While pledging the Kappa Alpha fraternity his first year at Southwestern, Charles Millikan noticed a familiar-looking pledge.

"I finally figured out that this was the guy I'd been playing basketball against for the past few years while I was attending Cy-Fair High School."

That fellow pledge was Sugar Land's  Dulles High School starting center Jake Schrum, and the two eventually became fast friends. Each, also went on to become student leaders in the Southwestern community: Schrum as student body president and Millikan as president of the student judiciary committee.

More than thirty years later, they are again leading Southwestern. Millikan has been a member of the Board of Trustees since 1995, and Schrum '68 took office as the University's 14th President July 1.

"Jake is a loyal, hard-working, very genuine guy," says Millikan. "He's going to do great things at Southwestern. We've always kept really close, and I'm looking forward to working with him."

Millikan is a fourth generation United Methodist preacher and a third generation Southwestern graduate. He says he received his calling into the ministry when he was 18 and chose Southwestern to prepare him for theological school.

While at Southwestern, he served on the judicial council all four years, won the Blue Key Award, was vice president of Ruter House Council, was named Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, and was honored with the David Knox Porter Award as the outstanding pre-theological student.

In the fall of 1968, Millikan entered the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. While attending Perkins, he served as youth director for Marvin Church in Tyler. His first pastoral position came in 1970 in Winona, Texas. Thirty years and six churches later, he is now senior pastor at Moody Memorial in Galveston.

"I've been at Moody for seven years now, and I'm currently tying the record for longevity at the church. The United Methodist Church assigns pastors one year at a time, and I think I've stayed here this long because we have shown phenomenal growth, and I really enjoy it here."

Millikan had been a trustee at Texas Wesleyan University for three years when he was asked to come back to Southwestern as a trustee in 1995. His son, Kevin, was a student at Wesleyan at the time. While on the Board, he helped lead Southwestern's national search to bring University Chaplain Beverly Jones to campus. His daughter Kristen also attended Southwestern during that time and graduated in May.

Millikan is also active in serving his other alma mater as a member of the executive committee of the Perkins School. Four years ago, he helped create Perkins South, a regional school consisting of 70 theological students from the Houston/Galveston area. His church shares that responsibility with St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Houston, whose pastor happens to be another Southwestern trustee, James W. Moore.

For his efforts, Millikan was recently honored with the 2000 Perkins School of Theology Distinguished Alumnus Award, which was presented to him during Minister's Week at SMU.

Millikan and his spouse, Laura, will celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary in August. They have three children, Kevin, Kristin, and Katy, and a daughter-in-law, Kelly. In his spare time, he enjoys a weekly golf game and a daily ride on his bicycle on the Galveston beach.

"I absolutely love where I am right now. I'm in a beautiful city, at a beautiful church with wonderful people. I'm in my 30th year in the ministry. It's a wonderful time to be alive."

-Greg Holland