Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr., on behalf of the Board of Trustees of Texas Christian University, is pleased to announce the Dr. Ronald E. Moore Professorship in Humanities in the Honors College at TCU has been awarded to Dr. Frederick W. Gooding, Jr., associate professor of African American studies in the John V. Roach Honors College.
Dr. Ronald E. Moore (1939-2016) was a Fort Worth-based philanthropist, health care
executive, publisher, poet and musician. He funded this position through an estate
gift to honor a distinguished teacher and scholar in the humanities. Ron, a TCU graduate,
was a lifelong friend of the university. He had previously established and helped
endow five scholarships at TCU as well as the Moore Symposium in Philosophy, the Frances
Moore Choral Hall, and the Mimir Chamber Music Festival in the School of Music.
TCU seeks out professors who are passionate about teaching and conducting research. These teacher-scholars challenge and invest in their students’ personal growth, forging connections that have been and will continue to be at the center of the TCU experience. Endowed positions help acknowledge and recognize these outstanding professionals.
“I am grateful to the Moore family for establishing this professorship and for their investment in the future of TCU,” said Dr. Gooding, “I look forward to leveraging this opportunity for creating additional exciting educational experiences wherever they may be found. The Humanities give us tools to embrace our desire to understand and solve problems for the betterment of all.”
Dr. Gooding is an accomplished scholar who just returned from a senior research fellowship at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. His work with the National Gallery will inform a general interest book provisionally titled “Black Statues: Where We Stand on Race Within Our Capital Space.” The book will consider the underexplored iconography and meaning of Black public history by examining Black statues as barometers of political power within Washington, D.C. Dr. Gooding is also the author of two recent books: “Black Oscars: From Mammy to Minny, What the Academy Awards Tell Us about African Americans” and “American Dream Deferred: Black Federal Workers in Washington, D.C., 1941-1981.”
In the classroom, Dr. Gooding emphasizes student agency and engagement. Courses like “Race and Sports” and “City as Text: Fort Worth” challenge students to become autonomous thinkers and effective leaders capable of assessing data and using powers of introspection to draw conclusions that can inform larger, existing bodies of knowledge. His courses are dedicated to fostering the independent investigation of truth.
Dr. Gooding has been an important member of the TCU community, chairing its 28-member committee to advance the Race & Reconciliation Initiative. The committee dove into an intensive academic examination of the university’s history, uncovering documents and artifacts, and sharing what they learned along the way.
With this record of scholarly work, dedication to students, and service to our university, we are pleased that Dr. Frederick W. Gooding, Jr., will be our inaugural holder of the Dr. Ronald E. Moore Professorship in Humanities in the Honors College at TCU.
Dr. Moore’s gift was realized through TCU’s most ambitious philanthropic campaign in its almost 150-year history, Lead On: A Campaign for TCU. This generous gift is just one of many that will provide an exceptional university experience for our students, faculty and staff, today and into the future. We are grateful to Dr. Moore and his family for making this important investment in TCU.