In a movie from the early nineties called "Necessary Roughness" the football team was the Texas State Armadillos. I guess fiction can become non-fiction with a legislative stroke.
Chuck (avoiding grading papers) ********************************* Charles M. Huffman, Ph.D. Chair, Psychology Dept. Cumberland College, Box 7990 Williamsburg, KY 40769 (606) 539-4419 ********************************* -----Original Message----- From: G. Marc Turner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2003 11:32 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: Southwest Texas changes to Texas State At 12:22 AM 12/3/2003 -0500, Karl wrote: >PS: When did Southwest Texas State become Texas State? I always wondered >why it was called Southwest Texas State anyhow, San Marcos being a lot >closer to the eastern border of Texas than the western border. Has it been >around since the western border of Texas was near Austin? Despite the fact our Texas legislature couldn't get its act together on just about anything this past year, they did somehow manage to agree that our university needed a new name. Even though the University President said we needed more time to investigate and discuss the issue, opposition from faculty, students, and alumni, they still felt it was what we really wanted. Translation: the former university president wanted the name change and a rather wealthy alumnus was pushing for it, they passed a law changing the name. The reasons the given for the name change make me laugh though... changing the name will allow us to recruit a higher quality of faculty.... changing the name will improve our rankings in national surveys (like US News) because no school currently in the top has a double-directional name... Oh, and the way the law was written, no tax payer dollars are to be used for transitioning to the new name and the university is required to use up all consumables with the old name prior to ordering materials with the new name... so all the letterhead, envelopes, etc. all still say Southwest. The 5000 undergraduate brochures we had printed in the Spring (before this happened) have to be used up before we can order new ones... Only good thing I've seen come from it is an interest by students in my research methods course to investigate the impact that a name change can have on perceptions of the institution, the impact that having a "voice" in the process can influence satisfaction with change, etc. Anyway, long term it will probably be a good thing since we are one of the largest universities in Texas (26,500+ students) and the Southwest really wasn't an accurate description of our location in the state... not to mention the confusion with Southwestern Univ. an hour or so north of us. Time to go spend a few hours listening to student presentations... - Marc ============================================= G. Marc Turner, MEd, Network+, MCP Instructor & Head of Computer Operations Department of Psychology Texas State University-San Marcos San Marcos, TX 78666 phone: (512)245-2526 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
