Pride Facts

Academic Excellence Pride Facts

• Texas State currently offers 97 undergraduate, 88 master’s and 11 doctoral degrees.
• The university has the fifth highest graduation rate among the 35 public institutions in Texas.
• In the last ten years, the number of full-time faculty has increased from 691 to 1,068.
• Faculty are engaged in 531 independent funded research projects totaling more than $35 million in expenditures.
• To date 18 Texas State faculty have been named Piper Professors by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation, which recognizes the best college faculty members in the state. Only one university has been recognized more frequently.
   

Athletics Pride Facts

• One hundred and two Bobcat student athletes received the Oak Farms Academic Award for 2010. The award is presented annually to student athletes who achieve 3.5 grade-point average or higher in the previous calendar year.
• The Bobcat baseball team has advanced to the NCAA Championship Tournament for two of the last three years. They have won the Southland Conference Tournament four times and have three regular season Southland titles.
• The Bobcat softball team has advanced to five NCAA Championship Tournaments.
• After winning back-to-back NCAA Division II national championships in 1981 and 1982, the Bobcat football team moved up to the Division IAA (later Football Championship Subdivision level) and now stands poised to join the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012. Bobcat athletics will join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) at the highest level of collegiate competition.
• Our graduate success rate in athletics, averaged over the last four years, is the second-highest in Division I public universities in Texas. It is higher than that of the University of Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.
• The Texas State Alumni Association has named Texas State volleyball head coach Karen Chisum, former Bobcat basketball standout and current NBA player Jeff Foster and Athletics philanthropist Michael Bowman among its Distinguished Alumni for 2011.
   

Library Pride Facts

What happens on a typical day at the Albert B. Alkek Library and the Texas State Round Rock Campus’ Library Services? During one day in a busy fall semester, the following happens:

• 6,511 people enter the library buildings
• 1,300 items are checked out or renewed
• 3,720 computer sessions
• 13,774 database searches
• 9,354 website visits
• 4,771 searches in the online catalog

Performing Arts Pride Facts

Theatre Points of Pride

• An August 21, 2010 article in the New York Times cited Texas State as having one of the top undergraduate programs in musical theatre and acting.
• Since 2001, through the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, the department’s theatre program has been recognized with two Producer Awards, two Special National Selection Team Fellowships and 17 National Finalists, including three National Champions. Students have advanced to the Kennedy Center as National Finalists in scene design, costume design, lighting design, sound design, acting, directing, playwriting, stage management, dramaturgy, and criticism. In the last two years more than a half dozen Texas State students have been selected to participate in Kennedy Center Summer Intensives in playwriting, directing, and dramaturgy.
• In 2009, the Texas State production of John Boulanger’s House of Several Stories was one of only four productions presented at the Kennedy Center, and that student script has since been published by Samuel French.
• Recent graduates include: Demond Green, a 2009 Drama Desk nominee who is currently in the Broadway production of Sister Act; Jorge Jimenez, who recently signed a three picture deal to write, direct, and act in films after winning the 2009 award for Best Actor at the Boston Film Festival; Ben Mayne currently in the national touring production of South Pacific; Matt Moore, Woody Wood, and Quinn Walton all worked on Tree of Life, the film that won the Palme d’Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Older former students include Tony-winners John Benjamin Hickey and Julie White, as well as Emmy-winners Powers Boothe, Thomas Carter, and Matt Ford.

Dance Points of Pride

• The Division of Dance continues to receive invitations for performance opportunities with regional, national and international dance companies, festivals, and universities. At present Texas State dance students and alumni are performing with Tanz Compag Nie-Giessen, Germany; The Von Howard Project, New York; The Dance Exchange, New York; Green Space, New York; and Shaller Dance Works, Sweden. Merge Dance Company, our touring ensemble, has been prolific in performance and community outreach in the past two years.
• Pat Stone and Michelle Nance accompanied the cast of Sick to NYC to perform in the 11th annual DUMBO DANCE FESTIVAL. Stone’s Sick was selected to be performed with more than 100 other companies from all over the world including Japan, Italy, Korea and France. This prestigious festival has “garnered the attention of The New York Times, PBS- SundayArts, Channel 7, Daily News, The Village Voice and Dance Magazine.”
• Dance has been privileged to host numerous esteemed guest artists including Luz Boreal and Rocio Luna from Mexico, Tarek Assam from Germany, Katri Shaller from Sweden, Gina Gibney and Katherine Duke from New York, Louis Kavouras from Nevada and Wendy Hambidge from Oregon among others.

School of Music Points of Pride

Latin Music program

• The School of Music's Latin Music program is comprised of award-winning salsa and mariachi ensembles, as well as a mariachi teaching certificate and newly formed master of music with emphases in Latin music performance and Latin music education. Mariachi Nueva Generación is a frequent winner of the prestigious Vargas Mariachi Extravaganza in San Antonio.
• Salsa del Rio has appeared at the International Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. The Latin Music Studies area is also enriching the community of San Marcos through its youth mariachi program. With a faculty experienced in both teaching and performance, and a decade-long tradition of performances by student ensembles, this program is truly unique.

Sound Recording Technology program

• One of the most respected of such programs in the nation, Texas State Sound Recording Technology program offers an intensive bachelor of science degree to a highly select group of individuals preparing for a career in the music recording and sound industry.
• Students work in state-of-the-art labs in an actual commercial recording studio, as well as gaining experience through internships with such events as Austin’s SXSW music festival.

Music Teacher Training program

• Texas State is proud to claim the premiere education and training program for state-certified school music teachers in Texas. More than 200 major students each year receive advanced training and intensive hands-on experience for all levels of music teaching, from elementary through high school bands, choirs, and orchestras. Special optional certificates prepare them for creating and leading mariachi or jazz ensembles in the schools.
• Alumni of the program experience an extraordinarily high job placement rate nearing 100 percent, as many school districts around the state prefer to hire Texas State-trained individuals.

Texas State Wind Symphony

• Over the past 20 years, the Wind Ensemble has established itself as one of the most outstanding collegiate wind ensembles in the nation.
• The 50-student-member ensemble has performed for many prestigious music associations such as the Music Educators National Conference, College Band Directors National Association, and Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention.
• This select concert-touring ensemble is chosen by audition from the entire student body, regardless of major.

Texas State Chorale

• The Texas State Chorale is the premier mixed-vocal ensemble at Texas State, performing for state, national and international audiences.
• The chorale has given featured performances at the American Choral Directors Association, the Texas Music Educators Association Clinic/Convention, and on tour in South Africa and elsewhere abroad.
• Membership in the chorale is comprised of outstanding musicians throughout the campus from various disciplines. Repertoire for this ensemble includes works from ca. 1450 to the present with the emphasis on advanced literature.

Community music outreach

• Three programs of the School of Music are dedicated to offering the greater San Marcos community the benefits of expert music instruction and activities for children: Youth Mariachi, Hill Country Youth Chorale, and the Texas State String Project.
• Music faculty work side by side with Texas State student interns to teach children and youth and inspire their talents and love for music.