2024 TCU Leadership Award Recipients

Dr. Alan Enciso ’16

Distinguished Alumni Award

First presented in 1954, this award is designated for an alumnus or alumna whose career and endeavors have achieved national prominence in a particular field, bringing credit to himself or herself and, in turn, bringing credit to TCU.

Dr. Alan E. Enciso ’16

Billerica, Massachusetts

In fall 2018, Alan E. Enciso ’16 began living the dream of many scientists, working alongside Sir Fraser Stoddart, a 2016 Nobel Laureate in chemistry, while serving in a postdoctoral research position at Northwestern University.

From there, Dr. Enciso’s career has continued its rapid ascent. In 2020, he was awarded the National Science Foundation/American Society for Engineering Education Innovative Postdoctoral Entrepreneurial Research Fellowship, becoming a senior scientist with BioHybrid Solutions, LLC, in Pittsburgh.

During the pandemic, Alan joined Pfizer as a senior scientist in the drug product design and development department, where he participated in the improvement of technologies related to the COVID-19 vaccine and obtained four provisional patents. His work and enthusiasm yielded several Bravo awards while leading the Nanoparticle Screening Subteam. Additionally, he was part of a national advertising campaign that has been on social media since October 2023.

A native of Mexico, Dr. Enciso graduated cum laude with his B.S. in chemistry from the Universidad de las Américas, Puebla, in 2010. While an undergraduate, he participated in a research experience at Texas A&M University, where he connected with faculty member Eric Simanek, now Robert A. Welch Chair of Chemistry at TCU. Dr. Enciso began his doctoral experience at TCU in 2011, and says Dr. Simanek and other TCU chemistry faculty prepared him to adapt to the rhythm and processes of research at other institutions. Before receiving his Ph.D. in chemistry from TCU in May 2016, Dr. Enciso was a visiting research scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Immediately after graduating from TCU, he was awarded a grant from the Mexican Council of Science and Technology to pursue research at Carnegie Mellon University, where he rapidly became leader of the biomaterials subgroup and earned his first patent in association with renowned scientists Krzysztof Matyjaszewski and Alan Russell.

“Eric [Simanek] always said to challenge myself and go to new places to see new techniques and that is what I did,” Dr. Enciso explained. “He had a huge influence on me, and his mentorship was important for my career.”

Michael Soper ’89

Valuable Alumni Award

The recipient of this award is an alumnus or alumna who has rendered outstanding and continuing service to the University and/or to the Alumni Association. The contributions of the individual are also in terms of financial support.

Michael Soper ’89

Houston, Texas

Michael Soper ’89 is founder of Legacy Funeral Group, which is among the largest companies in the funeral industry. Mr. Soper is president and CEO of the company, which owns and operates 160 funeral homes, cemeteries and crematories in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nevada with 1,000 employees.

After graduating from TCU in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science degree, Mr. Soper began his career in investment management with Kanaly Trust Company. He later served as vice president at Southwest Guaranty Trust Company. Before founding Legacy, he was president of Memorial Pre-Care, a pre-arranged funeral and burial benefits company.

The Soper family is a sponsor of TCU’s Richards Barrentine Values and Ventures® Competition and Mr. Soper serves as a judge in this college entrepreneur competition. He is a graduate of St. Thomas High School in Houston, where he serves on the foundation board of directors. Mr. Soper is active in the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), where he served as chairman of the YPO Gold Chapter. He is a past member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International Board of Directors; and has served in various leadership capacities with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. In 2017, Mr. Soper was named the Services winner for the Ernst & Young Gulf Coast Area Entrepreneur of the Year awards.

Mr. Soper is an avid fisherman and hunter. He is married to Andrea Gregg Soper, and they are the proud parents of 20-year-old son Perri (TCU Class of 2027) and 14-year-old daughter Madison. They are members of The Church of St. John the Divine (Episcopal).

Dale Young ’66

Alumni Service Award

Established in the spring of 1992, the alumnus or alumna receiving this award has rendered continuing and outstanding service to the Alumni Association and to the University.

Dale Young ’66

Fort Worth, Texas

Dale Young ’66 retired from TCU’s College of Education (COE) in 2013 after 35 years with the university, but many still know him as “Mr. TCU.” The former Horned Frog cheerleader exudes his alma mater’s spirit, faithfully wearing purple every day – often from head to toe.

As an alumnus, Mr. Young has served as the president-elect, president, and past president of the Quinq Club and currently represents that organization on the National Alumni Board. He’s a familiar presence at the TCU Christmas Tree Lighting each year as he volunteers with the Golden Frogs to distribute light-up necklaces and candy canes.

Mr. Young was recruited to TCU on a basketball scholarship after graduating from Weatherford College. He followed up his TCU undergraduate degree with a Master of Education with administrator certification in 1968. He launched his career as an educator at Fort Worth’s Wedgwood Middle School, teaching eighth-grade social studies and career education, earning three awards for creative teaching, and coaching a winning basketball team of seventh- and eighth-graders. The COE wooed him back to campus in 1978, where he became an instructor and director of student teaching and career services.

While working for the university, Mr. Young was president of the Texas State Teachers Association, served as adviser for TCU’s chapter of the international teaching honor society Kappa Delta Pi, and was named favorite COE professor three times. He also served on the National Education Association board and was president of the American Association for Employment in Education as well as three-time president of the Texas Association for Employment in Education.

Mr. Young’s COE office was legendary. TCU artifacts of all shapes, sizes and materials lined his desk and walls, from his framed cheerleading sweater to a TCU bird feeder to footballs and basketballs signed by athletes, even a purple rug and a TCU cheerleader Barbie doll.

He shared that Horned Frog spirit far beyond his office walls. Mr. Young served on the TCU Student Life committee that established Frog Camp, then attended five years of Frog Camp as the spirit leader, teaching incoming students the Alma Mater, the Fight Song and Riff Ram. He established the 200-member-strong Spirit Wranglers, served as interim sponsor of the TCU Cheerleaders from 1998 to 2000, and led “Monday at TCU” events for the COE.

Mr. Young worked with former COE Dean Sam Deitz to get the college accepted into the elite European Teacher Education Network (ETEN). He then served as the liaison for ETEN for 12 years, during which time 500 TCU students traveled to Europe for a four-week student teaching term and more than 160 European students visited the COE to complete a semester of coursework.

Mr. Young would often meet these students at the airport, show them around Fort Worth and take them cowboy boot shopping, one former student recalls. “He goes above and beyond the typical professor role.”

Kevin Day ’19

Outstanding Young Professional Award

This award recognizes an alumnus or alumna, 35 years of age or younger, who has demonstrated outstanding professional achievement or endeavors, bringing credit to himself or herself and, in turn, bringing credit to TCU.

Kevin Day ’19

San Diego, California

Composer, conductor and jazz pianist Kevin Day ’19 is a leading voice in music composition, with his Concerto for Wind Ensemble considered for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize. He made his conducting debut at Carnegie Hall at the 2022 New York International Music Festival.

Mr. Day’s music fuses genres such as jazz, contemporary classical, R&B, and soul, and has been performed by some of the world’s top instrumental soloists, wind bands, chamber ensembles and symphony orchestras. He has composed more than 250 works and nine concerti, and has had performances throughout the United States, Canada, Austria, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia and Japan.

Mr. Day is the recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship for Music Composition, a winner of the Broadcast Music, Inc. Composer Award, a three-time American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Morton Gould Young Composer Award finalist, a finalist for the American Bandmasters Association Sousa-Ostwald Award, and a finalist for the National Band Association Revelli composition award. His most recent works include a double concerto for trombone and piano titled Departures, which will be premiered later this year by the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. 

Cincinnati Opera recently announced the launch of The Black Opera Project, a groundbreaking three-opera commissioning initiative that engages Black creators to develop new works celebrating Black stories. Mr. Day’s original opera, LALOVAVI: An Afro-Futurist Opera in Three Acts, will be the first work to be featured.

A native of Arlington, Texas, Mr. Day arrived at TCU eager to earn a Bachelor of Music in performance. He became a skillful pianist with the TCU Jazz Ensemble and played both the tuba and euphonium for the TCU Wind Symphony and TCU Symphony Orchestra. 

As a TCU sophomore, Mr. Day composed original music and shared mini recordings of each piece with Director of Bands Bobby Francis and other professors. The TCU Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band began playing his music and premiered his euphonium concerto at the 2019 College Band Directors National Association conference in Tempe, Arizona. The young composer was quickly commissioned to write a concerto for a renowned trumpet soloist. The TCU Wind Orchestra premiered the trumpet concerto at the Texas Music Educators Association convention in San Antonio the following year, conducted by Director Frances.

Mr. Day earned his Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Georgia, and is completing his doctorate in composition from the University of Miami Frost School of Music.

Mark Rose ’24

Distinguished Student Award

Presented to a senior student who has distinguished himself or herself as an undergraduate at TCU, both in academics and in service to the University.

Mark Rose ’24

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

While Mark Rose patiently waited to receive decision letters from other universities, he discovered TCU had already accepted him, that he was a finalist for the university’s most prestigious scholarship, and that he had been invited to apply to the John V. Roach Honors College at TCU. The friendly, personal way he was treated when he visited TCU’s campus to interview for the Chancellor’s Scholarship clinched the deal. “I felt that TCU wanted me to be here while every other university was still deciding if I was good enough to attend. Although being a Chancellor’s Scholar definitely helped – the inclusiveness, the feeling of joining a family instead of another school – ultimately pushed me to join the TCU Class of 2024.”

In addition to earning the Chancellor’s Scholarship, Mr. Rose also received the Roach Family Scholarship and the Trustee Room and Board Scholarship. He has consistently been a TCU Scholar and on the AddRan Dean’s Honor List. In 2022, he was inducted into the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honors Society and served as an undergraduate researcher for Dr. Sarah Robbins, Lorraine Sherley Professor of Literature. In fall 2023, he was named a Kathryne McDorman Honors Scholar.

Mr. Rose also sought to share TCU’s friendly, inclusive spirit with others, working as a Chancellor’s Host in the Harrison administration building. In addition, he worked with other members of the Honors Student Cabinet to create a mentorship program that pairs first-year Honors students with upperclassmen to provide a community of connection, assistance and support. He serves as both the program’s mentee chair – conducting interviews and managing pairings – as well as mentoring four Honors students himself. He has also served as a Chancellor’s Scholars host and interviewer, hosting three high school scholarship finalists.

Mr. Rose will graduate in May with a B.S. in political science and minors in criminal justice and English. He has been accepted into several law schools and is interested in pursuing a career in criminal, constitutional or civil rights law, influenced in part by his time on TCU’s Moot Court team. “I want to positively impact others and right now I believe I can best do so by using my passions for reading, writing, rhetoric and oral advocacy to protect the rights of people in difficult situations and ensure justice is achieved.”

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