Dr. Stuart Wright
Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology, Social Work, and Criminal Justice
Began working at Lamar University in 1985
Interviewed by Vidisha Barua Worley on 03/10/2023
From the Left: Dr. Jim Love (Former Department Chair), Ms. Karen Roebuck (Instructor of Criminal Justice), Dr. Vidisha Barua Worley (Professor of Criminal Justice), former Anthropology Director Carolyn Clanahan, former Administrative Assistant Ms. Rita Trottman, Dr. Stuart Wright (Department Chair), Dr. Kevin Smith (Former Department Chair and Acting Provost), Dr. Margot Gage Witvliet (Associate Professor of Sociology), former director of Social Work Vernice Monroe (1970-2016), Dr. Jesse Garcia (Assistant Professor of Sociology), Dr. Ginger Gummelt (Chair from Fall 2023), Dr. Jim Mann (Associate Professor of Criminal Justice), Dr. Robert M. Worley (Professor and former Director of Criminal Justice), and Dr. Li-Chen Ma (Former Department Chair).
‘I was offered the job of an assistant professor coming off a post doc at Yale in 1985. I have been here for 38 years. I was recruited by the President at the University, Dr. Bill J. Franklin (President of Lamar University, 1985-1991), who was a sociologist. He said that Lamar was in the process of transitioning to a Research I Institution and we wanted researchers. I already had a number of publications and he saw that I was primarily a researcher. And, so, he recruited me. I loved him, had a really good relationship. And that lasted only two years. We had a change in administration. I was sorry to see him leave. I just turned 72, and so a lot of my cohort were here when I came or close to when I came, have already retired. One of them being Kevin Smith. He was a very good friend. Jim Sanderson is one. One by one, my cohort, has pretty much just retired or moved on. I got a chance to do some administrative work. In 1999, I was approached about becoming assistant dean in the graduate office. Back in those days, it was Graduate Studies and Research. I had three kids in college, one was about to go to college, so I thought I could use the extra money. I did it largely for economic reasons but I really enjoyed the six years I was there. In 2006, the Graduate Studies and Research Office broke off and split. I decided to go with the research side. I was Director of Research in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for another five years. We got to go to Washington D.C. and talk to lobbying firms. I got to go to the offices of our legislators. I learned a lot.'
‘We had a financial squeeze in 2011. It was kind of the aftermath of the financial crash in 2008. It caught up with us. They came to our office. Even though we were generating about $14 million in external funds at the time, they cut our staff and let two of them go, who were outstanding. I told Provost Steve Doblin that I can’t work under these conditions. One went off and got hired immediately at the University of Texas Medical School and the other got hired at Rice. So, I came back to this department because our department needed a department chair and took over as chair in January of 2012.’
‘We have been through some dramatic changes. The enrollment was pretty high in the 80s. We had some pretty good athletic teams. Our sports teams were a lot better those days. In 1985 Fall, the National Basketball Champions came to play at Lamar and we beat them. We beat the national champions. That’s how good we were. But our coach was hired away by the University of Houston. They stole our coach. We have never had as good a coach or as good a team since then. The sporting events were very well-attended in the Montagne Center. That was way different.’
‘In the late 80s we dropped football and our enrollments went down as a result of that. Even though the Football Team was losing money it was still providing students. The students who were coming wanted to watch football. Whoever made the decision at that time, didn’t realize that. So, they reinstituted it.’
‘We had a financial squeeze in 2011. It was kind of the aftermath of the financial crash in 2008. It caught up with us. They came to our office. Even though we were generating about $14 million in external funds at the time, they cut our staff and let two of them go, who were outstanding. I told Provost Steve Doblin that I can’t work under these conditions. One went off and got hired immediately at the University of Texas Medical School and the other got hired at Rice. So, I came back to this department because our department needed a department chair and took over as chair in January of 2012.’
‘We have been through some dramatic changes. The enrollment was pretty high in the 80s. We had some pretty good athletic teams. Our sports teams were a lot better those days. In 1985 Fall, the National Basketball Champions came to play at Lamar and we beat them. We beat the national champions. That’s how good we were. But our coach was hired away by the University of Houston. They stole our coach. We have never had as good a coach or as good a team since then. The sporting events were very well-attended in the Montagne Center. That was way different.’
‘In the late 80s we dropped football and our enrollments went down as a result of that. Even though the Football Team was losing money it was still providing students. The students who were coming wanted to watch football. Whoever made the decision at that time, didn’t realize that. So, they reinstituted it.’
‘In the early 90s we had a chancellor here who was very unpopular with the faculty. We thought he got installed by the Board of Regents because he would do their bidding, was a puppet. The faculty gave him a vote of no-confidence. We marched to the Chancellor’s house holding an effigy and they fired him. At that time, we were not in the TSUS. The State of Texas as a result of that made us part of the TSUS System. That was the origin.’