The Pride Online - Summer 2003

Page1

ALUMNI AMBASSADORS 2003

Academic departments at A&M-Commerce recently acknowledged the career achievements of 28 graduates, honoring them with the title of
Alumni Ambassador. It is the highest award an academic department can bestow upon a graduate or former student.

Dr. David C. Wiley BS ’78, MS ’81 San Marcos, TX health education professor, Southwest Texas State University	Scott D. Livingston MS ’99 DeSoto, TX director, Marketing & Business Development, DeSoto Economic Development	Dr. Vivian Dennis-Monzingo BS ’60, MS ’70, EDD ’76 Mesquite, TX interim dean, Academic Support & Mathematics, & math professor, Eastfield College	Dr. Deborah Glass Estes BS ’76, MS ’78, EDD ’94 Sherman, TX The Estes Group
Dr. Genevieve Brown MA ’68, EDD ’79 Huntsville, TX dean, College of Education & Applied Science, Sam Houston State University	Carole Gray MS ’89 Irving, TX director of Disability Services, & adjunct faculty, North Lake College	Dr. Brian C. Canfield EDD ’83 Hammond, LA professor & admin. head, Dept. of Human Development, SE Louisiana University	Ralph Ray Hughes BS ’59, MS ’77 Whitewright, TX retired teacher of math, science & technology, Whitewright H.S.; former instructor, Grayson Co. College

Meet more of your Ambassadors on page 2!

First pitch from the first lady

Nancy McFarland, wife of A&M-Commerce President Keith McFarland, threw out the first softball pitch in ceremonies dedicating the new Cain Sports Complex this spring.

See more on page 4.

Just call her Tincy—that’s short for tenacity

Her life has been shaped by a relentless search for answers on behalf of a troubled son. That search and the perseverance it revealed led Tincy to this University and, from here, to a powerful place on the State Board of Education in Texas.
Tenacity is something Geraldine “Tincy” Miller (MS ’82) is going to need in her role as chair of the State Board of Education. The board and Texas itself are facing a wave of critical education issues, including testing and funding.
From day one she was dubbed Tincy (TINE-see)—as in, the “teensy-tincy one”—because she was the youngest daughter. Her parents might as well have saved themselves the trouble of choosing a girl’s name for the newborn they had expected would be a boy, because in the length of time it took them to decide on “Geraldine,” it was “Tincy” that their baby girl became.
Tincy graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas, got her bachelor’s at Southern Methodist University, and married into a Dallas real estate dynasty.
She is the wife of Vance Miller—the grandson of Henry S. Miller, who founded a company that would become the largest independent real estate brokerage firm in Texas. Tincy and Vance had four children. It was their oldest, Vance Jr., whose difficulties in school and in life turned Tincy into the champion of education that she is today.
“He is the reason I do what I do,” Tincy says. “I did not know I had a very bright but learning disabled child, and he literally fell through the gaps of public education.”
In school Vance Jr. was labeled many things, including “a slow learner.” As happens with many youngsters like him, his learning difficulties turned into something more.

please see “Tincy led,” page 12

Alumni Calendar

July 11-27, selected dates
Summer musical “Godspell”; see p. 3

Oct. 27–Nov. 1
Homecoming 2003:
“Remember the Past ... Live the Future”

July 17-20
“Daddy’s Dyin’” at the University’s Performing Arts Center; see p. 3

Nov. 1
Training School Reunion

Hall of Fame
Anniversary Celebration