The Skyline Newspaper

TSUS vice chancellor Dr. Kenneth Craycraft will speak Dec. 15.

Vice Chancellor To Speak At Commencement

Dr. Kenneth Craycraft, vice chancellor for Academic Affairs of the Texas State University System, will deliver the commencement addresses during Sul Ross State University’s fall graduation exercises.

Craycraft will speak at 10 a.m. Sat., Dec. 15, in the Pete P. Gallego Center on the Sul Ross campus. At 7:30 p.m., he will address Rio Grande College graduates in the Uvalde High School Auditorium. An estimated 140 students on the Alpine campus and 87 at Rio Grande College are candidates for degrees.

Craycraft was named to his present position with the Texas State University System in 2000. Housed in Austin, the TSUS is comprised of eight components and serves over 65,000 students across Texas. As vice chancellor, he oversees the curricular programs of the member institutions, coordinates all system-wide research projects, and serves as a liaison between the System and various government agencies on matters related to academic affairs.

Prior to joining TSUS, Craycraft served as dean of the College of Education and Applied Science at Sam Houston State University for seven years. In his current position, he has also worked on the Regents’ diversity, curriculum, strategic planning, and technology committees.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in Education from Sam Houston State University in 1971 and his Master of Education from Stephen F. Austin State University in 1975, before leaving the state to complete his doctorate in education from Indiana University in 1977.

Craycraft joined the Bowling Green State University faculty in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction for four years prior to returning to Sam Houston State University in 1981 as an associate professor of education. He later rose to the rank of professor before leaving to join the system office. He began his administrative experience in 1983 as the coordinator of Education, in 1987 became the chair of the Division of Teacher Education, later becoming the assistant dean in the spring of 1993, and to dean that fall. He has also served as the state president for the Texas Association of Colleges of Education and as the national president for the Teacher Education Council for State Colleges and Universities.

A specialist in social studies education, Craycraft has published several books and many articles in his area of expertise including "What If…Themes: Making the Most of Teachable Moments," "The Legal Handbook for Texas Teachers," and "The Legal Handbook for Texas School Administrators." He is a co-founder of the Center for Research, Evaluation, and the Advancement for Teacher Education (CREATE), and has served three terms as the National Council for the Social Studies representative to the Early Childhood/Elementary Advisory Board. He has also assisted the Texas Education Agency in the development of the Certificate Examination for Prospective Teachers (ExCET) examinations.

His wife, Sally, is the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources for Georgetown ISD. Their son, Chad, is a first-year student at the University of Texas School of Law.

Winter Registration Continues

Registration continues for Sul Ross mid-winter classes, scheduled Jan. 2-15, 2008.

Web registration will continue through Tuesday, Jan. 1, from 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. daily. Regular registration, in Briscoe Administration Building, Room 202, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m, continues through Friday, Dec. 21. Late registration will be held from 9:00 a.m.-noon Wednesday, Jan. 2, in Briscoe Administration Building, Room 202.

Mid-winter classes include: Animal Science 3407, Sausage Manufacturing (with laboratory); Art 3310, Fused Glass Jewelry; Biology 3303, Sciences in Cinema and TV; Business Administration 4350, Blogs, Podcasts and Social Media; Chemistry 3301, Chemistry in World History; Computer Information Systems 3306, Hardware and Software; Criminal Justice 3302, Victimology (web-based); Criminal Justice 5319, Use of Force (web-based); Fine Arts 1301, Fine Arts Appreciation; Finance 3340, Corporation Finance; Management 4362, Management of Small Business (web-based); Political Science 2305, Federal Government; and Sociology 3302, Victimology Victims Services and Rights (web-based).

Management Students Tour Mexico On "La Entrada" Study

As part of their coursework, Sul Ross State University Master of Business Administration students are researching the highly-controversial La Entrada al Pacifico international trade route.

MBA students in Alpine and Chihuahua, Mexico, took a field trip to Port Topolobampo Nov. 30-Dec. 5, to gain insight on the trade route. The Alpine students and Dr. Pam Marrett, associate professor of Business Administration; Leo Dominguez, associate vice president of Advancement and University Relations; and Jason Hennington, Sul Ross news writer, drove to Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico. There, they were joined by their Chihuahuan counterparts and took the Copper Canyon train to Los Mochis.

"Weekly reports and editorials in the local papers make it clear that the reasons people choose to reside in Brewster County -- its beauty, unique topopgraphy, and peace and quiet -- shall be destroyed by this trade route," Marrett noted.

"Yet, apart from the image provided in the papers of hundreds of trucks barreling through downtown Alpine, what do we really know about La Entrada?"

The trip included a one-day tour of Port Topolobampo and presentations by port officials and representatives of Consejo para el Desarrollo Economico de Sinaloa (CODESIN).

For more information, contact Marrett, (432) 837-8071, or pmarrett@sulross.edu

Remembering Brock Jones

By Julius Dasch
Adjunt Professor, Earth and Physical Sciences

After retiring from NASA in 2002 and moving to Alpine, I applied for an Adjunct Professor of Geology position and started teaching an occasional course in introductory geology. Following 17 years of teaching geology at Oregon State University and another 15 years managing university space programs in Washington, DC, I looked forward to teaching again, especially at my alma mater, Sul Ross. I was provided an office in the Dolph Briscoe Administration Building, among members of the Business Administration Department.

My first course in introductory geology was in the fall of 2002 and my classroom was directly across from my office. I had a great view from the large classroom windows, down at the leafy, green, attractive Mall, which had been essentially a dirt path when I was at Sul Ross as a student, in the midst of the brutal 1950s drought. I could also see the Museum; the Geology Department was housed in the basement of the Museum in my earliest years at the university ….lots of memories!

I had about 25 students in that first class, a good number. As I walked into the classroom on the first day, I saw two disabled students sitting next to each other with their backs to the side wall, facing my desk. One, a disabled veteran, was in a large, heavy, motorized wheelchair. The other had a white cane and was either blind or nearly so. He was assisted to and from class by a young woman who was also taking the class. He was Brock Jones, the hero of my story.

Brock appeared to be in his thirties and was obviously traveled and experienced. He asked numerous questions, made lots of observations, and took a lively part in class discussions. My usual experience in introductory-type courses is a dearth of student comments or questions; I was always trying to introduce more class discussion. No problem with Brock! I could easily have spent hours just discussing the lecture topic with him: earthquakes, water, plate tectonics, whatever.

I ran into Brock and his devoted wife, Isabel, fairly regularly and he always led me into conversation about some scientific topic of his interest. He was scheduled to graduate from Sul Ross in August 2007 and had been admitted to work on a Master’s degree.

He had, of course, special problems with his blindness; geology is a very visual science, and he had to result to memory to "see" what was being described (he had eyesight until progressive diabetes gradually destroyed his seeing). Diabetes and related health issues eventually took their toll. Kidney failure led to a series of heartbreaking attempts to find a transplant. Finally, his body could take no more and he died before reaching his 40th birthday.

Teachers remember good students and some problem students. Brock was a fine student but I remember him more for his good nature and toughness in the face of odds I can only imagine.