BOLDLY GO newsletter

December 2024

Fall 2024 wraps up in the spirit of the season

Dear Friends,

We have much to be grateful for as we close out the fall semester and 2024 with more noteworthy achievements, including prestigious wins, accolades for community service, donor investments that will pave the way to future success, art that can serve as a balm to a weary world, and, of course, our graduates.

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Design team wins NASA-sponsored challenge for fifth time

When it comes to solving some of the most vexing challenges associated with space flight, Texas Woman’s kinesiology students have repeatedly devised award-winning solutions. For the fifth time in seven years, a TWU team took the top overall prize at the NASA-sponsored design challenge, beating out 18 other teams in November. Our team, made up of kinesiology undergraduates, developed a device that restricts blood flow during resistance training to help reduce astronauts’ muscle atrophy during long space flights. I am so proud of our students and their faculty for demonstrating time and again the intellectual power of the pioneering spirit we cultivate at Texas Woman’s.

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Fashion students create garments for hospital patients

For the second year, students in Remy Odukomaiya’s Fashion Design & Merchandising class had a touching gift for children at Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas: clothing for patients with scoliosis, spina bifida or other conditions. Texas Woman’s students designed and tailored multiple sets of clothing that make it easier for the patients to dress themselves. Their designs were not only functional but fashion-forward. The gesture brought as many smiles to the students who created the garments as it did for the children receiving them. It reminded me that we have so many thoughtful individuals at Texas Woman’s whose hearts are always in the right place around the holidays.

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Denton businesswoman gives $1 million to aviation program

As a military officer, Kathleen Hildreth flew VIPs in Korea and also flew as a maintenance test pilot. Years after her stint in the U.S. Army, she became a businesswoman, taking on U.S. Department of Defense service contracts. Now, she is serving her country in another way: by helping students become pilots to address an industry shortage. Hildreth, a West Point graduate, recently gave TWU’s aviation program a $1 million gift, half of which went to scholarships for each student in the inaugural cohort of our burgeoning aviation program. The other half will match future donations to grow the program. Her gift will go a long way toward defraying students’ costs for flight training, and I am truly inspired by Hildreth’s commitment to helping others in an industry for which she has so much passion.

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Mural class completes breezeway project

The breezeway at the base of the Administration Conference Tower got a colorful makeover recently courtesy of Giovanni Valderas’ mural class. Students completed their project with an eye-popping stained-glass motif inspired by beloved campus architecture and the overall university mission. The class engaged in a rigorous public art design and selection process, where the proposals gave a nod to the Learn to Thrive: Strategic Plan 2022 that helped Texas Woman’s University System win the American Council on Education and Fidelity Investments 2023 Award for Institutional Transformation. That award money helped fund the project. The mural invites passersby in one of the most high-trafficked corridors on the Denton campus to stop, think, and engage with the space and each other.

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More than 1,500 grads take part in fall commencement

It was another jubilant three days of commencement exercises, with more than 1,540 graduates participating in five ceremonies in Denton and Houston. It is a wonderful reminder to TWU faculty and staff that this is the reward for their many efforts. It is particularly moving to me seeing the expressions of pride in such a significant accomplishment and gratitude toward the faculty, staff, family, and friends who supported these graduates along their journey to this milestone.

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Finally, Chad and I would like to share with you a video message that sums up our feelings during this holiday season. I thank you all for your support of Texas Woman’s and look forward to connecting with you in the new year.

As always, email me with your comments or questions. I am delighted that you have spent a few minutes with me today.

Warm Regards,

 

 

 

 

 

Follow Carine M. Feyten, Ph.D.

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Page last updated 3:12 PM, December 20, 2024