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From the NFL draft and dancing to rankings and recess, TCU and its faculty and alumni are in the news.

INSTITUTIONAL 

‘Time to Change the Model’: TCU's Faculty of Medicine completes four years 
April 29, 2023
Trendeepro 
The Burnett School of Medicine at TCU celebrated its inaugural class’s first Match Day this spring by sending 52 students to residency programs across the country, including 15 in Texas and nine in North Texas. What began as a vision of founding dean Dr. Stuart Flynn seven years ago to change the way medical school was taught is changing minds. The school prides itself on training empathetic physicians and uses an internship model that introduces students to clinical work early in their education. “It was time to change the model, although others rolled their eyes,” said. Flynn. “Four years after the student’s first class, nothing has collapsed around us, the model is still standing and we are improving it.” 

Teachers earn the most after graduating from these 25 colleges [ed: link removed]
April 28, 2023
LIHerald.com
The annual average salary of K-12 school teachers has been a growing concern for public officials and educators alike for decades. Teachercertification.com sourced data from the Department of Education to determine which colleges yield the highest-earning students with undergraduate degrees in teaching and education for grades K-12. No. 18 on the list is Texas Christian University, with graduates earning a median salary of $48,804.

Stanford, Harvard & Wharton Also-Rans In Topsy-Turvy U.S. News MBA Ranking
April 25, 2023
Poets&Quants
In a year in which U.S. News has revamped the way it ranks MBA programs, the fearsome threesome widely considered the best business schools in the world find themselves mere also-rans. Texas Christian University’s Neeley School of Business jumped 17 places to rank 50th this year from 67th.

Best private colleges in America
April 22, 2023
KRQE-TV
Both private and public schools play important roles in the postsecondary landscape, offering top-tier education and valuable opportunities outside the classroom. But some characteristics of private institutions—namely size, reputation and flexibility—make them more appealing to prospective students. According to the College Board’s 2022 Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid report, Texas Christian University ranks No. 73.

President Biden Announces Key Appointments to Boards and Commissions
April 22, 2023
whitehouse.gov
Today, President Biden announced his intent to appoint individuals to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans. Among them, Kenny Thompson, Jr., ’03.  A native Texan, Thompson was a member of the Horned Frog baseball team and currently serves on the Board of Trustees.

FACULTY 

Missouri lawsuit isn’t the only defamation case against far-right site Gateway Pundit 
April 30, 2023
KTVI-TV (St. Louis)
Soon after the 2020 election, lawsuits began piling up against purveyors of election lies in the aftermath.  “These lawsuits are the only remedy left for people,” said Daxton Stewart, a journalism professor. “They feel like it’s the only way they’re gonna get a chance to be made whole, or to at least call some attention to the suffering that they faced.”

‘Maybe they’re not best tool to deal with everything:’ Expert weighs police actions at La Gran Plaza
April 29, 2023
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
A recent incident involved a distressed individual dying following a police response. “Police have become the panacea for all social problems, and maybe they’re not the best all-in-one tool to deal with everything,” said Johnny Nhan, criminal justice professor and a reserve officer with the Fort Worth Police Department. Nhan said the officer who initially responded did not appear to act with “any type of maliciousness.” It appeared from the video that he was following the protocol Fort Worth police officers use when dealing with someone who might be experiencing a mental health crisis, Nhan said. 

The US has a rich drag history. Here's why the art form will likely outlast attempts to restrict it
April 29, 2023
KESQ-TV (Thousand Palms, California) 
The history of drag is complex. One of the first known people to call themselves a “queen of drag” was William Dorsey Swann, a formerly enslaved man who in 1882 began hosting guests, many of them former slaves, for drag dances at his Washington, D.C home. Swann’s drag dances and subsequent arrests were some of the first recorded acts of resistance in the burgeoning queer liberation movement in America, in which drag has played an essential role for more than 100 years, said Nino Testa, associate professor of professional practice in women and gender studies. “The pleasure was the resistance,” Testa said in a phone interview. “The celebration of queer joy when it’s been denied in all these other spaces is activism.”

Jamie Dimon's 'tone deaf' return to office mandate is getting pushback from JPMorgan staffers, who are complaining about being stuck on Zoom calls eve
April 28, 2023
Business Insider
JPMorgan is now mandating all managing directors work from the office five days a week. But that rubbed some workers the wrong way, who vented on an internal messaging system, per Reuters. They griped about being stuck in virtual meetings despite being in the office, long commutes, and family responsibilities. “People are saying, ‘I had something that was working, and now you're telling me I have to commute, get dressed up and that I can't pick up my kids from school’,” Abbie Shipp, professor of management, told Insider's Rebecca Knight in March. 

Matthew Pitt is Chosen as Hemingway-Pfeiffer Writer-in-Residence
April 22, 2023
astate.edu
The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center in Piggott has announced its 2023 writer-in-residence. Matthew Pitt of Fort Worth will serve in this role from June 1-30. Raised in St. Louis, Pitt now works as an associate professor of creative writing.

A Day in the Life of a Kindergartener: Exploring a Typical Schedule
April 22, 2023
Kidoneo
Research shows that children benefit greatly from regular physical activity and outdoor play. As such, it is recommended that kindergarten-aged children should have at least four 15-minute recesses each day. Debbie Rhea, professor of kinesiology and director of the LiiNK Project, which promotes outdoor play in schools, advocates for this amount of recess for young children. Rhea’s research has shown that regular outdoor play and physical activity improves children’s academic performance, behavior and overall well-being.

ALUMNI

This free ballet class is giving women over 50 their confidence back
April 27, 2023
TODAY
The Oklahoma City Ballet offers beginner and intermediate-level classes geared at dancers over 50, with students called the Golden Swans. The twice-weekly (and completely free) classes see anywhere between four and 24 participants working through pliés, tendus and relevés. Among the students is Robin Martin ’72, who danced seriously for nearly three decades and earned a ballet degree from TCU. “There was a confidence I had back at that age,” Martin explains. “As you age, life beats you down, you kind of lose your confidence and things like that ... (These classes) resurrected all that for me.”

W&L Journalism and Mass Communications Professor Selected for Prestigious Fellowship
April 27, 2023
wlu.edu
Adedayo ‘Dayo’ Abah Peel ’96, professor of journalism and mass communications at Washington and Lee University, was one of 10 professors selected for the ACS Mellon Academic Leadership Fellowship. The program is aimed at providing leadership experiences to a diverse cohort of humanities faculty members. She earned a master’s degree in media studies from TCU.

Artist using the magic of art to help Cook Children's patients heal
April 25, 2023
WFAA-TV 
Cook Children’s Medical Center is in the business of saving lives. It takes a dedicated and intricately trained team to do that. But it is also a team that includes a rolling cart filled with paints, brushes, stickers … and plenty of glitter. “Oh, for sure,” said Sydney Peel ’19, when asked if glitter was indeed part of her cache of supplies. Peel is the resident artist at Cook Children’s. Before she was an art student at TCU, she was a patient at Cook Children's. She was born with a rare disease called hereditary angioedema. She said it took years to get an exact diagnosis and proper treatment. “It can be extremely painful and can also be life threatening,” she said. 

This Fort Worth startup’s product is now on Walgreen shelves across the US
April 24, 2023
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
After receiving his master’s, Art Clapp ’89 MBA spent two decades working at the Fort Worth laboratory of Galderma. While helping launch Galderma’s billion-dollar brands, Clapp noticed many people moving away from prescription drugs to self-treatment that was just as effective. When Clapp retired from Galderma, he co-founded Nuvothera with two former coworkers retiring around the same time. “The plan and goal was always to get into large drugstore chains and mass merchandising,” Clapp said. “We’re enjoying it, but it’s always a challenge … You’re really wearing multiple hats, but it’s fun to be an entrepreneur.”

Leaders of Southlake’s first Black church fondly recall welcome, express concern for city
April 22, 2023
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Senior Pastor Denny Davis, who earned a master’s degree in theology from Brite Divinity School in 1993, was leading a growing congregation at St. John Church Unleashed, and he wanted to expand the church’s outreach into Northeast Tarrant County. Now, Davis said he is concerned that the Carroll school district is facing eight investigations from the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights over allegations of retaliation and discrimination including race, sex and disability. “African American history is actually American history. How do you use a black highlighter to eliminate much of the American story?” Davis said.

Arlington-raised composer Kevin Day returns home with his most personal work yet
April 24, 2023
KERA News
Arlington-raised Kevin Day ’19, is getting commissions and having his works performed around the world — and back home in North Texas. The Dallas Winds soon play his Concerto for Wind Ensemble and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra is commissioning him to write a Double Concerto for trombone and piano, premiering in 2024.

Peplow finds leadership in helping others find their place 
April 20, 2023
Fort Worth Report 
For Devan Peplow, leadership experience came early. Peplow ’19 was part of a three-student undergraduate team leading Sounde, a hearing app based on an algorithm developed by a TCU science and engineering professor. The team came in third place at the 2019 Richards Barrentine Values and Ventures Competition at the Neeley School of Business. The Values and Ventures Competition is considered a premier business competition for undergraduate students from around the world. They pitch ideas for conscious capitalism – an idea that businesses can make a profit while also being socially responsible.  “It was a great experience because we were the company,” Peplow, 26, said. “I was CEO and while we did have support from professors, it was up to us to decide how to spend funds, how to market. We all learned a lot.” 

STUDENTS

CHISD Senior Makinly Gillin Earns Full STEM Scholarship to TCU 
April 30, 2023
Focus Daily News 
Cedar Hill High School senior Makinly Gillin recently accepted a STEM Scholarship to TCU. She is one of seven high school seniors in North Texas to accept the full scholarship, valued at $292,000. “TCU was on my radar from the beginning – I visited the campus for the first time in the fifth grade,” said Gillin, who ranks fifth in the Cedar Hill High School Class of 2023. 

ATHLETICS

TCU Leads All Big 12 Football Teams in Players Drafted
April 29, 2023
Heartland College Sports
The 2023 NFL Draft is in the books, and when it comes to the Big 12 Conference, the TCU Horned Frogs led the way with eight players being selected this year. TCU is fresh off a trip to the National Championship Game and were the first Big 12 team to win a College Football Playoff game this past season. Overall, the Big 12 had a strong showing with 30 players selected this year, which trails only the SEC and Big Ten on a per team average.

Max Duggan joins ex-TCU teammates as Chargers draft QB 7th in NFL draft
April 29, 2023
ESPN
Former TCU quarterback Max Duggan received a call from the Los Angeles Chargers, who were selecting him with a seventh-round pick (239th overall) in the 2023 NFL draft. He’ll join new Chargers teammates Quentin Johnston and Derius Davis, whom the Bolts selected with a first- and fourth-round pick, respectively, and who served as two of Duggan's top three targets with the Horned Frogs. “There's a lot of excitement,” Duggan said from his home in Iowa about joining the Chargers. “Throughout this process, I feel like I built a lot of good relationships with all of the coaches on the coaching staff and really built up and connected with them in that way. Obviously, you see Q and DD go earlier and there was a lot of excitement to be a part of this franchise.”

Chargers select TCU WR Quentin Johnston in first round of NFL draft
April 27, 2023
Dallas Morning News
Quentin Johnston is the highest TCU draft pick since fellow Horned Frogs wide receiver Jalen Reagor was selected with the same pick in the 2020 draft. “It’s amazing coming where I come from,” Johnston said. “It’s hard, to be honest with you, to be on this stage right now. And to keep going up, it means a lot to me, my friends, my family and all the young kids looking up to me in my hometown.”

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