From raising awareness on mental health to the Academy Awards and beauty pageants, our faculty, students and alumni are being featured in the news. Check out the latest roundup of newsworthy Horned Frogs.

INSTITUTIONAL

These major universities have announced they won’t increase tuition for next year
April 15, 2021
Forbes 
Some private universities have also made the decision to not increase undergraduate tuition. Marquette University was among the first, announcing its no-increase decision last fall. TCU, American University and Butler University have followed suit.

Using movement to raise awareness for mental health
April 14, 2021
Fort Worth Business Press 
Fort Worth fitness studios, The Jordan Elizabeth Harris Foundation and Roxo Agency – the student-run TCU advertising and public relations agency – are rallying around a simple message in support of physical and emotional wellness: You’re worth it. From April 15th through 17th, these organizations are partnering to raise awareness about mental health in our community.

For Bo: Play inspired by the murder of Botham Jean by officer Amber Guyger premieres at TCU In late April
April 14, 2021
BroadwayWorld.com
For Bo premiers at TCU in late April. Through a fictional narrative, the new original play explores the issues that led to Botham Jean's death in 2018 at the hands of Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. For Bo, which debuted as a staged reading on the TCU campus in February 2020, is written by Theatre TCU faculty member Ayvaunn Penn. She was inspired to write For Bo while closely following media coverage of the aftermath of Jean's death, including watching the murder trial of Amber Guyger unfold in real time.

Anonymous donor pays tuition for medical student cohort
April 13, 2021
Spectrum News San Antonio 
For the second consecutive year, an entire class of medical students at TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine is receiving the gift of free tuition. Danielle Sader is one of 60 students in the Class of 2024 who has been walking with a little more pep in their step, knowing she and her classmates are graduating from medical school with less debt tied to their name.

FACULTY

Fort Worth is electing a new mayor. Here’s what Black Lives Matter activists want to see
April 15, 2021
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Fort Worth activists who demanded change last summer in the wake George Floyd’s death are taking their issues to the next mayor and City Council. The new leaders should unite Fort Worth, address racial issues and work with minority communities, they say. Their influence combined with a large field of candidates make this mayoral election hard to predict, said James Riddlesperger, a TCU political science professor.

Fort Worth lynching tour tells forgotten story of Fred Rouse
April 16, 2021
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Adam W. McKinney, assistant professor of dance and co-founder and co-director of DNAWORKS, was hosting the Fort Worth Lynching Tour: Honoring the Memory of Mr. Fred Rouse. DNAWORKS was presenting the tour and is an arts and service organization that promotes healing and dialogue on issues of culture, identity, class and heritage.

'Black Oscars': Race and the Academy Awards focus of Memphis library event
April 15, 2021
The Commercial Appeal
In what Variety labeled an "Oscar diversity record," nine actors of color were nominated this year for Academy Awards. The milestone presented a hopeful contrast to 2016, when all 20 acting nominees were white, a situation that sparked the critical social media hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. But Frederick W. Gooding Jr., an author and professor at TCU, cautions that achieving meaningful diversity in the acting categories may have more to do with the quality of roles than with the quantity of nominations. 

How do you spot a liar? (Hint: Non-verbal cues don’t matter much)
April 15, 2021
Genetic Literacy Project 
Charles Bond, a TCU psychologist, helped review 206 studies involving 24,483 observers judging the veracity of 6,651 communications by 4,435 individuals. Neither law enforcement experts nor student volunteers were able to pick true from false statements better than 54 percent of the time — just slightly above chance. In individual experiments, accuracy ranged from 31 to 73 percent, with the smaller studies varying more widely. “The impact of luck is apparent in small studies,” Bond said. “In studies of sufficient size, luck evens out.”

Support for Asian Americans must go beyond performative statements
April 15, 2021
The Michigan Daily 
Scott Kurashige, chair of the Department of Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies, co-authored an op-ed with the past-president of the American Studies Association. “In the aftermath of the Atlanta-area spa shootings and a continued upsurge in anti-Asian violence, leaders of colleges and universities across the country have issued statements denouncing anti-Asian racism and extending support to members of the Asian American community,” they wrote. “However, we have also come to expect that these statements will sadly be received by many as performative acts unless they are followed by transformative measures to redress long-standing problems of structural racism and other forms of inequity.”

Surgical Associates of Mansfield - Gary K. Alexander, MD, FACS, CPE
April 13, 2021 
Living Magazine 
Dr. Gary Alexander, assistant professor at the TCU and UNTHSC School of Medicine, is a board-certified general surgeon who is currently the trauma medical director at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center where he has also served as chairman of the department of surgery. He helped establish the hospital’s robotics program, which is currently one of the busiest in the state of Texas. He answers questions on dramatic surgical advancement.

Opinion: Don't make the National Anthem mandatory at Texas sports events
April 12, 2021
Houston Chronicle
Daxton Stewart, journalism professor, co-authored an opinion piece, which stated, “Before the 2023 legislative session, Texans should require their lawmakers to pass a class in constitutional law. The complete disregard for First Amendment rights during this legislative session is shocking and saddening. Last week, the Senate passed SB 4, which would require professional sports teams to play the national anthem. It was the brainchild of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who ironically worked in broadcasting before entering politics.”

ALUMNI

Abbott reappoints Ramirez
April 14, 2021
Fort Worth Business Press
Gov. Greg Abbott has reappointed Manny Ramirez MBA '18 to the Board of the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles for a term that will expire on Feb. 1, 2027. He is president of the Fort Worth Police Officers Association, an elected position in which he serves more than 1,700 civil service employees. He is a member of the Chancellor’s Advisory Council at TCU and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. 

Fort Worth Symphony honors America with special Fourth of July concert
April 13, 2021
CultureMap Fort Worth
The concert will start with John Stafford Smith’s “Star Spangled Banner,” followed by “Lightspeed – Fanfare for Orchestra” by TCU’s up-and-coming composer Kevin Day '19. The rest of the program will remain under wraps until the day of the show, but it will include works by leading Black and Latin American composers like Day and others to create space for composers of color in America’s patriotic repertoire.

Miss USA 2018: Sarah Rose Summers
April 12, 2021
Pageantry Magazine
In an historic moment, Sarah Rose Summers '17 captured the crown, title and accolades, the first woman from Nebraska to earn the Miss USA crown. “I completed my first degree at TCU, Texas Christian University, in strategic Communications with a business minor,” Summers said. “But then I was introduced to the field of child life. And instantly I called my parents back home in Nebraska. I called my advisor. I said, ‘This is what I’m supposed to do.’ … I graduated with a second Bachelor of Science in Child Development.”