Students majoring in kinesiology, social work or communication sciences and disorders are now eligible to be nominated to be a member of TCU's Harris Associates organization.

The mission of the Harris Associates is to serve as student representatives of the Harris College and to work on recruitment and retention rates of prospective and current students, said Christina Rector, the club’s current advisor.

When Zoranna Jones, the organization’s previous advisor, established the organization in 2000, membership was only open to nursing students, Rector said.

The creation of the Academic Resource Center within the Harris College is what helped allow the organization to expand to all Harris College majors, Rector said.

She said the Academic Resource Center has given the Harris College the opportunity to spread leadership opportunities across all Harris College majors.

“As a whole I think it is going to be a good experience for the students to learn from each other and just get more students in the college involved,” Rector said.

Rector said that she, and the associates, are collaborating together to plan events that will focus on bringing together the faculty and students.

“We are planning to have a chili cook off in the fall, and then still kind of contemplating what we are going to do in the spring,” Rector said.

Casey Anderson, a junior nursing major, said they had their first event, a freshman welcome dinner for the Harris College, last Monday. She said she thought it went really well.

"We got to get to know a lot of the new freshmen," Anderson said. "So they were able to get to know some people, so when you see them in the halls, it's a familiar face."

Anderson said she looks forward to helping plan and put on events for Harris students this year.