 Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, The Texas A&M System Chancellor Michael D. McKinney and Board of Regents Chairman Bill Jones will join University President Flavius Killebrew in breaking ground for the new building housing nursing and health sciences programs Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 3 p.m. at the construction site located at the tennis courts adjacent to Chapman field. Full Story |
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 Schenk Named New Art Museum Director
Joseph B. Schenk, former executive director with the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Okla., has been named director of the Art Museum of South Texas, an affiliate of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Schenk, who holds a master’s degree from Ball State University in Indiana, served as the director of the Gilcrease Museum for four years where he developed a five-year plan that included extensive additions to exhibition and educational programs. Full Story |
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New Experimental Garden to Focus on Environmental Education
 The College of Education held a dedication for its new Experimental Garden for elementary school students Friday, Oct. 12, at the Early Childhood Development Center. Following a brief ceremony, students and teachers began their first experiment by planting three plants that are native to the region along with three that are not. The purpose will be to observe and document the growth patterns of both groups. Full Story |
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' Paint the Island Pink' Expo Stresses Importance of Breast Cancer Awareness
The Women’s Center for Education and Service held its fourth annual “Paint the Island Pink” expo Thursday, Oct. 4, in the University Center, Lone Star Ballroom. The expo, which included a breast cancer panel, was part of the University’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month observance. The expo provided information on the importance of regular self-examinations for early detection of breast cancer. Full Story |
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'Family Science Night' Held at Cullen Middle School
 Dr. Cherie McCollough’s Foundations of Life Sciences class conducted a “Family Science Night” Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Cullen Middle School cafeteria. The event, part of the University’s Engaging Hispanic Parents in Mathematics and Science Program, covered topics including biology, ecology, and environmental science.
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'The Wild Man of the Navidad' Comes to Life at the Performing Arts Center
 Greeks Productions and the screenwriter of the original ‘70s horror classic “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” presented a special screening of their vintage horror flick “The Wild Man of the Navidad” Friday, Oct. 26, at the Performing Arts Center. A reception and question and answer session followed the screening, which was part of the University’s 60th Anniversary Speaker Series. Dr. Bill Huie, professor of communication and TV-film, was emcee, and Austin rockabilly band Charlie Hurtin and the Hecklers, which provided the film’s music tracks, performed. Full Story |
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| Awards, Honors, and Grants |
 Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi students Arturo Saucedo and Armando Martinez were the first recipients to receive scholarships this fall through The Jeremy Trejo Good Fathers Scholarship Foundation. The foundation was established by Trejo’s in-laws, John and Diane Torrey. Institutional Advancement hosted the Jeremy Trejo Good Fathers Foundation scholarship luncheon on campus for the recipients and the Torreys Thursday, Sept. 27. Full Story |
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 The University’s Pollution Prevention Partnership (P3) has been honored as a “Blue Skyways Partner” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. P3 Director Gretchen Arnold accepted the award during the EPA’s semi-annual meeting in St. Louis, Mo., in October. Through its AutoCheck program, the P3 has screened more than 20,000 vehicles and funded the repair of approximately 120 polluting vehicles at participating repair shops. Full Story
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 Dr. Marsha Grace, a professor in the University’s College of Education, has received the Literacy Award from the Texas State Reading Association for her outstanding contributions to the promotion of reading. She will be honored at the association’s annual breakfast, Sunday, Nov. 11, in El Paso. Grace, who works extensively with children in area school districts and the Boys and Girls Club of Corpus Christi, designed a tutoring program that encourages life-long learning and the love of reading, writing and books for children in first through sixth grades. |
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| Research and Scholarly Activity |
 Dr. Thomas Naehr, an associate professor of Geology and Environmental Science in the University’s College of Science and Technology, gave the keynote lecture at the 2007 International Conference on Geological Engineering in Wuhan, China, in October. Naehr’s presentation centered on the history challenges, and developments in scientific drilling for gas hydrates. His visit is part of a collaborative agreement between Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and China University of Geosciences. Full Story |
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 Dr. JoAnn Canales, professor in the College of Education and co-director for the Clearinghouse for Mexican American Research; Dr. John Fernandez, associate professor and chair of the Department of Computing Sciences, College of Science and Technology; and Laura Leal Rosales, senior grants and contract administrator in the Office of Graduate Studies and Research, presented a session titled “Increasing the Number of Hispanics in STEM” at the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) Conference, Saturday, Oct. 20, through Monday, Oct. 22, in Chicago, Ill. Canales provided an overview of Hispanics in higher education, Fernandez discussed specifics regarding Hispanics in the STEM fields, particularly in computing science, and Rosales provided up-to-date grant funding opportunity information related to HSIs and STEM. |
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 Dr. Marion Nipper, a senior research scientist with the Center for Coastal Studies, gave a talk on "Passive Samplers as Sediment Surrogates in Toxicity Tests" at the annual Science Conference of the International Council for Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in Helsinki, Finland. Her talk was included in the final short list of three best papers at the meeting. The conference was attended by nearly 700 people with more than 250 talks given. Her paper was a result of multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional team work, with co-authors Scott Carr and Jim Biedenbach from the U.S. Geological Survey, and John MacFarlane and Philip Gschwend from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. |
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 Dr. Wes Tunnell Jr., associate director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) and director of the Center for Coastal Studies, and Dr. Kim Withers, associate research scientist for the Center of Coastal Studies, are co-editors of the new book “Coral Reefs of the Southern Gulf of Mexico” to be released in November. The worldwide decline of coral reefs during the 1980s and 1990s spurred Tunnell and the others to write a comprehensive book that would raise awareness of coral reefs and their plight. Tunnell and Withers worked with co-editor Ernest A. Chavez, scientist and professor at the Interdisciplinary Center for Marine Science, National Polytechnic Institute in La Paz, Baja California. The book includes a foreword by Dr. Sylvia Earle, Harte Research Institute program coordinator and advisory council chair. Published by the Texas A&M University Press, the 256-page book is filled with color photos is available by calling 1.800.826.8911 or on-line for $50 at www.tamu.edu/upress. |
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 Jack Gron, a professor in the College of Liberal Arts, spent two weeks in September at the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk in Poland presenting lectures and conducting hands-on workshops and demonstrations at a mold-making and bronze and iron casting symposium. Accompanying Gron were master of fine arts students Brian Przybyla, Leonel Monsivais, Bill Raney, and bachelor of fine arts student Eric Fuertes. While in Gdansk, Gron delivered a lecture on his sculptural activities to faculty members and students from the Academies of Fine Arts in Krakow, Warsaw and Wroclaw. During his stay, Gron and officials at the Academy of Fine Arts discussed possible international exchanges with faculty and students. |
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| Around the Island |
 The Art Department will host an opening reception for the exhibition “Suite Twisted Prints: Precarious Views” Thursday, Nov. 1, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Weil Gallery in the Center for the Arts. This exhibition which runs through Saturday, Jan. 26, 2008, will feature prints by Jerald Krepps, printmaking professor at the University of Minnesota. His works display a variety of personal images revealing intricate facets of the human psyche. |
| The third annual “Heart Gallery of South Texas” featuring photo displays of 49 local foster children seeking permanent adoptive families opens Thursday, Nov. 1, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at Jezebelles at the Art Center of Corpus Christi, 100 Shoreline Blvd. The exhibition, which coincides with National Adoption Month, is a collaborative project between the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s Community Outreach Office and College of Liberal Arts, Spaulding for Children and other adoption agencies. The exhibit features photographs and biographies created by students of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and will be on display through November. |
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 The Theatre Department will present “Molière in Love” from Tuesday, Nov. 13, through Saturday, Nov. 17, in the Wilson Theatre in the Center for the Arts. Performances are at 8 p.m. A matinee performance will be held Sunday, Nov. 18, at 2 p.m. The comedy by playwright Laura Shamas, directed by Marshall Carby, goes behind the scenes of 17th century French theatre to reveal the hysterical underbelly of playmaking. Tickets are $8 for general admission, $7 for seniors and military, $5 for faculty and staff and $3 for students with SandDollar ID. |
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 Returning for a third year, Michael Martin Murphey, will ring in the holidays with his Cowboy Christmas Concert Tuesday, Dec. 4, at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. The award-winning "singing cowboy poet" is the best-selling singer/songwriter of American Cowboy Music. The Cowboy Christmas tour now spans 40 cities per holiday season, and has led to three Cowboy Christmas albums and a Cowboy Christmas DVD. Tickets range from $10 to $30 and may be purchased at www.ticketweb.com.
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More than 500 people showed up to “walk the dog” when the Women’s Center for Education and Service held its “Paws for a Cause” dog walk Friday, Oct. 5, at the University’s hike and bike trail. The event, which was part of the University’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month observance, benefited “First Friday,” a non-profit program dedicated to underwriting free mammograms for South Texas women. Prizes were awarded for the Pinkest Pooch (the best-dressed pinkest dog: male or female) and the Pinkest Pair (best-dressed, pinkest dog and owner).
Along with the University’s annual “Paint the Island Pink” observance, the Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority held “Think Pink Day” Wednesday, Oct. 3. Students, staff and faculty were encouraged to wear pink shirts to show their support for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Many wearing pink on that day gathered at the University Center commons for a group photograph that created a pink wave of unity and support. See Photo
President Flavius C. Killebrew and new President’s Council Co-Chairs Dee and Ted Stephens held a fall reception honoring the members of the 2007 President’s Council Tuesday, Oct. 23, in the Bay View Room of the Art Center of Corpus Christi. The reception also gave thanks to outgoing co-chairs Karen and Larry Urban and encouraged members to renew their membership and ask friends to consider joining. The goal is for the President’s Council to reach 128 members in 2008.
The Islander Cultural Alliance hosted an evening with pro skateboarder Jon Comer Tuesday, Oct. 16, in the University Center, Lone Star Ballroom as part of National Disability Awareness Month. Full Story
Approximately 300 students from eight area school districts attended the eighth annual Texas SkillsUSA District 12 Conference Tuesday, Oct. 2, in the University Center, Lone Star Ballroom. Texas SkillsUSA, a non-profit youth organization created to address the nation’s need for a globally competitive and educated workforce, facilitates trade and industrial education for approximately 15,500 students who are enrolled in high school trade and industrial programs.
On Saturday, Oct. 20, the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi chapter of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) held a Kid’s Science Day Out at the Educational Center for Math and Science. Full Story
The Department of Music presented “Octubafest” on three consecutive nights in October in the Performing Arts Center. “Octubafest” featured the tuba and euphonium students of Dan Sipes playing an assortment of solo, duet and ensemble pieces. The selections included arrangements of familiar music and original compositions for low brass instruments. Closing selections included music by Duke Ellington and Jerome Kern, as well as Robert Schumann’s “Three Hunting Songs, Opus 137” and Georges Bizet’s “Habanera.”
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