Thornton Receives Honor, Establishes Scholarship

July 1, 1997

Jack M. Thornton, university host and director of the Wiethorn Visitor Center at Baylor University, has established the Jack M. Thornton/CUMREC-College and University Computer Users Conference Endowed Scholarship Fund.
Thornton was recently presented a plaque and a check for $5,000 at the 42nd annual CUMREC conference in St. Louis. The plaque reads, "In recognition for your many years of loyalty and selfless service in support of CUMREC. Our heartfelt thanks!"
Thornton designated that the gift be used to start the scholarship fund. The earnings of the fund will be used to grant scholarships to students in the Hankamer School of Business who are majoring in information systems.
"This is very special honor for me," Thornton said. "This organization is very dear to my heart. I am especially honored because the group has never before presented a donation of this size in honor of an individual."
Thornton has been active in CUMREC since the 1950s and has attended 36 of the organization's 42 annual conferences. He has served as president and chairman of the board for the association and has acted as host for the annual conference three times.
From 1957-1977, Thornton, who received his degree in accounting from Baylor, was director of data processing for the university. He installed Baylor's first punchcard system.
"I think it is wonderful that computers have enabled us to have what we have at our fingertips," he said. "All our lives are touched by computers, and I think we have hardly scratched the surface of what a computer can do."
Those interested in contributing to the scholarship fund can contact Baylor's coordinator of gift accounting at 755-3510.