By Reagan Duplisea staff reporter The $400,000 allocated for additional marketing by the TCU Board of Trustees for next year will be applied to needs indicated by the Commission on the Future of TCU, said Larry Lauer, vice chancellor for marketing and communication. The commission is comprised of 17 task forces which are focusing on various aspects of the university in an effort to prepare for the future and raise the reputation of TCU. Lauer, director of the commission, said he has some hunches where the money will go, but he will have to wait until the task forces give him their final reports in June before he knows for sure. "Some will be used to enhance communication with future students," Lauer said. "And some will be used for communication internally, so more people inside would be telling our story outside." Kelli Horst, director of communications, said she thinks there will be more focus on targeting current students. "There are 7,000 (students) going into the Fort Worth community every day," Horst said. Lauer said his budget is about $250,000, but much of that is divided to enhance different areas that market, like admissions. "Most of what I have is not spent on athletics," Lauer said. "But one of the things I've discovered about athletic marketing is that it's the most cost-effective way for you to have your name known around the country." Lauer said the majority of his current budget goes toward publications and materials. Costs for publications range from about $5,000 for a department brochure to about $70,000 for The TCU Magazine, according to University Publications. But costs vary with each publication depending on things such as color, number of pages and the cover. Horst said the most current marketing effort and publication has been the creation of TCU NewsWatch this semester. The quarterly publication is comprised of the new programs and events and was launched to help TCU compete with other universities. Horst said her office is looking into setting up an e-mail database so updates could be sent to those interested between publications of the quarterly TCU NewsWatch.
Building a reputation Horst said increasing TCU's reputation has many advantages. "We're not trying to increase our reputation for ego's sake," Horst said. "The higher the reputation, the higher the attraction of potential faculty and administrators." A better reputation also helps with fund raising because more people want to be associated with an institution with a higher reputation, and it increases pride among alumni, Horst said. Horst said strong marketing can hasten opportunities for people to invest in TCU, but the university has to prove itself worthy. "We bring buyers to the table, but the product has to be fundamentally sound," Horst said. "I don't think we have any faulty products." Lauer said it is necessary to use funds and other resources to help create a good reputation instead of just depending on quality of the university. "'If you build it, they will come' doesn't work that way any more," Lauer said. Even Harvard University has had to market its MBA program, he said.
Portraying an image Dee Dodson, director of development communication, said in marketing it is important that the university speaks in a clear voice and communicates a consistent message. But the university is striving for a balance between a unified message and portraying itself as a place of academic discourse, Dodson said. "I don't think marketing means avoiding things or just trying to paint a rosy picture," Dodson said. "We don't want to silence people." Lauer said the image TCU is trying to market is of a major university that is still accessible. "I think we see ourselves as a major teaching and researching institution with the personal atmosphere of a smaller college," Lauer said. Lauer said one of the biggest challenges they face is marketing the diversity of TCU, especially in admissions materials. "The university is concentrating on building a more diverse community, and then we'll market that we have it," Lauer said. "We don't want to make it look more diverse than it is, but we want to make the invitation open."
Getting out the word Other marketing initiatives are focusing on the North Texas community and alumni for both moral and financial support. "Most of our energies go to our regional presence," Lauer said. "But we're expanding those efforts." According to TCU NewsWatch, TCU put five full-page advertisements in Texas Monthly this year. The ads profile a student or new program and answer, "What exactly is a Horned Frog?" "In November, we wanted to portray a typical TCU freshman because that is when perspective students and their parents are looking for a college," Horst said. Horst said SkiffTV and the new electronic business degree have also been featured in the Texas Monthly ads. Lauer said marketing isn't just about advertisements. "Marketing is a way of thinking, not necessarily a way of commercializing," Lauer said. Lauer said the money budgeted may seem like a lot of money to spend on marketing, but it is low compared to businesses and corporations. "Higher education typically doesn't get to spend a lot compared to other institutions," Lauer said. "We have to be able to strategically spend the money we get."
Reagan Duplisea
By Kasey Feldman staff reporter Salsa. Samba. Meringue. Tango. Each is a part of a uniquely distinct form of music. "Latin American music is unique because it has different rhythms from American music," said Germán Gutiérrez, director of TCU's Center for Latin American music. Gutiérrez said the Latin American Music Festival, held today, Friday and Saturday, is an attempt to display the music of Latin America in a way that celebrates those differences. Kenneth Raessler, the music department director, said the festival will focus mainly on classical and folk music, but there will also be a dance party with popular Latin dances. The TCU Symphony Orchestra and other TCU musical groups, as well as visiting musicians from Mexico and South America, will perform. Arturo Rodriguez, a senior music theory/composition major, will be presenting his original composition, "Mosaico Mexicano," for the orchestra. Five new pieces will be premiering at the festival, including "Concerto for Sax and String: An Homage to Paul Hindemith," by Edgar Valcárcel, a Peruvian composer. Valcárcel, a 67-year-old pianist, has been composing for 60 years and teaching at Ricardo Palma University in Lima for 30 years. He said music is his first love but he enjoys teaching as well. "I love music," he said. "It expresses people's feelings in a beautiful way ... teaching in my country is the only way to survive as a musician, but I love to teach. It is part of my life. It is part of the business." Hindemith was a German composer who lived in the United States during the 1940s. Valcárcel said he wrote a homage to Hindemith as part of his series of homages to composers of different nationalities. "I was trying to express my recognition of his quality of composition," Valcárcel said. "The composition uses a similar style, similar chords and similar rhythms to his works." The concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. tonight and Friday and at 2 p.m. Saturday in Ed Landreth Auditorium.
Kasey Feldman
Editor's note: This is the twelfth in a series of articles profiling the 17 task forces that make up the Commission on the Future of TCU. By Courtney Roach staff reporter The Distinctive Programs Task Force has elected to discuss its topics in a distinctive manner: Rather than discuss its issues as a group, the task force delegated them to four subcommittees. The issues the subcommittees will address are: identifying core-curriculum and premajor opportunities as distinctive programs, identifying new program potentials, identifying existing programs with potential for distinction and identifying the potential for academic program-related partnerships and alliances. Diane Hawley, interim director of the Harris College of Nursing and a member of the task force, said the committees will bring their individual findings to the committee as a whole. "All four committees are presenting to the large task force, and from there, we will write our recommendation that will be submitted to the TCU Board of Trustees," Hawley said. The task force is one of 17 on the Commission on the Future of TCU, which was established by Chancellor Michael Ferrari to determine how the university can move to the next level of academic distinction. Sharon Reynolds, a professor of education and a member of the core-curriculum subcommittee, said she is looking to revise the University Curriculum Requirement, which all students are required to complete before they graduate. "Students spend a lot of time in the core, so the core itself should be a distinctive program," Reynolds said. "Like a graduate program, we think the UCRs should be treated with as much care." Reynolds said the subcommittee wants an interdisciplinary experience where students could intertwine UCR classes but have not reached a decision as how to change the current requirements. Members want to find out what kinds of experiences students need to expand their minds and then create classes based upon that, she said. "We are proposing a radical revision of all the UCRs," Reynolds said. "We're suggesting we go to a core where all students experience these certain things before they graduate." Will Powers, chairman of the speech communication department, said the new programs subcommittee is conducting a survey of faculty and staff to determine what new academic or non-academic ideas might bring TCU to a new level. "There (was) a wealth of new ideas, and we received 150 total responses from faculty and staff," Powers said. Powers said the subcommittee's concern was that every idea be taken into consideration and passed on to the appropriate committee. "We received 96 new academic programs ideas and 54 non-academic program ideas," he said. "The numbers show how challenging a task it is." Bob Garwell, a professor of music, said the existing programs subcommittee has been examining distinctive programs that are already in use at TCU. He said they are looking at ways to bring the programs to a higher level of distinction. "We've looked virtually in every college and had reports from various deans and project directors," Garwell said. The subcommittee discussed the results of the inquiries into the existing programs Wednesday, Garwell said. The results of the meeting will be announced today. The fourth subcommittee, program-related partnerships, is gathering information on reaching out to the community and bringing in business professionals. Members have discussed targeting large companies to recruit their executives for higher training. Subcommittee members have recognized a need to survey the community so TCU might be able to serve it better, according to the task force meeting minutes.
Courtney Roach
By Natascha Terc staff reporter From border patrol and animal protection to customs and crime prevention, students majoring in criminal justice have many options when it comes to deciding a career path, said Connie Villela, a TCU crime prevention sergeant. Bill Stowe, associate director of career services at TCU, said many students majoring in criminal justice wind up in other fields. Some criminal justice majors plan to attend law school, he said. "A number of students see criminal justice as a pre-law curriculum, but I'm not sure it's the best way to look at it," he said. Stowe encourages students to realize their major does not lock them into that field. "With most majors, students can do anything short of brain surgery," Stowe said. "The question is identifying what students want to do, and then we can help them figure out how to get there." Curran Skinner, a junior criminal justice major, said she enjoys the excitement and constant change of the field. "As soon as (criminal justice) professors started giving me information, I was convinced," Skinner said. "There's stuff all over the place. Students just have to look for it." Skinner said although she is a criminal justice major, she has no desire to become a police officer. "A lot of people think that's what you want to do to have anything to do with this field," she said. "It's just not true." TCU Assistant Police Chief JC Williams said TCU criminal justice majors have a wide range of job options, and they do not necessarily include police forces. Law enforcement offers competitive pay in numerous careers such as neighborhood policing, youth mentoring in the D.A.R.E. program and safety awareness promotion on college campuses, Williams said. Oftentimes, social workers experience case overload and burnout, but there are areas in law enforcement that are exciting as well as satisfying to those who want to make a difference in people's lives, he said. TCU Police Chief Steven McGee, who earned his law degree after becoming a commissioned officer, said having a degree helps potential officers and increases their salary. "A college degree does not necessarily help promotional abilities in the police department," McGee said. "But test-taking skills obtained in college can give officers the upper hand when taking a promotional exam." A college degree can contribute to salary increases, McGee said. The Fort Worth Police Department adds $120 to college grads per month on top of the $3,016 starting salary. The city of Fort Worth does not require a degree to become a commissioned officer, but other cities in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, such as Arlington, do. Villela said students interested in criminal justice careers need to do their homework. "Students have to research careers in law enforcement, especially in governmental agencies and police forces, because there are so many opportunities," Villela said. "There are careers in border patrol, animal protection, security protection, customs and crime prevention to name a few." Although criminal justice majors have options other than police careers, law enforcement does appeal to those in similar fields. Villela said she was always interested in social work but turned to law enforcement to support her family. "I was a single parent with no child support who came out of an abusive marriage," Villela said. "I felt (social work) was honest, hard work, and I wasn't ashamed of that." Knowing she couldn't make it financially if she stayed in social work, Villela said she still wanted to help people. "In law enforcement, there are so many areas in which you are helping people," Villela said.
Natascha Terc |
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