V8.14 NEWS FROM SU

News from SU (Vol. 8 No. 14)
Dec. 18, 2006
An Electronic Newsletter for Southwestern Alumni

Happy Holidays!

UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION:
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FEATURED STORIES:
Writing Your Holiday Cards? The Online Alumni Directory Can Help!
Remembering Doug Hooker
"College Education Still Remains a Bargain"

ALUMNI NEWS:
Two New Local Associations Organize
Look at What's Happening in Houston
Dallas Association Launched
2007 Reunion Classes
Register Your Alumni Connection Group
Class Notes Spotlight
Perfect Holiday Gifts

LIFELONG LEARNING:
Brown Symposium XXIX: Who Do We Think We Are?!
Amy Tan to Serve as the 2007 Writers Voice Speaker

CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS:
Carnegie Foundation Recognizes Southwestern for its Commitment to Community Engagement
What's New in Pirate Athletics
Who's Who from SU

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
SU Connections: Metroplex – Jan. 5, 2007
Houston Happy Hour – Jan. 18, 2007
Volunteer Leadership Weekend – Jan. 19-20, 2007
Houston Road Scholars Event – Feb. 8, 2007
Alumni Assembly – Feb. 23-25, 2007
Dallas Happy Hour – Feb. 28, 2007
Brown Symposium – March 5-6, 2007
Homecoming and Reunion Weekend – Nov. 2-4, 2007

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FEATURED STORIES
Writing Your Holiday Cards? The Online Alumni Directory Can Help!
It is here! The long awaited online directory is available for alumni use! The online directory will connect you with former roommates, classmates and old friends. How do you access this resource? First, e-mail alumni@southwestern.edu to request your registration number. Next, visit www.sugrads.org and click on "New User" under "Alumni Directory." Once you are registered, search for friends' names and update your information online!

Remembering Doug Hooker
Whether you knew the late Doug Hooker as a student, faculty or staff member, you will certainly enjoy a song about Doug, written by Eric Hanke ’01. Click here to listen.

"College Education Still Remains a Bargain"
President Jake B. Schrum ’68 wrote an op-ed piece titled "College education still remains a bargain" for the Austin Business Journal. Here is a excerpt from Schrum's article ... "Much has been said in the media lately about the cost of college tuition. But this cost needs to be put in perspective. Try to put your 17-year-old up in an Embassy Suites hotel or any other moderately priced hotel for 240 nights a year -- the length of an average year in college. You would pay about $24,000 for the year, and all you would get is a room, linens and maid service and maybe a free continental breakfast. And even if you went to a budget motel, you'd still spend nearly $15,000. What else would your son or daughter get for the hard-earned $24,000 you spent on a 240-day hotel stay? In a word, nothing. No senior professors or even graduate students to teach them. No science labs or libraries. No music instructors. No technology centers. No tutoring or other help when they can't figure out calculus, write a coherent sentence or parse a differential equation. No help with finding a job or career placement and training. No coaches, athletic trainers or lush green recreational fields. Then consider buying all of these things separately on top of the cost of your Embassy Suites room with continental breakfast, and you may begin to appreciate that a college education is quite a deal." Click here to continue reading the article.


ALUMNI NEWS
Two New Local Associations Organize
Alumni in the Austin and Williamson County areas gathered to discuss developments in launching local associations. Austin-area alumni collectively agreed upon the name "The Greater Austin Association of Southwestern University Alumni" and elected leadership for the organization. In late November, alumni in Williamson County also chose to organize a local association. While officers were elected, the official name of the group is yet to be determined. Stay informed by reading future editions of News from SU for Alumni!

Look at What's Happening in Houston
Nearly 100 alumni and friends attended the annual Candlelight Service for the Season of Advent on Dec. 12. In 2007, attend the first happy hour of the year, scheduled for Jan. 18, at a location to be announced. While you are there, pick up a Southwestern University Alumni T-shirt for $12 each. Also, mark your calendar for a Houston Association Road Scholars event Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007! Erika Berroth, associate professor of modern languages, will present "Berlin Stories." Formal invitations will be mailed in January. Your Houston officers want to know your ideas for Association activities. Complete the Houston Association Survey. Also, don't forget to check out the Houston Association Web site for a list of scheduled events and photos from previous gatherings.

Dallas Association Launched
The Dallas Association of Southwestern University Alumni held its first official event, A Candlelight Service for the Season of Advent, Thursday, Dec. 14, at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. ASUA President Joe Seeber '63 and Local Associations Chair George Cruz '95 installed the three officers, including President Steve Cotton '77, Membership Chair David Leggett '97 and Communications Chair Ryan LaMountain '04. More than 60 people attended this inaugural event. William B. Jones, professor emeritus of history and University Historian, was present to sign copies of his book To Survive and Excel: The Story of Southwestern, 1840-2000. Dallas alumni, mark your calendar for a Feb. 28 happy hour event at Chaparral Restaurant. Check out the Dallas Association Web site for updates on future events.

Attention, 2007 Reunion Classes!
Are you searching for an excuse to gather friends together? Has it been a while since you have visited Southwestern? Will you be celebrating a reunion in 2007? The Office of Alumni Relations is looking for volunteers to coordinate and plan 2007 reunions! Identified volunteers will be invited to attend the Volunteer Leadership Weekend, Jan. 19-20, 2007, for training and planning. We are looking for volunteers to form Reunion Planning Committees from the following classes:
Class of 1957 (50th Reunion)
Class of 1962 (45th Reunion)
Class of 1967 (40th Reunion)
Class of 1972 (35th Reunion)
Class of 1977 (30th Reunion)
Class of 1982 (25th Reunion)
Class of 1987 (20th Reunion)
Class of 1992 (15th Reunion)
Class of 1997 (10th Reunion)
Class of 2002 (5th Reunion)
Interested? Contact the Office of Alumni Relations by calling 1-800-960-6363 or e-mailing alumni@southwestern.edu. If you know someone who would be a great Reunion Planning Committee member, we want to know that, too!

Register Your Alumni Connection Group
Do you keep up with a group of Southwestern alumni with whom you share a common interest or would you like to form a group for a common purpose? If so, then you are eligible to form an Alumni Connection Group! Alumni Connection Groups acknowledge groups of alumni (of at least 25 identifiable alumni members) who are associated through mutual interests and strengthened by their relationships with one another and Southwestern. When you affiliate your Alumni Connection Group with the Association of Southwestern University Alumni, there are many benefits. E-mail alumni@southwestern.edu for an affiliation form and more information.

Class Notes Spotlight
Have you heard? Karen Franta Love ’86 is a senior organizational development specialist for the Methodist Hospital System in Houston. She and her husband, Eric, have a three-year-old daughter, Iris. Love, who serves as the Alumni Council’s lifelong learning chair for the Association of Southwestern University Alumni, welcomes e-mail from alumni interested in lifelong learning opportunities and programs. She can be reached at karenfrantalove@alumni.southwestern.edu.See what your classmates are up to by visiting Class Notes online. While you are there, submit your own class note!

Perfect Holiday Gifts
Are you still looking for perfect holiday gift? Give the gift of Southwestern! The Office of Alumni Relations has several novelty items for sale. One cherished item is the Cullen Keepsake Ornament. Each ornament costs $10 (includes tax), plus $1.50 for shipping and handling. Click here to view the Cullen Keepsake Ornament. Also, if you did not pick up The Story of Southwestern: A Collection of Alumni Stories at Homecoming and Reunion Weekend, it's not too late! Copies of the booklet are $5 each (including tax), plus $3 for shipping and handling. Finally, cookbooks ($5) and aprons ($3), plus shipping and handling, are still available. Stop by the Alumni Center (Roy and Lillie Cullen Building, Second Floor) or call the Office of Alumni Relations at 1-800-960-6363 to make your purchase! (Please note: The Office of Alumni Relations will be closed Dec. 22, 2006, through Jan. 1, 2007.)


LIFELONG LEARNING
As stated in its Core Values, Southwestern University promotes lifelong learning and a passion for intellectual and personal growth. Learn more about upcoming lifelong learning opportunities by visiting www.sugrads.org.

Brown Symposium XXIX: Who Do We Think We Are?!
What are humans in relationship to the many other animals with whom we share the Earth? Religious and philosophical traditions alike have addressed this question in myriad ways and arrived at countless answers. Scientists and ethicists continually grapple with this problem as our choices and actions contribute to the extinction of species after species. While we often live in harmony with other animals, we also experiment on them, mass produce them for food, use them for entertainment and encroach on their habitats. We live constrained by the deep-seeded foundational dualism - “us” and “them” - that we are human and they are animals. But we are all animals, inexorably interconnected. So this symposium (re)asks, “Who Do We Think We Are?!”

Open to the public without charge, the Brown Symposium XXIX is scheduled for March 5-6, 2007. Featured speakers include Paul Waldau, Inés Talamantez, Alice Walker and Marc Bekoff. Click here to view the schedule. Register online! The 29th symposium in the series,“Who Do We Think We Are?!,” has been developed by Laura Hobgood-Oster, associate professor of religion, chair of the Religion and Philosophy Department and holder of the Elizabeth Root Paden Chair in Religion. The symposium is funded through an endowment established by The Brown Foundation, Inc., of Houston.

Amy Tan to Serve as the 2007 Writers Voice Speaker
Amy Tan, author of the 1989 bestseller The Joy Luck Club, will be the 2007 speaker for the Writers Voice series sponsored by the A. Frank Smith, Jr. Library at Southwestern. The 2007 Writers Voice lecture has been set for Oct. 23, 2007. Tan has written several other novels since The Joy Luck Club, including The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001) and Saving Fish from Drowning (2005). Her first work of non-fiction, The Opposite of Fate, was published in 2003. Tan also has written two children’s books, The Moon Lady (1992) and The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994). More information about Tan's lecture will be provided in Fall 2007.


CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS
Carnegie Foundation Recognizes Southwestern for its Commitment to Community Engagement
Southwestern University is one of 76 colleges and universities across the country that have been recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for their commitment to community engagement. The Carnegie Foundation is widely respected for how it classifies institutions of higher education. Since 1973, its classifications have helped students and families seeking a particular type of college to attend, and provided the basis by which colleges and universities are compared for rankings such as those done by U.S. News & World Report. Until now, the Carnegie Foundation had strictly classified institutions of higher education according to characteristics such as the type of degrees they offered, their size and setting, and the profile of students who are enrolled in them. Southwestern, for example, is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a small, four-year, selective residential college. Click here to read more.

What's New in Pirate Athletics
Have you checked out the new Pirate athletics Web site? If not, visit www.southwesternpirates.com for the latest news on Pirate athletics.

Women's Basketball: The women's basketball team won its conference opener and fourth game in a row Friday, Dec. 1, in Georgetown as the Pirates took down the Millsaps Majors 73-45. Southwestern is now 4-1 on the season and 1-0 in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play while Millsaps drops to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in conference.

Men's Basketball: The Southwestern University men's basketball team fell to the Texas A&M International Dustdevils Saturday, Dec. 9, in Georgetown by a score of 63-48. Southwestern will have nearly a three week break until the next game when the Pirates host the SU Classic and take on Swarthmore College at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 29.

Men's Soccer: Two Southwestern University men's soccer players were named to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America South Central All-Region Team that was announced Friday, Dec. 1. Senior Lauro Davalos makes his third appearance as an All-Region honoree. Fellow senior Darryn Lewis also received Third Team All-Region honors.

Who's Who from SU
Each month the University highlights Southwestern's students, faculty, staff and alumni who make unique and meaningful contributions to the University community or the communities in which they live. To read the profiles for this month, visit Who's Who from the Southwestern University Web site.

• Daniel Webb ’08 – Junior Student.
• John Chapman – Professor of Mathematics.
• Sean Smith – Assistant Registrar.
• Anita Fernandez ’06 – Alumna.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
SU Connections: Metroplex – Jan. 5, 2007
Houston Happy Hour – Jan. 18, 2007
Volunteer Leadership Weekend – Jan. 19-20, 2007
Houston Road Scholars Event – Feb. 8, 2007
Alumni Assembly – Feb. 23-25, 2007
Dallas Happy Hour – Feb. 28, 2007
Brown Symposium – March 5-6, 2007
Homecoming and Reunion Weekend – Nov. 2-4, 2007