Alumni

Jyric Sims (BS Kinesiology 05) serves as president and CEO of Medical City Plano and Frisco, a health system within HCA Healthcare, that includes a 603-bed level 1 trauma medical center, 92-bed level 3 trauma medical center and more than 3,200 employees. He previously served as President and CEO of Medical City Fort Worth, COO of Tulane Health System in New Orleans, Louisiana, COO of St. Lucie Medical Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida and in executive roles in Houston, Texas and Little Rock, Arkansas. Prior to HCA, he worked as an administrative fellow and director of operations at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Rachel Balkovec (MS Kinesiology 2011)  is a minor league manager for the New York Yankees and has worked in professional baseball for 10 years. She is the first woman to be a full time strength and conditioning coach and also the first woman to be a full time hitting coach in the history of professional baseball. 

Lt. Col. Michael C. Shaw (MS Human Resource Education 2012, PhD Human Resource Education 2015) is a military professor in the Strategy and Policy Department. He most recently graduated from the Army War College. An Army aviator, his past assignments include battalion command, Army staff, commander's initiative group, and various other command and staff positions. Past operational tours include in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Spartan Shield, and Operation Inherent Resolve.

Johnnie W. Jones, Jr. (MS Social Work 1975, PhD Textiles, Apparel & Merchandising 2018) doesn't let his age stop him from learning. In fact, he graduated with his PhD from LSU when he was 83. Jones received a Master’s of Social Work from LSU in 1975 and was about nine hours short of his PhD when he received a job offer from the Department of Corrections. He would retire 25 years later as the warden for the women’s prison. When he returned to school he had to start all over again. His dissertation was about racism and religion and specifically the perceptions of racism and the stress that black families experience as a result, and how religion serves as a coping strategy.