Horned Frogs in the News, Jan. 16-31, 2025

From faculty insight on the future of religion to the growing number of college-aged virgins, Horned Frogs are in the news. 

INSTITUTIONAL 

TCU charts next decade of growth with new strategic plan. What’s in the playbook? 
Jan. 30, 2025 
Fort Worth Report 
TCU’s strategic plan for the next 10 years means growth in every direction. Total enrollment will grow by around 5,000 students. More buildings will be built, and the amount spent on research funding will grow, too. And athletics? Expectations are for an “unmatched” student-athlete experience, according to the university’s strategic plan executive summary. “It is the vision of our board to grow the campus in a student-centered way, while investing and increasing the academic rigor, the research activity, the prominence of our athletics programs and the way we work with Fort Worth and the broader region to build a university at the intersection of academics and the community,” said TCU President Daniel Pullin.

TCU reveals a new vision to compete as a ‘best-in-class’ national player. Here’s the plan. 
Jan. 28, 2025 
Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
After months of planning with feedback from more than 10,000 community members, TCU unveiled details about a strategic plan that charts the Fort Worth university’s course for the next decade. The plan touches on every aspect of the university, from what the campus will look like in the coming years, to how TCU intends to extend its influence well beyond University Drive. TCU’s president and soon-to-be chancellor, Daniel Pullin, said that the ambitious goals won’t be met overnight. But the university is already working toward them, including updating some curricula and opening new facilities. “It’s not a 90-day plan, it’s a 3,700-day plan if you really think about it, and it’s organic, and it’ll evolve,” Pullin said. “Nothing can be, you know, set in stone as you look 10 years out in a crystal ball, but I do believe that there are many near-term opportunities to accelerate the execution of that plan.” 

College Experts Tout The Benefits Of Animal-Assisted Interventions 
Jan. 17, 2025 
Forbes 
According to a 2025 report by the American Veterinary Medical Association, animal-assisted intervention is an umbrella term describing the utilization of animals to benefit the human experience. TCU’s Counseling & Mental Health Center offers an equine therapy program for students. The center provides transportation to an off-campus site at Freedom Reigns Counseling, where students interact with horses.  

FACULTY 

ICE Agents in Churches ‘Does Not Bode Well for the Future of Religion’ in America 
Jan. 30, 2025 
Texas Observer
Last week, the federal Department of Homeland Security reversed longtime policies restricting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection arrests in certain locations including churches, schools and hospitals. David Brockman, an adjunct professor at TCU, is worried by the federal policy change. “For Christianity, I think that this policy means the end, at least for now, of any kind of separate sacred space, a kind of religious realm that’s off-limits to the government and enshrined by the First Amendment. The implications of that also are troubling,” he said. “If the government can invade sacred space and seize worshipers, what’s to keep it from dictating what can and cannot be preached, what people should or shouldn’t believe and so on?

Opinion: Texas can still lead in energy production and alternative sources
Jan. 30, 2025 
The Dallas Morning News 
In an op-ed by Mike Slattery and Nikki Morris of the Ralph Lowe Energy Institute, the duo writes, “On the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump wasted no time reshaping U.S. energy policy, declaring a ‘national energy emergency’ with a focus on expanding domestic fossil fuel production. Trump also signed an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, as he did in his first term. Conventional wisdom might suggest that this aggressive focus on fossil fuels signals a major setback for the clean energy transition, particularly given Trump’s history of deriding renewable energy sources like wind and solar.” 

Trump order ending federal DEI programs leaves agencies and stakeholders on uncertain ground 
Jan. 29, 2025 
Associated Press/The Miami Times  
From federal agencies to stakeholders who get federal dollars for special training, many are trying to process how President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order putting a stop to diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the U.S. government will upend their work. DEI laws and programs have been under attack for years by Republicans who contend that the measures threaten merit-based hiring, promotion and educational opportunities of white people, specifically white men. It may be easy for Trump to sign such an order but more difficult to carry out, said Frederick Gooding Jr., associate professor of African American Studies and Dr. Ronald E. Moore Professor in Humanities in the Honors College at TCU. “It’s not going to be as easy to execute. It’s going to be more of a fantasy. There are no quick fixes for these issues that took years, if not centuries, to develop,” Gooding said. 

Number of Virgins in America Hits Record High 
Jan. 28, 2025 
Newsweek 
The number of young adult virgins in America hit an all-time high in 2023, as a record number of both men and women between 22 and 34 reported they had never had sex. Sarah Hill, psychology professor, spoke with Diary of a CEO podcaster Stephen Bartlett about the rise in college graduates who are still virgins. She pointed to how many universities now have a gender imbalance, where there are more women attendees than men, which may make it more difficult for people to couple up in university. 

Trump wants mass deportations. These Houston-area Republican sheriffs can help him do it. 
Jan. 23, 2025 
Houston Chronicle 
For the Houston region’s conservative sheriffs who built their careers talking tough on immigration, President Donald Trump’s pledge to launch the “largest deportation operation” in American history could be their chance to turn words into action. “ICE simply doesn’t have the capacity to do what Trump says he wants to do, so they’re going to need these local sheriffs,” said Emily Farris, political science associate professor. Many sheriffs will feel motivated to cooperate, she said, either to score political points with their conservative-leaning constituency or to benefit from potential federal funding. 

Easiest Credit Cards to Get Approved For 
Jan. 22, 2025 
Wallethub 
The easiest credit cards for you to get approved for with bad credit or no credit are secured credit cards because they require a refundable security deposit that protects the issuer. Paul Irvine, professor of finance and the Kleinheinz Endowed Chair in International Finance and Investments, says you can get a secured credit card pretty easily. “Where the problem comes in is that the banks want a 6-month payment record (may vary by card) on these cards with no breaks or problems before they issue a user a regular credit card. Many of the people that struggle to get on the credit ladder with a credit card have the problem here,” Irvine explains. Are the easiest credit cards to get necessarily the worst credit cards on the market? “In some cases, yes,” says Mauricio Rodriguez, professor of finance and director, LKCM Center for Financial Studies. “That is due to high interest rates and high fees. However, some credit cards that are not very hard to get just have low credit limits, but average interest rates, which offer a reasonable way to establish (or re-establish) good credit.” 

In Defense of Kay Granger 
Jan. 20, 2025 
Fort Worth Inc. 
Kay Granger retired from Congress on Jan. 3 as one of Texas’ most impactful stateswomen, her reputation and legacy fully intact despite attempts by political adversaries to tarnish it in her final days. “Her legacy is as someone who was a tireless promoter of Fort Worth, someone who represented Fort Worth with dignity in the House of Representatives,” said Jim Riddlesperger, political science professor. “She obviously was a partisan Republican, but she had a reputation who, behind the scenes, was always trying to figure out a way forward, a way that she could work with people across the aisle to find solutions to problems. She’s kind of a throwback to a different generation of members of Congress. She was always a builder.” 

‘Women in War’ presentation by Dr. Kara Vuic of TCU 
Jan. 20, 2025 
North Texas E-News 
American women served World War II by the thousands. Those in Northeast Texas rose to the occasion, working for government functions at or near Bonham, Paris, Greenville and all the way to Texarkana and Tyler. Kara Dixon Vuic, LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt, Professor of War, Conflict, and Society, discussed a few of these participants at the quarterly program of the WWII History Roundtable, Audie Murphy Chapter. Vuic studies the vocation of women in war and their vital support functions and has written about the wider use of women during the war.

ALUMNI 

Fort Worth startup raises new funds, joins accelerator cohort | Newly launched chip company raises $15M seed round 
Jan. 28, 2025 
Bizjournals.com 
Animal Cloud Device Connectivity, a startup developing and commercializing a vital monitoring platform to help keep law enforcement animals safe and healthy in the line of duty, is joining the seventh cohort of the Cincinnati-based faith-focused accelerator program. With its participation in the program, Animal Cloud will also receive a $50,000 seed investment provided by an early-stage Chicago VC fund, which focuses on “purpose-driven” entrepreneurs. Animal Cloud was launched last April by Chris Matos ’21 (MS ’22), who serves as vice president, and Dylan Jones ’20 (MS ’22), who serves as president. Being military veterans themselves, the team began looking at technology created by the U.S. Air Force Research Lab to commercialize and base their company around.  

Jacob Fearnley’s meteoric rise: The Scot schooled in Texas and inspired by Andy Murray 
Jan. 15, 2025 
Yahoo! Sports 
A year ago, none but the most ardent of tennis fans would have heard of Jacob Fearnley ’24, one of two British men to fight through to the third round of the Australian Open. Having once practiced with Roger Federer as a 17-year-old at Wimbledon, Fearnley made the unorthodox decision to attend TCU instead of turning professional. “I went to college because I still wanted to play professional tennis afterwards, but I just didn’t feel ready physically, emotionally. TCU was the right place for me in order to achieve those goals,” he said. A sporting university with impressive credentials, TCU boasts nine Paris 2024 Olympians among its current and former “horned frogs,” including Cameron Norrie as well as more than 200 professional American football players. 

ATHLETICS 

Hailey Van Lith named Female Athlete of the Year 
Jan. 29, 2025 
NCWLife.com 
For her efforts leading Team USA to a bronze medal at last summer’s Olympic Games, Hailey Van Lith has been named the 2024 3x3 Female Athlete of the Year. Van Lith was the only collegian on the four-member Team USA and led the team in scoring during the Olympics, scoring 47 points with 13 assists in nine games. Van Lith is currently a fifth-year senior at TCU, helping the Horned Frogs to a 20-2 record, and a No. 9 national ranking while averaging 18.3 pionts per game and 5.8 assists. 

Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane to have No. 1 jersey retired by TCU 
Jan. 22, 2025 
USA Today 
Memphis Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane ’20 will have his No. 1 TCU jersey retired, the school announced. Bane, who is in his fifth season with the Grizzlies, played four years at TCU and became one of the program’s most decorated players. He holds the program record for games played and made 3-pointers. He’s also second in minutes played and third all-time in points scored. Bane, who was at TCU from 2016-20, became a first-round pick and began his NBA career with the Grizzlies.