2015 Year in Review

2015 was an exciting year for the Texas Tech College of Human Sciences. As we at the Texas Tech College of Human Sciences celebrate graduating 221 undergraduate students on December 12, we take time to remember our more than 20,500 alumni of whom we are so proud. As we begin a new year, we want to briefly share with you some exciting news from our college.

The college continues to be very active in research that addresses the health and well being of individuals and families. We added tremendous expertise and experience to the college with the addition of six new faculty including a new department chairperson for the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

As we support the goal of Texas Tech University to increase student enrollment, we are focused on quality growth. In addition to a positive trend in undergraduate and graduate enrollment, we have also seen an increase in the average SAT score for our students. Our student retention and on-time graduation rates are among the best on campus. We have seen a 30 percent increase in our Presidential Merit Scholarships for the last two years.

In an effort to "Bear Our Banners Far and Wide," the college invests in the diversity of our student body, and we continue to focus on global experiences through study abroad programs. Diverse Issues in Higher Education ranks the college 11th in the country in terms of the number of undergraduate degrees awarded to minorities.

Engaging with our vast network of alumni is vital to our continued growth. The college has moved the Annual Distinguished Awards Luncheon to the Spring and looks forward to honoring our award winners who soon will be announced.

College of Human Sciences Involvement Opportunities

Your support and sustained involvement with your college ensures our continued growth and our ability to improve the human condition locally, nationally and globally. Please contact us to connect with the college and to become more involved. We welcome your input. We invite you to share your expertise with our students as a guest speaker or by connecting with our faculty.

The growth and accomplishments of the College of Human Sciences are possible thanks to our wonderful alumni and friends. If you wish to make a gift to the college, please visit our online giving page at http://donate.give2tech.com/?fid=4142-44-2120. You may also mail a check made payable to the Texas Tech Foundation to: College of Human Sciences Development Office, Box 41162, Lubbock, Texas, 79409-1162.

Finally, if you would like to receive our alumni newsletter, please visit our alumni page and update your information.

Departmental News

Community, Family, and Addiction Sciences

Our department experienced a year of exciting changes, recognition, and student engagement. The department name changed the word services to sciences to more accurately reflect the vital scientific research in which our faculty and students are engaged. The department also restructured its centers and institutes leading to the creation of the Institute for the Study of Addiction, Recovery and Families, and the Center for Family Systems Research and Intervention. We also restructured the Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery into two related centers: the Center for Collegiate Recovery Communities and the Center for Addiction Recovery Research.

Our faculty were recognized for their achievements and contributions. Jason Whiting, Ph.D., won the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy Best Article of 2015 Award. Anne Prouty, Ph.D., and Nichole Morelock, Ph.D., were inducted into the esteemed Texas Tech Teaching Academy.

Our students are engaged in transforming the lives of others in several ways. They participated in a suicide prevention event and also held their annual recovery convention bringing speakers from throughout the country. Our students also take a substance abuse recovery meeting to a local homeless community every Monday evening.

Department of Design

Assistant Professor of Interior and Environmental Design Erin Schambureck, M.F.A., earned the Scholarly Research Award for her research presentation "Design for People with Low Vision" at the 2015 Interior Design Educators' Council International Conference. An important part of her research is the assimilation of her findings that allows for practical applications. She also has been recognized by the American Optometric Association for her work.

Assistant Professor of Interior and Environmental Design Michelle Pearson, Ph.D., earned the prestigious Journal of Interior Design Graduate Student Research Award. Rockwell Fund Professor of Interior and Environmental Design Debajyoti Pati, Ph.D., was recognized for the third year in a row by the International Academy for Design and Health. Interior Design Program Director and Associate Professor of Interior and Environmental Design Don Collier, M.F.A., traveled with more than 30 students to San Francisco to explore the influences of Asian art and culture on interior design.

Apparel Design and Manufacturing Assistant Professor Rachel Anderson, M.F.A., exhibited her garment Klein's Blue inspired by Stephen Sprouse's design concept mixing punk, pop, and sophistication at the
Project IMA Fashion Show, an international juried exhibition curated at the Indianapolis Museum of Fine Art.

Family and Consumer Sciences Education

We created an advisory board with members representing a diverse group of educators, extensions agents, and curriculum directors. The board will meet twice a year to provide program guidance. Our faculty published in prestigious journals. Barbara N. Allison, Ph.D., published an article with graduate student Angelina Bencomo in the 2015 Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences titled "Hispanic Families and Their Culture: Implications for FCS Educators." Roxie Godfrey, Ed.D., published an article with doctoral graduate, Sandra Duke, Ph.D., in the 2014 Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences titled "Leadership in Mobile Technology: An Opportunity for Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher Educators." Godfrey and Duke also have an article that was accepted for the 2015 Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal titled "Global Perspectives on Mobile Learning in Home Economics/Family and Consumer Sciences." Karen L. Alexander, Ph.D., published with Kimberlee Davis, Ph.D., and Sharon Pierce, Texas FCCLA State Adviser, an article titled "Perceptions of FCCLA as Reported by Advising and Non-Advising Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers" in the Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences Education.

Our faculty and graduate students presented at both the American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) annual conference and the AAFCS Texas Affiliate State Conference. The strength of our program was well represented. AAFCS awarded the "Professional of the Year Award" to Barbara N. Allison, Ph.D. The award is the highest honor given each year.

The Curriculum Center celebrates 48 years in serving students and teachers in Texas and around the nation. Under the leadership of Director, Patti Rambo, the Center continues to create high-quality, comprehensive, and rigorous online curriculum.

Human Development and Family Studies

East Lubbock Promise Neighborhood recently won a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. HDFS is proud to partner with the initiative through the Early Head Start Early Learning Programs, Family Academy, and Ready to Read.

Leaders from Texas Tech University, the City of Lubbock, and Lubbock Independent School District participated in a ribbon cutting and dedication on Dec. 10 at our new Early Head Start facility in East Lubbock. The facility is newly renovated thanks to a competitive Child Care Partnership and Expansion Grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It will allow Texas Tech Early Head Start to expand from serving 56 children to serving 96 children aged six weeks to three years. The Child Development Research Center hosted events during Week of the Young Child designed to focus attention on the needs of children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services that meet those needs.

Several HDFS faculty participated in the Society for the Study of Human Development (SSHD) conference in Austin, Texas. SSHD is a relatively small association that, in contrast to the many organizations in our field that concentrate on specific age groups, features studies on any part of the lifespan.

HDFS enjoyed significant representation at the National Council on Family Relations Annual Conference in Vancouver. Faculty and students made more than 20 presentations during the conference and Dr. Elizabeth Sharp was selected as the 2015 Recipient of the Alexis J. Walker Award for Mid-Career Achievement in Feminist Family Studies. HDFS and the College of Human Sciences cohosted a reception during the conference to honor Dr. Sharp as well as to welcome Dr. Mastergeorge as department chairperson.

A dance production based on HDFS Professor Dr. Elizabeth Sharp's international transdisciplinary research kicked of the 31st Annual Texas Tech Conference on Women. The dance is a movement-based analysis of Sharp's research of newly married women and women who do not want to marry or have children.

Hospitality and Retail Management

The Department of Hospitality and Retail Management (HRM) and Skyviews Restaurant organized for the first time two events we hope will both become traditions. The first was an HRM Faculty Service Dinner where all department faculty served students a family-style barbecue dinner at Skyviews while dressed in Halloween costumes. The second event was the Restaurant, Hotel, and Institutional Management (RHIM) Restaurant Wars which pitted two teams of students against each other in a pop-up restaurant competition at Skyviews and McPherson Cellars.

Our culinary adventures continued as Skyviews won first prize at the Girl Scouts Desserts First competition and RHIM students won first place in the amateur category at the Broadway & Gourmet on Avenue J Competition.

We are also thrilled to share with you that the Retail Management program was named one of the top programs in the United States by study.com.

Retail Management student Kannan Pittcock was named the Texas Tech University Ambassador to The National Retail Federation. Hospitality Administration doctoral student Nick Johnston received a $10,000 grant from the California-based Wine Market Council to study how millennials respond to wine packaging.

Faculty led a study abroad program to Edinburgh, Scotland, where students met with executives from major UK retailers. Faculty also led an additional study abroad program to Rome, Italy where students learned about the wine industry and toured vineyards.

Nutritional Sciences

The Department of Nutritional Sciences (NS) had a very productive first year. Several students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty members received considerable recognition for their teaching and research in the form of grants and awards too numerous to list. This year, NS faculty members secured grant funding of over $1.7 million. Several department faculty are also in leadership positions in many prominent professional organizations.

Associate Professor Martin Binks, Ph.D., served in several leadership roles at the international scientific society, The Obesity Society. He has been an ongoing presence in multiple syndicated media outlets including Reuters, US News & World Report, and USA Today. Nestle Healthcare Research recently awarded a grant of $45,000 to Binks to study
ingestive behavior.

Helen DeVitt Jones Chair Debra Reed, Ph.D., advises our graduate program which is attracting national and international students. This year, Reed received the distinct honor of being inducted into Texas Tech University Teaching Academy.

NS Department Chairperson Nikhil Dhurandhar, Ph.D., recently met with Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A., regarding the national obesity issue and action items. Dhurandhar served The Obesity Society as president. His research is currently funded with four grants, including a near $3 million grant to develop an anti-diabetes medication using a product he has patented. This year, he received the Osborn Mendal Award from the American Society for Nutrition.

Under the direction of Shelley Fillipp, Director of Dietetic Internship, and Allison Childress, Director of Didactic program in Dietetics and our dedicated faculty, NS has a very strong Dietetic Internship program, which successfully received full re-accreditation for the next seven years.

Director of the Obesity Research Cluster at Texas Tech Professor Naima-Moustaid-Moussa received the 2015 Pfizer Consumer Healthcare Nutritional Sciences award from the American Society for Nutrition. Additionally, she was honored by the American Heart Association with a fellowship.

Professor Shu Wang, Ph.D., received $400,000 from the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of delivering an anti-obesity compound directly to fat cells through nano-technology.

Personal Financial Planning

Founder of the Financial Planning Program Bill Gustafson, Ph.D., will retire this month. We honored him with a campus reception on December 10 and again will honor him at our Opportunity Days Banquet February 26. We hope that you will be able to join us. Please view Opportunity Days information at www.depts.ttu.edu/hs/pfp/Opportunity_Days/index.php.

Our programs are experiencing quality growth. We currently have approximately 280 Financial Planning majors plus approximately 200 students minoring in Personal Finance. Career placement is well over 90 percent with students receiving multiple job offers.

Corporate support is strong. The Charles Schwab Foundation recently announced its support of "money camp" on the Texas Tech campus in 2016 to promote financial literacy for high school students, and Schwab continues to provide funding for state-of-the-art financial planning classrooms and technology. Merrill Lynch recently announced a donation to support research, and 30 firms were sponsors of our 2015 Opportunity Days events.

Students, alumni, and faculty received numerous awards in 2015. Three Ph.D. students received research awards, and three undergraduate teams participated in national competitions bringing home first, second, and third place honors. Alumni have received national and regional awards. Notably, four alumni were included in Financial Advisor Magazine among the 10 Young Advisors to Watch. In addition, our faculty have been honored for teaching, research, and leadership this year.

We look forward to expanding our Personal Finance program to the DFW area at Collin College next fall. The 18-hour minor is currently available on-line; however, we plan to teach face-to-face classes at the Collin College campus starting fall 2016.