Chieftain, Volume 33, Number 2, Summer 1984 Page: 2
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Spence and Brooke enjoy Bilbo Baggins.
Downs, who has taught at McMurry since 1970.
Dr. Don Whisenhunt is currently Vice-
President and Professor of History at Wayne
State University in Nebraska, Dr. Bob Holcomb
is Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Pro-
fessor of History at Angelo State University,
and Dr. Rondel Davidson is Chairperson of the
Department of History at Pan American
University at Edinburg, Texas and this fall
visiting professor at Texas A&M.
Judy Lemons Davidson ex '62 received a
master's degree from Tech in this time period,
and Betsy Baker Whisenhunt '61 was part of
the group who visited together as former
McMurry students.
While Paul was studying history at Tech,
Lynn was studying English, in between
teaching duties at junior high schools at Aber-
nathy and Brownfield.
Her graduate studies were concentrated on
William Faulkner, her master's thesis being en-
titled William Faulkner, the Influence of the
Past - A Study of 'The Sound and the Fury'
and "Absalom, Absalom."
A highlight of these years was a visit to
Faulkner's home in Oxford, Mississippi and a
talk with his nephew.
Lynn's master's degree was awarded in 1974.
Paul earned a master's degree in history with a
thesis on Southern labor, then earned a Ph.D
with a concentration on black history; his doc-
toral dissertation was entitled Urban Slavery in
the Southwest He had been interested in
slavery, Southern history, and 19th Century
U.S. history; this interest culminated in his
selection of a dissertation topic.
Parts of his dissertation have been published
in the Arkansas Historical Quarterly and the
Southern Historical Quarterly, and he has
presented papers before the Texas State
Historical Association.
In 1971 the Lacks returned to McMurry, this
time as faculty members. Lynn took a job as
part-time faculty member in English, and Paul
as an assistant professor in history. He was
awarded a Ph.D from Tech in 1973.
In 1979 Lynn became a full-time person on
the administrative staff as Director of
Academic Advisement.
There are two young Lacks in the persons of
Spence, 12, and Brooke, seven. Spence is a
seventh grader who stays busy with Junior
High church activities, and baseball. Brooke
loves pizza parties and their family cat, Bilbo
Baggins. Both children love to swim.
The Lack children are lucky to have grand-
parents close by, near enough for them to
receive more than adequate grandparental at-
tention. Mrs. Bea Graham lives in Snyder, and
Mr. and Mrs. Paul E. Lack are right in
Abilene.
Paul has taught at McMurry for 13 years and
Lynn fewer than that, because she took some
time off to have the children and care for them,
but even in this relatively short period of time,
slightly more than a decade, they see some dif-
ferences in students. They find students
generally more practical and more career
oriented than those of the previous decade.
McMurry is representative of the nationwide
trend toward an increasing percentage of non-
traditional students, defined as students over
25 years of age. These students seem more
decisive about what they plan to do with their
lives and are in school for the purpose of
achieving these goals.
In her position as Director of Academic Ad-
visement, Lynn feels the most valuable thing
she has to impart to her students is the impor-
tance of career planning. She deals mainly with
freshmen, explaining to them the importance of
spending a couple of years in investigation of a
career, and assisting them in analyzing reasons
for their choice of a major field of study. She
encourages them to take time to do an interest
inventory, or more than one, and to investigate
many career choices, feeling that many incom-
ing students do not really know what
possibilities are available to them.
As is frequently the case with young persons,
students think the four years they have to
spend in college is a long time, and they don't
expect the feeling they are likely to have at the
end of this period, when they think, "It went so
fast!" She tries to impress on them that current
trends indicate that they may well have several
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McMurry College. Chieftain, Volume 33, Number 2, Summer 1984, periodical, Summer 1984; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth238701/m1/4/?q=%221984~%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting McMurry University Library.