Faculty recognized for service to institution

Fort Worth, TX

9/13/2007

Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr. recognized two outstanding faculty during Convocation. Stacey Floyd-Thomas, who has taught in Brite Divinity School since 2002, was named recipient of the 2007 Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Achievement as a Creative Teacher and Scholar, and John M. Thompson III, instructor of marketing in the Neeley School since 1979, was chosen to receive the 2007 Wassenich Award for Mentoring in the TCU Community. Chancellor Victor J. Boschini Jr. made the presentations during Convocation in Ed Landreth Auditorium on Sept. 11.

Since arriving here to teach ethics, Black Church Studies and women's studies, Floyd-Thomas has distinguished in many ways, both on campus and in the community. In creating the Black Church Studies program at Brite, Floyd-Thomas formed an alliance with 35 Black pastors from the North Texas area who have pledged both financial and creative support of Brite's Black Church programs. Most notable among them are the annual State of the Black Church Summit and Awards Banquet, held each spring, and the "Power of Black Preaching" event each fall.

She is also a founder of the Black Religious Scholars Group (BRSG), a national organization of Black scholars working in the area of religion. Membership includes Black clergy and lay people as well as Black members of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). The 10,000-member AAR will honor Stacey with the 2007 AAR Award for Excellence in Teaching at its annual meeting in November. Her first-rate teaching skills were noted by Brite in 2004 when she received both the student-awarded and faculty-awarded excellence honors in the same year.

Thompson, who has taught an estimated 7,000 during his tenure at TCU, is affectionately known as "T" or "Mr. T." Thompson says that after about his first month in the classroom, he learned the value of carving out time for them outside of class.

"Often it is the role model part of mentoring that we don't think about. It is not just the conversations we have and the guidance we provide. It is also the roles we can play that provide life examples for our students to consider for their own lives," he says.

Mark and Linda Wassenich of Dallas, TCU alumni who established this award in 1999 in appreciation for the mentoring they received as TCU students, were present at Fall Convocation.