Wilson bequest endows fellows position at the new John V. Roach Honors College

Following a $6.4 million bequest from James “Tony” Wilson, Jr., ’63, that established an endowed chair and two professorships in the Neeley School, his estate has provided an additional $1.1 million to support Honors.   

The more recent bequest established two endowed positions at the John V. Roach Honors College, which will open next fall. The J. Vaughn and Evelyne H. Wilson Professorship in the Honors College has not been filled. Dr. Ronald L. Pitcock has been named the J. Vaughn and Evelyne H. Wilson Honors Fellow. The position is named in recognition of Mr. Wilson’s late parents.

Dr. Pitcock, who is director of prestigious scholarships and assistant director of Honors, is using the funds from the endowment to enhance teaching and learning for Honors students.

An example is the depth of experiences provided Honors students enrolled in the Honors course Cultural Memory in the U.S. The students spent a full day at the National Memorial in Oklahoma City.  They took a private tour of the site, with a national park ranger serving as their guide.  They participated in a private seminar with Hans and Torrey Butzer, the winners of the international design contest held for the memorial, and they met and talked privately with survivors of the bombing.

“At the end of the visit, students felt so moved that they placed a TCU flag with their names on the memorial fence,” Dr. Pitcock says.  Members of the class participated in a similar trip to New York City, where they studied the cultural memory of 9-11.

The Wilson endowment is also funding a new study abroad model called Cultural Routes. This initiative will explore the cultures and histories that gave rise to current Germany, Switzerland and Italy.

“Students will explore Berlin, Munich, Interlaken, Florence and Rome to understand how these unique urban centers were and continue to be shaped by religious, political, literary and cultural influences,” Dr. Pitcock notes.

Students in Cultural Routes will travel throughout each city and interact with locals. “Employing a traveling classroom that encourages experiential learning, the three-week study will require students to adopt a backpacking approach,” Dr. Pitcock says.  “We also will travel by high-speed trains and live in quarters ranging from nice hostels to apartments to pensiones.  Honors students completing this cultural routes experience will receive full credit for their Honors civilization track without paying tuition.”

In addition, the endowment funds will be used to facilitate meetings with book authors and to provide opportunities to interview people who experienced the JFK assassination.