Texas Tech's Phi Beta Kappa President Named American Council on Education Fellow

The president of Texas Tech University's chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society became a fellow Thursday (April 2) of the American Council on Education (ACE). Mary Jane Hurst, also a professor of English, is one of this year's 42 faculty and administration honorees announced by Molly Corbett Broad, ACE president. She is the sixth Texas Tech ACE Fellow. "I am very honored to have been selected as an ACE Fellow," Hurst said. "I am grateful for the learning opportunities that lie ahead." As part of her duties as a new fellow, Hurst will spend the next year working with the president and leaders of another university, to be named later by ACE. The ACE Fellows Program, established in 1965, is designed to strengthen institutions and leadership in American higher education by identifying and preparing promising senior faculty and administrators for future positions in college and university administration. Prospective nominees are nominated for the fellowship by the presidents or chancellors of their institutions. "We are extremely pleased with the new fellows," said Sharon A. McDade, director of the ACE Fellows Program. "The individuals selected have demonstrated strong leadership. The Fellows Program will sharpen and enhance their leadership skills and their network, and the program will prepare them to address issues of concern to the higher education community." McDade said that most previous fellows have advanced into major positions in academic administration. Of the more than 1,500 participants in the first 44 years of the program, more than 300 have become presidents or chancellors and more than 1,100 have become provosts or other top administrators. Hurst served from 2000 to 2005 as associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences and then from 2006 to 2008 as faculty assistant to the president.  She led and directed the university's successful Phi Beta Kappa initiatives that resulted in Texas Tech being only one of three public universities in Texas, and among only the top ten percent of universities nationwide, to shelter a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter. She created and developed Texas Tech's Presidential Lecture & Performance Series among many other contributions to Texas Tech. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English at Miami University and her master's and doctoral degrees in English (language and literature) from the University of Maryland. A faculty member at Texas Tech since 1986, she has earned Texas Tech's President's Excellence in Teaching Award, the Faculty Distinguished Leadership Award and other honors. Founded in 1918, ACE is the major coordinating body for all the nation's higher education institutions, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents, and more than 200 related associations in the United States. CONTACT: Mary Jane Hurst, president of Texas Tech University's Phi Beta Kappa Chapter and professor of English,maryjane.hurst@ttu.edu, Erin Hennessy, assistant director of public affairs, (202) 939-9367 or erin_hennessy@ace.nche.edu.