March 2022: History of TWU

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Contents
Staff
The history and
legacy of TWU sports
How TWU came to be
Why The Lasso staff
came to TWU
Uncommon and
unique majors
throughout the
decades
Where to get
discounts just for
being a college
student
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4-5
6-7
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Adviser | Joseph Alderman
Editor-in-Chief | Laura Pearson
Managing Editor| Deanna West
Page Editor| Britney McVey
Engagement Editor | Brielle Gines
Graphic Designer | Stephanie Vo
Staff Writers | Maddie Ray
Jesus Valdes

The gymnastics team won its first USA Gymnastics
Collegiate National Championship in 1993. In 1997, the
softball team returned as a sport at TWU with Dianne Baker
as the head coach. Additionally, Pioneer Hall with the Kitty
Magee Arena was completed the same year.
Tennis was removed as a sport at the end of the 2000 season,
and soccer was added in 2002.
by Maddie Ray
Throughout the history of Texas Woman’s University
athletics, Olympians, national champions and proud Pioneers
have represented the university. Now, as they continue on as
alumnae, we look back on how they made history balancing
academics and athletics.
In the beginning, TWU offered athletics through the
Women’s Recreation Association until the Commission on
Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was established in 1969.
At this time, TWU sponsored basketball, volleyball, field
hockey, tennis, badminton, swimming and track.
In 1970, the then Tessies won the inaugural CIAW National
Intercollegiate Track and Field Championship, resulting in
TWU’s first national title.
In the 1978-1979 season, softball went on to defeat UCLA
1-0, winning the AIAW Women’s College World Series. This
same year, the longtime sponsor of the WRA at TWU, Dr.
Mary Evelyn Blagg-Huey, announced that the Tessies would
now be called the Pioneers.
Image Courtesy of the TWU Libraries Woman’s Collection,
Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX.
The 80s also brought moments of great success for TWU,
with the university joining the NCAA in 1982. Former TWU
track star Louise Ritter won the gold medal in the high jump
at the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul.
In 2011, the basketball team was the first TWU team to ever
win a Lone Star Conference Championship, with softball
following suit in 2013. The softball team was the first TWU
team to win an NCAA Regional Championship, advancing to
the national championship.
TWU Gymnastics has won 11 team championships since
1993, with the most recent occurring in 2018.
TWU Athletics has continued to make strides, with STUNT
and artistic swimming being added as sports, competing their
first season in the spring semester. STUNT recorded their
first win in TWU history and of the season Feb. 27 when they
defeated Connors State College 15-1.
The artistic swimming team competed in the first-ever
Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships at
Stanford University, where the Pioneers posted career highs
in every event and Ashley Latchford was named to the first
All-MPSF Team. In the South Regional Championships,
TWU’s Regina Ramirez took first place in the B element
event for the first collegiate win in artistic swimming’s
history.
The Gymnastics team scored their highest team score since
the 2018 USAG Championships Feb. 19, and then topped
that score Feb. 25. The 1,237 fans in attendance broke the
former TWU attendance record of 1,229 set on Jan. 21, 2012.
On Mar. 18, the Pioneers claimed the Midwest Independent
Conference championship for the third time in program
history, winning the championship for the first time since
2012.
Basketball was picked to finish No. 11 on the LSC preseason
poll, but rose to the No. 2 seed by the end of the regular
season. On Feb. 22, TWU had their first win over a No. 1
ranked team in program history when they beat Texas A&M-
Commerce on the road. The basketball team also had their
highest regional seed in program history and the first NCAA
Tournament win this year.
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How TWU came
to be
by Maddie Ray
Texas Woman’s University has served as a beacon of
light for the education of women in Texas since 1901
and has a history of persevering through defeat to
become the university we know and love today.
The University of Texas had opened officially in
1883, offering a rounded education in literature and
science, while Texas A&M opened its doors in 1877
as a male-only industrial school to train young men in
agriculture and mechanics. The lack of an industrial
school for young women proved significant in the
coming years.
The first bill to establish a girls’ industrial school
was in 1891, which passed in the Senate but failed
in the House. President of the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union, Helen Stoddard, began petitioning
for a girls’ school in 1893, providing some of the
needed traction.
“Let our daughters be taught all the labors necessary
to a well-kept, hygienic home and also be trained
to some business… Let us stop the embroidery and
piano lessons long enough to send them to a scientific
cooking school,” Stoddard said.
As the advocation for the school increased, there
remained opponents. One of which did not want to
support the bill because it had “female rights written
all over it,” while another opponent believed that
women did not need to be trained in homemaking
skills, saying “instinct will take a woman a perfect
housekeeper, a model wife and a wise mother,”
according to Thurman.
1970’s; All Images Courtesy of the TWU Libraries
Woman’s Collection, Texas Woman’s University,
Denton, TX.
The battle for the Girls Industrial College was a long
and arduous process, with first talks of a women’s
college arising in small groups until master of the
Texas State Grange and Patrons of Husbandry A.J.
Rose started advocating for the college.
“Do [girls] not need an industrial college, too, where
they can receive a practical education which will
prepare them for some vocation in life?” Rose said
according to journalist Nita Thurman.
In 1900, the Texas Democratic Party called for an
industrial school for girls and finally, in 1901, 10 years
after the first bill was filed, the school was approved
and placed in Denton.
The college was founded to be for rural and smalltown
girls seeking vocational training to receive
both liberal education and training for the practical
industries of that time. Since many of these women
are from rural areas and did not receive a high school
education, the first two years of the curriculum were
preparatory, while high school graduates started as a
junior. The first graduate of this college was Beulah
Kincaid, who studied commercial arts.
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Of the programs offered, many were to give women
the education to better themselves as housewives or
stay-at-home mothers. If they were planning on being
homemakers, they were expected to learn sanitation,
science, cooking, sewing and hygiene. The Domestic
Arts Department offered classes in laundry and
housekeeping.
There were other programs, however, for those who
wanted to learn for careers. The Commercial Arts
Department offered classes in traditionally maledominated
fields, such as bookkeeping, commercial
law, stenography and political economy. In the Rural
Arts department, students could learn beekeeping,
floriculture, horticultural and poultry farming.
Men began to be admitted into TWU’s undergraduate
and graduate health science professions programs in
Denton, Dallas and Houston, but were not admitted to
all undergraduate degree programs until 1994.
In 2013, the Terry Foundation began providing
scholarships for TWU students. Chancellor Carine
Feyten, Ph.D. became the second chancellor and 11th
president of TWU in 2014. In 2019, TWU was named
National Outdoor Champion in the Association of
Outdoor Recreation and Education Campus Challenge.
As TWU looks forward to the future, it continues its
themes of women empowerment and opportunity as
the largest women-focused institution in America.
After the renaming
of the Girls Industrial
College to the College
of Industrial Arts,
the first Bachelor of
Science degree was
offered in 1914, when
the college initiated a
four-year curriculum.
The university then
changed its name again
to the Texas State
College for Women
(TSCW) in 1934. In
1939, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt attended and
participated in the dedication ceremony for the Little
Chapel-in-the-Woods. In 1943, the first Occupational
Therapy program in the Southwest was founded at
TSCW.
Finally, in 1957, TCSW was renamed to Texas
Woman’s University. The University opened the TWU
Institute of Health Sciences-Houston Center in 1960,
with the TWU Institute of Health Sciences-Dallas
Center quickly following in 1966. The University also
began to be integrated in 1961, with Alsenia Dowells
enrolling at TWU as the first African American
student.
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I came to TWU because I want to be a music therapist, but only
four schools in Texas offer that major. TWU was my favorite out
of the four because of the smaller campus and being located in
the DFW area.
Laura Pearson, Editor-In-Chief
“I came to TWU because I loved the campus, and whenever I toured
it just felt like home to me. I loved the brick buildings, and the
academics is what pushed me to come here.”
Deanna West, Managing Editor
“I chose TWU because I enjoy the programs they offer here as
well as the atmosphere of the campus. TWU is also very involved
with student life and events which is super awesome. Never a dull
moment!”
Brielle Gines, Engagement Editor
“I came to TWU because I loved the environment and how supportive
everyone was. I came to campus a lot as a kid while my mom was
getting her degrees, so TWU has always been a second home for me.”
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Maddie Ray, Reporter

“I came to TWU because I liked the environment on campus, the
architecture and colors of the buildings and surrounding areas
make for a calming and productive space.”
Jesus Valdes, Reporter
“TWU was the only school who identified me as an individual and
addressed my wants and needs in a university properly. I felt heard
and wanted, so the choice to become a Pioneer came naturally. The
campus is also close to my home, so I did not have to battle long
distance with my family.”
Britney McVey, Page Editor
“I came to TWU because it is predominantly a girls school, which
made me feel more comfortable. The campus is much smaller than
others, but it is a comfortable environment and has made it easier for
me to make friends.”
Stephanie Vo, Graphic Designer
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by Maddie Ray
Texas Woman’s University is the only university
system in the nation primarily for women, and the
university has continued that legacy of serving
women for more than 100 years through its courses.
The Girls Industrial College, later known as Texas
Woman’s University, was founded on the principles
of giving women the opportunity to educate
themselves on general academics, as well as skills
necessary for a homemaker at that time. In modern
times, women are allowed to get an education in
whatever they please and pursue a career best fit for
them, but in 1901, when the university first opened
its doors, the goal was to create well-prepared women
for the most prominent fields of that time for women:
home-keeping and agriculture.
The university had rules that would seem incredibly
unorthodox today. Late studying was strictly
forbidden in 1905-1906, with 10:30 p.m. being
designated as the reasonable limit. Additionally, a
student was not allowed to ride in an automobile
with a man without permission, which alumnus and
Pulitzer Prize Winner Caro Crawford Brown was
expelled for in 1926.
Along with strange rules, the university has offered
some interesting courses and majors that if offered
today would be met with a raised eyebrow.
All Images Courtesy of the TWU Libraries Woman’s
Collection, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, TX.
The first of these courses is dairy making. The
instructor of this course, Miss Tuttle, said that
the dairy making course’s purpose was to “give a
scientific, practical knowledge of different lines of
dairy work, particularly the art of butter making, and
the simple methods of cheese-making on a farm,”
according to the 1905-1906 class catalog.
Many agricultural-based classes were offered
through the university’s Rural Arts Department,
while homemaking classes were offered through the
Domestic Arts Department. Among dairy work, classes
were also offered in basketry, sewing, bee culture,
German and Spanish cooking, dressmaking, China
painting, and laundering in the 1905-1906 school year.
In the 1925-1926 school year, the curriculum
progressed to more niche subjects of agricultural and
domestic studies, as well as increasing options overall.
As a part of culinary studies, one could major in foods,
which consisted of many cooking classes as well as a
course called school lunches, which was made up of
the food selection and preparation to the needs of both
normal and exceptional children of different ages, the
various types of schools such as rural, grade schools,
etc., according to the 1925-1926 catalog.
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In the 1935-1936 school year, students could major
in home demonstration where “the primary purpose
of the Home Demonstration Group [was] to qualify
students for positions as Home Demonstration
Agents and extension specialists in home-making,”
according to the catalog. Courses were offered in
vegetable gardening, home management for cottage
residences and poultry production. The university
had two practice cottages, where students learning
home economics work could practice their laundering,
cooking and domestic leadership skills in a cottage
residence.
Through the 1940s and 1950s, classes expanded to
where there were language classes in German, Latin,
Portuguese, Spanish and French. Additionally, they
offered introductory athletics courses in a variety
of sports including archery, badminton, basketball,
bowling, fencing, golf, hockey, rifle shooting, softball,
roller skating, soccer and speedball, tennis and
volleyball.
Although some of these classes may be outdated for
today’s times, these classes offered an unprecedented
opportunity for rural women to gain an education.
Many of these programs served as a precursor to
TWU’s current reputation as an excellent university
for health sciences, social services, music, fashion
design and more.
There was also a course in pandemic chemistry which
sought to “meet the needs of those students who
[did] not care to acquire a skill in handling chemical
apparatus, but which, nevertheless, to learn something
of the methods of this science, its origin, and the role
which it is playing in our changing world,” according
to the 1935-1936 class catalog.
There was also a major in costume design, where
students took classes in sewing and costume
construction, which served as an introduction to
TWU’s later renowned textiles department.
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7th annual
Jamison Lecture
Paup Lecture Series
7th annual
7th annual
Jamison Lecture
Jamison Lecture
Paup Lecture Series Paup Lecture Series
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Online, 7 p.m.
Online, 7 p.m.

For these next places, all you need is a valid college
student ID, TWU or not.
Cinemark 14 offers movie tickets for $7 after 5 p.m.
every night, but Thursday is the night to go, because
tickets are only $3.50 with a student ID. To get some
extra savings, download their app Cinemode for more
rewards and discounts.
Being a student is hard work! Self-therapy is needed
sometimes, and retail therapy is the best way to give
yourself a gift. UNiDAYS provides discounts for various
stores online. Go to their website at
www.myunidays.com to sign up and start shopping.
by Deanna West
Let’s face it, every college student is on a budget. A
discount means more money to save, or spend, another
time. Here is a list of places in Denton that offer student
discounts, but make sure you keep your TWU ID on
you!
With your valid TWU ID you can get a 10% discount at
The Chestnut Tree – so go get some delicious crepes
at a discount! If you are in the mood for some tacos
or quesadillas, Mi Casita Mexican Food also offers a
10% discount.
Denton County Brewing Company offers 10% off
and “Happiest Hour” from 5-7 p.m. daily for TWU
students. Go buy yourself a beer and get a free slice of
pizza. For all of my underage readers, I’m sorry, you
are going to have to wait until you are 21.
Image from chestnuttearoom.com
Feeling sad or in need of something sweet? Head down
to Nothing Bundt Cakes with your TWU ID for a 10%
discount and scrumptious bundt cakes.
School and work can put a kink in your neck. Good
thing Burgess Chiropractic offers a free exam and
$25 off on your first visit, and each future adjustment is
just $25 with your valid TWU ID.
Headshots can be important when it comes to advancing
your career. Luminous Photographs offers 10% off
with a valid TWU ID.
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