President Gives Service Awards, Yearly Message
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President James
F. Gaertner |
In his traditional fall-semester-opening state-of-the-campus
message, SHSU President James F. Gaertner Monday painted a
picture of a university moving and improving.
Gaertner addressed faculty and staff in the Criminal Justice
Center auditorium and also presented awards to employees with
35, 25, and 20 years service, as well as recognizing staff
excellence award winners selected last spring.
Those recognized for 35 years of service were Leroy Ashorn,
Jerry Bruce, James DeShaw, Glen Kercher, Tom Kordinak, Vic
Lukaszewski, Maureen McIntyre and Jacque Gilliam.
Recognized for 25 years of service were Keith Jenkins, Joe
Kirk, Kay Billingsley, Ann Holder, Allene Smith, Julia May,
Albert Butcher and Frank Parker.
Twenty year service awards were presented to Kristina Hanssen,
Jack Turner, Debra McCall, Nancy Templeton-Wilson, Janis Cruse,
Cheryl Bumpass, Shelly Smith, Junie MacCormack, Jane Teske,
Teresa Ringo, Denise Henry and Jessie Turner.
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| 35-Year Service Award winners, from
left, front row, James DeShaw, Maureen McIntyre, Jacque
Gilliam, Glen Kercher and Tom Kordinak. Back row, from
left, Jerry Bruce, Leroy Ashorn, Vic Lukaszewski. |
Staff Excellence Award winners Debra Kleppelid, Shirley Miller,
and Sherry Hirsch were also recognized.
Gaertner complimented the entire university community on efforts
which have led to what is expected to be a record fall 2005
enrollment well over 15,000 students. The number Monday stood
at about 15,300, Gaertner said, but would change slightly because
of drops and adds before the 12th class day deadline.
SHSU's minority enrollment is holding steady at about 27 percent,
he said, with about 55 percent of Sam students receiving some
kind of financial aid and more than half representing their
families as the first ever to earn a college degree.
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| 25-Year Service Award winners, from
left, Allene Smith, Frank Parker, Julia May, Albert Butcher,
Kay Billingsley, Joe Kirk, Ann Holder. Not pictured, Keith
Jenkins. |
The cost of attending SHSU is about $11,500-$12,000 for nine
months, he said, which is about average among 35 Texas colleges
and universities.
"We don't ever want to be near the bottom," he said,
"because we're better than that."
A special point of pride is that the SAT entrance score average
of SHSU students continues to increase and now stands at 1038.
"We've blown by the state average of 992 and are above
the national average of 1026," he said.
Retention rates are also increasing, due in large part to counseling
efforts at the SamCenter, which was named one of the top six
such programs in the United States last year.
SHSU now has about 250 doctoral students, and the criminal justice
doctoral progam is the largest in the United States.
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| 20-Year Service Award Winners, from
left, front row, Junie MacCormack, Jane Teske, Jack Turner,
Kristina Hanssen, Debra McCall. Back row, from left, Teresa
Ringo, Nancy Templeton-Wilson, Janis Cruse, Cheryl Bumpass,
Shelly Smith, Jessie Turner, Denise Henry. |
Gaertner recognized individual faculty members who last year
had some of the top achievements of any faculty members in Texas
or the nation. James S. Olson was named Carnegie Foundation
Texas Professor of the Year, Vic Sower was selected as a Piper
Professor, and Rolando del Carmen received the Academy of Criminal
Justice Sciences Founders Award.
Among programs cited by Gaertner were the Alcohol Awareness
Program and the Student Health Center, for their efforts after
the death of four SHSU students in an 18-month period, with
alcohol abuse almost certainly contributing to each.
Academic efforts of special note have included award-winning
theatre students, the community college administration doctoral
program, the College of Business Administration's efforts in
banking and professional golf management, and new laboratories
established in digital forensics and in criminal justice for
crisis events simulations.
Athletic achievements last year included winning the Southland
Conference Commissioner's Cup for overall excellence, Athletic
Director Bobby Williams' receiving the General Robert R. Neyland
Outstanding Athletic Director Award from the All-American Football
Foundation, and the graduation of all 17 seniors from last season's
playoff football squad.
Gaertner also noted the new student convocation held for the
first time this fall, establishment of the ring ceremony tradition,
work toward establishing a nine-hour faculty teaching load,
progress toward the university's first capital campaign, and
giving rate increases by employees as well as overall donors.
Additional accomplishments from 2004-05 included honors by the
Orange Pride dance team, Sammy Bearkat mascot, the ROTC program,
and the "best ever" issue of the new Heritage magazine,
with a circulation of more than 70,000.
Gaertner said that although there has been a construction boom
on campus, more projects are in the works. They include a performing
arts center, removal of Frels/Wilson from the center of the
campus although a specific schedule has not been set for that,
and beginning construction of conference and recreation facilities
on property owned by the university on the Trinity River.
—END—
SHSU Media Contact: Frank
Krystyniak
August 30, 2005
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.
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