The Clark Society’s Giving Spirit

Alexis Peck’s plans for her TCU student experience took a drastic turn in the months before move-in day. Peck, now a senior economics and political science major from Scottsdale, Arizona, wanted to play for the TCU Beach Volleyball team. A varsity team player in high school, she was in the running for a walk-on spot, the only positions available during her recruitment.

Then came a devastating update.

“A couple of weeks before I was going to come to TCU, they told me that there wasn’t a spot anymore for me on the team,” she said. “I wasn’t not going to go to TCU at that rate, and so I decided to stick with it.”

Peck took a leap of faith and never looked back. This year she is a recipient of a prestigious Clark Society Endowed Scholarship, which provides financial support and encouragement that her academic achievements, as well as her leadership and service to the campus and local community, are valued.

Alexis Peck is president of TCU’s Economics Club.

She asked for a nomination from Ronald Pitcock, the Wassenich Family Dean of the John V. Roach Honors College, who in his recommendation marveled at Peck’s involvement on and off campus.

“Alexis works or has worked multiple jobs around campus (including the TCU Post Office) and in Fort Worth (at a local law firm),” Pitcock wrote. “Alexis never complains. She puts her nose to the grindstone, works hard and achieves excellence over and over. She is the role model students need, the role model who demonstrates the value of hard work, dedication and positivity.”

Ironically, Peck was not accepted into the Honors College when she first applied, but once again she summoned resilience. “Getting a scholarship like this just shows that it is all worth it, and it proves to me that I can achieve a lot of things that I set my mind to.”

As president of the Economics Club, an AddRan Ambassador, a recruitment counselor serving new initiates in the Panhellenic community and the lead student assistant for Honors, Peck created her own trajectory.

“My time at TCU has given me experiences I never could have dreamed of. … No matter what obstacles await me, I will forever be grateful for TCU and know that I will persevere,” Peck told the selection committee.

Giving Back

The Clark Society, named after TCU’s founders Addison and Randolph Clark, was established by University Advancement in 1977 to honor supporters who gave at least $1,000 to the university every year.

“We created the Clark Society to show appreciation for the generosity of our leadership-level donors. All are connected by their love of TCU, and they inspire each other to even greater generosity.”
Don Whelan

“We created the Clark Society to show appreciation for the generosity of our leadership-level donors,” said Don Whelan, vice chancellor for university advancement. “All are connected by their love of TCU, and they inspire each other to even greater generosity.”

Now the society is also a champion for investing in the TCU student experience by awarding funds to students and faculty for extraordinary scholarship, leadership and service to the campus and local community.

The Clark Society’s giving levels range from an annual minimum gift of $1,000 to lifetime contributions stacking up into the millions. Anyone can join, and all gifts to TCU, not just those earmarked for scholarships, qualify individuals and families for Clark membership. Within the Clark Society is the Junior Clark Society, which includes current undergraduate students and recent alumni — people 10 years or fewer past graduation.

A board of 36 society members steers the direction of the group.

“One thing that’s neat about the Clark board, it’s not just TCU alumni,” current chair Luis Rodriguez ’92 said. “We have board members who are parents of TCU students, past parents of TCU students and board members who are from Fort Worth that just love the Horned Frogs.”

Julie Whitt, associate vice chancellor for donor relations, said the board is an especially helpful group of TCU advocates. “They provide tremendous feedback and thoughtful ideas.”

Clark Scholars

The first Clark Society scholarship was awarded to Jeff McCracken ’01 (BS ’05) in 1999 for $1,500.

In 2003, the board established an annual Clark Society Scholarship, complete with award criteria and a nomination process. This action coincided with the beginning of Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr.’s tenure as TCU’s 10th chancellor.

Boschini and his wife, Megan, chose to join the Clark Society early in his TCU tenure, he said. “We did so for one simple reason: The Clark Society is a wonderful vehicle for deserving students to be able to afford and obtain a TCU degree. … We also love how they highlight the recipients and tell all the members a little bit about them. It makes all of us feel a bit closer to the student experience.”

In 2008, the Clark Society Scholarship was endowed at $25,000; the initial seed fund was expected to grow thanks to continued gifts and interest gains over time. In 2016, the Clark board initiated a campaign to raise $1 million for this purpose, and by 2018, that goal was achieved, making it one of the largest scholarships established by a TCU organization.

In the scholarship’s history since its endowment, there have been 120 scholars awarded a total of $687,316.

Each year faculty and staff nominate rising seniors who display academic excellence, exceptional leadership and community involvement.

The Clark Society’s scholarship committee analyzes several hundred pages of applications each year, said committee co-chair Emma Baker ’82 (MEd ’86). For the 2024-25 application cycle, there were 36 applicants.

“We’re looking for their involvement with the university, their leadership within that involvement, the contributions that they make to the university and the strength of their activities,” Baker said. “It’s extraordinarily competitive, and it blows my mind. These students are amazing.”

It’s up to the committee to select how many scholars there will be, but even that decision is hard to determine.

“It’s excruciating,” Baker said. “These students are all working and contributing a huge amount.”

Choosing recipients is a multistage process requiring individual review and scoring, conference call deliberations and the final selection.

“When you start to look at the amount of hours that go into creating a Clark Scholar, you’re running into a pretty substantial amount of time,” Rodriguez said. “The awesome thing about that is we’re getting to look very deeply into what some of our students are contributing to the greater TCU and Fort Worth communities, and it’s just remarkable.”

For the 2024-25 academic year, the board selected 11 Clark Scholars; nine received monetary awards totaling $87,827.

This cohort of scholars consists of a founder and CEO of a business, student organization leaders, peer mentors, resident assistants, the president of the Student Government Association, a Chancellor’s Leadership Program fellow and the president of the BNSF Neeley Leadership Program.

Heidi Conrad, an instructor of chemistry and biochemistry, nominated current Clark Scholar Audrey Dolt, a senior biology major from Richardson, Texas. Conrad praised Dolt’s support of students with learning differences. Dolt has dysgraphia, a neurological disorder affecting her ability to write, and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system.

“She doesn’t shy away from this,” Conrad wrote in her nomination. “She openly shares and helps others find ways to work within their abilities. I have referred multiple students to her for advice on how to handle the difficult coursework at TCU, and they’ve been grateful for her guidance.”

Lance Bettencourt, academic director of the BNSF Neeley Leadership Program and professor of professional practice in the Neeley School of Business, nominated Lawson Ewing, a marketing major from Collierville, Tennessee.

“He is not done growing,” Bettencourt told the committee. “He is very self-aware of both his leadership strengths and weaknesses and is hungry for feedback on ways to improve.”

Joe Laterza called his nomination a confidence boost.

Virginia Traweek, assistant professor of finance in the Neeley School of Business, nominated Joe Laterza, a senior from Barrington, Illinois, who is studying marketing.

Laterza is the founder and president of the TCU Scholastic Bowl Club, a wide receiver on the TCU football team and a guest host for the Frogs Today broadcast.

“The overarching word that I use for my experience here at TCU is community,” Laterza said.

In nominating Laterza, Traweek said: “His greatest leadership demonstration, in my opinion, is not his athletics or all of his community service. … Joe always participates in class, asks good questions and cares about the subject and the material. He helps the other students gain a better understanding of the material because he’s consistently transforming the lecture into a wider discussion.”

Laterza said the professor’s nomination boosted his self-confidence. “She’s had a great impact on me and was an amazing teacher,” he said. “To know that she felt something similar toward me was really meaningful, and it speaks to the fact that here at TCU it’s easy to create bonds with your professors because of the small class sizes.”

It Takes a Village

The Clark Society Endowed Faculty Fund launched in 2020 to recognize the research and creative activities of faculty who excel as teachers and scholars and prioritize engagement with students.

The recipient for this academic year is Steve Weis, professor and department chair of engineering. For the past year, Weis and his students have been working to help a little girl born with cerebral palsy who experiences difficulties drinking from a cup.

“I’m not a medical person,” Weis said, “so I’m not capable of doing that kind of work, but as far as creating a cup, straw or a brace for an arm or a support for an arm, yeah, we can do that.”

“I am going to start paying my volunteer students,” Weis, who has been at TCU since 1992 and is a member of the Clark Society, said about receiving $4,412 in funding — the largest gift in the fund’s young history. “All the work that has been done thus far has been done by students on their own time, so if I can pay them as research assistants, that’s a lot better.”

Steve Weis is this year’s Endowed Faculty Fund recipient.

Kristen Queen ’19 EdD, director of the Academic Resource Center in the College of Fine Arts, serves as the society’s faculty representative. “One of the things that we talk a lot about is, from a faculty perspective, TCU’s teacher-scholar model and the order of those words is very important to us,” she said. “I love that [the fund] opens up and emphasizes the important relationship between student and faculty member.”

The Clark Society’s latest initiative is Loyal Purple, which recognizes supporters who contribute each year to TCU, regardless of amount. Loyal Purple “focuses on fostering inclusivity in philanthropy,” said Aracely DeRose, director of donor stewardship. “We recognize the diverse giving capacities within our community and are creating opportunities for everyone to participate meaningfully. This approach acknowledges that all contributions, regardless of size, are valuable and impactful in advancing our mission.”

Houstonian Joy Randall had no connection to TCU before her two sons became Horned Frogs. She currently serves on the Clark Society board as the parent representative.

“I have learned to appreciate the long-term as well as intermediate goals of TCU for their student body,” Randall said. “I have always been a fan of higher education and academia, and it has been enjoyable to learn more about TCU’s support of that.”

Whitt said the goal of the society is to ensure supporters are recognized not just for their gifts, but more importantly, for their impact on students and on the university’s mission. “At the end of the day, we want more people to understand why we’re recognizing them through this society,” she said. “The gifts really are the life of the university and what propels us forward.”

Peck said she plans to stay connected to TCU after graduation because of the Clark Society’s investment in her educational journey. One day she plans to be a member, she said. “If they gave back to me, I want to give back.”