Texas Wesleyan University

21-year-old Simon Owen was described as a kind and easygoing young man, and at just 21 years old, the world was his oyster.

During term time, Simon lived in Fort Worth, Texas and attended the Texas Wesleyan University.

But during the summers, Simon spent his time in Hawaii with plenty of sun and endless beaches.

Hawaii was the perfect place for Simon to relax and earn some extra money for school next year.

And at just 21 years old, the world was his oyster.

During term time, Simon lived in Fort Worth, Texas, and attended the Texas Wesleyan University.

But during the summers, Simon spent his time in Hawaii with plenty of sun and endless beaches.

Hawaii was the perfect place for Simon to relax and earn some extra money for school next year.

Dang.

I would have probably thrown in Texas Wesleyan.

Like Houston or Texas Tech.

Houston's a city school, bro.

Trojans are 2-4-1 this year.

And by the way, both John Brown University soccer teams will play in Siloam Springs on Saturday against Texas Wesleyan.

The women, ranked 14th in the NAIA national ratings, will play at 1 Saturday afternoon at Alumni Field.

And then the 13th-ranked men play at 3.30. Ozarks at Large is a production of 91.3 KUAF Fayetteville, and KUAF is a listener-supported service.

Hey everybody, it's Jeremy Teers and this is episode 96 of the Mission Admissions Podcast.

Back in June, I was on the Texas Wesleyan University campus doing some staff training and leadership development with different groups.

And I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes with my guest today, Dr. Emily Messer, a first-time president.

A lot of you listening may not have direct access to your president.

I will Blocked 30 minutes in my calendar on an afternoon to walk around campus and ask students how classes are going, how athletics is going, extracurricular activities, and just really ground myself in the student-centered mission of Texas Westlands.

Where did you get that from? I mean, is that something you picked up from other people? Is that your enrollment management background, which, you know, you as a president have a lot of, you know, enrollment management background, which I know a lot of presidents don't necessarily have.

Is that something you've always done even in previous roles? Or is that something you started doing when you became the president at Texas Wesleyan?

Well, I think it goes back to the start of my career in higher education, which was actually in student affairs.

21-year-old Simon Owen was described as a kind and easygoing young man, and at just 21 years old, the world was his oyster.

During term time, Simon lived in Fort Worth, Texas and attended the Texas Wesleyan University, but during the summers, Simon spent his time in Hawaii with plenty of sun and endless beaches.

Hawaii was the perfect place for Simon to relax and earn some extra money for school next year, and in 1994 he went to the islands but would never come back.

In June of that year, 1994, Simon arrived in Hawaii and got himself a job at Chili's restaurant in Waikiki.

Texas A&M in 2013 bought a law school.

It was Texas Wesleyan's Law School in Fort Worth, and it wasn't ranked.

Now, Texas A&M says the school has since climbed more than 120 places in U.S. news, higher and faster than any other law school in the history of the rankings.

This year, it's ranked 22nd.

The 509 reports show that climb also.

In 2011, when it was still Texas Wesleyan, the median LSAT was a 153.

In 2025, it was a 169.

They jumped up 16 points.

We're glad to have you back again.

He is an Ole Miss Law graduate, returned to his alma mater as dean in 2023 after serving for 12 years as president at Texas Wesleyan University, earned his undergrad degree from Mississippi College, LLM from Columbia.

He is distinguished, and Dean, we are glad to have you.

And then our second guest is Professor Ronald Rischlack, distinguished professor of law and the Jamie Whitten Chair in Law and Government at the University of Mississippi School of Law.

How cool is that dynamic to everything for Natalia?

Sebastian Velasquez played, I think as a junior, So it's been a couple of years and he's now playing at Texas Wesleyan.

He was teamed up with Paul Stankowski, who of course went to school here in El Paso at UTEP.

And they finished second.