Smiths donate $10.5 million for building
Entrepreneurs Hall to house classrooms in Ryffel Center

By Erin Munger
staff reporter

It could be said that the kickoff for TCU’s Family Weekend started Thursday with the announcement that a family donated $10.5 million to TCU, the largest non-alumni gift in TCU’s history, according to the Office of Communications.

Stephen R. and Sarah Smith made the donation for the construction of a building to house the M.J. Neeley School of Business’ James A. Ryffel Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The announcement followed a luncheon comprised of the Smiths, TCU’s administration, a few board members and a few International Board of Visitors members.

Erin Munger/STAFF REPORTER Stephen and Sarah Smith announce Thursday their $10.5 million donation for the construction of a building to house the M.J. Neeley School of Business’ James A. Ryffel Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.

The scheduled groundbreaking for the 40,000-square foot building, named the Sarah and Steve Smith Entrepreneurs Hall, is late May or early June, David Minor, director of the Ryffel Center, said.

The location of the building is undecided, but a possible location is the Neeley School parking lot, Minor said.

The Smiths both expressed their dedication to entrepreneurship as well as education. After becoming increasingly involved with TCU, Sarah Smith said it was obvious the donation needed to be made.

“I truly believe (our involvement in the program) is a calling, not an option,” she said.

Sarah and Steve have two children at TCU, Rayner and Rachel. They also sit on the Parent’s Council.

“They have made a real difference to TCU and to the council,” Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs, said.

Mills said Sarah Smith approached him after attending her first Parent’s Council meeting and asked what TCU was doing to improve entrepreneurship at TCU.

Minor said Sarah Smith was the one who suggested expansion in this field of study.

Steve Smith said his wife brought him into the picture as well.

“Sarah was so involved when the children came to TCU, that it just drew me in,” Steve Smith said. “As I was introduced to Chancellor (Michael) Ferrari and everyone, I have come to know and see their passion, I knew I wanted to be involved.”

The couple said they want a place that will teach students the life, hardships and rewards of entrepreneurship.

Minor said the building will showcase the works of entrepreneurs.

“When you enter the building you will be greeted with pictures, mementos and possibly interactive multimedia presentations recognizing the Smiths and other successful entrepreneurs,” Minor said.

He said the building will be complete with classrooms and team meeting rooms for students, labs and a meeting and conference center that will house external programs, such as the Summer Business Camp for high school juniors and seniors. The classrooms, labs and conference rooms will be set up to resemble the work areas of actual business firms, Minor said.

Robert Lusch, dean of the Neeley School of Business, defined the essence of entrepreneurship as creating and giving to society.

“(Entrepreneurs) put it out and give it to society, not knowing if society will accept it,” Lusch said. “Giving additional gifts by taking acquired wealth and sharing it with society is how the Smiths are set apart.”

Steve Smith graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and began his climb in the business world. He started in El Paso, his hometown, where he was founder and president of Ameritex Coatings Corporation and later vice president of marketing for Chemrex Coatings Corporation.

In the mid-1980s, Steve Smith began to pursue the area of telecommunications with Coastal Telephone, a regional long distance company, and Netcom Information Systems, a voice mail company.

These experiences paved the way for his relationship with Excel Communications, a member of the global telecommunications industry. He joined Excel’s founder, Kenny Troutt in 1989, to develop the company’s network marketing system.

Currently, Steve Smith is the executive vice president of marketing emeritus for Excel. This is in addition to owning and presiding over his own companies, including SRS Management, LLC; SRS Properties, LLC and other property and investment companies, based in Austin.

Steve Smith gives much of the credit for his success to his wife, Sarah, who he said helped him throughout his career.

Sarah Smith, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in child studies from Stephens College, Columbia, Mo., said her passion is the furthering of education. She said she sees this project at TCU as an opportunity to do so.

“If I could do anything to share what my journey has been like with Steve, it would be this program,” she said.

Ferrari said the new building is something that will raise the significance of the Neeley School nationally.
“The Sarah and Steve Smith Entrepreneurs Hall exemplifies the spirit and passion that TCU is striving for,” Ferrari said.

He said the new building fits with the ideas set forth by the Commission on the Future of TCU.

Erin Munger
erebm@netscape.com

Family Weekend kicks off today
More members join to help PC prepare ‘TCU Frog Challenge 2000’

By Kristina Iodice
staff reporter

Parents were already beginning to arrive Thursday for Family Weekend. Peter Eidenberg, a sophomore business major, spent time with his parents, who flew in from Oregon, before Programming Council activities begin today.

“They’re making a little vacation out of it,” he said. “They want to experience what I live through nine months out of the year.”

Sara Komenda, Family Weekend Committee chairwoman, said despite the rescheduled events more people are interested in this weekend’s activities than last year’s. Programming Council organized Family Weekend around the theme ‘TCU Frog Challenge 2000,’ with events scheduled today through Sunday.

hen the football team’s game time changed to 11:05 a.m. from 6:05 p.m., the Chancellor’s Reception was canceled and the Pre-Game Party became a Post-Game Party.

“We have had a few phone calls with questions about the rescheduling,” Komenda said. “And we still have ticket registrations coming in.”

The change from Parent’s Weekend to Family Weekend a few years ago attracted more people, she said.
“We get a lot more extended family members who are interested and want to come,” said Komenda.

The party will be at the same time as scheduled, Komenda said. ‘Kenny and the Casuals’ will again be playing during the party. This year Soda Springs, who catered for Howdy Week, will provide food.

Carrie Calabrese, sub-chairwoman of the Post-Game Party, said the athletic department has been very supportive of Family Weekend.

“They paid to send out all the new schedule sheets,” she said.

David Dunai/CO-PHOTO EDITOR Robert Evans, a sophomore philosophy and psychology major; Aaron Price, a sophomore marketing major; and Brenna Shackelford, a sophomore neuroscience major, prepare banners to welcome people to TCU for Family Weekend.

Komenda said there has been a lot of support for Family Weekend from people on campus and from PC. Usually people don’t volunteer for the committee, but this year 30 members signed up, she said.

“I have one of the largest committees in the past few years,” Komenda said. “We get to be really creative, coming up with new ideas of how to keep it interesting.”

The committee begins planning for Family Weekend about two weeks after the spring semester begins, Komenda said. They meet once a week and take care of all the decorations, centerpieces, giveaways and all the other details involved with a large event. Each member of the committee can contribute in any area they choose, Calabrese said.

“We’ve put so many hours in this I can’t even comprehend it,” she said.

Everyone in PC has been helping with the event, including the little things like picking up supplies, Komenda said.

Kristina Iodice
k.k.iodice@student.tcu.edu

Graduate programs become a priority
Increased funding would help visibility

skiff staff

When Chancellor Michael Ferrari presents the final report of the Commission on the Future of TCU Tuesday, graduate education may be one step closer to becoming a priority at TCU.

According to the Graduate Education Task Force, strengthening existing programs and adding new programs are two of the greatest priorities for graduate education.

“Graduate education has somewhere slipped through the cracks,” said Bonnie Melhart, associate dean of the College of Science and Engineering. “It’s not that it’s unimportant, but it hasn’t been a priority.”

The number of graduate students is less than 10 percent at TCU, Melhart said, which is a small number compared to most universities who have about 20 to 30 percent.

“If we could cross that 20 percent threshold, we could do a lot better comparatively,” she said.

Strengthening existing programs

Many times, TCU is clobbered by other universities in graduate studies because TCU doesn’t award comparable financial aid to students, Melhart said.

When other schools like Texas Tech University and Baylor University offer more money to applicants, TCU is often crossed off as an option because of its lack of funds, she said.

Financial aid for graduate students basically comes in the form of either a stipend or tuition award, Melhart said.

Stipends, which are checks given to students in exchange for them working within the department, are usually awarded as either fellowships or assistantships. Although TCU awards stipends now, other schools offer some that pay a lot more than this university can offer, she said.

Bill Ryan, chairman of communication sciences and disorders, said his department has been given good financial aid. This department, however, is also one of the stronger ones on campus, he said.

Out of 120 to 150 applicants, the department of communication sciences and disorders only accepts about 12 students each year into their two-year master’s degree program, Ryan said. Currently, there are 23 students in the graduate program, he said.

“We do OK with financial aid, but if we are going to continue to improve the quality of our programs, we will have to provide students with (more) financial aid,” he said.

Ryan said the best way to strengthen programs through financial aid is for TCU to find a way to objectively evaluate each program and funnel the funds toward the already strong and promising programs at the university.

Looking at each department’s graduation rates, job placement of students, test performance levels and contributions to society are some major ways of evaluating each program, Ryan said.

“There are ways of having legitimate comparisons, and the marketplace tends to reinforce the good programs,” he said. Employers from different marketplaces can most times tell which graduate programs are strong and competitive, he said.

Deciding which programs should stay and which ones should be dropped, however, is a question that must be looked at with a copy of the budget in one hand and a blueprint for the future of the university in another, said Alan Shepard, faculty facilitator for the Graduate Education Task Force.

When the Graduate Education Task Force was put together last year, members of the task force were not equipped with such tools, he said. As of now, this sort of evaluation has not been proposed.

Creating new graduate programs

As the Graduate Education Task Force states, one major priority for the future of graduate education must also be to add a small number of new graduate degree programs.

According to the task force, many calls for new programs have been made. Some of these programs include, at the doctoral level, programs in education and musical arts.

At the master’s level, calls for programs in biochemistry, clinical psychology, Spanish and Latin American studies, social studies, health-care finance/management, engineering and social work have also been made.

“We need to market for new programs, but we do not want new programs opened on the back of existing ones,” Shepard said.

Not taking funds from existing programs would ensure they would not suffer at the hands of creating new programs, he said. But this would again call for more funds, he said.

“We want good graduate programs that we can all be proud of, but it’s not cheap to do that,” he said.

There are a few ways for TCU to come up with the funds for new and existing graduate programs, said Larry Lauer, executive director for the Commission on the Future of TCU.

Reallocating funds to the budget for graduate studies, increasing tuition and getting money from fees and gifts could help TCU raise the money to do this, he said.

Fall Recruitment to be studied by committee
Group to look at impact on academics

By Angie Chang
staff reporter

The Undergraduate Experience Task Force has decided to form a short-term committee this fall to look into the impact of fall Recruitment on students and academics.

The committee will be made up of seven to eight people chosen among faculty, staff and students. The committee will make up the criteria that will be addressed this spring, said Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs.

“This committee will look at the impact of fraternities and sororities along with other organizations as well,” he said. “I think in theory, anything that you do that takes time away from academics can be detrimental.”

Mills, who facilitated the Undergraduate Experience Task Force, said the decision to look into the impact of activities on academics stemmed in part from recommendations made by the Student Relations Committee of the Faculty Senate last spring.

Andrew Fort, professor of religion, said recommendations have been made to examine effects of Greek life in the past. Fort said he participated in an ad hoc commitee in 1989 that was formed to research the effects of fall Recruitment. The committee had campus-wide involvement and was chaired by Mills, he said.

“We made a unanimous recommendation that the rush system be changed and Recruitment be delayed,” Fort said. “(We recommended Recruitment) not be the first experience students have and the Greek presentation not come before academics.”

Mills said most of the recommendations of the 1989 committee were adopted, such as ending the pledge education program before Thanksgiving and that written recommendations for pledge candidates not be used to eliminate potential members. Some recommendations were not adopted because a consensus was not reached between the committee and administration at the time, Mills said.

Tom Sullivan, director of fraternity and sorority affairs, said deferred Recruitment should happen if a problem exists in the Greek community.

“There’s no real assessment on how Recruitment impacts TCU students,” Sullivan said. “There are other groups on campus that take just as much time.”

Mills said Recruitment is an emotional and sensitive issue with groups of people wanting different things.

“Panhellenic and (Interfraternity Council) would like to keep (fall Recruitment), and we don’t hear much from alums to change it,” Mills said. “But faculty have said they would like it changed.”

Nowell Donovan, chairman of the Faculty Senate, said the Student Relations committee report recommended Recruitment activities occur between academic semesters and terms when no classes or examinations are scheduled, or be held during the period between the end of final examinations in the fall semester and first scheduled classes of the spring semester.

The recommendation passed through the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate and then to university administration, Donovan said.

Angie Chang
a_o_chang@yahoo.com

Students make questions heard
Constituency Day allows students to voice concerns

By Kristina Iodice
staff reporter

It isn’t every day students can have an informal question-and-answer session with the vice chancellor for student affairs.

Foster Hall residents were given such a chance Wednesday night when Don Mills arrived to listen to student’s concerns about issues ranging from parking to dining services as part of a campus-wide Constituency Day organized by the House of Student Representatives.

Wade Pantel, a junior e-business major, said if more students could voice their opinions in one-on-one sessions with the administration, they might take more action to get things done.

“I never knew about (Constituency Day) in the past,” Pantel said. “It gives me reassurance things are being done.”

In the past, Constituency Day was held Saturdays as determined by representatives in each hall, said Sara Donaldson, vice president of House. Students were offered free pizza and the option to write down concerns about their halls, she said.

This year Constituency Day was from 7 to 9 p.m. for all students and a university survey was added to any hall-specific survey. Members of the House executive board and administration and faculty members attended the sessions in each residence hall.

Jarvis Hall had 93 residents out of 123 attend Constituency Day and fill out the survey Wednesday night, said Jessica Mckenzie, a freshman vocal performance theater major and hall representative.

Melissa Sky-Eagle, a senior piano performance major, said she did not expect any immediate changes to come from House because they would run into too much red tape to implement any of the ideas.

“I hope the administration listens to what the students have to say,” she said.

Charles Abbott, a sophomore international business, environmental science and vocal performance major, represents Foster Hall in House and was in charge of Constituency Day in the hall. He said 131 out of 190 residents filled out surveys,which provided House with more insight into residents’ concerns.

“We had a lot of people come with a lot of great ideas,” Abbott said. “Knowing how they feel on certain subjects helps us to be educated on what residents want.”

Mills said possible solutions to the parking problem are a parking garage and underground lot, but 100 extra spaces would cost $1 million and raise parking fees. He said he hoped by next fall to make the parking problem better.

Kaylan Minor, chairwoman of the Commuter Concerns Committee, said commuter turnout was poor, but those who did stop by mostly discussed parking and food. The committee will have a table for commuters and will pass out surveys in the Student Center in the next two weeks to make sure they have a chance to voice their concerns.

Tammy Ibach, a junior social work and religion major, attended Constituency Day in the Tom Brown/Pete Wright Residential Community because she doesn’t like the decreased use of the word “Christian” in reference to TCU.

“If people don’t come to Constituency Days, they don’t serve a purpose,” Ibach said.

Food services were a major concern for students in Milton Daniel Hall. Todd Clower, a freshman music major and Milton Daniel representative, said residents discussed food prices, quality and convenience.

esidents also complained about Froggie-Five-O not picking up male students, he said. Steven Kintigh, director of recreational sports, answered residents’ questions about the Rickel Building.

Kristina Iodice
k.k.iodice@student.tcu.edu

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