Regents name four as Distinguished Professors Emeriti

Posted by University News Service
June 5, 2009

Four retired professors from Texas State University-San Marcos have been awarded the title of Distinguished Professor Emeritus or Emerita by the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System.

Meeting June 3-5 on the Texas State campus, the regents voted to honor former professors Barbara A. Hatcher, Wilda Furr Meixner, Paula C. Renfro and D. Theron Stimmel.

Hatcher taught in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas State from 1975 to 2008. She served as assistant dean of the Graduate College from 1988 to 2008. During her career at Texas State, she received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching and was named a Piper Professor by the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation. She influenced the creation of full-day kindergartens in Texas and other states by providing research to the Education Committee of the Texas Legislature in 1980.

Meixner taught in the Department of Accounting for 21 years. Meixner directed the development of such innovations as a recognized master’s of accountancy degree and the five-year integrated bachelor of business administration/master’s of accountancy degree program. She has been recognized by Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities, Alpha Chi Honor Society, Beta Alpha Psi National Accounting Fraternity and Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.

Renfro taught at Texas State for 24 years, including service as acting chair, assistant chair and head of the mass communication sequence for the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She was repeatedly recognized by her peers for excellence in teaching, winning several university-wide awards, including being one of the first recipients of the Faculty Senate Everette Swinney Teaching Award. She wrote the proposal for the master of arts program in mass communication and led the faculty push for initial accreditation of the program.

Stimmel served as a professor of psychology at Texas State for 40 years. During his career, he was the recipient of the Faculty Senate Everette Swinney Teaching Award and was named the Honors Professor of the Year, Chi Omega Favorite Professor and the Alpha Chi National Honor Society Favorite Professor. He was the first chair of the Department of Psychology at Texas State, served on the Faculty Senate for 12 years and remained and active researcher and scholar throughout his career.