More students, new buildings and football. How outgoing president turned around Texas Wesleyan
Legendary college football coach Bear Bryant once said of his return to the University of Alabama that “Mama called.”
Texas Wesleyan President Frederick G. Slabach can relate. He is answering that same call. In July he will leave the school he has led for more than decade in Fort Worth to become the dean of the University of Mississippi Law School, of which he is a graduate.
“It’s bittersweet. I love Texas Wesleyan. All three of our kids grew up here,” Slabach said. “But for [wife] Melany and me Mississippi is home. We are excited to the moon.
“Being asked to return home to help lead my alma mater, one of the oldest public law schools in America, is a dream come true.”
Before becoming president of Texas Wesleyan in 2011, Slabach served as dean of what was previously the Texas Wesleyan University School of Law from 2003 to 2006 and as the chief executive officer of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation in Washington from 2006-2011.
The law school was purchased by Texas A&M in 2013.
Slabach’s accomplishment in his 12 years at the helm are numerous, including:
▪ Texas Wesleyan’s endowment doubled under Slabach’s leadership and administrators invested more than $50 million into the campus.
▪ Freshman applications increased by more than 280% and overall freshman enrollment has increased more than 80%, with the school earning distinctions as both a Hispanic Serving Institution and Minority Serving Institution from the U.S. Department of Education.
▪ Total enrollment for fall 2022 reached 2,653 students, the largest since 2012.
▪ The football program was reinstated in 2016 after a 75-year hiatus.
“It really was a team effort. No one person can take credit,” said Slabach. “I am very proud that we have accomplished several things that will last after I’ve left. The biggest thing is the quality of instruction, along with increased size and diversity.
“There were 178 students in the freshmen class in 2011 and we had 440 this fall. Also, we’re now a majority minority university.
“We still have our challenges, but we are in much, much better shape.”
The school has also started a nurse practitioner program. Slabach noted that the school has the largest graduate nursing anesthesia program in the United States with over 300 students enrolled.
“We also think it’s the best,” he said with a smile.
How it turned around
“We knew what we have to offer is good, but we didn’t think folks knew about us,” Slabach said.
So the school did a study among college-bound students within 150 miles of Fort Worth. They discovered that only about 25% of them knew about Texas Wesleyan and what it offers.
“When we told them about the small class sizes, the connection with teachers, they said, ‘Yes! That’s what we want!’” Slabach said.
And so, the school’s new slogan, “Smaller. Smarter.” was born.
“And we did it in-house with our own marketing team,” Slabach said.
Of course, while students are the main part of any school, funding was still needed for the university to grow. Being a private institution, most revenue comes from tuition, and having more students certainly helps that, but more was needed.
The school enjoyed a record fiscal year for philanthropy from June 2021 to May 2022, when it raised around $15 million.
“I have come to realize Fort Worth is a tremendously philanthropic city,” Slabach said. “Folks with no family here at the college, they didn’t attend themselves, but they have dug deep to help, that’s the kind of people here.”
Three big fundraising projects under Slabach are:
▪ The Rosedale Renaissance: The school raised $6.75 million to create a new entryway to the campus on Rosedale Street, which included a clock tower, reflecting pool and promenade-style sidewalks; a new home for the Central Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church across the street from campus; the Jack Morton Business Accelerator; a Community Counseling Center; and renovated the old Polytechnic Firehouse into the University’s new Bernice Coulter Templeton Art Studio. An additional $32 million in street improvements has been provided by city and state funds to dramatically renovate the streetscape through the heart of 76105.
▪ Martin University Center: At 44,000 square feet and two stories, the $20 million structure includes a student and family welcome center, food court, ballroom that can accommodate 300, bookstore and convenience store, spaces for student organizations and student life offices, lounge areas, meeting rooms and office space.
▪ A comprehensive campaign for buildings and renovation: Launched two years ago with a five-year goal of $40 million with over $25 million already raised.
“President Slabach’s long and successful tenure leading a talented team of faculty and staff in the face of unprecedented challenges for higher education has resulted in a stronger, more diverse and more accessible university,” Texas Wesleyan Board of Trustees Chairman Glenn Lewis said. “His vision for, and commitment to, our ‘Smaller. Smarter’ university have been steadfast and untiring. The next president of Texas Wesleyan University will have a strong foundation upon which to build.”
Bringing back football
A $16.5 million athletic stadium is on the horizon with the first phase expected to be completed by summer. It will include a field, lights and a surrounding track. The second phase will include a field house and the third phase will feature the stadium around the field.
“It’s all through philanthropy,” Slabach said.
When the football program returned to competition in 2017, Marjorie Herrera Lewis coached defensive backs that season, making her the only female college football coach at any level that year. Now, Slabach said women may soon be playing the sport at the school.
“We’re currently doing a feasibility study on starting women’s flag football now that there is a pipeline through Fort Worth high schools,” he said.
In 2020 the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, to which Texas Wesleyan belongs, sanctioned women’s flag football as an official sport. Nineteen schools have added the sport, but Texas Wesleyan would be the first in Texas.
Fort Worth high schools also play girls flag football.
Slabach said bringing back football on the men’s side has been a great experience. He said it has opened doors for players to continue playing the game they love while getting a top-notch education.
“Players at our level realize they’re not going pro, but they want an education at a place they can play,” he said. “They really are students first.”
However, the program has also turned into a winner on the field as well, going from 0-11 in 2017 to 9-2 in 2022 under coach Joe Prud’homme.
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker called Slabach an increadible leader for all of Fort Worth.
“His tenure as President is both impressive and transformative for the University and we are indebted to his leadership,” she said. “He left Texas Wesleyan and Fort Worth better than he found them and for that, I am incredibly grateful.”
Friends with Albright
During his time working with the Truman Scholarship Foundation Slabach struck up a special friendship with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In fact, she’s the one who asked him be CEO of the foundation.
‘It’s hard to say no to Madeleine Albright,” Slabach said with a chuckle.
In 1977, Slabach became the first Truman Scholar from Mississippi.
“I definitely count her as a friend and mentor. She had very strong convictions and principals, yet she knew how to compromise without violating her strongly held beliefs,” he said.
Slabach said he was devastated when Albright passed away in March 2022. He called her “an amazing person who made a major difference on the world stage.”
He keeps a photo of the two of them taken at his inauguration in his office. She delivered the keynote address that day.
First in his family
“Only in America can someone whose parents didn’t even have a high school diploma become president of a university,” Slabach said. “My parents sacrificed so all their children could have access to higher education.”
Slabach is the second youngest of eight children. As a first generation college student himself from a small town in Mississippi, Slabach said he can better relate to students at his university.
“For me, it was very important that my professor took the time to get to know me because I had so many questions and needed a lot of answers,” he said. “I understand the students. I understand some of them are a flat tire away from not being able to afford school, or if their parents lose a job.
“I think that’s a big reason for our success. We all feel this way and the students know that.”
As for his own higher education, Slabach said: “I followed by sibling’s lead. I’m no more special than any other student.”
Married to a Pulitzer nominee
Slabach is married to Melany Neilson, an author who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for her 1989 book “Even Mississippi.” The book is a memoir of Southern politics and won numerous awards. She chronicled her work with Robert Clark, the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Congress in 1982 and 1984, and her own family history and its connection to old Mississippi politics.
She published her first novel, “Persia Cafe,” in 2001. It is the story of a race murder set in a small Mississippi River town in 1962.
“She’s the truly talented one in the family,” Slabach said. “After each book there were speaking tours and I have loved coming along for those.
“I love it when people come up to me and say, ‘Hello, Mr. Neilson.’”
Back to that astronaut dream
Slabach came of age during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions of the 1960s and ‘70s. And he was serious about joining the likes of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin before changing direction in high school.
“I was 12 years old when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon,” Slabach recalled. “That still excites me to this day to think about it.
“But if I had gone to a different university (military academy, as most astronauts) I never would have met Melany. I’m not an astronaut, but my life is out of this world.”
Coming full circle
Now Slabach is preparing to return to where he was once ranked atop his class. And he couldn’t be more excited.
“There’s an old saying, ‘A prophet is never accepted in his hometown,’” he said with a laugh. “But I am so thrilled to be back there. It is such an amazing feeling to think about sitting on a porch watching the sun set. We are going to miss Fort Worth, but it is nice to be going home.”
But don’t expect him to never come back for a visit now and then.
“Oh, absolutely. We’ve made so many friends here over the years. Plus, Ole Miss Law School recruits nationally, and there are a lot of prospects in this area with a lot of potential.”
And if anyone knows anything about fulfilling potential, it’s Slabach.
