I hope your holidays were terrific and that you are as energized and excited about the new year as I am.
2011 began with amazing national visibility for TCU with the Horned Frogs’ unprecedented appearance in the Rose Bowl. As a result, thousands of spectators in Pasadena and 20.6 million viewers across the country were introduced to our university. Excluding the NFL, TCU’s 21-19 victory over Wisconsin was the most-watched event in ESPN and cable television history.
I could not be prouder of our 13-0 football team and coaches, our Horned Frog Marching Band, and our spirited supporters — students, faculty and staff, alumni and other Frog fans. You all were great ambassadors for TCU, Fort Worth and the State of Texas!
I hope you will join me to celebrate TCU’s Rose Bowl championship and the Frogs’ undefeated season on Sunday, Jan. 16, at 4 p.m. in Daniel-Meyer Coliseum (doors open at 2:30 p.m.). The football team, our spirit band, cheerleaders, Rose Bowl officials and Coach Gary Patterson will all be there. Be sure to invite your friends and neighbors. The free event is open to the public, and Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief will be among the speakers.
The Rose Bowl was the culmination of an outstanding fall semester for our entire campus:
At December Commencement, TCU awarded 789 undergraduate and graduate degrees. J. Luther King, Jr., chairman of the Board of Trustees, delivered the Commencement address. Mr. King will conclude his six-year term as Board chairman in May. Ballet luminary Susan Jaffe was recognized with an Honorary Doctor of Arts degree. Will Stallworth, associate vice chancellor for facilities, was presented with the Michael R. Ferrari Award for Distinguished University Service and Leadership for his role in campus expansion, including a dozen major new facilities in approximately three years.
TCU students and graduates are benefiting from a set of career-oriented resources that can be accessed on the iPhone and iPad. Developed by TCU Career Services, the new Career App offers advice on securing jobs, as well as short video tutorials on career-related issues.
The Doctor of Nursing Practice program received the maximum accreditation awarded for new programs — five years — from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. TCU’s online program prepares graduates to become clinical leaders in healthcare and other organizations.
TCU’s award-winning Jazz Ensemble performed at the 26th Havana International Jazz Festival in December, becoming one of the few American bands to perform in Cuba in the last 50 years. The group also conducted master classes and performed a concert at the National School of Music in Havana.
Horned Frogs helped Fort Worth become more sustainable during the fall semester. Anthropology and sociology students learned about water shortages and conservation and then partnered with community organizations to build and install rain-harvesting systems.
The Frogmobile, a 2010 Honda Civic GX solely powered by natural gas, is drawing attention to natural gas-powered vehicles as a clean, domestic-energy transportation solution. The car was a gift from members of the TCU Energy Institute’s Metroplex NGV Consortium, an industry group.
The Rose Bowl provided an outstanding opportunity for TCU to introduce itself as a U.S. News & World Report Top 20 “Up-and-Coming National University” and showcase our outstanding academic programs, exceptional university experience and unique hometown. Advertisements targeted admission-critical areas, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and four Texas cities. A full-page, 4-color ad ran in USA Today, while a special section in the Los Angeles Times highlighted programs in each school and college. The advertisements referred readers to two different web videos highlighting the TCU experience and university traditions.
Traffic to the TCU website indicates that the University is of strong interest to potential students, their families and others. On Dec. 31, there were 6,599 visits to www.tcu.edu. The Rose Bowl gave a remarkable boost to Web traffic: On game day, www.tcu.edu had 111,309 unique visitors, 92 percent of them new and more than double the previous high of 58,975 on Jan. 4, 2010, when the Horned Frogs appeared in the Fiesta Bowl. While the majority of hits this New Year’s Day came from Texas (14,339), California was close behind (13,195). This reflects our current enrollment, with California following only Texas in number of students attending here.
Several upcoming events will further enhance the intellectual vitality of our University and city:
Greg Mortenson will offer the Frost Foundation lecture on Jan. 24. Mr. Mortenson is the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Asia Institute Pennies For Peace and co-author of the bestseller Three Cups of Tea.
Underwritten by the LKCM Center for Financial Management, the annual Investment Strategies Conference is scheduled for March 3. It will focus on “Investing in Commodities and Other Hard Assets,” a timely topic as investors look for ways to manage and hedge rising risks.
Then on April 6, the University will again host the Schieffer Symposium in journalism. While the topic and participants have yet to be announced, you can be sure they will measure up to those of past symposia, which have featured A-list media figures.
Best wishes for a wonderful and productive spring semester! I appreciate the unique role each of you fills in the TCU community.
Victor Boschini