Vibrant Viewbook Hits the Mark with Prospective Students

Ten years ago, some enrollment marketing professionals predicted that print publications would become obsolete, but we find the tactile experience of holding a glossy viewbook in your hand cannot be replaced. Instead, print materials should continue as an important and relevant component of the overall communication mix. Partnering with The Lawlor Group, a leading enrollment-focused communication solutions firm, we completely redesigned our two primary print publications for use in recruiting the class of 2010.

St. Mary's University Viewbook

Rattler Success Students Succeeding

The Rattler Success program was created as a bridge for students who worked hard during their freshman year but fell a bit short of making the grades required to retain their academic scholarships. Rattler Success offers these students a second chance to continue their education.

The Rattler Success program was created for students who worked hard during their freshman year but fell a bit short of making the grades to retain their academic scholarships. Rattler Success offers these students a second chance to continue their education. See interviews of students benefiting from this innovative retention program on the Office of Student Retention Facebook page (click on the Video tab).

Greehey Scholar Hits Wall Street

Hayden Edwards already owns $200 worth of stock in Ford Motor Co. and has been on the floor of the New York Exchange.

Last summer, before enrolling at St. Mary's as a freshman in the Greehey Scholars Program, Edwards participated in the Youth About Business' Advanced Summer Business Camp. The invitation-only program, held in Nashville at Vanderbilt University, gives students the opportunity to take on real world business experiences. This was Edwards' second time at the camp. He participated in the Basic Summer Business Camp in 2008 as a high school senior.

Edwards, a Houston native double-majoring in International Business and Marketing, was chosen as a CEO during his second time around in the interactive business exercise. As the company leader, Edwards got to interview and choose his "company" officers. As a team, they had to consider the needs and issues of all key stakeholders, including government regulators, labor unions, bond holders, equity investors and boards of directors in a corporate restructuring scenario. Edwards and his team then had to prepare a shareholder's report and present their business analysis to a panel of judges, which included members of the Office of the Governor of Tennessee.

Edwards' team took first place, thus winning the $200 stock in Ford, and last November he got his picture taken at the NYSE after closing bell.

Read more about Edwards and other Greehey Scholars.

St. Mary's Captures High Performance Computing Lab

St. Mary's University's School of Science, Engineering & Technology was recently awarded a nearly $150,000 grant from the Army High Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) of the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) to establish a Linux cluster laboratory.

This new high performance computing platform laboratory will support collaborative research not only within St. Mary's School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, but also with other educational and research institutions in the San Antonio area by allowing St. Mary's faculty and their collaborating research partners to run large simulation models. The new laboratory will also support innovative teaching and collaborative research in high performance and advanced computing at the undergraduate and graduate levels at St. Mary's. Professors Wenbin Luo, Ph.D. and Djaffer Ibaroudene, Ph.D. of the Engineering Department are the principal investigators on the project and will oversee its implementation.

Celebrating Student Achievement

In April, at the 16th Annual Distinguished Leaders Night, dozens of students were honored for living the Marianist ideals, contributing to the educational mission of the University and extending themselves to the community through their academic and co-curricular involvement.

The highlight of the evening came with the announcement of this year's Presidential Award recipients, 14 top students who graduated in May. In order to be considered for the prestigious award, students must submit an application, letters of recommendation and a personal essay. Read about the vast and varied experiences the 2010 President Award recipients has while at St. Mary's and their plans for the future.

This year's winners, with major(s) and hometown, are: Stephanie M. Baumgart, accounting, corporate financial management, and financial services/risk management, Philadelphia, Pa.; Gina M. Buffaloe, physics and math, Corpus Christi; Reesa M. Cerdas, international business and marketing, Galveston; Anahi Guadalupe Covarrubias Hernandez, international business and corporate finance, San Luis Potosi, Mexico; Courtney M. Deane, biochemistry, El Paso; Christopher E. Flores, physics and math, San Antonio; Miguel Angel Garcia, political science, McAllen; Derek J. Gonzalez, marketing, San Antonio; Tiffany P. Le, biology, San Antonio; Nicholas E. Maldonado, corporate financial management and financial services/risk management, San Antonio; Kelly Lauren Ochoa, marketing and biology, Yorktown; Rebecca Marie Uribe, entrepreneurial studies, San Antonio; Claudia Lizbeth Valladolid, international relations and speech communications, San Antonio; Francesanne Willis, English, Nashville, Tenn.

Flores Honored for Civil Rights Advocacy

Graduate School Dean Henry Flores, Ph.D. (B.A. '74), along with Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund Regional Counsel Nina Perales, were honored for their advocacy of voting rights at a banquet celebrating Chicano Civil Rights at St. Mary's. The Chicano Civil Rights Banquet is part of the School of Law's Minority Pre-Law Symposium, which invites high school and college students to learn more about the law school experience. This year's event commemorated the landmark case of League of United Latin American Citizens v. Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, which demonstrated the crucial importance of the U.S. Census and its resultant effect on voting rights. Flores' and Perales' work in voting rights illustrated the importance of the census. Flores received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions and ongoing dedication to Latino voting rights issues.

The Rich Get Richer: Rigney Examines the Matthew Effect

Daniel C. Rigney, Ph.D., director of the Honors Program and professor of sociology, recently retired from St. Mary's after 29 years of service. Before his retirement, however, Rigney published The Matthew Effect: How Advantage Begets Further Advantage. The Matthew Effect is a term first coined by sociologist Robert Merton for his examination and interpretation of biblical scripture in the Gospel of Matthew that states that to those who have, more will be given—the scripture begot the familiar phrase "the rich get richer, while the poor get poorer." Rigney's book thoroughly examines the theory and considers what conditions continue the circle of the Matthew Effect and those that cause it to fail. Read a review.

Homecoming 2010

Homecoming 2010 was another Rattler success! The 2010 Distinguished Alumni honorees are:

• Michael J. "Mike" Dipp, Jr. (B.B.A. '64, M.A. '67), Partner, Plaza Properties of El Paso
• Gonzalo Garza, Ph.D. (B.A. '53), Retired public school educator/administrator and author
• Paul S. Saenz, D.O. (B.A. '79), Sports Medicine Physician
• The Honorable Paul Andrew "Andy" Mireles (B.A. '72, J.D. '75)

Click on the photo below to see the full album of Homecoming 2010 photos.

Fiesta Oyster Bake

St. Mary's Oyster Bake may have been around for 94 years, but this year's event saw several exciting additions, from fruit kabobs and candy apples to solar panels and geolocation contests.

Thanks to a group of junior engineering students, the Bake went green this year. Students worked with Corbo Electric Company Inc., owned by distinguished alum Robert A. Corbo (B.B.A. '65), to design a solar panel system that generated enough electricity to light up vending booths on the soccer field, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) Frito pie booth and President Cotrell's chicken fajita booth.

And for the first-time ever, Oyster Bake became a geolocation hotspot on Foursquare, Gowalla and Whrrl. Social media savvy Oyster Bake-goers competed to become the mayor or leader of Pecan Grove and the Main Stage (meaning, they checked-in to these spots more than anyone else) to win cool prizes. The winners were announced on St. Mary's Twitter - if you aren't following us already, now's the time!

Click on the photo below to see the full album of Fiesta Oyster Bake photos.