New appointments. At its spring meeting, the Board of Trustees confirmed two new officers of the university, Carol N. Campbell as vice chancellor for finance and business and treasurer and Larry D. Lauer as vice chancellor for marketing and communication. Campbell came from Carleton College, where she served as vice president and treasurer for the past decade. Nationally, she chaired the steering committee for the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Lauer, a 34-year veteran of TCU, has served the last 15 as associate vice chancellor for communications and public affairs. He has served for the last year as executive director of the Commission on the Future of TCU.

Other Board news included a $1.6 million increase in financial aid and scholarships, including support for the minority-aimed Community Scholars program and additional grants-in-aid for women’s athletics; additional funding to support library and technology enhancements, diversity initiatives, institutional marketing efforts, TCU’s move to Conference USA, increased alumni involvement in the university, The Commission on the Future of TCU strategic planning process, community outreach and partnerships, academic facility enhancements and debt service commitments related to major capital improvements.

Many returns. More than 600 students have learned their financial trade through the Educational Investment Fund at the M. J. Neeley School of Business, with a portion of their EIF returns going toward TCU’s Annual Fund. This year, that contribution hit $56,223, the largest single gift made to the Annual Fund this year.

Rising to the occasion. This fall, TCU will open an intensive early intervention preschool called the Rise School, for Down syndrome children. To be housed within Starpoint School, the center will include therapy within traditional preschool instruction, to help Down children matriculate into mainstream kindergarten programs. Former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings, who has a Down syndrome child, attended the April announcement as did Kimberly Blackmon, daughter of William Blackmon III ’70 and Linda Oglesby Harman ’69, and granddaughter of William “Floppy” ’43 and Genevieve Able Blackmon ’44.

All the news fit to win. At the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Conference in April, the TCU Daily Skiff took third place for best overall newspaper in 1999, and Skiff staff members also garnered 27 individual awards for work produced in 1999. Image magazine won first place for best general magazine overall and another top award for the most points in various individual contests.

Nobel speaker. Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel will be the featured speaker for the third annual Gates of Chai Lectureship on Sept. 20. His lecture is tentatively titled, “The Seduction and Dangers of Fanatacism.”