Second, third, fourth and sixth rocks from the sun

On the only planet known to support human life — and on the only campus known to support Horned Frogs — Green Honors Professor Ron Greeley told Honors Week audiences in April what’s going on beyond Earth — and why we should be concerned.

“Consider Venus: Here’s a planet that is in the same part of the solar system as Earth, same size and mass, and yet you have a planet covered with clouds that are composed of droplets of sulfuric acid,” said the Arizona State geology professor, presently involved in the Galileo Jupiter Mission, the Mars Pathfinder Lander and the upcoming Mars Surveyor ’98 Lander. “And on Mars, there is much evidence that it once flowed with water. What happened in the geological evolution of Venus and Mars and Earth, that Venus went this way, Mars went that way and Earth went this way? Is there something we need to know?”

Greeley further pointed out that the atmosphere of Venus is composed mostly of carbon dioxide, and Earth’s could have been, too. “If we were to extract all that carbon dioxide out of our limestone,” he said, “we would be a Venus. The term ‘greenhouse effect’ is being used on Earth right now but was actually coined years ago to describe what happened on Venus.”

Greeley also related the common ground between the spacecraft Galileo (currently near Jupiter) and the astronomer Galileo.

“What he saw through his primitive telescope, tiny dots of light orbiting around Jupiter, we now see from the spacecraft Galileo, bizarre worlds of rock and ice and brimstone,” Greeley said, adding that the four moons of Jupiter — Io, Callisto, Ganymede and Europa — are completely different geologically, with Europa’s possibility of supporting life in the past or future making it the “gem” of the solar system. “Galileo the man could not have known the fantastic world the moons he discovered turned out to be, but I’m sure he would have relished the results from Galileo the spacecraft.”

Greeley ended his convocation address with a quote from Apollo astronaut Michael Collins, words that could apply to the Honors Program as well as to the space program. “It’s human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is really not a choice, it’s an imperative.”

Into the writers’ Lehrer

Fellow authors and soulmates Kate Staples Lehrer ’59 and Jim Lehrer came to campus on April 3 for the Friends of the TCU Library “Evening with the Authors” and to promote their latest works — Out of Eden for Kate and White Widow for Jim. He is the executive editor and anchor of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Kate now has three best-selling novels, including Best Intentions and When They Took Away the Man in the Moon. Her Out of Eden has won critical acclaim and received the Western Heritage Award as the Outstanding Novel of 1996. In 1997, Kate told The TCU Magazine that when she graduated from TCU, ” I decided that I would teach and give back to the community in that way, and write for the most selfish reasons… because I enjoy it.”

Speaking Texan

Give them a home where the buffalo roam — or at least put a few longhorns on your land and in your brochures — and the idea of doing business in Texas becomes that much more attractive, said billionaire investor Ross Perot Jr., the keynote speaker for the Center for Productive Communication’s Corporate Communication Week, held in March. It’s a practice his dad started, Perot said, a Texas-sized way to at least begin communicating the intangible, “vague” elements of business. “We sell Texas every day in the Alliance program,” said the company chair. “If you grew up in Texas, it’s not that big of a deal, but when you leave Texas and go to other parts of the country, it’s amazing how many people still have a romantic image of Texas. We sell that romance.” But what the business students wanted, if gauged by the questions after his address, was entrepreneurial advice from someone who knows. “A lot of young people get trapped following conventional wisdom, and they do what they think people want them to do, not necessarily what they wanted to do,” he said. “How do you follow your dream? You try to make yourself different, try to have unique experiences and always try to challenge yourself, try to figure out what makes you tick. “I think real knowledge is knowing yourself.”

The Buck doesn’t stop here.

Buck Fielding, assistant director of physical maintenance, celebrated an unmatched 50 years of service this spring. The reception for service and retirement included faculty who have given their last final exam: Bill Smith (chemistry, 42 years), Henry C. “Jim” Kelly (chemistry, 33 years), Allene Jones (nursing, 30 years), Gail C. Davis (nursing, 23 years). Well-known staff members who also are retiring include Chancellor William E. Tucker (29 years) and Athletics Director Frank Windegger (39 years).

With honors

Geology Chair Nowell Donovan, joked at Honors Convocation that geologists have long contended “we should rule the world for we are the only people who understand it.” Honors students might agree: They nominated Geology Prof. John Breyer, at TCU since 1975, as the 1998 Honors Professor. Ann Crassons, political science junior and Honors Cabinet chair, told audience members that Breyer is her favorite professor, despite his prediction that her Louisiana home state will eventually be flooded by ocean.

Raising the curtain

At the spring dedication of the Mary D. and F. Howard Walsh Center for Performing Arts, Ms. Walsh took center stage, but it was the work commissioned by Ron Moore ’65, chair of the Fine Arts Board of Visitors, that brought down Ed Landreth Hall: Colombian composer Blas Emilio Atehortua’s Musical Offering for TCU used the alma mater as the theme of a 30-minute cantata enlisting 240 student instrumentalists and singers, along with faculty tenor soloist Richard Estes and soprano soloist Nancy Elledge.

The walls might have blushed

When nationally known sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer dropped by campus in March, she noted that the Student Center Ballroom had probably never heard the kind of language she was about to use, a comment which drew the first of many waves of raucous laughter from the more than 1,300 students packed in the standing-room-only crowd. Claiming she is “old-fashioned and a square,” the straight-talking doctor and media personality explained that her goal is to educate. “I believe sex is a private matter,” she said. “I also believe everybody has to be sexually literate, but I could never say [whether they should participate in sex] before marriage or after marriage.”

Gala

The Thanks for the Memories gala in March honoring the retirement of Chancellor William E. Tucker, held March 27, brought news of the end of TCU’s five-year comprehensive campaign, The Next Frontier, which earned $126,177,850 and brought one more bit of information: a $17 million technology building to be named for the chancellor and first lady, Jean Jones Tucker ’56.

Examining engineers

Bell Helicopter-Textron hired nine seniors (left, with three Bell execs) nine months ago to build a high-tech calibration table for the company’s sensitive measuring devices. And in late April, the students delivered. Given $9,118 dollars for the project, the students produced an instrument that measures with a margin of error of 1/1000th of an inch — all for $7,803.44. Students called the extra money a surplus, to which Bell executive Warren Young responded, “You have a slight problem in your nomenclature; in business, we call that a profit.” Maybe that’s why the students delivered their final design review in the business school’s Dan Rogers Hall. In store for next year’s seniors is a project for oil-equipment supplier RockBit International.

Groovy!

UC-Berkeley jazz guru Herb Wong in 1995 said that “TCU Jazz shows diligence and savvy in its efforts toward excellence,” and he appears to still feel the same way: He included the 22-student jazz ensemble’s latest live CD, Texas Christian University with John Faddis (currently musical director for New York’s Carnegie Hall Jazz Band), on his 1997 Blue Chip Jazz CD Awards. “I got into trouble once saying that ‘these are the best students I’ve ever had,’ ” said jazz studies Director Curt Wilson, the drive behind TCU’s jazz excellence. “But the students I have right now are extremely good, I would say.”

“We have memorized America. . .”

began Miller Williams, weaving a mesmerizing verse before President Bill Clinton and millions of visitors at the 1996 inauguration. A member of an elite group that includes only himself, Robert Frost and Maya Angelou, Williams is the third wordsmith honored as an inaugural poet in the nation. In March, the teacher whom many consider to be one of the finest performance poets today read for about 75 students during a visit to campus. Williams, author of 27 books, is currently the director of the University of Arkansas Press and a professor of English and foreign languages at the University of Arkansas.

Examining engineers

Bell Helicopter-Textron hired nine seniors (left, with three Bell execs) nine months ago to build a high-tech calibration table for the company’s sensitive measuring devices. And in late April, the students delivered. Given $9,118 dollars for the project, the students produced an instrument that measures with a margin of error of 1/1000th of an inch — all for $7,803.44. Students called the extra money a surplus, to which Bell executive Warren Young responded, “You have a slight problem in your nomenclature; in business, we call that a profit.” Maybe that’s why the students delivered their final design review in the business school’s Dan Rogers Hall. In store for next year’s seniors is a project for oil-equipment supplier RockBit International.

Hunger pains

Taking pains to stop hunger is the goal of Experience India, the annual fashion show held by Students for Asian-Indian Cultural Awareness (SAICA). This year’s show in April — graced by Journalism Chair Anantha Babbili and his wife, Mary — raised more than $2,500. To date, SAICA has contributed more than $50,000 to Indian charities.

Briefly:

Adding successes. Tuition goes up. At the annual spring Board meeting, trustees raised tuition 4.5 percent and approved a $138 million operating budget for the 1998-99 school year. Students will pay $345 a semester hour, the total cost for tuition, fees and housing for a full-time student $10,350 per semester. Board Chair John V. Roach ’61 said that despite the increase, TCU’s tuition is still lower than six other private Texas universities.

Graduation. A hefty 934 graduates walked across the stage for spring Commencement, including six 4.0 graduates and one chancellor, who counted himself among those who will be encountering “new adventures and new explorations.”

Appointments. Nursing Dean Kathy Bond was chosen president-elect of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. In March 2000 she will assume the presidency to lead the organization, the national voice for university and four-year college nursing programs.

Marketing Prof. Bill Moncrief has been named a 1998-99 fellow for the American Council on Education (ACE) to study the selection and development of university faculty for the 21st century. He was among only 35 fellows chosen nationally.