Horned Frogs in the News, May 1-15, 2025

From Taylor Sheridan to voice cloning, media come to TCU for news and thought leadership. 

INSTITUTIONAL 

Hollywood Storyteller, Fort Worth Son Taylor Sheridan Honored by TCU 
May 13, 2025 
Fort Worth Magazine 
Fort Worth native and Academy Award nominee Taylor Sheridan — one of the most influential storytellers of his generation — was honored with an honorary Doctor of Letters during TCU’s spring commencement. According to the university, Sheridan’s honor recognized both his influence on the next generation of creative talent — particularly within TCU’s Film, Television and Digital Media program — and his example of dogged persistence. “Storytelling is about knowing where you come from and daring to imagine where you can go,” Sheridan said. “TCU students already have the drive, discipline and vision it takes to lead — all they need is the opportunity to step into their own story and own it.”

Mother and Son Graduate Together Over Mother’s Day Weekend: ‘Incredible and Meaningful Moment’ 
May 13, 2025 
People 
A mom and her son spent their Mother’s Day weekend graduating college together. Brandi Fields, 50, and Kyle Fields, 22, both walked the stage as they earned diplomas from TCU on May 9. “Sharing this moment with my son is something I never imagined,” Brandi told the school. “We’ve supported each other through late nights and strict deadlines. To walk the stage together, especially on Mother’s Day weekend, is an incredible and meaningful moment for our family.” 

I Wish Taylor Sheridan Gave My Commencement Speech  
Esquire  
May 12, 2025  
Taylor Sheridan is a Horned Frog. That’s no insult, Yellowstone fans! The most in-demand TV creator was recognized with an honorary degree from TCU over the weekend, where the Horned Frog mascot is the pride of Fort Worth. Recently, Sheridan filmed scenes for the first season of Landman on TCU’s campus. He provided real-world experience in the industry for many TCU film students, vowing to prove that great stories are born right in the heart of Texas. 

TCU’s Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. on building a connected culture 
May 12, 2025 
Smart Brief 
On the campus of TCU this May, Victor J. Boschini, Jr. will be handing out diplomas and pausing to pose for photographs for the final time as the school’s chancellor. Thankfully for the TCU Horned Frog family, the transition for this “super connector” has him remaining on campus. Boschini frequently speaks about TCU’s Connection Culture. “It’s an essential part of who we are as a Horned Frog family,” he says. He deliberately reinforces this culture in his communication. “Someone once told me, ‘Did you know you say the words ‘connection culture’ whenever you speak?’ They were exaggerating, but I told them, ‘Yes, because I believe in it, and we must never lose it.’” 

Mother and son graduate college together 
May 11, 2025 
ABC National News 
Brandi and Kyle Fields graduated together this weekend from TCU, Brandi with an MBA and Kyle with a master’s in liberal arts. “I feel very fortunate… sometimes the best plans aren’t what you expect. We didn’t plan to go to school together, we didn’t plan to graduate on Mother’s Day weekend. I feel very fortunate and happy to be here, experiencing this with my son,” Brandi said. When asked if it was harder or easier to do this with his mom, Kyle said, “I think having her along my side was definitely more helpful than not.”  

Mom and son — donning matching sneakers — graduate from TCU together during special Mother’s Day weekend 
May 10, 2025 
NY Post 
Brandi Fields and her son Kyle graduated from TCU together May 9, marking a very special Mother’s Day weekend for the studious pair. Donning matching purple Nike sneakers — one of the school’s colors — they both received their graduate diplomas at TCU’s first commencement ceremony solely for grad students. “When we found out the graduate programs were in the same ceremony, that’s when it really hit home that we were going to really, truly be doing this together,” Brandi told CBS. Kyle, 22, who received his master’s in liberal arts, was elated upon hearing that his 50-year-old mom, who earned an executive MBA, was heading back to college. “When she was deciding to come back to school, especially at TCU, I couldn’t be more excited,” he told the outlet. 

Rise of the Chief Innovation Officer 
May 9, 2025 
Tech Pipeline 
As more universities have increased their focus on startups as an important output of tech transfer, they are finding the need to build a culture of innovation that permeates the fabric of the university. Someone needs to oversee the creation of that culture. Tom Wavering, chief university strategy and innovation officer at TCU, said, “That’s where I’d probably just challenge that a little bit and say no, unless you’re a school that’s growing enrollment and making money hand over fist, you probably need to be developing and implementing some innovative strategies, curriculum, experiential learning, partnerships, etc.” 

Nine DFW universities make U.S. News’ 2025 list of top grad schools 
May 3, 2025 
MSN.com 
Nine prestigious Dallas-Fort Worth universities have climbed through the ranks in U.S. News & World Report’s recently released report of the best graduate schools nationwide for 2025. TCU in Fort Worth was ranked No. 6 best graduate business school in Texas; No. 43 nationally (up from No. 44); No. 7 best graduate education school in Texas; and tied for No. 114 nationally (up from No. 117). 

FACULTY 

Study Links Ultra-Processed Foods to Higher Risk of Early Parkinson’s Symptoms 
May 15, 2025 
Tittle Press 
A new study has found that consuming a diet high in super-processed foods may negatively impact your brain health. The research, published in Neurology, suggests that people who regularly consume packaged snacks and sweetened beverages are more likely to show very early signs of Parkinson’s disease, a neurodegenerative condition characterized by movement problems. “What you eat today can shape your brain health decades later,” Don Thushara Galbadage, a neurodegenerative disease researcher and associate professor of public health in TCU’s Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences. 

New Research Report Uncovers Website Experience Gaps in Higher Education
May 15, 2025 
PR Newswire 
SearchStax, in partnership with The Chronicle of Higher Education, has released a new original research report titled “Untapped Insights: The State of Site Search in Higher Education,” offering a revealing look at the digital challenges facing colleges and universities today. “Looking at search analytics helps us know where we might have content gaps or where we might need some additional synonyms … to connect people to the most up-to-date, authoritative answer to their questions,” explains Corey Reed ’00, director of website management at TCU. 

Cloned voice keeps TCU faculty member connected 
May 12, 2025 
NBCDFW 
Ed Riefenstahl, director, MBA Experiential Learning at the Neeley School of Business, is slowly losing his ability to speak. “I’m not one who does not enjoy the opportunity to interact,” he said. A New York company, ElevenLabs, used recordings of his voice from before an injury to create a custom voice clone that captured his natural cadence and tone. “I could only find five pieces of audio and not one was longer than one minute to send ElevenLabs. I was told that they only were able to use two of the five and you now can hear more or less exactly how I used to sound, even with pauses and hums.” 

Sandra Peak, MD 
May 12, 2025 
DFW Child 
While other little girls hosted tea parties, a young Dr. Sandra Peak, assistant professor at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, opened a “clinic” and forced her brother to either be a nurse or the parent bringing in dolls to be bandaged. So, it’s certainly no surprise that she grew up to become a pediatrician and care for kids. “I chose pediatrics because, at least for me, it was the one place in medicine where I felt I could truly change a person’s life — and I could do that simply by educating their parents.”  

I’m a Gastroenterologist, and This Is My Go-To Order When I Eat Out 
May 11, 2025 
Parade 
When you eat out, knowing exactly what’s in your food can be tricky. Dr. Rohan Jeyarajah, chair of the department of surgery at Burnett School of Medicine at TCU and a gastrointestinal health specialist, says that when he eats out, he scours the menu for an entree that balances protein, vegetables and carbohydrates. Anything fried is ruled out. There’s a good reason for that, too: Scientific research shows that fried foods kill the good bacteria in the gut. 

Nuts, Seeds and Healthy Diet May Help Lower Risk of Diverticulitis 
May 10, 2025 
Healthline 
New research has confirmed that nuts and seeds, previously thought to trigger diverticulitis symptoms, could be back on the menu for people at risk for the gastrointestinal condition. Dr. James Cox, a gastroenterologist and assistant professor at the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU, explains that it’s important for people with diverticulitis to understand the limits of preventive medicine regarding the condition. Cox wasn’t involved in the new study. “There’s nothing patients can do to prevent the development of the diverticuli or diverticulosis,” he told Healthline. 

STUDENTS 

TCU students talk hip-hop, Black culture amid national and local efforts to
roll back DEI 
May 12, 2025 
Fort Worth Report 
For the students in TCU’s “The Genius of Hip-Hop” class, a recent conversation with a hip-hop duo from the Northeast was a time to talk about life, politics and the struggle to get by. “(Frederick Gooding, associate professor of African American Studies at TCU) is really teaching us how we as a country got to this point today,” said Libby Dolan, a student majoring in nursing. “He discusses the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in the field of music, but also incorporates that into our lives as a whole and our respective fields of study (once) we graduate.” 

Athletics prepared some TCU Burnett School of Medicine graduates for med school 
May 8, 2025 
NBCDFW 
Three Burnett School of Medicine at TCU recent graduates are specializing in different fields, but they all have one thing in common: They were all elite athletes. Isabella Amado MD ’25  represented Panama in the 2016 Olympics. Amado said, “The discipline that comes with the sport has been crucial to get through medical school.” Her classmates Kevin Chao ’21 (MD ’25) and Claire Duican ’20 (MD ’25) swam together on TCU’s swimming and diving team in their undergrad years. “I think for us, the biggest thing, though, is grit,” Chao said. “I mean, waking up at five in the morning for morning practices, afternoon practices, tons of travel. I mean, it got us ready for the rigors of medical school.” Duican said, “And that’s prepared us for some of those exact same situations we’re going to encounter in our medical training and our careers.”  

TCU course inspires roommates to become restaurant franchisees 
May 6, 2025 
NBCDFW.com 
Nate Meyer ’25 and Ty Vansteenburg ’25 met at TCU and bonded over their Minnesota roots. The roommates are students at TCU’s Neeley School of Business. Vansteenburg and Meyer registered for the Introduction to Franchising course taught by entrepreneur, TCU alumnus and adjunct professor Michael Browning ’07. “I’m very excited to graduate and use everything I’ve learned these last four years to push us forward,” Vansteenburg said. “I’m excited to be done, no offense, and kind of put 100% of my efforts into the business,” Meyer said.  

At TCU, the ‘best of the best’ cowboys are learning the ins and outs of ranching 
May 6, 2025 
Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
The TCU Ranch Management 2024-2025 cohort comprises 26 students. While most have some sort of ranching background, not all do. U.S. Army veteran Ross Tolleson’s father has a Ph.D. in rangeland ecology, and Tolleson has long understood the science behind raising cattle, but it wasn’t until he moved to his wife’s family ranch in Jack County, northwest of Fort Worth, that he experienced the actual day-in-day-out challenges ranchers face. “It became very apparent very quickly that I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” said Tolleson. Two weeks after classes began, Tolleson called his wife. “I said, ‘If they kicked me out today, I can come home and we can do things differently.’” 

ALUMNI 

The Lead Prosecutors Have Experience in Complex Racketeering Cases 
May 11, 2025 
The New York Times 
Madison Smyser ’16, an alumna of the AddRan College of Liberal Arts and the John V. Roach Honors College, is on the prosecution team for the sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy” Combs. The member of the all-female prosecution team has prosecuted robbery and fraud cases and recently secured a sex-trafficking indictment of a man from the Bronx. 

Dan Jenkins’ Archive Comes Home to TCU’s Special Collections 
May 9, 2025 
Fort Worth Magazine 
It’s fitting, somehow, that Dan Jenkins ’53 has come home. The Fort Worth son, TCU legend and literary quarterback of the press box, is now immortalized on the TCU campus — not with a statue (though he deserves one), but with something better: his life’s work. TCU’s Special Collections has acquired the personal archive of the late, great Dan Jenkins. “This extraordinary collection not only documents the professional achievements of one of the great voices in American sports writing but also provides a deeply personal glimpse into Jenkins’ life through his scrapbooks and photographs,” said Library Dean Tracy Hull.  

After sister’s death, TCU grad focused grief on an easier way to write your will 
May 6, 2025 
Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
When Brooke Hipps ’24 EMBA lost her little sister, Brady Kent, without warning, the heartbreak was compounded by confusion. Kent died without a will — leaving behind not just grief, but a complex maze of decisions for her loved ones. That experience became the catalyst for Weekend Will, a Fort Worth-based software platform Hipps created to help others avoid the same burden. During her first semester at TCU, a project in her entrepreneurship course struck a nerve. “It was the first time I really started to think about what it means to prepare for the future,” she said. “That’s when Weekend Will started to take shape.”

ATHLETICS

TCU beach volleyball wins first national championship 
May 4, 2025 
Fort Worth Star-Telegram 
TCU won the program’s first beach volleyball national championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Horned Frogs (32-5) became just the third school to win a national title since the national championship began in 2016, joining USC and UCLA. With the match tied at 2-2, TCU’s duo of Daniela Alvarez ’23 and Tania Moreno ’25 came up clutch in the final set as the duo kept their unbeaten streak at Gulf Shores alive. The duo of Anhelina Khmil and Ana Vergara ’25 also finished the tournament undefeated.