Recently the University commissioned a study to learn more about who chooses to become part of the pride. The study asked some very specific questions about pastimes in order to get a general idea of who you are. It turned up some interesting tidbits, including:

1. There are roughly 66,000 of us out there.
2. We own either rods and reels or racquets and wristbands but not both.
3. Our boots boogie to CMT and TNN (Country Music Television and The Nashville Network, for those of you whom this doesn’t describe).
4. We like late-night TV, especially on Saturdays.
5. For many a Lion, wild game is the name of your hunting and angling game.
6. More Alumni live in Washington D.C. than in Wichita Falls, Texas.
7. We read either Field & Stream or Cooking Light but not both. And while we agree that perusing Country Living and Southern Living was the thing to do, few of us bothered to pick up a New York Times.
8. Many of our radio dials are tuned to country or classic rock, but rhythm and blues pushes few of our buttons.
9. While we don’t make an especially extraordinary effort to watch award shows, we will go out of our way to catch the annual broadcast of “Frosty the Snowman.”

These are a sampling of the broad results from what’s known as a geodemographic study, this one by Carnegie Communications. A&M-Commerce administrators are using the data to help refine student recruiting efforts and improve Alumni services.
If the descriptions at left don’t fit you at all, don’t worry. Administrators also acknowledge that the Pride has always been an independent pack and say they will not be sending anyone around to revoke the diplomas of even the most individual of individuals.

You may recall that the last issue of The Pride noted how typical students are older than they once were. Need proof? You got it ...

At 73, student Ruth Tharp is no novice at making the grade

Some people go to college so they can get a good job and ultimately retire. Ruth Tharp, a junior at A&M-Commerce, retired so she could finally go to school. Ruth, 73, is pursuing her bachelor’s degree in business administration here after receiving her associate degree last May from Connors State College in Muskogee, Okla. The mother of seven and grandmother of seven more is living on campus in Cowling Hall and is busy with her 15-hour semester load. “I do it mainly for my brain—to keep my brain working,” she says. Ruth says she decided to come to A&M-Commerce after receiving a Phi Theta Kappa transfer Scholarship, Which pays for most of her tuition and her apartment at Cowling Hall."

Alumni make Presence known in marketing,communications

The marketing division recently honored eight of its marketing and communications professionals, and seven of the eight were Alumni.
The staffers had won state, national and international awards for outstanding work in 2002. Recognized were:

Dr. J.P. Slovak (BS ’90, MS ’93, EdD ’96), an assistant professor of biology and former Lions’ football player, who received a Communicator Award of Excellence for the best play-by-play coverage
Dr. Kayla Price (BS ’88, MBA ’90, EdD ’02), director of Alumni Relations, who earned a Circle of Excellence International Award from CASE for A&M-Commerce’s annual Alumni Forum
Luis Camacho (BS ’97), KETR news director, who took two first-place awards best newscast and government reporting
Jaime Harper (BS ’97, MS ’99), director of Web Services, who received a Grand Award from CASE for the A&M-Commerce home

page,which was named the best university Web page in the Southwest
Mary Lou Hazal (BS ’75, MPA ’80), assignments editor in News Service, who landed two national-level awards from the National Federation of Press Women for news releases and two first-place awards and one second-place award from Texas Professional Communicators for news release writing
Vicki Holloway (BS ’89), station manager at KETR, who won a first place for her radio feature following the terrorist attacks of September 11.
Deborah Davies (BS ’92), director of Marketing and Development Communications. who earned a Katie Award from the Dallas Press Club for her work with The Pride.
Since then, The Pride has been given the nod by another group, the Texas Public Relations Association, which conferred on this Alumni publication a certificate of merit.