Texas State University–San Marcos

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Texas State University–San Marcos
Motto: “The noblest search is the search for excellence.”
Established: 1899
Type: Public
President: Denise Trauth, Ph.D.
Students: 28,132 (Fall 2007)
Location: San Marcos, Texas, USA
Campus: 457 acres (1.85 km²)
Former names: Southwest Texas State Normal School (1903–1918)
Southwest Texas State Normal College (1918–1923)
Southwest Texas State Teachers College (1923–1959)
Southwest Texas State College (1959–1969)
Southwest Texas State University (1969–2003)
Nickname: Bobcats
Colors: Maroon and Old Gold          
Mascot: Bobcat
Affiliations: Southland Conference
Website: www.txstate.edu
Logo is a trademark of Texas State University-San Marcos

Texas State University–San Marcos, often referred to as Texas State University or Texas State, is a doctoral degree granting university located in San Marcos, Texas. Texas State is the largest institution of the Texas State University System, the seventh-largest university in Texas, and one of the 75 largest universities in the United States.

As the university's student population has grown -- from 303 in 1903 to 28,132 in 2007 -- the campus, too, has expanded, and today consists of a 457-acre (1.85 km²) main campus and 5,038 acres (20.39 km²) more in recreational, instructional, farm and ranch land. Texas State is also the lead institution of a multi-institution teaching center offering undergraduate and graduate programs in the greater north Austin area. There are 1,586 Texas State students enrolled at the Round Rock Higher Education Center (RRHEC).

Its campus serves as the location of the fictional school TMU (Texas Methodist University) in the NBC hit series Friday Night Lights.

Contents

[edit] History

The school was founded in 1899, and it opened its doors in 1903 as Southwest Texas State Normal School in order to meet a need for teachers in the southwest part of the state. Over a 100-year period, the school has gone from a teachers' college to a multipurpose university. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson, who graduated from the university in 1930 with a Bachelor of Science in History with a Permanent High School Teaching Certificate, is still the only U.S. president to have graduated from a Texas public university.

The school has changed its name five times since opening:

  • Southwest Texas State Normal School (1903–1918)
  • Southwest Texas State Normal College (1918–1923)
  • Southwest Texas State Teachers College (1923–1959)
  • Southwest Texas State College (1959–1969)
  • Southwest Texas State University (1969–2003)
  • Texas State University-San Marcos (Since 2003)

The most recent name change took effect in September 2003. After several years of inconclusive discussion, leaders from the Associated Student Government (ASG) of Texas State convinced the Texas Legislature to pass a law changing the university's name. The new name change also brought along a re-branding as well. The logo was changed to represent the campus' oldest building, which is called Old Main.

[edit] Campus

Old Main sits atop Chautauqua Hill and overlooks the campus. The Gothic-style building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Old Main sits atop Chautauqua Hill and overlooks the campus. The Gothic-style building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The campus is in San Marcos, a community of nearly 50,000 people about halfway between Austin and San Antonio on Interstate 35. Its location on the banks of the San Marcos River provides students with recreational and leisure activities, such as swimming and tubing, throughout the year.

Overlooking the campus and serving as a geographic landmark since 1903 is Old Main, a restored red-gabled Victorian building. Old Main has undergone many renovations. Originally, most of the second floor was a large auditorium/chapel, with an ornately carved and filigreed cathedral ceiling. With a stage at one end and a balcony at the other, this is where general assemblies, plays and presentations were held. The auditorium was subdivided into smaller rooms in the 1972 renovation, and in 1988 a floor was added at the balcony level. However, the remnants of the ornate ceiling are still visible on the third floor. An extensive restoration in 1993-94 returned the famous roof to its original style and color. Old Main now houses the School of Fine Arts and Communication, the Department of Mass Communication and Student Media.

In 1979, the university purchased the former site of San Marcos Baptist Academy, located adjacent to the original campus and added a number of classroom buildings and residence halls. The main campus today covers approximately 457 acres (1.85 km²), as well as an additional 5,038 acres (20.39 km²) of farm, ranch, residential and recreational areas. Enrollment in fall 2007 was 28,132, compared to an opening enrollment in 1899 of 303.

The Albert B. Alkek Library offers students a wide range of learning resources, including more than 1.4 million books, documents, serials and other printed material. In addition there are more than 235,000 volume equivalents in microform and 32,000 AV titles, including 1,900 software programs for the public computer lab. The library receives 8,500 print or electronic journals and provides access to 195 databases covering all subjects. An online catalog provides information on the library's holdings.

Through TexShare, a statewide resource-sharing program, students have borrowing privileges at nearly 150 university, community college and public libraries in Texas. Interlibrary loan and a course-reserve service (including E-Reserves) are provided.

The library includes a computer lab with IBM-compatible and Macintosh workstations, laser printers, scanners, and video-editing equipment. Computer workstations with adaptive equipment for disabled users are also available. Laptop computers connecting to a wireless network may be checked out for building use.

On a hot summer day in 1916, Dr. S.M. “Froggy” Sewell, a mathematics professor, went wading into the brush- and weed-choked San Marcos River. No place was deeper than three feet, and all agreed that the college needed a park. In 1917 the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries leased the college four acres of land along the river. College workers armed with mud scrapers and mules cleaned the river bottom, built up the banks and smoothed the slopes. The park was called Riverside until it was renamed for Sewell in 1946. The present-day plaza and basketball court used to be an island, but the eastern fork of the river consistently got clogged and was eventually filled in. The S-shaped bend in the river was shored up by concrete walls in the 1920s. In 1984, a $1 million renovation gave the present six-acre park its current look. Sewell Park is open to Texas State students, faculty and staff. Concerts, RecJam and the annual River Fest are held yearly at Sewell Park. The events bring out many students as well as members of the San Marcos community. In 2008 presidential hopeful Barack Obama used the park to speak to Texas State Students and San Marcos residents.

[edit] Academics and faculty

Texas State University offers 111 bachelor's, 87 master's and seven doctoral degree programs from nine colleges:

  • The university's Department of Geography is top-ranked nationally, and its School of Music is considered[citation needed] to have one of the top music education programs in the nation.
  • In 2008, for the third consecutive year, Texas State was ranked in the top tier of master's universities in the 15-state Western Region of the U.S. News ranking system.
  • The Princeton Review named Texas State a 2008 “Best Western College” and a 2007 “America’s Best Value College.” Only three other premier Texas universities received the distinction.
  • Still honoring its founding as a teachers' college, Texas State certifies more teachers than any other school in Texas. It has been recognized by the Association of Teacher Educators as one of the top three teacher education programs in the country and is headquarters for the National Center for School Improvement, the Texas School Safety Center and other education initiatives to meet the challenges of public education today.
  • The Geography Department has been ranked the largest and one of the best programs in the nation for many years by the Association of American Geographers.
  • Since the university's first two doctorates in geography were awarded in May 2000, the number of doctoral programs offered by Texas State has increased to seven. Doctorates are now offered in environmental geography; geographic education; geographic information science; school improvement; adult, professional and community education; aquatic resources; and physical therapy. The Coordinating Board has praised the university for the manner in which it developed its doctoral programs—by building on already successful undergraduate and graduate programs.
  • The College of Business Administration, renamed for Emmett and Miriam McCoy, whose $20 million gift has endowed chairs and scholarships and developed programs for students and faculty, was moved into a new building in 2006.
  • Faculty members in geography, communication studies, business, mathematics and mass communication have been recognized as the best in the nation in their fields. Sixteen faculty members have been honored as Piper Professors, an annual recognition of the top college faculty in the state.
  • The graduate Master of Public Administration program has won five national awards for outstanding student research papers. Department chair Patricia Shields won the 2007 Laverne Birchfield Award for best public administration book review from the American Society of Public Administration (ASPA) in Washington, D.C.
  • The Texas State MathWorks Summer Program received one of five Texas Higher Education Star Awards for exemplary programs to close the educational gaps that challenge the state. Its creator was one of 10 individuals in the nation honored by President Bush for remarkable results in increasing the participation of persons with disabilities, minorities and women in science, math and engineering.
  • The engineering and technology curriculum is designed to ostensibly produce a qualified workforce for the high-tech industry, with programs in manufacturing engineering and semiconductor manufacturing. The Mitte Complex, which is named for alumni donors Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte, opened in fall 2003. It contains a state-of-the-art microchip fabrication facility.
  • The creative writing program in the College of Liberal Arts is rapidly building its national reputation. It has been cited by Associated Writing Programs as "a dynamic program” that will likely establish Texas State as “a regional – but very unlikely national – center for the literary arts.” In the March 6, 2005, edition of the Des Moines Register, David Fenza, director of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs, calls the English Department’s MFA program “a rising star” and one of the “young Turks” positioned to challenge the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, the nation’s top creative writing program at the University of Iowa. National Book Award winner and author, Tim O’Brien held the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing for 2003-2004, 2005-2006, and 2007-2008.
  • The sound recording technology program, housed at Texas State’s unique Fire Station Studio, is the only degree program of its kind in the Southwest.
  • In 1995, the Texas State College of Education established the Tomás Rivera Children's Book Award. Rivera (1935-1984) was Texas State's first Mexican-American Distinguished Alumnus. Since 1995, this award has encouraged authors, illustrators and book publishers to create quality children's literature that authentically reflects the history and culture of Mexican-Americans.

[edit] Students

  • Texas State’s admissions standards are among the highest in the state for public institutions. *Today almost all incoming freshmen graduated in the top half of their high school class, compared with three-quarters of them in the late 1980s; more than half are from the top quarter of their classes, compared with 35 percent in the late 1980s.
  • Texas State is the third most popular choice of colleges for Texas students who apply electronically. About half of students apply online.
  • The retention rate of freshmen is now 75 percent, up from 57 percent in the late 1980s. (Source: Institutional Research, Texas State University-San Marcos)
  • The student body is 30 percent ethnic minority. (Source: Institutional Research, Texas State University-San Marcos)
  • Texas State continues to be among the top 20 producers of Hispanic undergraduate degrees in the country.
  • Student teams in debate, advertising and free enterprise routinely place high in national competitions.
  • The Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team won the international competition in 2000 against 700 teams from 15 countries and has placed among the top 20 for eight straight years.
  • The students in the Collegiate Entrepreneurial Organization tied for first place overall in a nationwide competition in 2006.
  • The American Advertising Federation student team placed third in nationals from a field of more than 250 universities in 2004 and won the National Championship for the Yahoo! campaign in 2005.
  • The Texas State collegiate chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) has been consistently named a Superior Chapter, being among the top four chapters out of more than 150 internationally. The case competition team was awarded third place in 2007 and second place in 2006 out of more than 60 submissions each year.
  • Student Matthew Tiffee beat out hundreds of other students to win one of two positions on the 2004 U.S. Debate Team.
  • Students from the Mass Communication Department scored an unprecedented round of wins during the spring of 2005.
  • The University Star won more than 24 awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, including 1st Place Best in Show and 1st Place for Overall Excellence, and 9 awards from the Texas Community Newspaper Association.
  • Student Sean Wardwell was recognized as a national finalist for the 2006 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award for general column writing.
  • Radio students at KTSW-FM won 10 awards and TV students five awards at TIPA.
  • In a separate competition, Texas State public relations students placed in the top three out of 75 teams nationally in the Bateman Competition, advancing to the next level.
  • Texas State students in jazz, marching and concert band, symphony, choirs, instrumental ensembles, mariachis and steel drum band maintain schedules of performances across the state and the world; the jazz program has been featured for years at the Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival. The Bobcat Marching Band has performed across the United States and in several countries around the world, including Ireland and Mexico. The Texas State Symphony Orchestra has most recently toured Europe, accompanied by the Mariachi ensemble.
  • Students in the Communication Design program continue to sweep competitions in Houston, San Antonio and Dallas, building the Department of Art and Design’s reputation as Texas’ leading graphic arts program.
  • Bobcats compete in 16 intercollegiate sports in NCAA Division I (FCS subdivision in football), where 360 students are scholarship athletes, in addition to a wide-ranging program in intramural and club sports, which are open to all students.
  • Students are offered leadership opportunities in some 300 social, professional, political and religious organizations.

[edit] Athletics

Bobcat Stadium
Bobcat Stadium

Texas State University competes in NCAA Division I for all sports with football competing in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision. However on November 26, 2007, President Denise Trauth announced that the University has plans for moving the football team to compete in the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) within the next five years. Texas State has a rich athletic history with National Championships in men's basketball (NAIA: 1960), men's tennis (NAIA: 1981-82), men's golf (NCAA Division II: 1983) and football (NCAA Division II: 1981-82). Texas State won the Southland Conference title and advanced to the Division I-AA football playoffs for the first time since the 1980s in 2005, losing in the semi-final game to eventual National Runner-Up Northern Iowa in overtime 40-37 and finished with an 11-3 record.

Texas State University adopted the bobcat as an official athletic mascot in 1920. The bobcat is a resident of the Central Texas Hill Country. Texas State coach Oscar Strahan once said, "A bobcat will fight you with everything he has; with four claws, teeth, speed and brains." Texas State was the only college in the country until the late 1920s to possess the name for its athletic teams.

The school's official mascot is Boko the Bobcat. The mascot was selected by the student body in 1920. Boko was the winner of the 2006 United Spirit Association Collegiate Nationals championship mascot of the year.

Volleyball Coach Karen Chisum is currently in ninth place among active Division I coaches in career wins compiling a 616-391-3 record in 27 seasons as head coach. Former Women's Basketball coach Linda Sharp was inducted into the Collegiate Hall of Fame in 2001.

Men's sports:

Women's sports:

[edit] Student life

Texas State has an active Greek System, with over 30 different fraternities and sororities. Texas State has more than 260 student organizations within the categories of Academic, Chartered, Greek, Honors, Multicultural, Political, Professional, Recreational, Religious, Residence Halls, Service, Special Interest and Sports Clubs. The Greek community at Texas State includes a variety of service, traditions, leadership, service and more! There are 31 organizations and more than 1,300 students who are members.

The Lyndon B. Johnson Student Center is a 220,000-square-foot (20,000 m²) facility that houses the following:

Computer Labs (Click's, 4th Floor and Lyndon's e-mail stations)

  • Study areas and Quiet Study Lounge
  • ATM Machines and Telephones
  • Gaillardia Gallery

[edit] Student media

Texas State's FM radio station, KTSW, broadcasts at 89.9 MHz and provides sports coverage of Texas State athletics as well as an eclectic mix of music. The KTSW website provides live streaming of broadcasts and the Texas State television channel employs KTSW broadcasts as background music. KTSW has its offices located in Old Main, the most iconic building on the campus. Along with a radio station, The University Star is an award-winning newspaper, which publishes three days a week. Along with a publication distributed around campus and the San Marcos community, the Star maintains an up to date website for news, trends, sports, weather and opinions.

[edit] Facilities

Texas State as of the beginning of the 2007-2008 Football season has unveiled multiple new scoreboards for the various sports facilities located around the Texas State campus.

Sports facilities at Texas State:

  • Strahan Coliseum - used for Men's and Women's Basketball and Volleyball
  • Jim Wacker Field at Bobcat Stadium - used for Football and Men's and Women's Track and Field; further expansion of the stadium is under consideration.
  • End Zone Complex - used primarily as a training facility for Football and Men's and Women's Track and Field. Also serves as offices for coaches.
  • Bobcat Field - used for Baseball and Softball (two separate fields), plans are underway to redesign both fields for the Baseball and Softball team. Fundraising and completion of the stadiums is uncertain.
  • Bobcat Soccer Complex - used for Soccer
  • Golf course - used for Men's and Women's golf
  • Tennis courts - used for Women's tennis

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Indicators of Excellence Notable Alumni. Retrieved on 2007-03-17.

[edit] External links

Downtown San Marcos
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San Marcos, Texas
Government

City Hall · Hays County Courthouse · Fire · Library · Police
Transportation

Airport · CARTS · Interstate 35 · San Marcos Station
Education

Hays CISD · San Marcos Baptist Academy · San Marcos CISD · Texas State University
Companies

CFAN · Grande Communications · McCoys · Wide-Lite
Parks & Recreation

Aquarena Springs · Activity Center · Bobcat Stadium · City Park · Dunbar Park · Lucio Park · Playscape · Quail Creek Country Club · Rio Vista Park · San Marcos River · Sewell Park · Strahan Coliseum
Other

Austin · Edwards Aquifer · Freeman Ranch · Gary Job Corps · Hill Country · Lyndon Baines Johnson · Outlet Malls · San Antonio · San Marcos Springs · Wimberley · Wonder Cave · Wonder World
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Texas State University System
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Southland Conference