November/December 2023

Still more to celebrate before graduation

Dear Friends,

It is hard to believe that fall graduation season is already upon us. It seemed not that long ago we were brimming with excitement over a new academic year. In a little over a week, roughly 1,500 students from Denton, Dallas and Houston will be participating in five commencement ceremonies. We are thrilled to have been a part of their academic journey and look forward to the impact each will have on society. Even with graduation quickly approaching, we have other accomplishments to celebrate.

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Design team wins NASA-sponsored space consortium challenge

I was excited to learn TWU’s team took top honors in the NASA-sponsored Texas Space Grant Consortium Design Challenge in November. This marked the fourth time a TWU team won the overall top prize at the competition, and the second time a TWU winning team was made up entirely of women. It is especially gratifying this group of kinesiology seniors, dubbed Team Atlas, took top honors out of a field of 18 entries, made up mostly of engineering students. The competition gives students an opportunity to address real-life challenges that astronauts encounter during space flight. Team Atlas designed and built a resistance and aerobic exercise machine to work lower-body muscles to mitigate muscle atrophy experienced by astronauts during space missions.

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TWU earns Top 10 distinction among military friendly schools

Texas Woman’s has again earned the distinction of being designated a Military Friendly institution, this year earning the #10 ranking nationally among large public universities. Texas Woman’s was one of four Texas universities ranked in the Top Ten nationally. We are proud to have been recognized with this distinction each year since 2009, and are especially honored to be among the 10 institutions in the country recognized as the best at providing extraordinary recruitment, education and employment for military students and employees.

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Partnership hones life skills for people with autism

Texas Woman’s has built a reputation for establishing outreach efforts that improve quality of life for the communities we serve, and the university’s latest partnership is enhancing life skills for people on the autism spectrum. This fall, the university partnered with the 29 Acres Transition Academy to offer students with autism an opportunity to gain life skills through a non-degree program on TWU’s Denton campus. The academy has a specially designed curriculum to help build skills such as money management, social relationships and health and wellness so they can live more independent lives. The partnership enrolled 24 students this fall.

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Mural project underway on Denton campus

Thanks to the efforts of some visual arts students, a new mural will soon grace a vacant building on the western edge of the Denton campus. The mural, titled Your Dream, Your Legacy, will cover the north-facing wall of the former Human Resources building at the corner of Third and Oakland streets. The painting spans 70 feet across and 17 feet high and depicts several TWU and Denton icons and focal points. Visual Arts professor Giovanni Valderas, who teaches the mural class and the importance of public art, expects to complete the project in December.

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Lastly, I am sharing a picture of College of Business Dean Rama Yelkur, whose college mustered up the most representation at a Texas Woman’s basketball game at Pioneer Hall on Nov. 16 to win the annual Dean’s Cup Challenge.

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 4:04 PM, February 13, 2024