Truitt Clinard: A profile on Harris College Board of Visitor's chairperson

Fort Worth, TX

11/3/2008

Since graduating from Paschal High School in 1964, Truitt Clinard has seen many changes in Fort Worth. He recalled the great number of old haunts such as Carlsons on University, the Merry Go Round on Berry and many downtown icons such as the Palace Theater that are long gone. Many areas have gone through renovations, and of course the DFW airport areas have mushroomed. However, if one stays inside Loop 820 a lot has remained about the same. The Seventh St. development is an exception and the Museum district will be a great thing for Fort Worth, but many of the things he remembers from his high school days are pretty much the same.

Having grown up in Fort Worth, Truitt was always a TCU fan. He can’t remember ever not wanting to attend TCU. Having said that, he did admit that his first college semester was spent at Baylor in Waco. But he still wanted to go to TCU because of its size, small classes and academic opportunities. Truitt transferred to TCU after one semester and never considered leaving.

Truitt’s fondest memories as a student at TCU are much the same as others. He enjoyed his friends, many of whom were classmates at Paschal, and the new friends that he met from around the state. Life was relatively simple back then and their biggest worry, or so they thought, was a job after graduation. The recently razed Student Center was the site of many memorable gatherings. He also appreciated getting to personally know many of his professors. Because of TCU’s size, that was possible and he benefited greatly from this.

After graduating from TCU, Truitt joined the U.S. Marine Corps and moved to Quantico, Virginia. During his service time he resided in Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina. Following his military tour he first moved back to Fort Worth and then to Houston where he lived for ten years. In 1982, he relocated back to Fort Worth and has resided here ever since.

His first job after the service was in real estate, initially working for several large commercial brokers in Dallas and Houston and then for commercial real estate developers in Houston. With several of his former TCU friends he went into business for himself and has pretty much done all aspects of commercial real estate from brokerage, development and real estate investments.

In 2003, Truitt was involved in the real estate development of a community cancer center on Magnolia Avenue. Dr. Bill Jordan, a Paschal and TCU graduate and childhood friend of Truitt’s, is the head oncologist at the center. Dr. Jordan asked him to consider spending time leading a charitable foundation, the Cancer Education and Research Foundation of Texas, which had been established several years prior to the new center construction. Truitt has been Executive Director of that foundation since then.

Although not directly involved in the health care industry, the Foundation tries to help cancer patients and their families through education, cancer screening and financial assistance.

However, being on the periphery of the health care industry Truitt can’t help but see the need for increased health care availability to more patients. “We have made great progress in the treatment and prevention of many diseases and new progress is made each day,” Truitt noted. “It is truly amazing how the health care industry has grown and the technological advances that have been made. The big question now is how the average patient can afford to receive the treatment. Whether that comes from the private sector or some governmental program is the topic of many heated debates. However, in my opinion, whatever the answer, the health care industry as it now exists must remain intact in some form.”

Last year the Foundation began discussions with Harris College of Nursing & Health Sciences in an attempt to devise a nursing program that would interest students in the oncology nursing discipline. With the help of Dr. Burns and Dr. Lockwood, they established a student intern nursing program with Harris College and the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders. Harris College selects junior and senior nursing students who have expressed an interest in oncology nursing and the Foundation pays them to work as interns at the Center. Most of the interns work a day a week during the school year and full time during the summer break. They believe this to be the only such program in the nation. It benefits Harris College by providing a few elite nursing students with the opportunity to work in a clinical oncology environment and benefits the Center by providing a teaching opportunity that will hopefully lead to the involvement of future Harris College graduates in the oncology field. This relationship led to his involvement in the Harris College Board of Visitors.

Under the leadership of Dr. Burns and her staff, Harris College has experienced unprecedented growth in both enrollment and national recognition, both at the graduate and post-graduate level. This growth has brought new demands for faculty, staff and facilities. The challenge for Harris College and the Board of Visitors is to assist the College and TCU in providing the needed instructional capability and class space for nursing students. Yearly, many qualified applicants to Harris College are denied admission because of faculty and space restrictions.

As Chairman of the Board Truitt thinks it is his responsibility to make this situation known to TCU graduates, Harris College supporters, and friends of TCU who are financially capable of providing the funds that are needed to assure the continued growth and recognition of the College.

“Harris College ranks as one of the premier nursing schools in the country,” said Truitt. “It is our responsibility to ensure that the future growth and recognition of Harris College is not compromised by the lack of financial resources.”