Horned Frogs in the News, Jan. 1-15, 2025

From insights on Gen Z managers to what’s behind soaring gas bills, Horned Frogs are in the news.

INSTITUTIONAL 

Top Nursing Schools in Dallas for 2025 
Jan. 10, 2025 
Nurse.Org 
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 251,840 registered nurses in Texas as of 2023. Our ranking criteria is based on factors such as tuition, acceptance rate, student-to-faculty ratio and accreditation, and uses the latest and most robust U.S. government data sets, specifically the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and College Scorecard. No. 1 on the list is TCU’s Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences, which offers an excellent nursing program for those who want to prepare for a career in various health care settings. TCU faculty includes accomplished educators, practitioners and researchers with the experience and desire to promote the field of nursing. The school’s simulation and practice labs are equipped with state-of-the-art technology to arm nursing students with the highest-quality simulation and clinical experience.  

TCU hires Mike Buddie from Army as its new athletic director 
Jan. 1, 2025 
AP News 
Mike Buddie is the new athletic director at TCU, the school announced. Buddie comes to the school from Army, where he served in the same position since 2019. During his tenure, he led Army’s athletics programs to new heights. Football earned a College Football Playoff ranking in 2024 as the Black Knights won a program record 12 games, a mark that ties for the most in a season by any service academy in history. “TCU is building a world-class executive team to take us to our next level of excellence in educating future generations of Horned Frogs. We were looking for an individual who would honor our mission to educate ethical leaders and share our focus on student and community success,” said President Daniel W. Pullin. “Amongst a cohort of stellar candidates, we found in Mike a leader who is on point with our strategic plan, who exemplifies the values, character and innovative approach that will continue to elevate athletic excellence as a priority.” 

FACULTY 

Police say West 7th is Fort Worth’s safest hot spot. The data shows something else 
Jan. 14, 2025 
Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
While Fort Worth police say crime is down in West 7th, analysis by criminal justice experts and the Star-Telegram’s reporting on the issue — as well as the presentation’s own data for the most violent crime of all — suggest that the area is not as relatively safe as communicated. Furthermore, the very venue in which the data was presented raises questions about the police department’s messaging, according to TCU associate dean of graduate studies and criminal justice professor Johnny Nhan, who also serves as a reserve Fort Worth police officer and patrols about once a week. “There is an argument to be made that the police are sending contradictory messages: 1.) Crime is high there and justifies the extra resources and 2.) Crime is low there, so the police are doing a good job,” Nhan wrote in an email exchange. Patrolling West 7th on busy nights is not a desirable assignment, Nhan said, and most officers he speaks with try to avoid it. 

DHM May Be The Secret to Preventing Alcohol Flush and Hangovers 
Jan. 13, 2025 
Very Well Health 
DHM (dihydromyricetin), a flavonoid found in several plants native to Asia, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat fever, colds, parasitic infections, liver diseases and hangovers. Despite limited studies on its clinical benefits, DHM is being included in Western supplements. According to Dr. Grant Fowler, chair of family medicine at the Burnett School of Medicine, the benefits of DHM are still unclear. Fowler said that critics of flavonoid research, such as studies claiming the health benefits of chocolate and red wine, say that socioeconomic factors often influence the perceived benefits. However, DHM doesn’t appear unsafe, even though its effectiveness is unproven. A more significant concern, Fowler said, is why someone would want to regularly drink alcohol to the point of experiencing a hangover. “It affects your sleep, makes you feel awful and makes you fatigued after a bender,” Fowler said. 

Some US lawmakers want more Christianity in the classroom. Trump could embolden their plans 
Jan. 11, 2025 
NBCDFW.com 
Conservative lawmakers across the U.S. are pushing to introduce more Christianity to public school classrooms, testing the separation of church and state by inserting Bible references into reading lessons and requiring teachers to post the Ten Commandments. In Texas, officials approved a curriculum intertwining language arts with biblical lessons. And in Oklahoma, the state superintendent of education has called for lessons to incorporate the Bible from grades 5 through 12, a requirement schools have declined to follow. “The authors appear to go out of their way to work detailed Bible lessons into the curriculum even when they are both unnecessary and unwarranted,” religious studies scholar and adjunct professor David Brockman wrote in a report on the material. “Though religious freedom is vital to American democracy, the curriculum distorts its role in the nation’s founding while underplaying the importance of other fundamental liberties cherished by Americans.” 

Tabletop Role-Playing Games In College Mental Health 
Jan. 9, 2025 
Forbes 
Utilizing Dungeons & Dragons, as well as other tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), is becoming a popular trend for colleges and universities to promote student mental health. In August 2024, eight schools launched the National Learning Network for Supportive Gaming Communities. The goal of this network is for each school to launch Supportive Gaming Communities, which are small groups that promote the positive benefits of TTRPGs to students. Joe LeConte ’19 M.Ed. is the lead trainer of the national learning network. He’s a substance use and recovery counselor/peer support coordinator at TCU and is regarded as a leading expert in the use of TTRPGs in higher education. When asked why TTRPGs are so appealing to students, LeConte responded, “There’s a lot of popular media and a bunch of television shows that have really popularized role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons…” 

‘The listening loop gets closed with action.’ Community discusses path to change at TCU-Report event 
Jan. 8, 2025 
Fort Worth Report 
Residents from across Tarrant County gathered at TCU to discuss how they can make their voices heard on the most critical issues in their communities — and encourage active listening without an agenda from their elected leaders. It’s an exercise inspired by the research of Ashley English, associate professor of strategic communication, Jacqueline Lambiase, professor emeritus of strategic communication, and Julie O’Neil, professor and associate dean for graduate studies and administration, strategic communication. The research explored municipal listening structures after former Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson in her home in October 2019, prompting an outcry from Black community leaders. TCU researcher Lambiase said this event is the start, not the end, of improving listening and engagement across the county. She encouraged participants to take the format into their own work or neighborhood association meetings. “The listening loop gets closed with action,” she said. 

The End Of Management? Gen Z Faces New Challenges In 2025 
Jan. 4, 2025 
Banking Finance 
In 2025, it’s predicted that one in 10 management roles will be filled by Gen Z. But that’s a complicated statistic, when management jobs are going the way of the milkman and the fax machine. Forbes highlights the stark reality of white-collar job cuts, with middle-management positions being systematically eliminated at organizations like Google, Meta, UPS and others. CNBC reports that Amazon is shifting to an individual-contributor model – a type of unbossing that could foster the elimination of as many as 14,000 management roles. Other companies are making similar moves on a smaller scale, cutting into the middle to improve the bottom line. What’s really at work here? Is AI making middle management positions redundant? “Digital transformation plays a significant role,” according to Joe Roh, a professor of supply chain management at the TCU Neeley School of Business who commented on the unbossing trend on CNBC. “Automation and advanced technologies reduce the need for middle managers to oversee tasks that can now be monitored by software.” 

If you heat your home with gas, brace yourself for an expensive January 
Jan. 1, 2025 
Marketplace.org 
Not to start the new year off on a downer, but if you heat your home with natural gas, your next bill might be higher than you were expecting. Natural gas futures had their biggest single-day jump in three years this week. Prices aren’t expected to drop anytime soon with days of bone-chilling weather on tap for the Northeast and Midwest. “Natural gas, really and truly, is driven by weather more than anything else,” said Tom Seng, assistant professor of professional practice at TCU Neeley. “If this becomes a deep-seated, widespread, long-duration cold front, we’re going to burn a lot of natural gas, which means we’re going to pull a lot of natural gas out of storage.” 

ALUMNI 

Ice-cool Jacob Fearnley tames Nick Kyrgios and ‘rowdy’ Australian Open crowd for biggest career win 
Jan. 14, 2025
Newsbreak 
Jacob Fearnley ’24, said keeping his composure against the “rowdy” Australian Open crowd was key to landing the biggest win of his career as the Scot defeated home favorite Nick Kyrgios to reach the second round. Fearnley, who a year ago was ranked 646th in the world but has enjoyed a stunning rise since turning professional, denied Kyrgios a send-off win as he booked a second-round match against Frenchman Arthur Cazaux. “I think a lot of it was mental, especially in that third set,” Fearnley said. “You could kind of see that the tide was turning a little bit. I had to really fight to stay composed and not let my emotions get the better of me, not let the crowd get to my head. It was amazing. Honestly, it was one of the best experiences of my life. Obviously, I was extremely nervous. It wasn’t really until I walked out there that I actually was kind of calm.” 

Hip Pocket Theatre cofounder, noted costume designer Diane Simons dies  
Jan. 13, 2025 
Fort Worth Report 
Mary Diane Simons ’66 (MFA ’73), one of three founding directors of Fort Worth’s Hip Pocket Theatre and an honored costume designer, has died following a lengthy illness. She was 80. Simons, along with her husband, Johnny Simons, and the late Douglas Balentine, established Hip Pocket Theatre in 1976. Diane (pronounced DeeAnn) Simons served as producer and costume designer until her retirement due to health issues several years ago. She is survived by her husband, daughters and grandchildren. “Rest well, O queen, as you costume the halls in heaven,” Johnny Simons ’74 (MFA ’75) said.  

Stars of Texas Juried Art Exhibit to accept entries Jan. 31- Feb. 1 
Jan. 13, 2025 
Brownwood News 
The 27th Annual Stars of Texas Juried Art Exhibit will be accepting entries for consideration for entry into the show at the Depot Civic & Cultural Center. Entry pre-registrations are being accepted online prior to these dates through a pre-registration form to speed up the intake process. Juror for this year’s exhibit will be renowned artist Tim Harding ’10 MFA. Harding, of Fort Worth, is currently an associate professor of art at Tarleton State University. He received his master of fine arts from TCU and his bachelor of fine arts from Texas Woman’s University. Harding was a visiting artist at the Center for Creative Connections at the Dallas Museum of Art; has created four exhibitions; been a part of an artist collective; held three residencies; and has exhibited nationally in Texas, New York, Vermont and more. 

‘My Scottish accent is coming back’: Fearnley revels in defeat of Kyrgios 
Jan. 13, 2025 
The Guardian 
It is undoubtedly a little too early for Jacob Fearnley ’24 to be hailed the new Andy Murray, especially given when he opened his mouth courtside after his shock Australian Open victory, he confirmed immediately that he had lost his Scottish accent. Having spent five years at TCU, Fearnley was asked where it had gone as he joked: “It’s nowhere to be seen. It’s coming back the longer I’m outside the States.”