colleagues and friends, a pillar of Sul
Ross as the institution goes through
testing times.
Jimmy D., as his birth certificate
read, was born on January 26, 1948 at
Fort Knox, KY, where his father served
as sergeant. Jimmy and his mother
Darlene soon moved to Sanford in the
Texas Panhandle. When Jimmy was in
fifth grade he, his mother and sister
Debbie relocated to Amarillo, where
Jimmy’s step-father worked as a truck
driver in the oil patch and where his
younger sister Diana was born.
Case always enjoyed school, from
elementary school at Sanford, to Travis
Junior High, to Palo Duro High School
near Amarillo, where he graduated in
1966. “I was a well-behaved student,”
he recalls with a laugh, “probably bor-
ingly so!” He enjoyed joining groups,
became features editor of the high
school newspaper and President of the
Future Teachers of America.
Case graduated in 1968 from
Amarillo College and moved to Baylor
University in Waco, where he gained a
B.A. in Political Science and History
with a Minor in Education (1970). To
Case, studying Political Science was a
natural follow-on from History, particu-
larly during the explosive 1960s when
movements for social change gained
traction. He was fascinated with the idea
that students could change history but
believed that it should be achievable
with the support of the church. He
became involved at Amarillo Jr. College
in the Baptist Church, and became
active in the Baptist Student Union. In
Alpine, he joined the First Christian
Church.
Upon graduation from Baylor, Case
found himself drafted. From 1970-1972,
he did administrative work as chaplain’s
assistant at three different military bases,
which he describes as “uneventful.”
Upon release, he enrolled at Texas Tech
in the Political Science graduate pro-
gram while also working as teacher’s
assistant. He obtained a PhD in 1984
with a dissertation on government’s role
in delivering social services. With hind-
sight, Case believes he was consistently
fortunate in his choices of school, sub-
jects and teachers. Now he was set to
prove what his education had achieved.
In 1971 Case married Beverly Six,
whom he met at Amarillo College.
While they divorced in 1995 with no
children, both remained collegially con-
nected for years on the SRSU payroll.
Beverly, Professor of English, is due to
retire this year. As for Case, 32 years
after he first arrived in Alpine, he
acknowledges that SRSU is the right
spot for him, and has no interest in
retirement.
He arrived in Alpine in 1981, hired
as Assistant Professor of Political
Science. Today he spends 20 percent of
his time teaching as professor and 80
percent in administrative work as Dean.
Over the years he has taken on numer-
ous additional responsibilities, on cam-
pus with foreign students and encourag-
ing trips to Mexico when conditions per-
mitted, and in the community most
noticeably with the local Hospital
District, as well as with the Alpine
Humane Society (of which he was a
founder member) and the Family Crisis
Center. As early as 1994 he earned the
Janette Bowyers Volunteer Award,
which he describes as “a great honor.”
As Dean, Case is well-placed to eval-
uate today’s on-campus morale as well
as the future role for SRSU, gained
through his previous state-wide teacher
involvement. He sees the recent
rebranding of SRSU as a positive sign of
progress; he finds administration and
faculty relations improved, and recruit-
ing stronger under the leadership of
President Ricardo Maestas, who was
appointed in 2009.
But he also worries that education is
not high on the list of Austin legislators.
To local residents, SRSU is central and
vital to the region. To Austin legislators,
SRSU is distant and small. in the pres-
ent numbers-driven style of thinking
which lauds efficiency per se, it risks los-
ing funding for projects and courses
which are locally important. One thing
that distinguishes Sul Ross is the number
of graduates who are the first in their
family to achieve a university degree.
The Dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences can relate to this, since he falls
into this category himself.
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Third Quarter 2013
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