Chieftain, Volume 17, Number 2, December 1968 Page: 2
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REFLECTIONS
by Dean Porter J. Crow
Editor's Note: Dr. Porter J. Crow was
appointed Dean of McMurry College in
July 1968. He comes to McM from TCU
where he had been professor of educa-
tion since 1963 and director of TCU's
Project Change.,Dr. Crow holds a B. A.
from Baylor U., M. A. from SMU and
Ed. D. from North Texas State U. He
has many published articles and Beth-
any Press will publish his historical
novel "The Jerusalem Incident" in the
near future.
As one who has accepted a profes-
sional and personal commitment to Mc-
Murry College, I feel that I, along with
my administrative and academic col-
leagues, have at least three categories
of responsibility. I think we must eval-
uate the way in which we educate peo-
ple for the final third of the twentieth
century. Secondly, I think we have a
responsibility to formulate new educa-
tional concepts, amidst the strength of
the old, apply them, test them, and re-
test them. Finally, I think that we have
a responsibility to be a catalyst in com-
munity development, for a community
is people—the basic idea that completes
the circle of these responsibilities.
Because of the acceptance of these re-
sponsibilities, I am convinced that Mc-
Murry College is a continuing institu-
tion, continuing because it accepts its
obligations and commitments to the
past, present, and future; but continu-
ing more because it recognizes the phe-
nomenologically continuing nature of
the educational enterprise, taking the
totality of our lives along with us. Be-
cause of that recognition, this institu-
tion is destined to develop beyond
merely traditional statements to emerg-
ing objectives that involve a wider spec-
trum of human resources. Building on
the importance of intellectual excel-
lence and academic achievement, these
twenty-first century objectives which
come clearer every day will em-
phasize the need to honor excellence,
indeed to demand it, in every socially
accepted endeavor, however humble,
and to scorn shoddiness in however an
exalted activity. As John Gardner
says, "A society which scorns excel-
lence in plumbing because it is a hum-
ble activity, and tolerates shoddiness in
philosophy because philosophy is an ex-
McMurry College must pay-
ten cents for every Chieftain
handled by the U. S. Post Office
and directed back to the college
because of a change of address.
If you change your address,
please send your new address,
including Zip Code, as far in ad-
vance as possible to the Alumni
Office,, Box 335, McMurry Sta-
tion, Abilene, Texas 79605.
alted activity will have neither very
good plumbing nor very good philoso-
phy. Neither its pipes nor its theories
will hold water."
Our purpose, then, persistently and
ultimately, has been, I believe, to im-
prove the conditions of life. The evolve-
ment of this improvement cuts out from
here, right now, from this campus, from
this academic community, returning
again, bringing the world in and then
out again. We are caught up in the
world, but by grace and insight we af-
fect the world. By confronting life as
it is, we seek to understand the mystery
of it and to celebrate our capacity for
transcendence, our ability to live
through the implicit contradictions of
man's nature. We confront life with our
students beside us and involved with
us, and this relationship shapes the en-
terprise we call McMurry.
It all comes down to this: The central
issue for a college like ours, more often
than not, is whether we are learner-
centered or discipline-centered. Do we
take the view that the real generator of
learning is the professor in his disci-
pline, or is it possible to implement our
program so that it may have an increas-
ing relevance to the student, his expe-
rience, his problems, especially as they
expand outward into the culture we call
America. The latter connection comes
to grips with the purpose of furthering
and advancing the well-being of our so-
ciety; always, of course, under the di-
rection of that power to which we pray
for absolute guidance. In accepting this
humanistic role, we resist the isolation
of academics, the non-use of knowledge.
For in this cybernetic world we need
all the genuinely disciplined help we
can get.
McMurry has a great heritage. I take
pride in being born in the year that
McMurry had its beginning. I seek
along with _this Methodist institution a
relevant contribution to the ongoing
nature of our people. I join our other
leadership in focusing on the develop-
ment of human resources, for I am con-
vinced that if institutions such as Mc-
Murry fail, this country will fail. We,
therefore, must offer a distinct program
that is concerned with persons, not
things. We must educate for leadership,
focusing our scholarship upon human
needs, working for a broad and vibrat-
ing continuum that speaks to ability and
potential. We must coalesce teacher-
student-program, fusing these into a
holistic experience.
On this basic platform which I call
the dignity of the individual, McMurry
College will not only survive, it will
flourish. Feeling this way, I am. in-
clined to use Anatole France's words,
"I prefer the errors of enthusiasm to
the indifference of wisdom." But by
grasping wisdom with enthusiasm, we
can go on to our ultimate purpose, de-
ploying our resources so that we can
make effective progress and shape the
future with our own hands.
McMURRY
ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
OFFICERS 1968-1969
President Orland Gilbert '57
1st Vice-President James Boyd '59
2nd Vice-President
Bennie R. Jones '49
Secretary Mrs. Darrell Vines '57
Treasurer Garnet Gracy '47
Immediate Past
President Curtis Johnson '57
DIRECTORS
AREA DIRECTORS
(Terms expire 1970)
Bennie R. Jones '49 — Abilene;
Don Reavis '57 — Amarillo; Ralph
McCleskey '41 — Midland - Odessa;
Donald Hunt '56 — Lubbock; Alton
McCleskey '47 — San Antonio; Rev.
Milton R. Chester '56 — El Paso.
AT-LARGE DIRECTORS
(Terms expire 1970)
Douglas Cox '47 (Ballinger); Weldon
Carter '49 (Pampa); Rev. Kenneth
Ford '48 (Kermit); Sarah Ragle Wed-
dington '65 (Austin).
(Terms expire 1971)
Dr. Allen M. Fain '47 (Duncanville);
Tom Jordan '67 (Abilene); Rev. Wil-
liam S. Taegel '62 (Houston); Lee
White '62 (Okla. City).
APPOINTED DIRECTORS
(One Year)
Mrs. Harold Huddleston '58 (Arling-
ton); Dr. J. Edmund Kirby '31 (Lub-
bock); Gordon Mahon '54 (Lubbock);
Arthur L. Wylie, Jr. '43 (Floydada);
Grant Teaff '56 (Lubbock).
STUDENT DIRECTORS
(One Year)
K. O. Long—Student Body Presi-
dent; Gordon Hubenak—Senior Class
President.
AREA CHAPTER
PRESIDENTS
Albuquerque Jim D. Wray '65
Amarillo James Boyd '59
Dallas Dr. Girvin Harkins '60
El Paso Harley Maberry '55
Fort Worth
.. O. R. (Ray) Hennington '42
Houston Troy Wadzeck '48
Lubbock Charles Hastings, Jr. '56
Midland Ralph McCleskey '41
Odessa Doyle Gurley '50
San Antonio Harvy Pinner '60
ALUMNI OFFICE
Director Charles Hogsett, Jr. '47
Secretary Mrs. Dick Whittick
Student Secretary Marsha Moore
Sherry Burkhalter
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McMurry College. Chieftain, Volume 17, Number 2, December 1968, periodical, December 1968; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth238651/m1/2/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library.