thinking, ethical reasoning, problem solving and scientific literacy.

An idea can be big or small, new or slightly different, complex or very simple, but if you talk to some of the leading innovators and designers across the globe, HoW you innovate is just as important as WHAT you innovate.

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The visual mark for the Social Entrepreneurship major

The visual mark for the CoMPASS general education curriculum

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Nursing Program Expected to Begin Fall 2014

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Projections for 2010 to 2020, the registered nursing workforce is the top occupation in terms of job growth through 2020. Texas Lutheran University’s new nursing program will give students the necessary training and opportunity to earn a degree for success in this rapidly growing profession.

“We are committed to offering programs and degree plans that reflect current job market demands,” said TLU President Dr. Stuart Dorsey. “The field of nursing continues to expand at a very high rate and there is a great need for certified professionals. If someone chooses to go through the nursing program at TLU, they’ll obtain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and be prepared to sit for the state registered nurse licensing exam and a career in this growing occupation.”

TLU’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) will provide students with clinical and classroom hours and topics to sit for the state registered nurse licensing examination. The degree track, like all RN programs, requires a great deal of experience in the clinical setting and students will work directly with patients.

Research from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing shows that lower mortality rates, fewer medication errors and positive outcomes are all linked to nurses prepared at the baccalaureate and graduate degree levels.

Recognizing the high national demand for registered nurse candidates, the new nursing program will not only allow more students to graduate with a valuable degree, but will also address the shortage of registered nurses projected to spread across the country through 2030. The January 2012 United States Registered Nurse Workforce Report Card and Shortage Forecast presented a state-by-state analysis predicting the RN shortage to be most intense in the South and the West.

Robert Haynes, chief executive officer of Guadalupe Regional Medical Center (GRMC) in Seguin, said, “Nurses are the cornerstone of healthcare and will continue to be in short supply for the foreseeable future. GRMC is excited to hear that TLU is progressing with the development of a BSN RN program.”

How will the program work? TLU’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing will provide students with clinical and classroom hours and topics to sit for the state registered nurse licensing examination. The degree track, like all RN programs, requires a great deal of experience in the clinical setting and students will work directly with patients.

How many students are expected to enroll in fall 2014?Approximately 35 to 40 students are expected the first year.

New Position Created for Program TLU has hired Kathie Aduddell to head the new nursing program pending approval by the Texas Board of Nursing. She brings more than 35 years of health care experience to the university. Aduddell previously served as an associate professor for the WellStar School of Nursing and MSN-nursing administration and health policy leadership coordinator for Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Ga. Before her career at KSU, she was director of the associate degree nursing program at Victoria College, in Victoria, Texas, assistant professor at the School of Nursing at Radford University in

Radford, Va. and director of health services at Fullerton College in Fullerton, Calif.

She holds a Doctor of Education from Pepperdine University, a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Virginia.

The program is subject to final approval by the Texas Board of Nursing. TLU will submit its proposal to the board in early fall 2013.

New program will provide opportunities for students in this rapidly growing profession

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing FrequeNtLY asked questIONs What hospitals will TLU be

working with? TLU is in discussions with a number of local hospitals and health care providers.

What is clinical training? The student is working with patients under the direction of a TLU faculty member and registered nurse at the institution. These can include hospitals and other health care facilities such as rehabilitation centers, urgent care centers, mental health facilities, adult care, etc.

How does the TLU program compare to other universities? TLU’s program will be fully accredited

with the Texas Board of Nursing. Students will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing—a degree that is in demand and, more than ever, required by hospitals. TLU’s program is grounded in a liberal arts foundation that includes a broad educational experience in and out of the classroom.

How many nursing programs are currently offered in the state of Texas? There are currently 44 programs in the state of Texas that offer a BSN and 69 programs offer an associate degree in nursing.

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R. ROBIN BISHA, Krost planning committee chairperson and professor of communication studies, wanted the symposium and the speakers to address the different areas of innovation and leave attendees with a sense of how to lay the ground work for innovative ideas.

The committee drew inspiration from Steven Johnson’s book, Where Good Ideas Come From, which addresses technology that has changed the way we live, and importantly, that innovation is a collaborative process. His idea of the adjacent possible, or the understanding that innovative ideas have to be imaginable by the majority of people, is something Bisha said she wanted to make sure the Krost audience understands.

“Johnson writes about how we need to know that ideas are possible and many of the problems we’re trying to fix are grounded in things people are already doing,” Bisha said.

“Dr. Dorsey always talks about relentlessly innovating TLU. In Johnson’s book, he discusses how when we collaborate, we spark each other to ideas. His other point is that these great ideas are rarely at the core of one discipline. They tend to overlap several disciplines and involve a repurposing of something. We wanted to present these ideas at Krost and give people the tools to show them how their ideas can be possible.”

D

When the 2013 Krost Symposium planning committee began

exploring the topic of Cultivating Innovation, they knew they didn’t

just simply want to tell students, faculty and staff about the subject.

They wanted to show everyone how to actually cultivate innovation.

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s P e a k e r s a N d a C t I v I t I e s :

CREATING INNOVATORS Skype interview with Tony Wagner, Ed.d. OCTOBER 1, 12-1:30 P.M.

TONy WAGNER is the Innovation Education Fellow at the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard University. His latest book, Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change The World, explores the topic of how innovation is the greatest skill our children can have and what parents, teachers and employers need to do to in order for them to become the next generation of innovators. A former teacher and Harvard graduate, Wagner consults nationally and internationally to schools and districts, providing his expertise on how educators can equip students with the skills they actually need to compete in life and the professional world.

A LIFE OF INNOVATION Naomi Shihab Nye OCTOBER 2, 7:30 P.M.

Born to a Palestinian father and an American mother, NAOMI SHIHAB NyE uses her multicultural experiences as inspiration for her poetry and writing process. Her life of living within two cultures allows her to write for both adults and children and she is known for bringing importance to everyday life, its people, objects and ancestry. Nye will discuss how innovation works for writers and their world of imagining things that don’t yet exist. Nye, who calls San Antonio home, is a chancellor

of the American Academy of Poets and an alumna of Trinity University. Her latest poem,“Homesteaders,” is a featured story in the September 2013 issue of Shambala Sun.

FACING FAILURE WITH RESILIENCE Mary Steinhardt, Ed.d., LPC, CHES OCTOBER 3, 9:30 A.M.

MARy STEINHARDT is a professor of health education at the University of Texas at Austin and director of the Transforming Lives Through Resilience Education program. Her research teaches people how to build resilience and strength in difficult situations. Steinhardt focuses on how resilient individuals build, grow and thrive by how they respond to change and stress.

SPACE FOR INNOVATION Representatives of Barnes Gromatzky Kosarek, Lammers & Associates and Pfluger Associates OCTOBER 3, 2:30 P.M.

This panel of architects from various firms, who have designed buildings on the TLU campus, will talk about how the spaces we work and live in affect how we think. They will discuss functionality, as well as how corporate spaces can be constructed to promote networking and creativity. The panel will also lead a walking tour of campus after the discussion.

INTO INNOVATION destination imagination Team OCTOBER 9, 7:30 P.M.

DESTINATION IMAGINATION is an educational program where student teams solve open-ended challenges and present their solutions at tournaments, developing skills such

as confidence, time management, collaboration, conflict resolution and creative and critical thinking. A team of facilitators from Destination Imagination and an experienced DI team will demonstrate to FREX 134 students how they can collaborate to find innovative solutions to challenges posed by the TLU community. Freshmen will have the opportunity to sign up for a challenge and spend one month coming up with realizable solutions. Groups will be given a budget guideline and the winning group will receive a grant to realize its idea during the spring semester.

STUDENT PROJECTS CAN LEAD TO HUMANITARIAN INNOVATION Veronika Scott NOVEMBER 6, 7:30 P.M.

For VERONIkA SCOTT, what began as her college design project to make coats that convert into sleeping bags for homeless people has turned into a social movement. Scott, 23, founded the Empowerment Plan—a nonprofit organization based in Detroit that employs women from homeless shelters as full-time seamstresses. The women make coats that are given to homeless people free of charge. Scott’s success as a social entrepreneur has been profiled on CNN, NPR and the Discovery Channel and featured in Forbes, The New York Times and The London Daily Mail. She is a recipient of the 2012 John F. Kennedy New Frontier Award— an award honoring individuals under 40 who inspire a new generation of public servants.

For more information, visit WWW.TLU.EDU/kROST.

s one of TLU’s signature study abroad programs, the Harlaxton College experience, through the University of Evansville in Indiana and their British campus, hosts students from

various parts of the U.S. to study in a lovely 19th century manor house on 117 acres of gardens, parks and woodlands. The campus is near Grantham, England and just two hours from London by train. Local and visiting professors teach a variety of courses, including group excursions and independent travel.

TLU President Dr. Stuart Dorsey first experienced Harlaxton College as a faculty member at Baker University and again as vice president for academic affairs at the University of Evansville where he oversaw their Harlaxton program. After arriving at TLU, Charla Bailey, director of TLU’s international education program, approached him about adding Harlaxton to TLU’s study abroad repertoire. Bailey had also experienced the Harlaxton semester and wanted students at TLU to have the same opportunity.

In its second year, the Harlaxton study abroad program will have nine TLU students enrolled for the fall 2013 semester. TLU First Lady Michelle Dorsey,

who accompanied Dr. Dorsey on an alumni trip to Harlaxton in summer 2012, said Harlaxton College is a perfect location for TLU students who are interested in studying outside of the United States.

“I think it will be a life-changing experience for the students who go,” Michelle Dorsey said. “They will be immersed in British culture while still being challenged academically. On the alumni trip, we stayed in the student dormitories, we ate in the student dining refectory, and even took one of the trips to Lincoln, England that students take. It’s also a safe launching pad for students who might be traveling out of the country for the first time.”

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Karen and Glynn Bloomquist Harlaxton gardens Main gate

Harlaxton Offers Immersive Experience Abroad

Bob Jonas, professor of biology, and senior business administration major Katy Wallace will both spend the fall 2013 semester at Harlaxton. Jonas looks forward to serving as a visiting professor and Wallace is excited to travel and explore not only in England, but the surrounding countries.

“I decided to go to Harlaxton College because I lived in England when I was very young and wanted to revisit the area so that I could have conscious memory of having been there,” Wallace said.

“As a bonus I get to live in an incredible place full of history and beautiful architecture. I’m most looking forward to living in such a beautiful place and really getting to know Great Britain. I know that a lot of people will be traveling around Europe, but I really want to delve into the British culture.”

Dr. Dorsey believes the Harlaxton College study abroad program appeals to students and is a perfect fit for TLU.

“Harlaxton is a rigorous academic program that combines classroom learningwith travel to nearby historic sites that make British (and American) history come alive,” Dr. Dorsey said. “ In my long association with Harlaxton, virtually

every student or professor who participates counts the experience as one of the most impactful in their

lives. I am proud that TLU is making this transformation

opportunity possible for our students.”

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013JAcksON AuDITOrIum | 7:30 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public.For more information and upcoming events, visit www.tlu.edu/guests.

DAVID BROOKS New York Times columnist | Award-Winning Journalist

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ANdREW HuANG ’87 visits Ethiopian

children after helping to install a new well.

Andrew Huang is an ’87 TLU alumnus, member of the TLU Board of Regents and President of the Houston Downtown Alliance. His church, Messiah Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas, sponsored two water wells in Ethiopia through an organization called Water to Thrive. While in Ethiopia, Huang kept a journal about his experiences.

AN UNFORGETTABLEADVENTURE

HERE is ANDREw’s JOURNAL–

DAY 1: Along on the trip with me was TLU grad and pastor of my church Brad Otto. As we got on the plane for our long flight I felt nervous and wondered what I had gotten myself into. I asked Brad if he was nervous and he answered back almost before I finished with a big “YES!” Landing in the capital city of Addis Ababa was a culture shock. The city is very large with people and animals and cars everywhere, all sharing the same unmarked streets.

DAY 2:We drove out to our first village and on the way I saw so much poverty. It became almost numbing to see shack after shack haphazardly thrown up alongside the roads. These are homes we wouldn’t use as sheds for our lawnmowers. Arriving at the village, we were greeted by villagers riding out to meet us on colorfully decorated horses. Getting out of the Jeep, there was that moment of awkwardness. Here we are just in from the U.S. now in the village of Mailma, Ethiopia, standing next to villagers who have never left that area. What do you say or do especially when language is a major barrier. That was soon answered when a group of kids ran up with huge smiles. The answer was pretty simple… smile. So we got to work alongside the villagers and we soon worked together as a team. Our job was to dig and set fence posts around the well. There is no shovel so we used a metal rod that you just keep pounding into the ground. It was hard work. This well was almost completed so the work was really limited to building

the fence. When the well was finished we participated in a ceremony and the first water was pumped out of the well clean and clear. You have to understand for these villagers, their water source had been a stagnant pond that was brown and filled with animal feces and who knows what else. So, seeing clean water from a well built for them was overwhelming, and it was overwhelming for us too. The ladies in the village were camped under a tree roasting coffee beans to make coffee for us with the new well water. It’s a ritual for them and a communal act which was very special to experience. They had food for us too that smelled amazing, but we couldn’t eat it. We were told we would get sick almost certainly so it was tough to say no to their hospitality so we sat under a tree with everyone and drank coffee that puts Starbucks to shame.

DAY 3: We headed to another site in a more remote area where the well was in the very early stages of being built. The well is hand dug, which means a teenage boy climbs deep in the well and sends dirt up in a bucket. Our job was to move literally hundreds of large stones to the well that would be used to support the well structure. After that, we worked alongside some of the villagers to lower heavy cement cylinders that make

TO R C H | 13

T LU TO DAY

ABoVE: Huang and

members of his church stand

next to completed well.

RiGHT: A boy stands on

a bridge leading into the

remote village of Robit.

continued on page 29

the wall of the well. The stones we gathered were then dropped down the sides to help secure the well and prevent it from collapsing. As we were working, I noticed an old man with a cane watching us. He had a big smile on his face the whole time. We needed to get more rocks and as we went to gather them, he came with us and helped carry rocks back to the site. It’s hard to describe, but there was such wisdom in his face and even though we couldn’t talk to each other, I felt we did just through the smiles and sharing the work. At the end of the day, we found out there was a wedding at the village and we were invited to come. Weddings are three-day events and this was the third day when the bride and groom finally get to move into their own hut. I had to smile as the groom looked

very ready to just be done with all the ceremony and move in with his bride! As we left the wedding, the old man from the field was there dressed in his elder garments and he smiled big when he saw us and was just so warm. As we drove back, I just felt thankful to have been a part of such an amazing day. We are changing lives but in reality they did the same for us.

DAY 4:Today is our last day in this area of Ethiopia. Tomorrow we head north to an area that is more remote and impoverished. We will have an opportunity to sightsee and take a break before we start work again.

We arrived at a village this morning and saw a well the villagers had been using

that has been contaminated. A little girl in a tattered dress was lowering a can to get water. We watched her and it felt detached and sad. I went up and took her picture then the other kids wanted their pictures taken, and soon we were all smiling. Our group leader brought aside a mother with a baby and through a translator we got to hear her story. There is so much sickness in the village because of contaminated water and yet they are forced to drink to live. The mother talked about wanting her kids to be able to go to school but it is so far and books are scarce. We talked about trying to help build one and what it would take. It’s impossible to grasp the enormity of the stakes and the problems. We presented the village with a soccer ball and goals were quickly set up. It was fun playing with the kids but they schooled us. After the game, we went up and walked through the village to see how people live. We also visited a larger village and a schoolhouse. They were studying English and it was good to see that in some places kids were getting an education. So many children, especially in villages with no access to clean and close water sources, spend their days walking to get water and do not attend school. It’s amazing that one water well can completely change the daily life of an entire village and help make education possible.

DAY 5:We spent our time in a very remote village called Robit. It’s a pretty large village of 11,000 people. We had to transfer into

14 | TO R C H

T LU TO DAY

Screenshot of new TLU website

fter a successful rebranding initiative last year, Texas Lutheran University once again turned to updating its web presence. With

a new logo and a new tagline, the website needed to live up to the new bold initiative and aspirational character of the university and its constituents. While it’s only been a few years since the last website redesign and relaunch, there have been major changes in how society, especially the current generation of prospective students, interacts with websites and social media.

“It’s important that we stay current and approach our website as our most effective and visible strategic marketing tool,” said TLU Vice President of Marketing & Communications Sarah Story. That is why Story and her team chose Giles-Parscale, Inc., a San Antonio-based design and web marketing firm, to produce the new website. Giles-Parscale has designed and built websites like The San Antonio River Walk, San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, Ben E. Keith and Trump International Realty, among other national and international clientele.

“We are extremely excited about the website we are making for TLU,” said Giles-Parscale President Brad Parscale. “It is especially gratifying to design an ‘academic’ site that focuses on strong branding and marketing.”

Instead of creating a separate smartphone or tablet application, TLU is taking a newer approach to the range of devices accessing the website with responsive design. Responsive design essentially reformats the page in order for its content to fit on the screen, whether it is a traditional computer monitor, a tablet or a smartphone. Instead of just shrinking the page, along with all of its text and images, to the width of the device, the elements of the page resize, realign and reorder themselves. This allows the content to be accessible while maintaining the design aesthetic.

“Most universities choose systems that force designers to work around blocky, forced structures, drastically limiting the design options,” said Parscale. “TLU has instead chosen the system that allows us to design a website that is 100 percent

RESPoNSIvE DESIGN essentially reformats the page in order for its content to fit on the screen, whether it is a traditional computer monitor, a tablet or a smartphone.

A

WEBsitE RElauNch shoWcasEs NEW tEchNology aNd coNtENt

customized to the needs of the university’s future students, current students, faculty and alumni.”

Along with responsive design, the website also features more options for integrating social media, making it easier to share events, news and pages. By examining the analytics of the previous version of the site, the new site is meant to offer a subtle guided path for visitors, based on their role, while simultaneously making it faster to find and click the information they seek. To expand awareness of the university and its brand, the site also employs various search engine optimization features coupled with digital marketing campaigns aimed at attracting prospective students who fit with the programs TLU offers.

“We believe TLU’s website will establish a new standard for university websites,” said Parscale, “giving TLU a look and message that distinguishes it from other schools. We think we’ve created a site that has a strong, holistic brand feel and captures you from the first visual.”

The site is planned to launch this fall.

suNdaY, NOveMber 3, 201311 a.m. to 2 p.m. | TLu Campus‚ Jackson Park Student Activities Center

Empty Bowls is an international project to fight hunger, personalized by local artists on a community level. Empty Bowls events are held in cities across the country to support local food-related charities and food banks through monetary donations raised from the sale of hand-crafted, ceramic bowls. For more information, visit www.tlu.edu/emptybowls.

Help fight hunger in our community. Buy a beautiful, hand-crafted ceramic bowl for $15 and receive a bowl of soup. Proceeds from Empty Bowls support monthly mobile pantry trucks for the Seguin community. To date, TLu has hosted

8 mobile pantry trucks, delivering more than 80,000 pounds of food to approximately 1,600 families. Let’s keep it going.

EMPTYBOWLS

E M P T YBOWELSEMPTY

BOWLS

E M P T YBOWELS

16 | TO R C H

T LU TO DAY

FaCuLtY-Led researCH PrOvIdes FIrstHaNd eXPerIeNCes FOr studeNtsTEXAS LUTHERAN UNIvERSITy’S

SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAMS GAvE

STUDENTS HANDS-ON EXPERIENCES

IN SPECIALIzED AREAS INCLUDING

LAB WORK, PHILOSOPHICAL

INvESTIGATIONS, vISUAL ARTS

PROJECTS AND PHySICS EDUCATION.

hese independent studies allowed students the opportunity to work closely with professors and gain valuable experience in their prospective fields.

Communications Studies Professor ROBIN BISHA supported the creation of a 32-page pilot issue of a local pet-culture publication. Bisha and students DREW BRANDT and kENNA NEITCH were responsible for interviewing, writing articles, publication layout and proofreading. Associate Professor of Communications Studies CHRIS BOLLINGER conducted a research project with students LAURA TORRES and BRITTNEy WALTMAN exploring how TLU community members understand, make sense of and grapple with issues of hate. The data collected helped design a prevention and intervention workshop and performance that will be implemented on campus.

Biology professors MARk GUSTAFSON and ALAN LIEVENS took students SARAH BLACk, LIGIA BOLIVAR, kATE COWEy, kATLyN DEBORD, THOMAS STEPHENS, CISCO VICENT, SAMUEL TERCIOS, kAyLA HARTMANN and SOFIA kLEPPER through an environmental science and ecology course in Belize. The educational trip included visits to the University of Belize’s Environmental Research Institute, jungles, caves, animal sanctuaries and ancient Mayan ruins. Students also studied the numerous marine ecosystems and preservation tactics going on in the surrounding coral reefs and experienced the habitats of native animals and plants. Assistant Professor of Philosophy JACk DAVIDSON and his students COURTNEy FARMER, kELSEy yOEMANS and JACOB DIAz worked

on a project involving an investigation of the following interrelated questions: Do we have a moral obligation to give to famine relief and to reduce extreme poverty? If so, to what extent? What is the best solution to ending or seriously reducing starvation and global poverty? What grounds our moral obligation or lack thereof? The students’ main contribution was coming up with simple, doable strategies of alleviating poverty on their own.

Assistant Professor of Biology DANIELLE GROVE worked with students ARI COWAN and JOHN MEDINA to develop an assay for the detection of estrogen receptor beta RNA. They compared activity in the brain tissue from two regions among different genders and ages of rats and also learned how to grow mammalian cell cultures. Associate Professor of Math and Computer Science SAM HIJAzI led students DAVID ONDIk and TyLER HUDGENS on a project that designed and built a more informative and instructional math, computer science and information systems website that includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Database and video streaming. The project was tested for real time access and the ability to respond to events with full interactivity achieved. The website was able to open connections and send requests to a server that streamed instructional videos. Assistant Professor of Physics SHAWN HILBERT and students MELISSA FERNANDEz and TIMOTHy CANALICHIO explored two experiments

this summer. One experiment involved analogizing slow light with an acoustic system while the other determined the temperature and pressure dependence of the coefficient of restitution of a racquetball. Biology Professor BOB JONAS worked with students APRIL RAMOS and DAVID LIzARRAGA. Ramos’ project involved investigating control of the stress response in the soil bacterium Bacillus. Under stress, the bacteria turn on a set of genes and Ramos tested a hypothesis that some diffusible factor inhibits this induction when the bacteria are grown in close contact with each other. Lizarraga investigated the characteristics of strains of Bacillus that have been grown in isolation for about 200 days or more than 2,000 generations. Over this time, the strains accumulated mutations and now differ from each other even though they originally started from the same colony back in 2000. Lizarraga isolated and cloned DNA from the strains, sent them to be sequenced and compared the DNA sequences with the “wild type” original sequence while also characterizing them in terms of differences in growth characteristics.

TLU student ARTHUR BABCOCk assisted Kinesiology Professor JIM NEWBERRy with a project that determined the optimal height of the center of mass of a heavily loaded backpack over the central line of carry for optimal weight distribution during backpacking. Methods included

To find out more about TLU

study abroad programs visit

www.tlu.edu/studyabroad

T

continued on page 29

Left to Right: Thomas Stephens, Katlyn DeBord, Cisco vicent, Sofia Klepper, Sarah Black, Ligia Bolivar, Samuel Tercios, Kate Cowey, Kayla Hartmann gather at the University of Belize’s Environmental Research Institute at Calabash Caye Field Station.

TO R C H | 17

T LU TO DAY

TLU student Wes Pryor delivers Meals On Wheels to client and New Braunfels resident Julia Kemp.

students’ summer research results in Windfall for Local Nonprofits

hile writing papers might not have always been a passion

for students Emily Slaton and Wesley Pryor, TLU’s Write

To Serve initiative has shown them how their own research can benefit others. As part of a summer research program led by English lecturer Beth Barry, both Slaton and Pryor assisted local nonprofits with grant research.

Junior music education major Emily Slaton is no stranger to writing with purpose. Her previous work with Write To Serve resulted in a publication of her article “Music Education Budget Crisis,” in the September 2012 issue of Music Educator’s Journal. Most recently, Slaton’s work with the Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Shelter assisted the organization in increasing awareness of services provided and showing need for year- round interns to do community outreach. The information Slaton compiled dealt mainly with victims of domestic violence, mainly women and children, in rural areas.

“Guadalupe Family Violence Shelter serves four counties: Guadalupe, Gonzales, Carnes and Wilson,” Slaton said. “While there are offices in each county, the only shelter is in Seguin or Guadalupe County. My goal is to provide data and facts showing a need for increased awareness of the services offered by the shelter to families in rural areas like the four counties they cover. Our goal is to present the findings and be awarded a grant that would support a year-round internship for a TLU student to do community outreach and earn class credit. It would be very beneficial for the shelter and make me proud to see that the research I did directly helped them. Not only am I learning how to do grant writing and research, I’m also learning how to spot behavioral issues within children that could be a result of deeper issues within their home.”

The internship, which would begin in fall 2014 if approved and be geared toward women’s studies majors, would allow student workers to continue database research, visit schools and churches, conduct presentations on domestic violence and promote shelter services.

Pryor’s work could potentially get $40,000 for the CCSCF to use specifically for nutrition education and also support their adult day care facility, My Friend’s Haus. Lynn Mahaffy, CCSCF funding development director, said not only was Pryor’s research helpful for the foundation, it also identified a new area where seniors are in need of help.

“While Wes was continuing the research of our previous intern, John Medina, he realized there are high occurrences with elderly patients who were discharged from the hospital and are readmitted again soon after they go home,” Mahaffy said. “There are several reasons that might happen. The elderly patient might be confused about how to care for themselves and not ask questions. They also might just want to get out of the hospital and go home. In many cases, their caretakers are also elderly and might not be able to care for them the way they need.” The Hospital Readmission Program, a new program that would be funded by Pryor’s research and Mahaffy’s grant writing, would help elderly clients recently released from the hospital and prevent them from being readmitted. Although

this particular grant amount has not been revealed, Mahaffy said it would definitely be substantial since they’re starting the program from scratch.

“If this program is successful, we would provide clients with daily or weekly visits to check on their health and help them with anything they need,” Mahaffy said. “This is a completely new area for our foundation and Wes really helped us expand our research in this area. I can’t stress enough how important it is that senior citizens have access to nutrition programs, Meals On Wheels and caretaking and home repair services. Wes’ time and all of his help will make a difference just as all of the TLU students who have helped us have done.”

“Our area covers 3,000 square miles and many of those in need of our help are isolated,” said Jennifer Fernandez, outreach and prevention specialist for GVFVS. “Our hope is to have someone here throughout the year who can let people know we are here to help and we can provide secure locations and transportation for them. Our difficulty with an area this large and rural is maintaining awareness. We want more individuals to know we offer emergency shelter, counseling services and a local support system. The WTS program and Emily’s efforts to establish the internship will help us with our research component, give us better ways to articulate our plans and make inroads with the surrounding communities.”

Like many of Beth Barry’s students, Wesley Pryor said he never felt like he was a good writer until he came to TLU. After taking two composition courses with Barry, the sophomore math major wanted to continue writing and researching as part of Write To Serve. His role as a grant researcher with the Comal County Senior Citizens Foundation, he said, is both educational and rewarding. Contributing updated facts and numbers

to previous research grants for wellness administration, Meals On Wheels, fitness classes, educational seminars, adult daycare services and home repair help, Pryor said the experience inspired him.

“Delivering Meals On Wheels was a very eye-opening experience for me,” he said.

“It was even more motivation to do the research to help those senior citizens who are in great need of assistance. I saw Write To Serve as an opportunity to really help through my research and writing. It’s also given me the skills I think I could use to get grants for my own research since I plan on getting a Ph.D. in math and becoming a professor.”

18 | TO R C H

G R OW I N G + G I V I N G

tLu NaMes dIreCtOr OF aNNuaL GIvING

GIFt OF eduCatION a PrIOrItY FOr retIred teaCHers Retired educators Edward and Janet Monson have extend-ed giving from within their Kenedy, Texas, community to TLU. As former teachers who spent their entire careers working with young people, the Monsons place the value and importance of education very high, understanding the impact it has on a person’s life. Their $25,000 gift to the university will establish the Edward and Janet Monson Endowed Schol-arship for deserving students that demonstrate financial need. To be eligible for the scholar-ship, students must meet TLU’s admissions requirements.

“Education is something that cannot be taken away,” said Edward Monson ’66. “I like to help and especially kids. Since I was raised in the Lutheran church and educated at a Lutheran college, the decision to help a young person attend TLU seems ideal.”

The Monsons have always been supporters of the youth in their local community and hope their recent endowment will provide opportunities for students at TLU who have the potential to excel but need financial support.

“It’s nice to know that we can make a small difference and help someone attend TLU who may not have been able to go otherwise,” said Janet Monson.

Edward monson ’66 is an active member

of the Good Shepherd Lutheran church

in Kenedy, Texas, and serves as president

of the Kenedy Independent School District

school board. Janet Monson is also

involved at their church and plays guitar

in the church band, Out to Pasture.

Alvin Stanchos ’58 with his wife Mallie

Stanchos at the family farm and ranch

in yorktown, Texas.

YOrktOWN COuPLe estabLIsH eNdOWed sCHOLarsHIP FOr deservING studeNtsAlvin and Mallie Stanchos of Yorktown, Texas, recently established the Alvin and Mallie Stanchos Endowed Scholarship with a gift of $100,000 to Texas Lutheran University.

Alvin, a 1958 graduate of TLU, and Mallie each taught high school in South Texas. Alvin taught history for many years at Refugio High School and at Coastal Bend College and Victoria College. Mallie taught English at Refugio and later became a school librarian. In their years of teaching history and English, Alvin and Mallie taught across the hall from each other.

Alvin majored in history and minored in sociology during his time at Texas Lutheran and has fond memories of classes with Dr. Arthur G. Wiederaenders, Dean Adolph C. Streng and Bernard C. Baumbach.

In making the gift to TLU, Alvin and Mallie specified that the scholarship funds be used to

help deserving students in any academic discipline.

Alvin and Mallie maintain the Stanchos family farm and ranch, which has been in the Stanchos Family for more than 140 years. The farm and ranch is located in the Gruenau community, located in central DeWitt County. Alvin’s great-grandparents were the first European settlers in the Gruenau area.

Derrick M. Collins was recently promoted to Director of Annual Giving for TLU. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing from Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., an ELCA and sister institution to TLU. Collins joined TLU in 2009 and has held several positions in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations including phone- a-thon and events manager and associate director of alumni relations.

Collins brings more than seven years of experience working in higher education with the majority focused in development and alumni relations. Prior to joining TLU, Collins was the assistant director of annual giving at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also was the assistant director of admissions and financial aid and the director of multicultural affairs and hall director at Carthage College. For the past 13 years, Collins has served

as a volunteer with the state of Wisconsin’s Boys State program sponsored by the American Legion.

Collins is currently pursuing a master’s of public administration degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is recently engaged and is planning a fall 2014 wedding.

Derrick collins joined the TLU staff in 2009.

TO R C H | 19

G R OW I N G + G I V I N G

killed in every facet of his profession – playing, teaching, designing – Texas Golf Hall of Famer Shelley Mayfield was widely respected as a consummate gentleman who was modest about his many achievements.

Mayfield, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour who finished sixth in the 1954 U.S. Open, left a generous estate gift of $340,000 to TLU when he passed away in March 2010 in San Antonio. The gift will benefit students through endowed scholarships.

Mayfield was born in Liberty Hill, Texas, on June 19, 1924, and grew up in Seguin as the youngest of three children. He was an accomplished athlete, playing football and basketball at Seguin High School, until a back injury led him into playing golf full time. As a member of the Seguin High School golf team and under the coaching of Lefty Stackhouse, he won several state championships.

On the PGA Tour, Mayfield was regarded as one of the top tier players of the time with a career that included a sixth-place finish at the 1954 U.S. Open, a semi-finalist in the 1955 PGA Championship and an eighth-place finish at The Masters in 1956. In 1963, Mayfield was named the head professional at Brook Hollow Golf Club in Dallas and was later named

as one of the nation’s top 12 golf instructors by Town and Country magazine and was featured with several other golf professionals on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

During the winter months in the 1950s and ‘60s, Mayfield worked with famed golf course architect Dick Wilson on some of Wilson’s most famous designs including Doral Country Club and Pine Tree Golf Club in Florida and La Costa Country Club and Bay Hill Golf Club in California. As a way of giving back to the city and course that started his golf career, Mayfield was the architect for the second nine holes at Starcke Park Golf Course in Seguin.

He remained at Brook Hollow Golf Club until he retired in 1982. After retiring, he was busy ranching, hunting, fishing and golfing with his long-time friend Ben Hogan. In 1992, he was elected to the Texas Golf Hall of Fame. Mayfield never forgot his Seguin roots and left a legacy by remembering TLU in his estate plans. His generous gift established a scholarship that will benefit multiple students with significant financial need every year. Mayfield was indeed the consummate gentleman.

Shelley Mayfield A Legacy On and Off the Golf Course

S

NeW ONLINe sIte Makes GIvING sIMPLe, seaMLess

By Rick Robertsvice President for Development and Alumni Relations

As I begin my 23rd year working in the higher education development field, I have seen many changes in ways

to raise funds for the annual fund and for special campus projects. Although student calling and direct mail still play a vital role in securing support – approximately 40 percent for The Texas Lutheran Fund and annual scholarships – it is not where we are seeing the most growth.

The single biggest change for TLU and for all colleges and universities is online giving. Over the past three years, online giving at TLU

has more than doubled. Giving through a secure website presents a terrific opportunity for TLU to raise funds for our students. The challenge, in the wake of rapid growth, is to create a giving site that is as simple and seamless as possible. Therefore, we are pleased to announce a user-friendly site that goes live this month. The giving page will be easier to use, is only two clicks from TLU’s home page, and it will allow for recurring gifts. Many of our

donors have asked for this feature so monthly or quarterly gifts can be automatically charged to a credit card.

Whether you give through the student calling program, direct mail or online, we thank you for your support for TLU. Please let us know how you like the new giving page. You can check it out at www.tlu.edu/giving. We welcome and value feedback from our alumni and friends.

Celebrate with us at

HOMECOMING!September 27 & 28, 2013

“TASTE oF SEGuiN” ALL-REuNioN LuNCH1 1:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 28

Jackson Park Student Activity Center

BASEBALL REuNioNBBQ Lunch and Presentation

1 1:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Saturday, September 28 including the Kirby Standley Batting Cage Dedication

Katt-Isbel Field

ATHLETiC HALL oF FAME CEREMoNy2:00 p.m. Saturday, September 28

Hein Dining Hall, Timmerman Room

HoMECoMiNG FooTBALL GAME TLu VS SWAGu

6:00 p.m. Saturday, September 28 Matador Stadium, Seguin High School

For a full list of Homecoming events and to register online,visit our website www.tlu.edu/alumni

@tlualumni #tluhomecoming

H O M E C O M I N G

TO R C H | 21

N E WSWO R T H Y

Texas Lutheran University welcomes

NeW FaCuLtY & staFFAdAM AKERSoN Department of Education

Adam Akerson holds bachelor’s degrees in elementary education and marketing from the University of Northern Iowa. In 2003, the native Iowan began working as an elementary teacher in Northside Independent School District in San Antonio. As a second and third grade team leader and teacher working with children and families from diverse backgrounds, he developed a passion for and commitment to education and student success. While working on his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Houston, he learned the value of research and informed decision making. During the past two years as an assistant professor at Stephen F. Austin State University, he worked with teacher candidates in a variety of roles including instructor, early childhood graduate coordinator, field experience supervisor and advisor. Akerson is excited to be joining the TLU family and the education department.

dANNy BRAATENDepartment of Sociology, Political Science and Geography

Daniel Braaten joins TLU from the University of Nebraska-Kearney as an assistant professor of political science. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Braaten previously taught at Carroll University and University of Nebraska-Kearney, teaching courses in international relations, comparative politics, American government and research methods. He has also accompanied students on study abroad trips to Vietnam and China and his main research interest is the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy.

BERNAdETTE BuCHANANAssociate Dean of Student Life and Learning

Bernadette Buchanan has her Ph.D. in higher education and a Master

of Education in education administration from Washington State University, Pullman. While

completing her doctorate, she studied the 1944 GI Bill and its effects on African-Americans in higher education. Buchanan also had the opportunity to work with veterans in many different capacities namely in the TRiO program. She most recently served as the director of the Office of Student Standards andAccountability at Washington State, and has held previous positions with TRiO student support services at Washington State University, residence life and career services at University of Puget Sound, and multicultural programs at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. In addition to her commitment to students in higher education, Buchanan enjoys time with her family and watching “The Young and the Restless.”

CoRiNNE CASTRoDepartment of Sociology, Political Science and Geography

Corinne Castro received her bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California Berkeley and received both her master’s degree and Ph.D. in sociology, with an emphasis in women’s studies, from Temple University in Philadelphia, Penn. Since graduating from TU in May 2012, she has worked as an instructor in the Department of Sociology at La Salle University and the Department of Culture and Communications at Drexel University. She has taught a range of courses such as foundations in statistical methods, introduction to sociology, research methods, gender in America and ethnicity and the immigrant experience. Her primary research areas include the intersections of race, gender and class, higher education, occupations and work, and

international migration. Castro’s dissertation, “Women of Color Navigating the Academy: The Discursive Power of Professionalism,” focuses on why women of color continue to be underrepresented in the U.S. professoriate, despite advances in minorities’ participation in higher education. She is extremely excited to be joining her new faculty and looks forward to becoming a part of the diverse and culturally rich community at TLU.

JERRy CARR, JR. Department of Physics

Jerry Carr, Jr., joins TLU as an assistant professor in physics. Born and raised in Detroit, Mich., his studies took him to MIT and Georgia Tech where he received a bachelor’s degree in physics. He received his Ph.D. in plasma physics from West Virginia University. He worked as a teacher, tutor and program coordinator in the Boston area and in Atlanta, and at Oak Ridge National Lab where he interned as an operator and researcher for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). His work at WVU focused on helicon plasmas by exploring double layers and ion heating using laser-induced fluorescence as a primary diagnostic tool. Carr explores the science behind controlling this phenomenon so that his research can provide applications to the space propulsion and materials processing industries. He looks forward to combining his passion for science with an interactive teaching style that exposes students to current research and leverages a strong academic and professional network to provide interesting learning opportunities for students.

CARL S. HuGHESDepartment of Theology, Philosophy and Classical Languages

Carl S. Hughes is a historical theologian with expertise in the Modern and Reformation Eras. He comes to TLU from St. Olaf College where he taught religion and served as a House Foundation Research Fellow in the school’s Hong Kierkegaard Library. He holds a Ph.D. from Emory University, an M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School, a license in philosophy from the Université de Paris—Paris IV (Sorbonne) and a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College. His research focuses on Søren Kierkegaard and his relationship to the history of Lutheran theology; however, his theological interests are broad, touching on theology’s relation to art and literature, the history of Christian liturgy and practice and contemporary constructive theology. His first book, Kierkegaard and the Staging of Desire: Rhetoric and Religious Performance in a Theology of Eros, will be published by Fordham University Press in early 2014. He comes to Seguin with his wife Cayenne Claassen-Luttner and their dog Felix. In his spare time, he loves hiking with Felix, watching baseball, cooking and learning about wine.

STEPHANiE PEREz Department of Biology

Stephanie Perez joins TLU as an assistant professor in the Department of Biology. Perez received her bachelor’s degree in biology from TLU and her Ph.D. in cellular and structural biology from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Prior to TLU, she was an instructor of biology at Southwest Texas Junior College. Her teaching interests include human anatomy and physiology, molecular biology and cellular biology, and her primary research interests are in the field of hematology. Specifically, she is interested in effects of chemicals on the bone marrow microenvironment and the role the bone marrow microenvironment plays in the development of hematopoiesis diseases. Her recent work, published in Blood Journal was awarded the 2012 University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio Cancer Therapy and Research Center Discovery of the Year.

22 | TO R C H

N E WSWO R T H Y

Pictured Above Centennial Hall, TLU’s new freshmen residence hall which includes the Greehey Academic Center.

Pictured Left President Stuart Dorsey unveils the building plaque to Louree and Bill Greehey.

“gREEhEy acadEmic cENtER” NamEd iN hoNoR oF BusiNEss lEadERTLU has named the academic wing of its new freshman residence hall, Centennial Hall, the “Greehey Academic Center” in recognition of the San Antonio business leader’s support for first-generation college students through need-based scholarships. Greehey, who is currently chairman of the board of NuStar Energy L.P., and NuStar GP Holdings, L.L.C., previously served as chairman and CEO of Valero from the company’s inception in 1980 until he retired as CEO in 2005, and

then retired as chairman in 2007. In 2003, he established The Greehey Family Foundation to focus on supporting health and human welfare issues, children’s causes, education, and the homeless. In 2011, the foundation made a $1 million gift to TLU to support first-generation college students. The generous donation has been allocated primarily toward scholarships and programming to assist first-generation students in their quest for a college education.

TLU ONCE AGAIN A “GREAT COLLEGE TO WORk FOR”TLU is again one of the nation’s great colleges to work for according to a survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education. These results, based on a survey of more than 44,688 employees at 300 colleges, are featured in The Chronicle’s sixth annual report on the Academic Workplace. Only 97 of the 300 universities surveyed received

“Great College to Work For” recognition

in specific best practices and policies. In its second year of participation, TLU was also one of only 42 universities to earn the title of Honor Roll institution, winning honors in eight categories: collaborative governance, professional and career development programs, teaching environment, job satisfaction, confidence in senior leadership, supervisor and department chair relationship, respect and appreciation and tenure clarity and process.

TLU ALUMNUS RECEIVES DELTA HONORS AWARD Recent TLU alumnus Erblin Ribari ’13 is the recipient of the 2013 Delta Epsilon Iota Delta Honors Award and Scholarship. This is the highest award given to members of the national honors society recognizing extraordinary achievement and an overwhelming dedication to excellence in attaining distinction in academics, employment, campus life, organizational leadership and community outreach. Ribari currently works as a sales operations analyst at Rackspace in San Antonio.

MEyER NAMED NEW CHURCH RELATIONS DIRECTORBeginning Sept. 1, Rev. Stan Meyer will be TLU’s new director of church relations. Rev. Meyer previously worked at TLU as the campus pastor for 10 years and ended his staff tenure as dean of students. He went on to serve the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America for 19 years in the Southwestern Texas Synod and the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Area. His experience, contacts and reputation will serve him and TLU as he leads efforts to develop even stronger relationships with the ELCA and other denominations and faiths.

TO R C H | 23

study FiNds studENt satisFactioN high at tluACCORDING TO THE JUNE 2013 NOEL-LEvITz STUDENT SATISFACTION INvENTORy,

TLU STUDENTS ARE SIGNIFICANTLy MORE SATISFIED THAN

STUDENTS AT OTHER NATIONAL, FOUR-yEAR PRIvATE INSTITUTIONS.

The SSI findings, derived from the responses of 376 TLU students ranging from freshmen to seniors, were higher than the findings at other universities in the summarized scale categories of academic advising, instructional effectiveness, student centeredness, concern for the individual, recruitment and financial aid, campus climate, safety and security, registration effectiveness, service excellence, campus support services, campus life and responsiveness

to diverse populations. Overall satisfaction and students’ decision to enroll was also substantially higher than the national average for other four-year, private schools, with TLU students rating their overall satisfaction at 77 percent while the national average was 57 percent. While 58 percent of other students at similar universities said they would enroll at their college again, 75 percent of TLU students said they would choose TLU again in their selection process.

PRINCETON REVIEW NAMES TLU “BEST IN THE WEST”TLU is a “Best in the West” selection in The Princeton Review’s special web feature “2014 Best Colleges: Region by Region.” The list identifies public and private schools as regional bests across four locales: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West. These regional best institutions account for only 25 percent of the nation’s four-year colleges, making TLU part of a select group recognized among The Princeton Review’s staff. Student surveys regarding academics and campus experience were also taken into account. Other areas evaluated by The Princeton Review were admissions selectivity, financial aid, environmental efforts, enrollment, ACT and SAT scores and campus safety.

SqUIRES NAMED 2013 TExAS HEALTH CHAMPION

TLU Professor of Biology and Kinesiology William G. “Bill” Squires, Jr. is the 2013 Texas Health Champion Award winner. This distinguished achievement is awarded annually to an individual or organization who has mobilized community efforts to prevent and reduce obesity and promote physical activity and nutritional health through research, innovative partnerships, practice, policy development, social marketing or behavioral interventions.

His extensive efforts are a model for health awareness and education for communities around Texas and the nation. Presented by the Michael and Susan Dell Center For Healthy Living, The UT School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus and Live Smart Texas as part of the 6th Annual Texas Obesity Awareness Week, Squires will officially receive the honor Thursday, Sept. 12, at the University of Texas at Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art.

PADRON RECEIVES PILLAR OF CHARACTER AWARDTLU Head Football Coach Danny Padron received a Pillar of Character award from San Antonio’s Northside ISD at its annual Northside Education Foundation Pillar Recognition Banquet on September 4, 2013. Coach Padron, a NISD alum, was presented the Pillar Award for Fairness recognizing the equitable, open, and reasonable traits he displays as a college coach.

BULLDOG INVESTMENT COMPANy TRAVELS TO OMAHAThis May, TLU Bulldog Investment Company students, alumni, faculty and staff attended the 2013 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha, Neb. In addition to gaining introductions with many successful business people and investment managers, the group also attended a value investment presentation hosted by Columbia University.

Pictured left to right: Jon zahadka (TLU alum), Andrew Nelson (TLU vP of Finance), Mark Sather (TLU alum), Philip Bauch, Arthur Munoz, Warren Udd and Dave Sather (TLU alum and director of the Bulldog Investment Company).

24 | TO R C H

S CO R E B OA R D

Texas Lutheran University

enters the southern Collegiate athletic Conference

Freshman SoFiA VEGA ended her 2012-13 tennis season with a 1-1 showing at the NCAA Division III Women’s Tennis Singles Championship. Vega is the first TLU tennis player (male or female) to play in an NCAA Championship.

Vega went 26-5 overall in her first season with the Bulldogs. By winning her first- round match, Vega qualified for ITA All-American status.

Vega was named to the 2013 American Southwest Conference All-Conference Team and was selected as the ASC West Most Valuable Player and the ASC West Division Freshman of the Year. She led the Bulldogs

Sprinter and four-time All-American Monique Anderson.

Sofia vega went 26-5 overall in her first season.

to the 2013 ASC Championship Tournament, and their first appearance in the conference post-season tournament since 2006.

Anderson races to fourth career All-America citation

Sprinter MoNiQuE ANdERSoN collected her fourth career All-America citation with an eighth-place finish in the 100 meters at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships.

The All-America honor is the first for Anderson in the 100. The junior earned All-America honors in the 200 in 2011 and 2012 and in the 4x100 relay in 2012. Anderson is a two-time American Southwest Conference Women’s Track &

Field Athlete of the Year and a three-time ASC All-Conference performer. She also is a two-time ASC All-Academic selection. meadows selected as capital one Academic All-AmericanWomen’s Cross Country and Women’s Track and Field student-athlete ASHLEy MEAdoWS became the Bulldogs’ 21st Academic All-American when she was named to the 2013 Capital One Academic All-America Division III Women’s Track & Field / Cross Country Team.

Meadows, a junior, was named to the Academic All-America Third Team. Meadows is a molecular biology and chemistry major with a 4.0 GPA. She was named the 2013 American Southwest Conference’s Distinguished Scholar-Athlete for Women’s Track & Field and was a key contributor to the Bulldogs’ 2012 ASC Women’s Cross Country Co-Championship and the 2013 ASC Women’s Track & Field Championship.

Texas Lutheran University

officially joined the NCAA Division

III Southern Collegiate Athletic

Conference on July 1. TLU and

Schreiner University, united with

Austin College, Texas Centenary

College of Louisiana, Colorado

College, the University of Dallas,

Southwestern University

and Trinity University to round

out the league’s membership

roll. TLU formally announced

its intended move to the SCAC

from the American Southwest

Conference on Feb. 16, 2012.

June 30, 2013 officially ended

TLU’s 13-year membership

in the ASC. Vega advances to NcAA Women’s Tennis championship

TO R C H | 25

S CO R E B OA R D

TLU Baseball advances to NCAA tournament, Boothe wins Gold Glove

The Bulldogs advanced to their fourth NCAA DIII West Regional. TLU, the American Southwest Conference West Division Champion, faced eventual national champion and No. 1-ranked Linfield (Ore.) and No. 8-ranked California Lutheran going 0-2 in the regional. The Bulldogs lost 2-0 to Linfield and 4-3 to California Lutheran, finishing 2013 with an overall record of 33-14 and a conference mark of 16-2.

Senior third baseman JENNINGS BOOTHE became the first Bulldog in school history to win the overall NCAA Division III Gold Glove at a position. Boothe won the ABCA/Rawlings award for third base and was recognized as the top defensive third baseman in all of NCAA Division III.

All-American closer SEAN KISTLER set the TLU and ASC records for career saves (22) and did not allow a run (earned or unearned) in 2013. The four-year letterman and TLU’s Co-Male Student-Athlete of the Year, did not allow a run in the final 39 innings of his career. His scoreless inning streak dated back to April 6, 2012.

TLU Softball wins ASC West title, adds post-season awards The Bulldogs (33-10) won a school-record number of games, captured the program’s first ASC West Division crown since 2004 and advanced to the ASC Championship Tournament for the first time since 2005. TLU was ranked as high as No. 20.

TLU softball players MEGAN CARMICHAEL, ASHLEY JACOBSEN and KATELYN SANDERS received National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-West Region honors.Carmichael, the ASC West Division

Pitcher of the Year, went 14-8 with one save and an ASC West Division-best 1.49 ERA (in division play). She tossed six consecutive shutouts in the latter part of the season and finished the year with nine total shutouts. A First Team All-ASC West Division selection, Jacobsen hit .434 with 59 runs scored and a school-record 42 stolen bases. Sanders

won ASC West Co-Freshman of the Year honors in a season in which she tied the school record for wins in a season. Sanders went 17-2, tossed a pair of perfect games, and posted an ERA of 2.73.

Glass, Gonzales named WGCA All-American Scholars Women’s Golf student-athletes MACY GLASS and ALESSA GONZALES were named Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars for NCAA Division III. The minimum cumulative GPA for selection as a WGCA All-American Scholar is 3.50. Glass, a sophomore from Bryan, Texas, holds a 3.5 GPA as a biology and pre- medicine major. Gonzales, a freshman from Belton, Texas, holds a 3.5 GPA as a pre-pharmacy major. Both Glass and Gonzales played in TLU’s top five lineup this season. The Bulldogs finished fifth as a team at the 2013 ASC Golf Championships. Glass tied for 13th overall, and Gonzales tied for 24th.

Football’s Snowden nominated for Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Senior linebacker BRAD SNOWDEN is one of the record 151 nominees for the 2013 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. The award recognizes the selfless contributions to volunteerism and community service made

by college football student-athletes across the nation. During the 2012-13 academic year, Snowden volunteered for his third straight Day of the Dogs service day, during which he participated in a Seguin city park clean-up project. He also volunteered his time with the Salvation Army donation campaign, at TLU’s annual Vespers service and at the annual TLU scholarship luncheon as a member of TLU’s Black & Gold President’s Council. A three-year letterman and two-year starter at linebacker, Snowden has accumulated 175 total tackles in three seasons. As team captain, Snowden was named to the 2012 ASC All-Conference First Team Defense after leading TLU in tackles for a second straight season.

Gold Glove winner and TLU third baseman Jennings Boothe.

Freshman pitcher Megan Carmichael had six consecutive shutouts in 2013.

Read more about

TLU student-athletes

and TLU sports at  www.tlubulldogs.com

To learn more about the

SCAC conference visit www.scacsports.com

Texas Lutheran University

By the Numbers

26

42 3

0.0ERA of TLU Baseball’s All-American closer Sean Kistler during 2013 season

Perfect games tossed by freshman pitcher Katelyn Sanders in 2013

Errors committed all year by third baseman NCAA DIII Gold Glove winner, Jennings Boothe

Consecutive conference championships won by TLU Women’s Track & Field to close its membership in the ASC

School-record singles matches won in 2013 by TLU Women’s Tennis player Sofia Vega

Bases stolen by shortstop Ashley Jacobsen, setting a new school record

Distance in feet for the school-record toss in the discus by Allie Beach that qualified the senior for the NCAA DIII Track & Field Championships

42 143.5

THE BULLDOG ATHLETIC FUND supports TLU’s 14 intercollegiate athletic programs that include 8 women’s and 6 men’s sports teams. Approximately one-third of our students are student- athletics who excel on the field and in the classroom.

Your support supplements the current athletic budget and raises the quality of life for all TLU students. Show your support and visit WWW.TLU.EDU/BULLDOGFUND to make a gift today.

TO R C H | 27

A LU M N I R E L AT I O N S

tLu aNNOuNCes 2013 atHLetICs HaLL OF FaMe aNd WaLL OF HONOr INduCtees

rCeremony to be held during Homecoming festivities

EBEkAH (HAJDUk) ALMANzA, ELIzABETH (HOFFMAN) CHESSER, DAVID STAHL and MARk WIECzOREk will be recognized for their outstanding accomplishments as student-athletes and will be inducted into the

Texas Lutheran University Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday, September 28, at 2 p.m. in Hein Dining Hall. The Athletics Hall of Fame and Wall of Honor ceremony is an annual tradition at TLU Homecoming.

Also during 2013 Homecoming, RAy AND MONICA COSELLI will be inducted into the TLU Athletics

Leadership Wall of Honor for their off the field support of Bulldog athletics. Ray Coselli played on the 1974 and 1975 national championship football teams as well as the semi-final team of 1976. Monica’s brother, Buzzy, was the captain of the 1974 team. The Cosellies have been ardent supporters of the TLU football program, including providing funding for the goal posts on the TLU practice football field. In addition to their financial support, they’ve also volunteered their time to serve on the committee for Front Row— the annual athletics fundraising event hosted by TLU alumnus VERNE LUNDqUIST.

REBEkAH (HAJDUk) ALMANzA started for TLU volleyball from 1995 to 1998. She earned NAIA All-America honors in 1998 and established the Bulldogs’ all-time assists record at 4,412. Almanza also holds TLU’s single-season mark for assists per game, and is second all-time in single-season total assists. Almanza was the setter for the 1998 Heart

of Texas Conference Championship team– a squad that finished ninth at the 1998 NAIA National Championship. Almanza also served as the team’s setter during the 1996 NAIA National Championship where TLU finished ninth. Almanza was a two-time Heart of Texas Conference First Team selection, a two-time NAIA

Southwest Region First Team honoree and the Heart of Texas Conference Setter of the Year.

ELIzABETH (HOFFMAN) CHESSER won the 1999 NAIA individual championship as a true freshman with the Bulldogs. She led TLU to a second place finish in the 1999 NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship. The 1999 season was just the second year for women’s golf as a team sport at TLU. In addition to winning the NAIA individual title, Chesser played in the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships and finished seventh overall. She is the only student-athlete in school history to make All-America teams in the NAIA and in the NCAA Division II. When TLU transitioned from the NAIA and

NCAA Division II into NCAA Division III, Chesser transferred to the University of Mississippi. She played for three seasons and was the Lady Rebels’ Most Valuable Player in her senior year. Chesser was a finalist for the SEC Student-Athlete of the Year, an NCAA Woman of the Year nominee and the first student- athlete in the state of Mississippi to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated magna cum laude from Ole Miss in 2002 and earned her law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 2006.

DAVID STAHL played for the TLU men’s soccer team from 1999 to 2002 and led the Bulldogs to the 2002 American Southwest Conference Championship (ASC) and to the university’s first-ever team berth in an NCAA Division III national tournament. The Bulldogs qualified for the 2002 NCAA Division III men’s soccer championship and hosted a first-round NCAA tournament game

against Trinity. Stahl, a defender, was named the ASC West Division Defensive Player of the Year in 2002. He claimed Verizon Academic All-America honors and First Team Verizon Academic All-District VI awards in 2001 and 2002. He was named

to the NSCAA/Adidas First Team All-Central Region in 2001 and 2002. A four-year starter, Stahl was selected to the ASC All-Tournament Team when the Bulldogs won the conference crown in 2002. A team captain for two seasons, Stahl was an All-ASC selection in 2001 and 2002 and was twice named TLU’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year.

MARk WIECzOREk earned NAIA All-America honors as a member of the TLU baseball

team in 1986 and 1987. Wieczorek hit .463 in 1987. His average

from 1987 still stands as the third-best single-season average in school history. The starting second baseman for Coach Ray Katt’s Bulldogs, Wieczorek played on the 1986 squad that won the NAIA District IV Championship and advanced to the NAIA Area II Championship. He hit .392 in his two seasons with the Bulldogs, and his two-year average ranks as the second-best average by a Bulldog over two seasons. Wieczorek hit 15 home runs in two years and added 20 doubles and nine triples. He drove in 94 runs in 88 games played as a Bulldog.

13

13tLu

studeNt atHLete

HONOrees

28 | TO R C H

A LU M N I R E L AT I O N S

ABOUT US:

IT’S HERE! ith more than 10,000 alumni across the globe, TLU is excited to announce the formation of The Texas Lutheran

Alumni Association. “We have enthusiastic alumni who are proud of their alma mater and want to feel part of a formal organization,” said TLU Alumni Relations Director Taylor Carleton. “By organizing into an alumni association, we’ll also be able to better facilitate the creation of active alumni chapters in different cities.”

Carleton said the association will start with a goal of establishing alumni chapters in San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Seguin and New Braunfels by May 2014. “The alumni association board will work with us [the TLU alumni office] in establishing the chapters which will be led by a board member who will host events specific to that city,” said Carleton.

THE TEXAS LUTHERAN ALUMNI ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT: Hal Wolff ’77

MEMBERS: Austin Manning ’11 Carol R. Wolff  ’80 Cathy Roark  ’77 Chelsea Wauson Egmon  ’01 Chris Owen  ’01 Christopher “Eric” Sosa  ’95 David Nordman  ’81 Debbie Minzenmeyer  ’76 Donna Raetzsch  ’77 Dr. Patt Linden  ’60 Hal G. Wolff  ’77 James Sandoz  ’83  Secretary Javier Rivera  ’04 Jena D. Wendel  ’97 Jennifer Bauerkemper  ’00 John A. Traeger (Andrew)  ’07 Josh Lozano  ’12 Justin Seyfarth  ’07 Kevin Boyle ’12 Treasurer Kimberly A. Chanler  ’02 Kirby Dillingham Urabazo  ’10 Liz Garrett  ’06 Max Westerman  ’12 Nathan Eggers  ’13 Noemi Rodriguez Graham  ‘79 Vice President Rebecca Clark  ‘95 Sue Johnston  ‘77 Thomas E. Woods  ’83 Past President Tom Sedlacek  ’74 Will Garrett  ’06  President Elect

ABOUT HAL WOLFF Hal Wolff is a 1977 alumnus of TLU and was the vice president of theAlumni Board of Directors prior to his appointment as president. Wolff is a senior partner with the law firm Hoover Slovacek LLP in Houston. He started with

the firm in 1983 and is now a senior partner in the firm’s litigation and commercial practices. Wolff represents both plaintiffs and defendants in a variety of business and commercial matters and has represented clients throughout the greater Houston area and the State of Texas in district courts,

county courts, Texas Courts of Appeals and the United States District Courts for the Southern District of Texas. He and his wife Carol Wolff ’80 have three children including a daughter Betsy, who is a junior at TLU.

The Texas Lutheran University

Alumni Association’s purpose

is to inspire and engage alumni

in the life of Texas Lutheran

University and its community,

and to promote lifelong

connections among alumni

and friends in support of the

university’s mission. 

MISSION:

Led by The Texas Lutheran University Alumni Association Board of Directors (formerly the Alumni Board)

No dues required to join

Must have 30 credit hours or more to be a part of the association

»

»»

For more information on the TLU Alumni Association, visit www.tlu.edu/alumni

THE TEXAS LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

TO R C H | 29

filming, motion capture to measure forward lean and line of carry and data analysis for stress and energy expenditure.

Assistant Professor of Visual Arts kyLE OLSON and his students ELIzABETH AUSTIN and JONATHAN RIEDESEL participated in a photogravure-based research project where both students learned to produce the prints, vary techniques for their formation and evaluate the quality in order to maximize print quality. A total of three editions of eight prints were produced, and five of the suites were mounted in archival presentation boxes suitable for presentation at the 2014 Southern Graphics International Print Conference.

Physics Instructor ERIN SCANLON and student RICA MOELLERING worked on a physics education project aimed at improving the PHYS 141 and PHYS 142 labs by completing all labs and rewording the labs as necessary to maximize learning.

In addition, Moellering wrote a new research-inspired lab for PHYS 142 involving computational modeling. Associate Professor of Psychology TIFFANy SIA and her students SkyLAR BAkER, JUSTIN JOLIVET and JACOB kANE based their research on preliminary data collected during their classes this year. The summer work focused on extending the scope of each project and completing analysis and write-up. Each student was lead researcher on a project and secondary researchers on the others. One project examined prevalence and success in mentally stimulating activities as a function of age. The two other projects explored the quality of photos, taken by strangers, as a measure of indirect attitudes. Photos were of “couples” who are bi- racial or mono-racial, or heterosexual or homosexual. Associate Professor of Communications Studies STEVE VROOMAN and his students

SPENCER STEPHENS and BRyAN MITTLESTADT looked at how social media research has been hindered by use of only a few methods, all which seem insufficient for a true understanding. Students began addressing this by using as many different methodological tools as possible to generate a deeper and more data-rich analysis of Reddit than is typically done in journal articles in this area.

English Lecturer BETH BARRy and two of her students provided research and writing assistance to community partners in their quest for funding. WESLEy PRyOR worked on grant research for the Comal County Senior Citizens Foundation in New Braunfels, and EMILy SLATON worked with the Guadalupe Valley Family Violence Center in Seguin. Previous work by students working with Barry and her Write to Serve program has assisted in more than $200,000 in grant awards. For more on Write to Serve, see page 17.

continued from page 16

continued from page 13

a four-wheel drive vehicle to make it on the challenging roads. My insides felt scrambled each day over the roads but it was well worth every bumpy mile. We first visited a fairly new medical clinic that was opened through donations from all over the world. The clinic was very sparse and simple but is a major step in improving the lives of the people in that area. For the first time, villagers had access to medical care and medicine.

In the village is a crudely constructed bridge that connects the village to medical care and supplies. Every year during the rainy season the bridge is washed away, cutting off the village and sentencing people to death who need to get out. They said 14 children died last year. It’s hard to fathom that the construction of a sturdy, small bridge could be the difference between life and death. The idea that a bridge could not be built that would withstand the rainy season was deeply affecting.

At a schoolhouse, we met villagers and listened to the widows and orphans to see what we could do to help improve their lives. The school room soon became packed with people clamoring for help. It was utter chaos with so many people and I was feeling a little concerned as the numbers kept growing. In all the chaos, noise, and sea of faces, I happened to look to my right and sitting so serene was simply an angel,

one of the most beautiful little girls I’ve ever seen. She had such an innocent and peaceful look. Her mother was chosen to answer some questions about her hardships. Many of these single-parent homes have nothing. One woman made string in order to make enough money to eat maybe every other day. After the meeting, I was the first one outside and the rest of the group got distracted in conversation and stayed inside. I was soon mobbed. I couldn’t move. Kids there yell, “You, you, you,” constantly to get your attention. It was in the chaos I spotted the little angel again. I wanted to give her food and money but with so many people, it would have caused a riot. I was able to give her a granola bar without too many people seeing. Money was impossible. One of the guys on the trip is working to set up a way for people to be able to help the widows and orphans in this village. Driving back, I couldn’t get the little girl or the plight of those villagers out of my mind.

DAY 6:We flew into a small city called Axum in north Ethiopia that is probably the most historically significant area in Ethiopia. It’s much more of a tourist area for people with all the ruins and historically significant places.

After lunch we headed to shop for some gifts to bring back home. I love to haggle. I think I love it because it’s such a dance that

we don’t really get to experience here. It goes something like this. “How much is this?” “That is 500 Birr. It’s an original. My grandfather fought dragons and creatures from the netherworld to obtain this item which I am now selling in my trinket shop.” “I’ll give you 10 Birr.” The pure angst over this insulting offer is followed by “I give you good price, 450 Birr.” This goes on until you walk out in disgust and the store owner chases after you and you get it for 50 Birr.

Axum is the place where legend says the Ark of the Covenant is housed within a small church. While there is a compelling reason they believe it’s there, I have to say I was skeptical. To have and not share such a historically significant artifact seems unrealistic and I think if the rest of the Christian community believed it was in this little church, we would have seen it.

FiNAL THOUGHTs:When I got back, I decided to create a well campaign and get my friends to help raise enough to build one well. It costs $5,000 for a complete well that serves 400 villagers and changes their lives. Seems like such a small amount. I called my campaign The Bridge because of the story of the bridge in the village of Robit. My goal is to have the well funded by the end of the year so it can be built next year.

To support Andrew’s “The Bridge” campaign, visit WATERToTHRiVE.oRG/CAMPAiGNS and search for Andrew Huang.

30 | TO R C H

A LU M N OT E S

Nick ’61 and Shirley ’63 Bohmann celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with fellow TLU alumni at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Marble Falls, Texas.

Bis as dolor as eliciis inctenim quidellabo.

Brigadier General Robert D. LaBrutta ’89

1952CHARLES ANd HELEN (STEiNBRiNG)

PRoBST ’52 celebrated their 60th

wedding anniversary, June 16, 2013.

They live in New Braunfels.

1961NiCK ’61 ANd SHiRLEy ’63 (ECKHARdT)

BoHMANN were surrounded

by many TLU alumni as they

gathered at St. Peter’s Lutheran

Church in Marble Falls, Texas,

on June 15, 2013, to celebrate

their 50th wedding anniversary.

The Bohmanns live in Sunrise

Beach, Texas, on Lake LBJ.

Pictured from left to right, front

row: Wendy (Flatt) Bohmann ’98, Amy

(dicke) Bohmann ’92, Sylvia (Eckhardt)

Kraemer ’66, Shirley (Eckhardt) Bohmann

’63, Nick R. Bohmann ’61, Sandra

(Bohmann) debner ’64, Rachel (Mahler)

Kraemer ’91, Erika (Kraemer) Kaufman

’96, Mary (Mercer) Fetter ’67, and Kim

(Spaeth) Thonhoff ’77. Pictured from

left to right, back row: david M.

Bohmann ’95, Jonathan Bohmann ’91,

Timothy Bohmann

’91, Robert Bohmann ’71, don Kraemer

’67, Brett Kraemer ’92,

Tim Kaufman ’04, M. david Fetter,

Jr. ’66, and Robert “Bob”

Thonhoff ’77.

1967dAVid F. SMiTH ’67 was honored

by the Longview Independent

School District as a distinguished

alumnus on May 10, 2013. Dr. Smith

is on the staff at Emory University

School of Medicine. He is widely

known for his biochemical research

which has been published

in multiple professional journals.

He is working collectively with

six international research centers

on a project exploring and

identifying the molecular structure

of carbohydrates on cellular

membranes.

1978LARRy N. SWEET ’78 has been named

NASA’s new chief information

officer. Sweet joined the agency

in 1987 at the Johnson Space

Center where he served as

supervisor and manager for more

than 26 years. Since February

2007, he has been Johnson’s

chief information officer and

information resources director.

As NASA CIO, Sweet will take

the helm in leading the agency’s

information technology efforts

and capabilities effective June

30, 2013.

1980GRACE (MuEHLBRAd) WATKiNS ’80

retired from teaching after 33

years of working in the public

school systems of Palacios, Nixon,

Pflugerville, Houston, Spring and

Gonzales, Texas. She retired

on May 31, 2013, in Gonzales.

1989BRiGAdiER GENERAL RoBERT d.

LABRuTTA ’89 is Commander at the

502nd Air Base Wing and Joint

Base in San Antonio, Texas, which

includes Randolph, Lackland, Fort

Sam Houston and Camp Bullis.

General LaBrutta enlisted in the

Air Force in 1981 and later earned

a commission as a personnel officer

through the Air Force Reserve

Officer Training Corps in May

of 1989. He has served in a wide

variety of assignments including

2003LAuREN (doW) WEGNER ’03 and

husband Dave Wegner welcomed,

with joy, their son, Owen David,

born on October 12, 2012. The

Wegners both serve as pastors

at Good Shepherd Lutheran

Church in Raleigh, N.C.

2006LoRi (LoRENz) GoNzALES ’06 and

her husband, Jacob, are proud

to announce the birth of their son,

Tyler Rey Gonzales, on November

8, 2012, in New Braunfels. Tyler

weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20

inches long. He was welcomed

by his big brother, Dylan, as well

as his grandmother, Leigh Ann

Lorenz, who works in the Office

of the Registrar at TLU. His aunt

and uncle Christina (Lorenz) ’02 and

Joel Quintanilla ’07 are TLU alumni.

KRiSTi (PETERS) PoLANCo ’06 married

David Polanco on May 25, 2013,

at St. Luke Catholic Church

in San Antonio. The couple lives

in Austin. She works as an athletic

trainer with Hyde Park Baptist

base level, the Air Force Personnel

Center, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

a Major Air Force Command and

Combatant Command Staff.

His command tours include

squadron, group and wing levels.

Prior to his current assignment,

he was the director of manpower

and personnel, U.S. Central

Command, MacDill Air Force

Base in Florida.

1998STACEy WiATREK ’98 was promoted

to academic dean for Judson Middle

School in San Antonio, Texas.

kristi (Peters) Polanco ’06 and David Polanco

TO R C H | 31

A LU M N OT E S

Joshua Werland ’07 and Whitney Langford ’09

Dirk Lorenz ’09 and Marisol (Zamorano) Lorenz ’07 with daughter Amelie

High School and he works with

Hanger making prosthetic limbs.

2007 MARISOL (ZAMORANO) LORENZ ’07

and DIRK LORENZ ’09 welcomed their

first child, Amelie, on December

11, 2012.

JOSHUA BRETT WERLAND ’07,

is engaged to WHITNEY LAUREN

LANFORD ’09. Werland is currently

a CPA at Industry Bancshares, Inc.

The 38th Annual Lambda & Friends Spring Party. From left to right: James Bolten ’67, Greer Presley ’67, Randy Dahl ’66 and John Miller ’73.

and Lanford is employed

by Accenture Management

Consulting. They are planning

to wed in August 2013.

2009KLINTON “WES” CAIN ’09

of Burnet, Texas, received the

Master of Divinity from Princeton

Theological Seminary on May 18,

2013. The Master of Divinity is

a three-year graduate degree that

is the basic professional degree

for ministry. The seminary awarded

a total of 164 degrees during the

commencement exercises. Cain

will now serve as pastor of Kyle

United Methodist Church

in Kyle, Texas.

TLU President Dr. Stuart Dorsey

and, left to right, Stephen Wendel

’71, Elsie Wendel, Kim (Wendel)

Chanler ’02 and Casen Chanler

attend the closing service at Peace

Evangelical Lutheran Church

in San Antonio on Jan. 13, 2013.

TLU received a $300,000 gift from

the church for scholarships.

32 | TO R C H

A LU M N OT E S

TLU AlumniIN MeMOrIaM

Friends of TLUreMeMberING

Wilma H. Knudson Class of 1930 Died: July 4, 2013 Carlsbad, NM

Lucille Wolff Class of 1938 Died: November 30, 2012 Giddings, TX

Harriet Thekla Hocker Class of 1939 Died: May 7, 2013 Pflugerville, TX

ilse Miller Class of 1939 Died: November 20, 2012 Columbus, TX

Theodor Timmerman Class of 1940 Died: July 11, 2013 Pflugerville, TX

he Texas Lutheran Women’s retreat was held at TLU July 19-20, 2013, and featured the theme God’s GPS: Navigating Your Way Through Life’s Detours. TLU alumnae Mary Ann Springer Moore ’79 and Lisa Burkhardt Worley ’79 were the featured speakers as well as guest speaker and Dallas KCBI

morning show host Rebecca Carrell. Both Springer Moore and Burkhardt Worley are Christian motivational speakers in Northern

California and North Texas, respectively. Burkhardt Worley’s ministry, Pearls of Promise, recently published a devotional book, the Pearls of Promise devotional. Springer Moore is currently working toward a master’s degree at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. Burkhardt Worley graduated with a Master of Theological Studies degree from Perkins School of Theology. The retreat also featured Christian humorist Karen Hauser.

Raymond o. Jubela Former employee Died: July 31, 2013 Canyon Lake, TX

Jesse Anderson Turner, Jr. Class of 1941 Died: May 30, 2013 Seguin, TX

Weldon Allen Bronstad Class of 1941 Died: June 15, 2013 Granbury, TX

James d. Bergman Class of 1951 Died: July 14, 2013 Clifton, TX

Sister Bernice A. Pantel Class of 1951 Died: May 21, 2013 Victoria, TX

Maj. Walter Charles Sagebiel Class of 1957 Died: June 24, 2013 Pensacola, FL

Arthur “Boogie” Vivroux Class of 1962 Died: June 30, 2013 Seguin, TX

Kenneth W. Krueger Class of 1962 Died: June 9, 2013 San Angelo, TX

Paul W. Schurig Class of 1962 Died: June 5, 2013 New Braunfels, TX

John J. Jandt Class of 1965 Died: May 11, 2013 Seguin, TX

Paul M. Kolb Class of 1965 Died: June 12, 2013 Ruidoso, NM

dr. John david “J.d.” Lewis Class of 1969 Died: June 9, 2013 Austin, TX

Lt. Col. William L. Blankenship Class of 1972 Died: May 27, 2013 Richardson, TX

Ted Wolber Class of 1976 Died: June 12, 2013 Seguin, TX

Mark Layton Brown Class of 1977 Died: January 2, 2013 Northridge, CA

Patricia “Trisha” Apolonia Medina Class of 1993 Died: June 5, 2013 Seguin, TX

TO R C H | 33

Christmas Vespers tickets will be released Nov. 1 at www.tlu.edu/vespers and through the TLU Bookstore. Tickets are free but required.

calendar

Mid-Texas Symphony ConcertSept. 15 at 4 p.m.Jackson Auditorium

Brown Distinguished Lecture: DAVID BROOkSSept. 19 at 7:30 p.m.Jackson Auditorium

Bulldog Pep RallySept. 26 at 7:30 p.m.Memorial Gym Homecoming & Family WeekendSept. 27-28

Cellist Joshua RomanSept. 30 at 7 p.m.Ayers Recital Hall

krost SymposiumOct. 1-3 Jackson Auditorium

Watoto BenefitOct. 5 at 1 p.m.Jackson Park Student Activity Center

TLU Band ConcertOct. 11 at 7:30 p.m.Jackson Auditorium

Dramatic Media Production Exit Strategies: A Season RevueOct. 24-26 Jackson Auditorium

Boo BashOct. 28 at 6 p.m.Baldus Hall

Empty BowlsNov. 3 at 11 a.m.Jackson Park Student Activity Center

Mid-Texas Symphony ConcertNov. 3 at 4 p.m.The Brauntex Theatre New Braunfels

Dramatic Media Production ‘The Liar’Nov. 15-17Jackson Auditorium

TLU Chamber Orchestra ConcertNov. 17 at 4 p.m.Wupperman Little Theater

TLU Band ConcertNov. 22 at 7:30 p.m.Jackson Auditorium

Fair Trade and Global Gifts FairDec. 6 at 10:30 a.m.Alumni Student Center

Christmas VespersDec. 6-8Jackson Auditorium

Polar Bulldog SwimDec. 12 at 3 p.m.Mabee Pool

Christmas Vespers in AustinDec. 15 at 4 p.m.St. Martin’s Lutheran Church

Mid-Texas Symphony ConcertDec. 15 at 4 p.m.Jackson Auditorium

Winter BaccalaureateDec. 21 at 10:30 a.m.Chapel of the Abiding Presence

Winter CommencementDec. 21 at 3 p.m.Jackson Auditorium

For a complete list of alumni and friends events, visit www.tlu.edu/alumni.

Non-profitOrganizationu.s. postage

PAIDsan Antonio, TXpermit No. 428

TEXAS LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY1000 West Court Street ◆ Seguin, Texas 78155-5978