43 minute read
MEAN GREEN
Game On
All UNT sporting events will return to full capacity this season — and tailgating is once again alive and well at Apogee Stadium.
Momentum is at an all-time high for the Mean Green, as all athletics teams are returning to full capacity for the 2021-22 season — buoyed by many of last season’s major milestones.
Some of those Mean Green milestones included achieving the second-highest overall winning percentage in the past 40 years; claiming Conference USA Championships in softball, women’s golf and men’s basketball; earning UNT’s first NCAA men’s basketball tournament win; securing Conference USA individual championships from Audrey Tan (women’s golf), Vicente Marzilio (men’s golf), and Zion Hill (men’s javelin); and posting a perfect score in the Academic Performance Rate in five sports.
“I am so proud of our coaches, support staff and student-athletes who continue to raise the bar of excellence as we deliver on our mission despite dealing with the challenges of a global pandemic,” says Wren Baker, vice president and director of athletics. “In 2020-21, we saw a number of outstanding successes in the competitive arena, in the classroom and in the community.”
Additionally, construction is nearly final on the state-of-the-art golf practice facility made possible by a gift from Jerome “Bruzzy” Westheimer and support from numerous donors, and athletics has been looking at expanding the Athletic Center to better serve studentathletes in the areas of sports medicine, strength and conditioning, and academic support.
After a challenging 18 months, this season is all about looking to the future, Baker says.
“Despite a chaotic year with many disruptions,” he says, “Mean Green momentum remains strong.” Find more information about Mean Green Athletics, including this season’s basketball schedule. meangreensports.com
Several FB Players on Watch Lists
Fifth-year running back DeAndre
Torrey is one of 57 players named to the watch list for the 2021 Paul Hornung Award presented by Texas Roadhouse, given annually to the nation’s most versatile player. Senior defensive lineman Dion Novil has been named to the watch list for the 2021 Bronko Nagurski Trophy, one of only five from Conference USA. Additionally, five North Texas football players have been named to the Conference USA preseason watch list — including wide receiver Jyaire Shorter, offensive lineman Jacob Brammer, linebacker KD Davis, long snapper Nate Durham and Novil — and nine have been named to Phil Steele’s Preseason All-Conference USA teams.
Paramount Program
UNT Athletics recently launched
its Paramount program, designed to equip student-athletes with the knowledge and skills they need to benefit from the use of their name, image and likeness. The goal of the Paramount program is to educate Mean Green student-athletes on current legislation, assist them in the process of building their personal brand and empower them with tools to develop their own potential business opportunities.
By the Numbers
15
That’s how many consecutive years the North Texas tennis team has been recognized by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association for its outstanding team grade point average — which this year, was 3.582. For all of those years, UNT has been led by head coach Sujay Lama and has had a 3.2 team GPA or greater. In addition to the team award, UNT tennis student-athletes Sophia Hummel, Nidhi Surapaneni, Lucie Devier, Kexuan Zhou and Louisa Junghanns earned ITA All-Academic individuals honors for having a 3.5-plus GPA.
REMAINING 2021 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
SEPT. 25 at LOUISIANA TECH
OCT. 9 at MISSOURI
OCT. 15 vs. MARSHALL UNIVERSITY
OCT. 23 vs. LIBERTY UNIVERSITY
OCT. 30 at RICE
NOV. 6 at SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI
NOV. 13 at UTEP
NOV. 20 at FIU
NOV. 27 vs. UTSA
Check for the latest ticket information: meangreensports.com
As Good as Gold
Former and current Mean Green golfers prove their talents on national and international stages — including the Olympics.
The Mean Green was shining brightly at the Tokyo
Olympics this summer. PGA players and former teammates Carlos Ortiz (’13) and Sebastián Muñoz (’15) entered the final round of the men’s golf competition tied for third and fifth, respectively, and were in the same pairing. Ortiz (pictured top right) was among the top scorers over the first three rounds, and Muñoz (pictured top left) ended the final round competing in a seven-man playoff for the bronze medal. Ortiz is currently ranked 61st in the world and 35th in the FedEx Cup standings, and has 10 career top-10 finishes, including three this year, highlighted by his first career PGA Tour victory at the Vivint Houston Open back in November. Muñoz is currently ranked 79th in the world and 63rd in the FedEx Cup standings and won his first PGA event at the Sanderson Farms Championship in September 2019.
In April, senior Audrey Tan claimed the women’s golf program’s first-ever individual conference championship while leading the Mean Green to its first team conference championship in program history. In August, she qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Westchester Country Club (West Course).
And in June, incoming sophomore Vicente Marzilio automatically qualified for the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania with his victory at the Mexico International Amateur. The Mean Green also was represented in Oakmont by transfer Tucker Allen, who joined the program from Oklahoma. The last time two members of the UNT golf team played in the US Am was 2013, when Ortiz and Rodolfo Cazaubon qualified.
A NUMBERS GAME
CURTIS GOODWIN (’20 M.S.) MARRIES HIS KNOWLEDGE OF MATH AND SPORTS AS A PERFORMANCE DATA SCIENTIST FOR THE HOUSTON TEXANS.
STORY BY LEIGH ANNE GULLETT
ITS A QUESTION AS THOUGHT-PROVOKING as one Curtis Goodwin (’20 M.S.) might have posed to the students in his AP Calculus class back when he was an instructor and basketball coach at Fort Worth ISD’s Boswell High School: How did a math teacher with a love of sports and numbers become one of the elite data analytics minds working in professional football?
“I’d say my journey was a little unique,” says Goodwin, who also previously taught and coached at high schools in Illinois. “I’ve always been involved in sports, and I’ve always been involved in math. Data science didn’t really exist 10 years ago when I was coming out of college, or it was just getting started. Now, it’s pretty prominent.”
The potential to land a job that was a perfect marriage of sports and numbers is what inspired Goodwin to enroll in UNT’s advanced data analytics graduate program in 2019. The knowledge and connections the program provided helped him land his current role as a performance data scientist for the Houston Texans.
For his master’s thesis, Goodwin focused on prediction win probability and game outcomes, as well as season outcomes for different NFL teams. Impressed by his graduate student’s work, Michael Monticino — mathematics professor and chair of the advanced data analytics program — reached out to Russell Joyner (’03), director of football information systems for the Texans, and connected the two. Goodwin joined the Texans staff under Joyner in June 2020.
“We have a very collaborative environment here at the Texans,” Goodwin says. “They’re very receptive to any idea and any piece of information that can help them move the ball forward.”
Although tracking tendencies have long been a key part of game preparation and scouting in sports, the rise of advanced data analytics in the industry is still fairly recent. Former Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane and author Michael Lewis brought the potential of advanced analytics in professional sports to the mainstream with Moneyball in 2003. A little more than a decade later, the NFL partnered with Zebra Technologies and began embedding radio-frequency identification tags in shoulder pads to track players during games. Today, there are RFID chips in every player’s shoulder pads, the game ball, on the referees and in the pylons. All but one of the 32 NFL teams employ performance data scientists full-time on staff.
In 2018, the NFL held its inaugural Big Data Bowl, an annual analytics contest for both professional and amateur data analysts to test their skills on the latest challenges in the game. The 202021 winners, a team of four friends, brought home $25,000 for their analytics work on defending the pass play.
“If there’s a question or problem statement — or simply, ‘What can the data tell us?’ — my job is to find if there is a story behind this,” Goodwin says. “My goal is to investigate that and then provide my findings.”
The possibilities presented by those questions are endless. Teams use data to track a player’s workload, potentially determining rest days or fitness needs. They also look at opponents’ tendencies to game plan week to week. For example, data can reveal a lot about teams that aren’t good at diversifying and perhaps rely too heavily on certain strengths. A team can then design its defense or offense to work most efficiently against that tendency. The same data can also show a team its own tendencies, providing valuable feedback in game preparation from week to week.
It sounds like a lot — and it is. But Goodwin was more than prepared to tackle the numbers.
“The steepest learning curve is that there’s a lot more data once you get into the real world — how do you deal with 100 times, 1,000 times the amount of data?” he says. “The opportunities I had from an educational standpoint — the concepts and theories and skill sets taught in the advanced data analytics program — have been very helpful.”
Read about UNT’s advanced data analytics program and explore the NFL’s Big Data Bowl, an annual analytics contest for professional and amateur data analysts to test their skills and win money. northtexan.unt.edu/curtis-goodwin
Engineering Better Health
STORY BY JESSICA DELEÓN PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL CLEMENTS, RANJANI GROTH AND GARY PAYNE
UNT’s biomedical engineering department has expanded rapidly as faculty, students and alumni work to create medical devices to reshape people’s lives.
The vision for the biomedical
engineering department began on founding chair Vijay Vaidyanathan’s notepad. After he was given the nod in 2012 to launch the program for the College of Engineering, he jotted down his ideas. Then, he typed up the proposal.
In the first two years, Vaidyanathan taught all the classes himself. He had to hunt for lab space. He would sometimes bolt awake at night, wondering whether students would be able to find jobs when they graduated.
Nearly 10 years later, UNT’s biomedical engineering program — one of the fastest-growing programs at the university — is ranked 9th in nation by BestValueSchools.org and has earned full accreditation from the Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology. Top health technology companies such as Abbott Laboratories, Alcon and Zimmer Biomet seek out graduates of the program.
Vaidyanathan now works out of the 26,250-square-foot Biomedical Engineering Building, a premier learning space that opened in 2019 at Discovery Park and boasts cutting-edge equipment and plenty of available lab space.
“For me, building this program has been like creating a startup,” Vaidyanathan says. “From very humble
beginnings and a faculty of one — it’s so exciting to see how we’ve grown.”
And the program for the in-demand field is flourishing, further establishing UNT’s reputation as a hub for leading innovative research. Students are drawn to the challenge of collaborating with others from across disciplines — including biology, business, chemistry, computer science, mathematics and performing arts health services. And, they’re able to create medical devices and technology that can transform people’s lives.
“The goal is to use engineering to promote human health,” assistant professor Clement T. Y. Chan says. “Our research will impact not only North Texas, but the whole nation.”
UNT biomedical engineers are
thinking outside-of-the-box to find solutions.
In assistant professor Melanie Ecker’s case, she is using smart polymers that can be used in the enteric nervous system, specifically the intestines or
Left
Assistant professor Melanie Ecker in her lab with students
Above
Trevor Exley (’20, ’21 M.S.) and founding chair Vijay Vaidyanathan
bowels, so as to enhance treatment of gastrointestinal disorders.
“We’ve all felt butterflies in our stomach when we are in love, have pain or even digestive problems in stressful situations,” Ecker says. “We want to better understand how the brain and gut are communicating with each other.”
She envisions a computer chip-like device similar to a pacemaker that is capable of stimulating the enteric nerves to reduce the burden of these disorders. Many devices are made of hard materials, such as silicon wafers, which can’t stick to the guts.
But Ecker’s polymers can change shape based on the stimulus when inserted into a body part. She and students in her lab hope to develop materials that will stretch and conform to the guts and have electronics embedded to “listen” to the nerves in the intestines, then record and decode the electrical signals they are sending to the bioelectronic devices.
“We want to have a material that For me, building this program has been like creating a startup. From very humble beginnings and a faculty of one — it’s so exciting to see how we’ve grown.
— Vijay Vaidyanathan
— Clement T. Y. Chan is as stiff as uncooked spaghetti during the implantation, but softens inside the body like the cooked version,” she says.
Assistant Professor Brian Meckes and his research team are exploring better ways of delivering nanoparticle therapeutics to targeted cells by taking advantage of changes in the cell membrane that occur in diseased cells. The hope is to find better treatments for cancer, osteoarthritis or fibrogenesis. His research earned him a 2021 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
“The research shows that cancer cells that are very metastatic — the most aggressive cells — tend to be the ones that are stiffer,” Meckes says. “In targeting by the nanoparticle, we can look and see if there is a difference between the membrane structure in a cell that is soft and a cell that is stiff. And now we have a potential therapeutic target.”
And Chan received a grant from the National Institutes of Health for his project, in which he and his team are trying to engineer bacteria — safe for humans to ingest — to specifically target, detect and recognize a range of pathogens or toxins. The bacteria, designed to sit in patients’ guts, will generate a
Left
Assistant professor Clement T. Y. Chan
Right
Assistant professor Brian Meckes
color pigment such as red, green or yellow. The pigment then shows up in a fecal sample, allowing scientists to determine what is ailing the patient. It’s more efficient and cost effective than current methods of diagnosis and allows for treatment to begin more immediately.
“What approaches can we use to tackle a problem?” Chan says. “It’s very exciting and rewarding to take a project to the next level and improve people’s health.”
The program’s students bring that same
enthusiasm and creativity to their studies. At Discovery Park, they work in a makerspace, which includes a virtual surgery table where they can “remove” organs and “transplant” prosthetics. A bio 3D printer allows them to print artificial skin. The space is filled with their projects, such as a wheelchair that helps users climb stairs, a therapeutic chair to decrease pain, and an inflatable airbag for senior citizens to wear to help ease a fall.
As part of their capstone project, seniors are required to work together to create a device. Alexandra Teoh (’21) was part of a team that created a biomaterial that mimics the drug absorption properties of the laryngeal mucous membrane for the startup medical device company DUALAMS. The team used a UV curing system to make it and a compression testing machine, which tested the efficacy of their biomaterial compared to the typical testing methods — eliminating the need for animal testing.
Teoh, who began studying at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston this summer, is working toward a career in both pediatrics and research.
“Biomedical engineering sold me on pursuing research,” she says. “I really want to make sure my career is dedicated to creating solutions to help others.” At a Plano high school summer program, Trevor Exley (’20, ’21 M.S.) found his calling when he created a 3D-printed hand controlled through his own muscles. Later, he was persuaded by Vaidyanathan’s vision
when he came to UNT (he also wanted a taste of the prestigious music program and played trombone with the Green Brigade and Nine O’Clock Lab Band during his undergraduate years).
Exley’s decision was affirmed by attending classes — and he also realized after taking the Artificial Intelligence for Wearables course taught by Assistant Professor Mark Albert that the biomedical engineering field demanded knowledge in multiple disciplines.
“You’re always going to have to be learning,” Exley says. “Last year, I was scrambling to learn Python (programming language) just so I could jump into machine learning.”
For his master’s degree, he used machine learning to examine the data of individuals with Parkinson’s Disease standing on force plate sensors. These sensors determined how the individuals were allocating pressure and measured such things as tremors.
Alternative tools such as those can be especially valuable and affordable for telemedicine and remote clinics — and help health care workers in organizations such as Doctors Without Borders who don’t work in traditional hospital settings.
Exley is now one of the first students in UNT’s biomedical engineering doctoral program, and he says he couldn’t find a better fit for his career.
“The doctoral degree will set me up to conduct research independently, sharpen my focus and become an expert in the field and contribute to science,” he says. “I’ll gain insight working on collaborative projects and look more closely at personal cases where I can innovate for medical devices to be more accessible and affordable to those who are in need.”
Preparing Graduates for Changing Marketplace
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, biomedical engineering will become the fastest-growing engineering field over the next decade with job growth rates of more than 60%.
UNT is primed to deliver on its mission to create degrees that prepare graduates for the rapidly changing marketplace. And with its unique approach of combining research and business skills, UNT’s program is supplying this growing workforce in industry, hospitals, research institutions and for entrepreneurs. Founding chair Vijay Vaidyanathan, a natural fit, has brought invaluable experience to the program as a researcher who has worked in business and academia.
Classes started in 2014 with a group of 45 students. Two years later, the department added more faculty. And, in 2017, the graduate program began.
“Before we knew it, we had 200 students,” he says.
This fall, the program debuted its Ph.D. program with 22 students, who can choose between a traditional research track or a health care startup track in collaboration with the G. Brint Ryan College of Business. And the department welcomed three new faculty members — bringing with them half a million dollars in grant money — to its staff of 11, who have won prestigious national awards and grants.
“America’s next big field for innovation is medicine,” says Edward Sean Gates (’18, ’21 M.S.), the department’s lab manager. “Medical devices and products need levels of engineering to ensure that human interaction with technology is safe, secure and reliable. With a multidisciplinary approach, we’re working to build a better, smarter tomorrow — together.”
North
Story by Erin Cristales Photos by Ahna Hubnik and Ranjani Groth Stars From the professors who serve as guiding lights to the staff behind brilliant new initiatives to the students who make the Mean Green gleam, there are plenty of reasons to find your way back to campus.
It’s been awhile, Mean Green. Let’s get reacquainted.
There’s so much we’ve missed. The casual conversations and spontaneous laughter. The hugs and high-fives. The bumping into old friends on campus and in the stands.
At UNT, those seemingly small moments are a big deal, especially when the beating heart of our university is the people. That’s why we want to reintroduce you to a few of the folks who most make us shine. There are the seven UNT faculty finalists — selected from more than 100 contenders — who current students and alumni nominated to be recognized for their inspiring leadership in the classroom. There are the staff members who devise innovative initiatives that bolster student success. And there are the students themselves — the creative leaders of tomorrow who embolden us to be our absolute best.
There’s really only one thing left to say (and we couldn’t be happier to say it): Welcome home.
North Stars (from top to bottom, left to
right) Kimi King, Angie Cartwright, Katsura Aoyama, Brittany McElroy, Paho Mann, John Quintanilla and Rick Reidy
THE ENERGIZER
Kimi King
Professor of political science Years at UNT: 28
Kimi King climbed into her rental car. It was Christmas Eve, and she’d just completed her visit to a Nicaraguan prison where Sandinistas had once been tortured. Now all she wanted was to return to the town center. The ignition wouldn’t start. She could wait for help, she supposed. But when you’ve traveled to all seven continents, trekked alongside armed guards protecting gorillas from guerrillas in Rwanda, and spent the bulk of your academic career researching international crime tribunals, self-sufficiency is the name of the game. So she hotwired it. “I think most people would be surprised to learn about the adventures I’ve had,” King says. “I’m not the same person abroad that you see in the classroom.” Then again, maybe it’s not such a surprise when you consider her reputation for jumpstarting students’ ambitions. As a professor of political science and coach of UNT’s nationally ranked moot court team, she’s inspired a generation of politicians, attorneys and academics with her irrepressible passion for constitutional law and commitment to student achievement.
“I remember feeling so empowered when I first met Dr. King,” says Stephanie Battaglia, an English major who is headed to law school following her graduation this fall. “No matter how many times you think, ‘I can’t do this,’ she’s like, ‘That’s just you in your head. I know you’re going to do a great job.’”
That’s really what it’s all about, King says. Yes, there’s the research that takes you to global hotspots, but that’s nothing
CAMPUS RESOURCE: NAVIGATE
Navigate is a comprehensive student success system that helps UNT faculty and staff better serve students. Through the Strategic Care platform — commonly referred to as Navigate Staff — faculty and staff can, among other benefits, share notes and information across departments; refer students to other areas through a case management system; and identify and target students who may need extra assistance. Navigate Smart Guidance — commonly referred to as Navigate Student — is available on the web and through a mobile app, and allows students to schedule appointments with advisors, career coaches and other crucial staff members; sign up for study groups; and access information about additional campus resources. Crucial action items also can be communicated through the Navigate student portal to ensure students don’t miss important dates or deadlines such as bill payments, career fairs or applying for graduation. Learn more at navigate.unt.edu. “Navigate allows us to be more strategic so we can take care of the students who need us the most versus assuming every student needs the exact same things.”
— Chelsea Bassett, director of Student Initiatives and Assessment
compared to the thrill of watching students present exceptional arguments in front of Texas Supreme Court judges or witnessing those always-exhilarating “aha” moments.
“My professors would ask me questions like, ‘Do you want to change the world?’” King says. “And I thought, ‘I want to train armies.’ I don’t care if you’re left-wing or right-wing … when we look out at the world, what we all agree on is that we see something wrong with it. So the question is: How do we work together to change it?”
THE MOVER AND SHAKER «
Katsura Aoyama
Associate professor of audiology and speech-language pathology Years at UNT: 9
Nearly every day, Katsura Aoyama takes an hourlong walk. For Aoyama, better known to her students as “Dr. Kat,” it’s about socializing as much as exercising — an unofficial office hour of sorts where students can join her for a jaunt around the Pohl Rec Center’s indoor track or call her up to chat about … well, anything really.
“We talk about things like what they want to do, which grad school they want to go to, how to enhance their chances of getting into grad school,” says Aoyama, who also serves as the director of graduate studies for UNT’s Department of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology and the director of the Psycholinguistics Lab. “They’ll share things that maybe they didn’t feel comfortable talking about in regular office hours.”
Aoyama’s an expert in speech development — specifically psycholinguistics and language acquisition — but she’s also got the gift of gab. Even over Zoom, her warm, bubbly demeanor inspired students to open up about themselves and their goals.
“I just love her — she’s a wonderful professor and an exceptional human,” says Ashley Guzman (’09), an ASLP leveling student who joined the program this spring after 10 years of working in human resources. “She always spent a full hour with me during office hours talking about the program, giving me advice about which classes to take, asking me about me. It was one of the kindest things someone could have done for me when I
CAMPUS RESOURCE: MULTICULTURAL CENTER Since its 1995 launch, the center has provided a plethora of culturally relevant and educational events that serve to celebrate and highlight historically marginalized identities, including programs that recognize Hispanic Heritage Month, Native American Heritage Month, Black History Month, Women’s History Month and Asian Pacific Islander Month. In its holistic approach to honoring the intersections of UNT students, the Multicultural Center — part of UNT’s newly renamed Division of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) — has collaborated with several campus partners over the years, including the Pride Alliance and Office of Disability Access. This fall, the center hosted its 11th annual Black Student Experience Retreat and inaugural Latinx Student Experience Retreat, in-person events that introduced first-year students to UNT campus life and resources. The center also will host an MLK Day of Service and Cesar Chavez Day of Action in the spring, and will continue to build its partnerships with various campus organizations and departments for workshops and events. Learn more at idea.unt.edu/multicultural-center. “We affirm our students in who they are, while also cultivating their leadership development and community building. As our institution has become increasingly diverse, we want to ensure that we are promoting and empowering our UNT community to perpetuate inclusion and belonging across campus.”
— Shabaz Brown, director of the Multicultural Center
was so unsure about the change I decided to make.”
And it’s not just office hours where Aoyama works to better understand her students. She encourages them to send videos or personal examples that illustrate the concepts they’re learning in her phonetics and language development courses, which she then shares with the class. Forging those connections is just part of the job — the best part, Aoyama says.
“I think every student should know,” she says, “that we’re here to get to know them.”
THE CREATOR «
Paho Mann
Associate professor of studio art Years at UNT: 14
If conformity were a supervillain, consider Paho Mann its creativity-caped adversary. Mann’s got an eye for the uncommon, as evidenced by his ongoing photography project that peeks into the junk drawers of acquaintances and strangers — a series of images that capture and subtly celebrate hyperpersonal eclecticism.
“I was curious to see if I could understand more about us as individuals by making photographs of that,” says Mann, who also is the coordinator of the College of Visual Arts and Design’s photography program. “I was interested in the individual actions that make these near-private spaces unique.”
That embrace of individualism is the same approach Mann takes in his classroom, where he nurtures students’ independent voices through their shared enthusiasm for art. One of the gifts of teaching studio art, he says, is guiding students toward projects that best express their singular vision.
“The core of my teaching,” Mann says, “is that students have the space to investigate their own ideas, make their own art and pursue their own interests.”
For grad students whose interests center around teaching photography, Mann also serves as their mentor, helping them prepare for the expectations inherent in assuming the role of instructor.
“He went above and beyond in what a professor is supposed to do to guide their students through a graduate degree,” says Shellye Tow (’21
— Sofia Nehal (’21), master’s psychology student
M.F.A.), an aspiring teacher who recently graduated with a degree in studio art and photography and will graduate this semester with her M.A. in art history. “He helped me not just in my art practice, but really in my whole career moving forward.”
But Mann never views that mentorship as an “extra” responsibility. He just feels privileged, he says, to be one pitstop on his students’ journey to success.
“Studying art is a brave thing to do — even though it might feel intimidating, students come to your program with all this passion for the subject,” he says. “When you get to watch them succeed in school and afterward, that’s a really exciting thing.”
THE EMPATHIZER«
Angie Cartwright
Associate professor of counseling and higher education Years at UNT: 6
Angie Cartwright has racked up a laundry list of achievements, but “best poker face” won’t be one of them. She has too many tells. When she’s angry, she grabs a notebook and pushes on her glasses. When she’s surprised, her eyes grow unmistakably wide.
“My facial expressions and body language give me away every single time,” laughs Cartwright, who also serves as the director of the undergraduate minor in counseling and project director for the grant-funded UNT Classic and Integrated Care and Behavioral Health Project, which are designed to address health disparities by enhancing the delivery of culturally competent mental health services to medically underserved communities. “Instead of trying to hide it, I say, ‘You might notice from my face that I’m really surprised — let me explain why.’ Embracing authenticity has been really helpful.”
Throughout her career, Cartwright has used that authenticity to support everyone from aspiring counselors to community members who too often are overlooked.
“Whether it’s historically minoritized, LGBTQIA+ or offender populations — all the people who have been pushed to the margins by dominate culture, those are my people,” Cartwright says.
Her commitment to assisting the critically underserved has long inspired her students, as has her ascension to the upper echelons of teaching and counseling.
“Working with Dr. Cartwright was empowering — it showed me that women of color like me can reach high positions like she has,” says Hannah Klaassen (’17 M.S.),
CAMPUS RESOURCE: EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIPS UNT offers Excellence Scholarships to transfer students and first-time freshmen who have demonstrated academic achievement through GPA and class rank (and transfer students who have completed an associate degree can qualify for a bonus one-time award of $500). Transfer students can qualify for two-year scholarships ranging from $1,500 to $4,000 and first-time freshmen can qualify for four-year scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $12,000. The awards are some of the most competitive offered at any university in North Texas and in the state, demonstrating a commitment to supporting students from a wide array of backgrounds and educational experiences. In Spring 2021, roughly 23% of transfer students received excellence scholarships, and in Fall 2020, 43% of UNT’s freshman class received financial help based on academic performance. To learn more about these awards and others, visit financialaid.unt.edu/types-scholarships. “If you’re a great student, we want you to come to UNT, and we want to help fund your education. These scholarships recognize and reward academic success, and allow students to reach their dreams by completing their college degree.”
— Brenda McCoy, senior associate vice president for strategic initiatives
who recently opened Well Culture Counseling in Denton. “She was a cheerleader and an advocate who always expected great work from us. She pushed me to grow in ways that I didn’t even know were possible when I started the counseling program.”
And really, Cartwright says, that’s the impetus for her always-honest approach.
“For people to see someone who is genuine and authentic, who messes up and has flaws, that can be validating in a lot of ways,” she says. “Whatever your intersections are, whatever experiences you have, you can genuinely be you — and that’s not a problem.”
THE DIRECTOR «
Brittany McElroy
Senior lecturer of broadcast journalism
Years at UNT: 4
If you’re a one-plan kind of person, Brittany McElroy has news for you — literally. The breakneck pace of broadcast journalism means Plan A can quickly become Plans B through Z, and McElroy’s a pro at showing students how to roll with those unexpected punches.
“Journalism attracts a lot of type A perfectionists,” says McElroy, who previous to teaching spent a decade as a reporter, producer and anchor at TV stations in Texas, Louisiana and Missouri. “When you’re in TV news, you’re working on a deadline of a day, maybe two. So I have to show them how to go with the flow while still upholding the ideals of what good journalism is.”
For undergrads in McElroy’s Advanced Writing and Reporting for Broadcast and Web course — which she and her students more succinctly refer to as “the eight-hour class” — it’s a sink-orswim kind of scenario, with McElroy acting as lifeguard. The class meets one day a week for eight hours, and students are expected to report and produce broadcast segments in that tight timespan. It’s tough, McElroy admits — but so are her students. She’s consistently amazed by how adeptly they’re able to keep their heads above water.
“The thing I love about the class is that most of the time, when the students walk in the door the first day, you can just tell they’re so nervous — they’re like, ‘I can’t do this,’” says McElroy, who notes that collaboration is key to developing compelling stories. “But more often than not, they
CAMPUS RESOURCE: RAISEME
RaiseMe — a social enterprise focused on using behavioral economics to drive student engagement and performance — rewards first-year students for behaviors that promote belonging/connection, academic preparedness, financial stability and career development. Activities associated with student success — like meeting with advisors, joining virtual tutoring sessions and attending financial coaching — are incentivized. For each successfully completed task, students are able to earn monies that can be applied to their financial aid for the following year, and to receive their micro-scholarships, students must re-enroll at UNT and remain in good academic standing with the university. “RaiseMe helped me explore what UNT had to offer and reminded me of some really important deadlines for advising,” says Sara Santillanes, now a UNT junior. Learn more at raise.me/edu/ university-of-north-texas. “Promoting activities through RaiseMe’s platform during the pandemic empowered our firstyear students to take advantage of campus resources and activities that supported them during the many challenges of COVID-19 and beyond.”
— Stacey Polk, student success program manager
leave that class very proud of the work that they’ve done.”
That pride is a direct result of McElroy’s high expectations and unwavering support, says Joshua Carter, a broadcast journalism major who will graduate in Spring 2022.
“She changed the way I think when it comes to journalism,” says Carter, who during the eight-hour class created segments on a variety of topics, including one about COVID-19 vaccinations in minority communities. “She doesn’t want to let you fail. She’s just really there for you. That’s what’s amazing about her.”
THE ENTERTAINER «
John Quintanilla
University Distinguished Teaching Professor of mathematics Years at UNT: 25 The first thing Marissa Arevalo (’17) remembers about John Quintanilla — or “Dr. Q,” as he’s known to his students — is that he slapped himself in the face with chalk dust on day one of his Math 4050 class.
“I was like, ‘Okay, this is an interesting person,’” says Arevalo, who notes she’d always been warned the course was challenging. “I thought, ‘I want to get to know this teacher.’”
That introductory dusting was, essentially, a calculated move on Quintanilla’s part — the subtraction of intimidation.
“I definitely like to keep the mood light,” says Quintanilla, who also serves as associate dean of undergraduate studies in the College of Science and was the co-founder and longtime co-director of the Teach North Texas program. “I’m serious about my subject but that doesn’t
— Maeci Ray, graphic design sophomore
mean we can’t have fun doing it. I like keeping a light atmosphere — telling jokes, coming up with awful math puns, doing unorthodox applications.”
But, Quintanilla says, he’s serious about ensuring his students feel respected. He knows math can be a tough subject, and he has high expectations for everyone who walks through his door. That’s why it’s so important to make his classroom a safe space.
“If students have misconceptions about the material we are learning in class, I will correct those,” he says. “But I will never make my students feel silly for asking a question. I want them to want to be here, and I want to make sure they’re getting something from being in my class that they can’t get from just watching YouTube or reading a textbook.”
And what many get, it seems, is a sneak peek into the kind of teacher they want to be.
“He has this way of getting to know his students in order to make himself a better teacher,” says Arevalo, now an algebra instructor at Krum High School. “I want my students to know that I’m not here to solely teach them math — I’m here to be their support system. That’s how I always felt in Dr. Q’s class.”
CAMPUS RESOURCE: FIRST GENERATION SUCCESS CENTER The center opened virtually in March and already has made significant strides in supporting the university’s many first-gen students. In partnership with departments across campus, the center hosts programs and workshops that address areas such as financial literacy, academic support, career and leadership development, navigating graduate school and community resources. The center also takes a “people-first” approach in ensuring students are informed and connected to the individuals and departments that can best address their needs. Events also are part of its mission — in conjunction with First Flight Week, the center hosted a one-day seminar that included a panel of first-gen leaders from across the university, and Nov. 8, it will host programming as part of the nationwide First-Gen Celebration. Learn more at studentaffairs.unt.edu/first-generation-success-center.
— Desiree Padron, director of the First Generation Success Center
THE BRIDGE BUILDER
Rick Reidy
University Distinguished Teaching Professor of materials science and engineering Years at UNT: 24
Ask what students might be most surprised to learn about him, and Rick Reidy is, uncharacteristically, at a loss for words. They already know about his “less than storied” undergraduate career as a chemistry major. They’re familiar with how he continues to put that chemistry knowledge to use in his beer-brewing hobby. They’ve heard nearly his entire arsenal of “my wife thinks I’m an idiot” jokes. “I’m pretty much an open book,” Reidy says.
Of course, the benefit of open books is they make important lessons easier to access.
“For us to learn things together, you need to trust me,” says Reidy, who also serves as an advisor and associate chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. “In some cases, students probably know more than they want to about me. They’re like, ‘Reidy, can you stop it with the damn stories? No one’s ever come up and said that per se … they say, ‘Reidy goes off topic a lot.’”
What many students also say is how much fun Reidy is in the classroom — and outside of it.
“He had a real way of talking about his subjects and presenting tests and quizzes and projects in an interesting way,” says Tyler Hunt (’18), who was part of Reidy’s advising cohort. “As an advisor, he would really take the time to learn about us individually and our personality styles. That’s why I loved him so much as a teacher and as a person.”
In fact, Reidy is such a beloved figure that three former students asked him to officiate their weddings. Despite his initial reaction (“Can’t you find someone more qualified?” he asked), Reidy says it was an honor — another chapter in a story that grows richer with each passing year.
“I am extremely fortunate that many students will reach out and say, “You really made a difference,’” he says. “But it’s like being a parent — I have two sons, and I did my best, but they turned out wonderfully because they’re them. It’s the same thing with my students.” • Listen to UNT Pod Episode 29,
“North Stars,” to learn more about the faculty finalists. • Submit your nominations for the 2022 edition of North Stars.
• Hear more from the students and
alumni who nominated this year’s winners.
• Coffee or tea? Burgers or tacos?
Mac or PC? Can you guess the professors’ preferences? Play our
“This or That” game to find out.
• Learn about more campus
resources that help students soar.
Find it all at northtexan.unt. edu/northstars
— Eric Giles, doctoral oboe performance student
LITERAL
LIFESAVERS
Story by Erin Cristales Photos by Michael Clements
Through living kidney donation, three alumni give the ultimate gift — and urge others to learn more about the process.
Krissi Oden (’05, ’10 M.F.A.) burrowed deeper into the covers of her gurney, a fruitless attempt to ward off the bone-deep chill of the pre-op holding area. An orderly brought her one pair of fuzzy socks. She wished he’d brought six.
But just because she had cold feet didn’t mean she had cold feet. If anything, Oden was excited. For the past six months, the art history alum had undergone a battery of physical and psychiatric tests. At her doctor’s suggestion, she’d abandoned her high-protein diet and weightlifting routine to lower her creatinine levels. And then, finally, the green light: She was given the go-ahead to donate a kidney to her 17-year-old stepdaughter, Trinity.
Just a month before the scheduled operation, Oden and her husband, Troy, traveled with Trinity and her three younger siblings to Greece for a Make a Wish trip. It was Trinity’s dream to see turtles swim in the Mediterranean, and thoughts of the upcoming surgery were assuaged by seaside solace.
But now, reality had arrived. For the first time since Trinity had been diagnosed with Stage IV kidney disease in middle school, Troy cried. Oden, though, was eerily calm.
“You know when you need to do something because it’s the right thing to do — you don’t even think twice about it,” says Oden, who serves as the first-ever cultural arts manager for the City of Bedford. “It’s my job to step up.”
If it weren’t for Oden — and other alumni who comprise UNT’s caring community — there might not have been many alternatives. In 2020, there were more than 91,000 individuals in the U.S. waiting on a kidney but fewer than 23,000 donations, according to organdonor.gov. As of 2021, 83% of patients on the national organ transplant waiting list need a kidney.
“We want to increase the knowledge that living donation is an option,” says Jennifer Nixon (’11) a transplant social worker at UT Southwestern Medical Center who provides pre- and post-op support to kidney recipients and living donors. She often connects donors to services such as the National Living Donor Assistance Center, which can help with travel, lost wages or dependent care expenses during recovery. “For anyone who is curious about the process, there’s a wealth of information on the websites of centers that do living donation.”
Krissi Oden (’05, ’10
M.F.A.) donated a kidney to her stepdaughter, Trinity, three years ago.
It was one of those very websites that convinced Mollie Ferguson (’19) to move forward with becoming a donor. Back in 2019, Ferguson’s mother told her of an acquaintance whose father needed a kidney, but the son wasn’t a match.
“He wasn’t high on the transplant list because of his age,” says Ferguson, a logistics and supply chain management alum and analyst at BNSF Railway who also is a living donor ambassador for the United Network for Organ Sharing. “It sounded like they really needed help.”
Their story prompted Ferguson to look into altruistic transplant opportunities at Medical City Fort Worth — “I was 20, and didn’t even know at the time you could just donate a kidney to anyone,” she says. After researching the process, Ferguson applied. The hospital called the next day.
She underwent the required evaluations and spent time at the transplant center to learn more about what to expect. On Aug. 20, 2019, Ferguson was wheeled into surgery, where she donated a kidney to a patient she had never, and still hasn’t, met.
“Knowing that someone’s health will be better just because of this one decision I made, it’s a rush,” says Ferguson, who spent only one night in the hospital and was back in class less than a week later. Nearly two years after her surgery, she’s also signed up to be a bone marrow and liver donor. “There are nearly 100,000 people waiting for a kidney — it’s amazing to me that we can’t dwindle that number down.”
More than a decade after her kidney donation, Kristi Nelson (’94) still fields questions from concerned viewers.
“Just a couple of months ago, one sent me a message on Facebook saying, ‘I remember you gave a kidney to your mother — how are you both doing?’” says Nelson, a news anchor/reporter for Dallas’ NBC 5 who filmed an Emmy-winning series about the donation called “Kristi’s Gift.” “A lot of people remember it.”
At the time, Nelson’s mother — a Type 2 diabetic — was undergoing dialysis and worried about her odds if she were placed on the transplant waiting list. The process would likely move much faster if a family member or friend was a match, but Nelson was careful not to jump into the decision too quickly, taking the time to ask questions of medical professionals and reaching out to other living donors.
“If you want to help but you’re worried, just make sure you’re healthy enough to do it,” Nelson says. “And think about how you’re going to feel later, whether you donate or you don’t. Which outcome would make you the happiest?”
Ultimately, Nelson became Baylor Health’s 798th living kidney donor — and, more importantly, she’s what her mother proudly calls “my daughter, and my donor.” Nelson not only shared her personal story with the NBC 5 audience, but continues to raise awareness as a board member of the Southwest Transplant Alliance, an organization that facilitates transplants in Texas. Kidney donation is particularly important in the Black community, she says, where diabetes and high blood pressure are prevalent.
“These surgeries are lifesaving,” Nelson says. “There’s a need, and living donors play an important role in satisfying that need.”
The second Oden was able to walk, she trekked through the breezeway that connects UT Southwestern to Children’s Medical Center. She couldn’t believe the difference, she says — the color already was back in Trinity’s cheeks, and she looked healthier than she had in years.
“I just started crying,” says Oden who, three years after the surgery, says her life remains “completely normal.” For Mother’s Day, Trinity wrote a message on her Facebook wall: I’m in constant awe of your compassion and love, it read.
Their story, though, didn’t have the intended happy ending — nearly a year after the surgery, Trinity’s body rejected the kidney, and she’s back on the waiting list. But Oden says she’s never regretted the decision to donate. She’d do it again if she could.
“It’s an amazing gift to give, and if you have the chance to do it, you should,” she says. “There are a lot of what ifs, but the main one is: What if you don’t?”
NBC 5 anchor/reporter
Kristi Nelson (’94) is what her mom calls “my daughter, and my donor.”
Mollie Ferguson (’19) took part in altruistic kidney donation, meaning the recipient was unknown.
Explore resources about the kidney transplant process, including what to expect before, during and after donation. And read about some of the most important and exciting advancements Nixon has seen in the transplant field. northtexan.unt.edu/literal-lifesavers
