Alumni Awards event April 27 honors nine

Fort Worth, TX

4/25/2007

The TCU Alumni Association will present its 2007 alumni awards at a reception and dinner April 27 at The Fort Worth Club.
 
The honorees are Grady S. McCarter III '67, Vicki Vinson Cantwell '78, William E. and Kathleen Mercer, Chad E. and Brenda Almes Cline '81 '82, Ronald J. Henry III '98, Janet George Herald '74 and Neal M. Jackson '07.
 
Grady S. "Mack" McCarter is the winner of the Distinguished Alumnus Award. He is founder and coordinator of Shreveport-Bossier Community Renewal which has received worldwide recognition for its life-changing impact. A graduate of Brite Divinity School  as well as TCU, McCarter served as a church pastor for 18 years before returning to his hometown of Shreveport in 1991. The organization he founded there is focused turning around violent neighborhoods and troubled lives through a network of caring partners.
 
Vicki Cantwell, recipient of the Valuable Alumna Award, is corporate secretary of Threshold Development Company in Fort Worth and a museum collection management advisor. A founding member of the AddRan Board of Visitors, she served on the search committee for a new dean, serves on the steering committee for the Center for Texas Studies, and participated in both the Commission on the Future of TCU and the Vision in Action planning studies.
 
The Honorary Alumnus/Alumna Award goes to William E. and Kathleen K. Mercer of Houston. Thanks to their generosity, even freshmen enrolled in the College of Communications' basic speech communication class make their first speech in a learning lab tailored to duplicate an executive boardroom. The state-of-the-art Mercer Presentation Showcase gives students hands-on experience with the most advanced presentation technology available.
 
Chad and Brenda Cline are recipients of the Royal Purple Award which recognizes not only service to TCU but also to the greater community. She is a TCU trustee as well as executive vice president and CFO of the Kimbell Art Foundation. He is a member of the AddRan Board of Visitors and serves on the steering committee for the Brite Divinity School capital campaign. Both have taken a number of leadership roles in University Christian Church and in TCU boards and committees.
 
PGA Tour pro "J.J." Henry will be presented with the Frog O'Fame Award, having solidified his place among the top golfers in the world. Last year he achieved his first PGA Tour victory then represented the U.S. at the Ryder Cup Matches in Ireland, becoming the first Fort Worth golfer since Ben Hogan to participate there.
 
The Alumni Service Award goes to Janet Herald whose involvement in the life of the University has been consistently steadfast for the past three decades. She worked in various capacities in admissions from 1974 to 1989, in addition to serving on every class reunion committee since her own graduation.
 
The Distinguished Student Award will be given to Neal M. Jackson, who will graduate with honors in May. He is a Chancellor's Scholar majoring in neuroscience and minoring in history.