The Newsletter for A&M System Employees and Retirees
June 2006
The Newsletter for A&M System Employees and Retirees
June 2006
Russell
Lowery-Hart, associate professor of speech communication and chair of
the committee that oversees the program, reads Bronson’s book.
(Canyon)—When Monty Trimble won the Readership WT Essay Contest, it was additional proof that the common-readership program at West Texas A&M University is working even better than expected.
Dubbed Readership WT, the program is designed for freshmen; Trimble is a junior applied arts and sciences major.
Readership WT was established in the summer of 2005 to give freshmen a shared experience as they transition to the university environment, but staff, faculty and students of every classification took time to read the book. All students are eligible to participate in the essay contest, which has a $250 first-place prize.
“The whole campus became involved in the program, not just the freshmen” said Russell Lowery-Hart, chairman of the university’s Quality Enhancement Plan Committee, which spearheads the effort.
The
$3.2 million Gordon Center was opened in 2002.
Opened in 2002 under the direction of Tarleton State University, the W.K. Gordon Center for Industrial History of Texas has brought a Texas ghost town back to life.
Thurber, about 30 minutes from Tarleton’s campus in Stephenville, was a booming center of industry with a population of roughly 10,000 in 1918, including immigrants from Italy, Poland, Mexico, England and Ireland. By the late 1930s, the town was virtually abandoned.
To chronicle that history, the $3.2 million facility was built in a joint venture between Tarleton, the Tarleton State University Foundation, the Texas Department of Transportation, Erath County, and Mrs. W.K. Gordon, Jr., of Fort Worth.
It serves as a research facility and state-of-the art museum located on four acres along Interstate 20 between Fort Worth and Abilene. It is currently the state’s only such institution focusing on the general industrial history of Texas and the Southwest.
T. Lindsay Baker, an accomplished historian and author, serves as director of the center and holds Tarleton’s first endowed chair, funded by a private gift from Mrs. Gordon.
“The Gordon Center presents a wonderful opportunity for members of the general public and for scholars to learn more about the industrial heritage of Thurber and the state of Texas,” Baker said. “The focus of our permanent exhibits is the development of the coal, brick and petroleum industries in the Thurber area. Our special collections library and research area permit detailed examinations of life in Thurber and in other areas of industrial development in Texas and the Southwest.”
Student
affairs professionals and student leaders gather at A&M-Corpus Christi
American
Democracy Project raises awareness of social issues at A&M-Corpus
Christi
Delip
Patel: Living life to the utmost