The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 1, 1995 Page: 1 of 6
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LIBRARY
February 1, 1995
Texas Wesleyan University
Fort Worth, Texas
r
LaFon retires after three decades
By Amanda Hendnck
The Rambler
"I've enjoyed ihe students and
I've enjoyed teaching. 1 think philoso-
phy ts something thai should be pur-
sued and promoted. It exposes stu-
dents to life and.t<> the world," said
Dr. James I.alon, philosophy profes-
sor, who will be retiring at the end of
summer.
Alter 29 years ol instructing a
myriad of'students, I.alon will still
be teaching on a part tune basis.
"Wesleyan is a big pan of my lite.
I nvvery emotionally attached lo it. I
would do any thing, to help Wesleyan.
I'd defend it, stand up lor it and light
for it." I a I on said.
A native of Florida. Ljilon came
to Texas in l%6 lo teach. I le said, "I
never planned lo come this lar west
bul Wesleyan was the best offer I re-
ceived."
I le looks at ii as a sort ol pros i-
ilcnce in his life, he said
Florida dv>es not hold (he same
affection for him anymore, according
to LaFon
Visiting Florida is like visiting
the past; seeing relatives and friends.
I've buili a life here, largely due to
"Wesleyan is a big
part of my life. I'm
very emotionally at-
tached to it. I would
do anything to help
Wesleyan."
Wesleyan. I still en joy spending sum
iners at my lake home," said I.alon.
Alter his retirement. I.al on said
he plans.to travel in Furope. He said
he has a passion lor languages and
would like lo sludv some in his live
time He added thai he would love to
spend some wore time in Honda at
his lake home near Keystone Heights
on Crystal Lake. 50 miles from Jack-
sonville
"I would like to visit Germany
because it has a lot of connections to
the past. I d alvo like lo lake a little
nip to France to jx'rfect my French
which is a hobby of mine.My wile
would like to trace her Huguenot heri-
tage too," said I.aFon.
1 .afon met his wile during his first
>ear of teaching at Wesleyan white she
was a student here. They met at a
Christinas party and six weeks later,
he purposed lo her. f af on said.
I.afon has degrees from the Uni-
versity ol Florida and Emory Univer-
sity in Georgia where he received his
Ph.D.
l afon leaches religion and phi-
losophy classes such.as the logic class.
LaFon is known to encourage partici-
pation to help his students understand
concepts in philosophy,
1 think in sir actors should show
enthusiasm for what they are teach-
ing," said LaFon .1
For example; in his logic class, to
demonstrate ihe importance of real-
izing degrees of guilt or innocence,
he has his students participate in a re-
enactment of the inf amous Lindbergh'
kidnapping trial. Students act as the
jury, listen to the facts of the case and
determine lor themselves the degree
ol t'uili.
LaFon has seen the campus
change over the last 2l) years. Old
buildings have disappeared w hile new
ones have sprouted up. He said the
campus used to be less formal. Ev-
eryone knew each other.
Now that is no longer the norm,'
but the same commitment to good in-
siniciion is siill intact, according to
1 afon.
W
Students quench
thirst in the QUAD
Dr. James H. LaFon, professor of philosophy
Krause directs financial aid
Karen Krause, the new financial aid director at work in her office.
Photo by Brccca' Croskey •
By'Elizabeth T. Lamb
Managing. Editor/The Rambler
Karen Krause has been selected
as the new director of financial aid at
Wesleyan. She began her duties on
Jan. 23.
Krause was financial aid services
manager at TCU lor three years and
worked in the financial aid office at
Texas Woman's University for 10
years.
• Her responsibilities at Wesleyan
will include overseeing all aspects of
the financial aid office. The duties
range from awarding slate and federal
financial aid, scholarship awarding
and staff training.
"Right now, I will be working on
getting the financial aid office on-line
with the new computer system, f will
also be working to streamline the [fi-
nancial aid 1 process. We will try to
make it quicker. Improving student
service is very important; I feel that
the office of financial aid suffers from
an image problem.on campus. I would
like to try to improve that," Krause
said.
"We are a very manually oriented
system, now. We will look at ihe cur-
rent system and see how we can pull
Wesleyan into the 20th century."
In terms of her professional ca-
"■ See Krause, pg 6"1-1
Kelly Holze doles out
cups by the handful on
Thursday, Jan. 26 in the
QUAD during free period.
Photo Courtesy of Ram's Horn
Internet networks campus computing
The Student Activities
Committee (SAC) spon-
sors "Thursdays in the
QUAD." Free drinks are
available on Thursdays to
students and faculty who
bring in the "pink cup."
The cup is given as a
courtesy by SAC. There
are still cups available in
the Student Life Office,
room 222 of the Brown
Lupton Campus Center.
■A
By Brccca' Croskey
The Rambler
Plans for Internet on campus are
still in ihe infant stages, but Wesleyan
will have the connections.
Internet is a network comprised"
of PCs, mainframes and other net-
works. It has such capabilities as data
strings, text liles, program files and E-.
mail addresses, according to the Texas.
Wesleyan Newsletter.
According to Dr. Robert Landolt,
professor yf chemistry, nothing new
has happened during the Christmas
vacation, and, there arc two reasons
why.
The first reason is that there is
now a new provost, Dr. Thomas F.
Armstrong. Before the holidays there
was no one who could have made long
•term decisions about Internet.
Said Landolt, "Now that there is
a new provost, things should move
along."'
Secondly, Wesleyan has hired Jim
Gillis, as director of administrative
computing, to help with and be in
charge of the Internet program.
Said Landolt, "Gillis is hoping to
speed up the schedule for campus net-
working, and the key to Internet is
having the campus networked." This
means that the computers will be
linked into the major network for the
Internet system.
"The campus must be networked
before we can have Internet. It will
lake some time," continued Landolt.
According to Landolt, the hard-
est decision is how to do the network-
ing, and there are 'at least .three pos
sible ways being considered as lar as
setting up the network.
Each option has its advantages
and disadvantages, and each has its
expense factors. But despite these
holdups, Landolt said. "I am really
optimistic about both the network and
getting Internet."
For more information about the
pro-gram, contact the office of Aca-
demic Computing at 531 -4244,
Sumners Foundation funds education
Select students attend Scholarship Day
ft'. \F Ju • ! lot)
The Rambler
The f rvshinan Admissions
part me nt invited approximately 60
ai^a High students to attend the
thud iimiii.il V ht'i.tiship I k\\ Jan ;!
The selected students * ere re,
quired to w oic a 200 word essay and
were interviewetl by Dr. Sandra Hart
dean of business.. Kustc Staliman. di '
recto* of athletics; and other faculty
member - tcptcscrmnj.- dif ferent de-
partments
Out of ihe 60 students who at-
tended Scholarship Day, most wiW
qualify for a; scholarship hut the fmai
decision will not he made until the
budget iv identified
Touts of the campus and financial
aid workshops were included while
vi amki-s.u'rot • an ! ihe admfn
istrattve staff helped out prospective
students as well
"Scholarship Day is an extremely
gratifying program hccau.sc it not only
benefits the prospective students but.
it is beneficial lor the faculty lo have
the opportunity to meet ihe quality stu-
dents thai will he attending the uni-
versity." said Dave Voskuil, vice presi-
dent for enrollment management
The freshman admission counse
tors view high school transcripts and
k st scores. ill d y long ! Hi B m
Ireshman admission counselor, said
m See Scholarship, pg 6m
By Stephen English
The Rambler
The Helton W. Sumners scholar-
ship has been available since 1988 to
Wesleyan students interested incafccrs
in government.
The scholarship was established
in honor of Hatton Sumners, who rep-
resented Texas in Congress from 1913
to 1947 The Sumners i-oondation dis-
tributes $h.000 .yearly to sophomores
from the Pre Protc-ssK.nal program,
the School of Education, and Hi trans-
fer sophoitKwes.
When students apply for the
scholarship in January of their sopho-
more year, they must have a grade
point average of 3.0. Applicants
should also be able to present a resume
of extra-curricular activities.
Qualifying applicants are then
interviewed by trustees of the Sumners
foundation before the decision is
made whether (he students will receive
the scholarship for their junior year.
The scholarships are also renewable
for the senior year, based on a mini-
mum grade point average requirement
Wesleyan received an *850.000
1111
ti) .,&r;
■ m£
Brick
Tradition
pg3
Viewpoints
from Salih
pg3
Deaton's
Trip
pg4
'
Creative Writing
Competition
pg4
endowment from the Simmers I oun
dation to finance the scholarship pro
gram.
Said Subie Green. \ ice president
Of Advancement al Wesleyan. "IThe
.endowment] is a wonderful statement
from the Sumners foundation that they
arc interested in and believe in what
we're trying to accomplish here .it
Wesleyan "
for more information on Ihe
Hation Sumners scholarship, students
should contact the financial Aid Ol
lice at 531-4420.
]
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Kim Laster. The Rambler (Fort Worth, Tex.), Ed. 1 Wednesday, February 1, 1995, newspaper, February 1, 1995; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth287631/m1/1/: accessed April 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Wesleyan University.