Board of Visitors member Lou Black ’90 has very fond memories of her four years in AddRan; she graduated with a bachelor’s in political science and a minor in general business. Her father had dreamed of attending the university, but couldn’t afford it. Instead, it was Black who finally made that family dream come true.
“I liked the location and the size of TCU,” Black reminisced. “I realized I would get a lot more personal attention from my professors because the classes were smaller. I wanted to major in political science because I wanted to go to law school.”
Black achieved her goal, starting her own practice and working as a trial attorney for the past 30 years.
Black has shown her appreciation for what TCU and AddRan have done for her by supporting the university in various ways, including via scholarships and financial contributions. In 2023, she was offered an even greater opportunity to give back when she was nominated to join AddRan’s Board of Visitors, a volunteer body that provides feedback, recommendations and support to advance the college’s mission and vision.
“When I was asked to join, it just seemed like a natural fit because I’m very interested in what goes on with the school, its future and the students,” Black said. “Our job as the Board of Visitors is to be cheerleaders for the school, to be the face of the alumni, the face of AddRan, and to go out and talk about it. We’re kind of an intermediary between Dean Sonja Watson, the professors and the public.”
One of the Board of Visitor’s biggest accomplishments in 2023 was the institution of a new mentorship program for students, Black said. “Dean Watson was very high on the idea that students who want to participate in an inner mentorship program be paired with Board of Visitors members who had careers or were in the place that the students were looking to be,” she explained. “That came to fruition at the end of last year. It goes beyond the Board of Visitors, with other alumni also paired with students.”
Black received a lot of faculty support when she attended AddRan, just as students do today. “My experience was very hands-on with my professors,” she observed. “I had a pre-law advisor, Dr. James Riddlesperger, who helped me through my LSAT and prepare my applications to law school. I felt like I was given a lot of direction and help. AddRan is the type of place where you can walk up to your professor and say, ‘Hey, I recently read about this,’ and then talk about it in class. All of the professors are student-driven.”
To say that Black truly enjoyed her time at AddRan would be an understatement. “Everything I attended was just really fun,” she recalled. “In fact, I would come home for the holidays, and when my parents asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I would say, ‘I want to go back to school.’”
