By Bill Oliver
Commerce, TX –
For 46 years, a letter signed by the most prominent alum at Texas A&M University-Commerce sat in a file cabinet of a Commerce fraternity house. Members of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity recently donated the letter from House Speaker Sam Rayburn to the university. The letter, signed by Rayburn a few months before his death in 1961, was a reply to an invitation sent by the fraternity inviting "Mr. Sam" to campus for graduation. The letter is on display in the Special Collections in Gee Library through homecoming on October 20. It will later be properly preserved and placed in the archives as a part of university history.
The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $100,000 grant to an A&M-Commerce professor. Dr. Carlos Bertulani will develop theoretical calculations related to supernova explosions and how they relate to astrophysics and nuclear technology. Dr. Bertulani has a second grant from the Energy Department and the National Nuclear Security Agency, addressing scientific discoveries through advanced computing for nuclear physics.
The A&M-Commerce Athletic Department has gone to Southern Methodist University to fill another vacancy. The new director of sports medicine is Warren Young, who comes to Commerce from SMU, where he was the assistant football athletic trainer and director of SMU's undergraduate student athletic training program. Young joins Athletic Director Carlton Cooper, who was an associate AD at SMU. More about Young can be found online at lionathletics.com.