Top Ten Moments: February 2023

On February 3, I updated our community on improvements we’re making in the pursuit of <i>Hopes & Aspirations High.</i>These changes – including realigning our organizational structure and priority investments of reserves – were data-driven, forward-thinking, and shaped by input from faculty and staff university-wide.

When I testified at the Capitol on February 8, I shared some of our greatest points of pride with state leaders. TXST research supplies the state with breakthroughs in DNA sequencing, nanomaterials, data science, cybersecurity, and water conservation. Our student demographics mirror Texas more closely than any other public university in the state.

In 1967, Dr. Johnny E. Brown was the first Black student-athlete to attend and play for Texas State Athletics. His wife and daughter are also TXST alumni. We honoured him during halftime of the men’s basketball game against Old Dominion on Saturday, February 11. I loved spending time with this gracious, inspirational family.

Dr. Hiro Lee Tanaka, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Sloan Research Fellow, won the Presidential Seminar Award. His research fuses the higher structures in modern algebra with geometries from classical mechanics and supersymmetric field theories. On February 15, he presented his research to faculty and staff.

Congratulations to all the students who were recognized for earning a place on the Dean’s List in Fall 2022. At a reception held in their honour, we were joined by countless parents, siblings, and friends of our Dean’s List Bobcats. The line to get in was all the way out the door of the LBJ Student Center! We have so many scholars to celebrate.

I had a blast meeting at the bowling alley with the Loud Crowd, the official student spirit organization of TXST Athletics. Their mission is to promote school spirit and create the best home-field advantage when our athletes compete. They show their fellow students what it means to be a passionate Bobcat fan (and have a lot of fun along the way).

It was great to see so many TXST School of Music faculty, students and alumni perform at the Eddie Durham Jazz Celebration. TXST honors the San Marcos-born jazz pioneer Eddie Durham through the annual celebration. He wrote and performed big band jazz for the likes of The Count Basie Orchestra and Glenn Miller.

It was a beautiful day to plant a tree with the members of the TXST Jewish Faculty and Staff Association. February 7th was Tu Bishvat, a Jewish holiday honoring the revival of nature and a season of new growth. It marks the beginning of a “new year” for trees. Jewish farmers plant trees on this day as a reminder that “man is a tree of the field.”

TXST classrooms are led by passionate educators in-person AND online. On February 9, we recognized the winners of the Award for Excellence in Online Teaching. Congratulations to Dr. Debarun Majumdar in the Department of Sociology, Ms. Daris Hale from the School of Music, and Dr. Vince Bagnulo in the Department of Political Science.

We had a great turnout for the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) Meet the Greeks event on February 13. Nine historically Black Greek Letter organizations make up the NPHC, also known as "The Divine Nine." These fraternities and sororities are rich in history. I am grateful for the leadership of the organizations’ student presidents.