Torchlite
June 2008 For a printable version, click
here.
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| Graduates Amanda Wiedner and Dustin Williford continue the tradition of patting Lucky the Bulldog during the processional at commencement. |
TLU Today
Spring commencement – Dr. John T. Masterson executive vice president and provost, said good-bye to the TLU community as he presented TLU’s commencement address just days before his retirement.
Click here to read or hear his address.
One hundred fifty-nine students received bachelor of arts, bachelor of business administration, bachelor of science, or bachelor of music degrees during the ceremony held on the Chapel Lawn on May 10.
All graduates, friends and families were welcomed to a reception at Alumni Park, hosted by the office of development and alumni relations, following the commencement ceremonies.
TLU President Ann M. Svennungsen received an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Trinity Lutheran Seminary on May 24 in Columbus, Ohio. She was in Columbus to present the commencement address to the classes of 2008 from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and Bexley Hall Seminary. Trinity is one of eight seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Bexley Hall, an accredited seminary of the Episcopal Church, has been located on the Trinity campus since 1999.
ELCA scholarships awarded – Two TLU students have been named the recipients of scholarships from the ELCA. TLU physics major Dirk Lorenz has been selected as a Rossing Physics Scholar for 2008-2009 and will receive a $10,000 grant made possible by the Thomas D. Rossing Fund for Physics Education Endowment within the ELCA Foundation.
For the second consecutive year, TLU student Aida Sopa has been awarded a $2,000 Phoebe Herman Scholarship from the ELCA. Sopa, an international student from Kosovo, is majoring in business.
In touch – A group of eight dramatic media students and Prof. Terry Price are in Prague this summer. Check out their blog on TLU’s home page or
click here.
And be sure to watch your mailbox later this month for the summer issue of TLU’s
Torch magazine. Send your items for the magazine or address changes to
alumni@tlu.edu.
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Growing and Giving
After 25 years with the university, Harold Sager, vice president for principal gifts, retired from TLU on May 31, but a final parting gift from Jo Powell Murphy will keep his presence on campus for years to come. To honor his service to TLU, Murphy donated $25,000 to start the Harold Sager Endowed Scholarship, directed at helping students who write for, or who manage, student publications such as newspapers, departmental and disciplinary journals.
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| One hundred percent of the science faculty donated to the TLU Annual Fund campaign. Pictured, left to right, are Dr. Alan Lievens, Dr. Rob Laird, Dr. Lorne Davis, Dr. Mitch White, Dr. John McClusky, Dr. Bob Jonas, Dr. David Wasmund, Dr. Mark Gustafson, and Dr. Bill Squires. Other departments also hitting the 100 percent mark were servant leadership, dramatic media, math and computer science, psychology and the business office. |
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Scoreboard
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| TLU's national championship meet participants included, from left to right, Jessica Raglon, Ashley Williams, Amber Meeks, Staci Jackson, Taffey Gray and Destiney Jones. (Photo by Patrick Zarate) |
National championship #2 – Saturday afternoon, May 24, in Oshkosh, Wis., the Texas Lutheran women's 4x100 meter relay team won the NCAA Division III Outdoor National Championship in an NCAA DIII season-best and school-record time of 46.42 seconds.
TLU nearly added a second national relay title in a span of five hours with a second-place finish in the 4x400. The Bulldogs were edged at the finish line by Wartburg (Iowa), which won in a DIII season-best time of 3 minutes, 45.72 seconds. TLU posted a school-record time of 3:45.87 in the runner-up finish.
The 4x100 national title, the second DIII national championship in TLU school history, was won by senior Jessica Raglon, junior Staci Jackson, senior Ashley Williams and senior Amber Meeks. Jackson and Williams were part of TLU's 2007 Indoor Track & Field National Championship in the 4x400.
Jackson was sixth in the open 400 earlier in the day and earned another All-America award, her third of the championships. Jackson finished in 56.00. Williams just missed a third All-America honor of the championships with a ninth-place finish in a time of 57.57.
Jones too narrowly missed All-America honors with a ninth-place finish in the triple jump. Jones jumped 37 feet, 10 inches to make the final nine, but she could not improve on her jump over the final three jumps. Raglon also competed in the triple jump but did not advance to the finals.
All four members of each relay earned All-America honors. With Jackson’s sixth-place finish in the 400, TLU’s All-America haul at the 2008 championships reached nine.
The Bulldogs scored a school-record 21 points in the national championships and posted a school-best national finish of 10th.
TLU’s Coach Patrick Zarate was named the 2008 National Outdoor Women's Track and Field Coach of the Year for NCAA Division III by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Zarate, a 2003 TLU graduate in his second year as head coach of the Bulldogs, is the first women’s track and field coach in school history to claim the national honor.
The Texas Lutheran women’s track and field team qualified 12 entrants in eight different events for the national championships. The number of entrants to the national meet ties a TLU school record. The Bulldogs sent the same number (12) to the national championships in 2007.
Read all the latest TLU sports news here. Back to the top
Happenings
Lone Star Scholars Academy June 15-21 and June 22-28
TLU campus
830-372-8050 or 800-771-8521
Summer Music Academy July 13-19, 2008
TLU campus
830-372-6028
AP Summer Institute July 13-18 and July 27-Aug. 1
TLU campus
830-372-8047
Click here for more information on TLU Summer Programs. Back to the top
