Creative Climb

Sculpture professor installs temporary art on Mount Kilimanjaro

Alicia Eggert’s art has reached new heights, literally. In October, the UNT sculpture professor and interdisciplinary artist climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa. At each campsite during the weeklong trek, she temporarily installed one of her newest light sculptures, “You are (on) a mountain.” The neon sign, which is 8 feet by 8 feet, illuminates green while alternating between the phrases “You are on a mountain” and “You are a mountain.”

“It really did feel like we were becoming part of the mountain, which is the concept behind the sign,” Eggert says. “We were eating the food, drinking the water and breathing the air — being sustained by the mountain.”

To continue the project, Eggert will use photos and video with interviews from locals captured during the Kilimanjaro trip as part of an upcoming exhibition. She also plans to bring the artwork to other mountains in the future to raise awareness about environmental stewardship.

Read more about Eggert’s trip and plans to expand her art to other peaks around the world. northtexan.unt.edu/creative-climb

WHEN I SAW ALL FOUR OF THEM SPINNING THEIR CHAIRS AROUND, I WAS LIKE ‘THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING FOR ME.’ IT WAS LIKE, ‘OK, I’M REALLY HERE, LIKE I FINALLY MADE IT.’”

— Kevin Hawkins, who attended the College of Music from 2012 to 2013, on his outstanding performance on The Voice.

Books

Our Sister Who Will Not Die

Grammy News

Alumni recognized at music’s biggest event.

Read more about Bernard’s writing process. northtexan.unt.edu/ rebecca-bernard

When Rebecca Bernard (’21 Ph.D.) taught at a men’s prison in Kentucky, it inspired her to write the stories that make up the book Our Sister Who Will Not Die. Bernard worked on the stories while in the creative writing and fction program at UNT, and her dissertation was a novel with the working title In the Way of Family. She seeks to fnd the humanity in everyone. “For anyone, writing is a way toward advocating for yourself,” she says. “I think we understand ourselves more deeply by writing about our lives.”

UNT alumni won big at the Grammy Awards in February. Latonia Moore, a College of Music student in the 1990s, won for Best Opera Recording for the Metropolitan Opera production of Fire Shut Up In My Bones. Snarky Puppy, which was founded when some of its members attended UNT, took home its ffth Grammy for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for its album Empire Central.

Other nominees included Jef Cofn (’90), Norah Jones, Maren Morris, Tobe Nwigwe and faculty members Philip Dizack and Rosana Eckert (’95,’99 M.M.). Jack Eaddy Jr. (’19 D.M.A.), director of athletic bands at Western Carolina University, was a fnalist for Music Educator of the Year. Also nominated was Vaughn Faison (’19 M.M.), pictured, a member of the group Kings Return that was up for the Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella category for their song “How Deep Is Your Love?” Faison says performing with the group can almost be transcendental.

Journey without End: Migration from the Global South through the Americas

Andrew Nelson

The associate professor of anthropology co-wrote this book that depicts the arduous journeys global migrants undertake through North and South America.

The People’s Hotel: Working for Justice in Argentina

Katherine Sobering

Workers transform a Buenos Aires hotel into a worker cooperative in this book by an assistant professor of sociology who was a volunteer worker there.

Before Lawrence v. Texas: The Making of a Queer Social Movement

Wesley Phelps (’00, ’04 M.A.)

The associate professor of history explores the struggles and triumphs of gays and lesbians in their decades-long campaign that led to the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

“We’re really doing something that means something to people,” he says. Read

THE WORKS OF BOB DOROUGH (’49) WERE CELEBRATED WITH THE SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK! 50TH ANNIVERSARY SINGALONG. DOROUGH, WHOSE TUNES INCLUDE “THREE IS A MAGIC NUMBER” AND “CONJUNCTION JUNCTION,” WAS THE SHOW’S MUSICAL DIRECTOR FROM 1973 TO 1985.

Deep Connecions

As a student in the College of Music, Allison Ponthier wrote her frst song, “I Do,” while hanging out in her dorm room at Bruce Hall.

She says it wasn’t very good, but now her songwriting is getting major recognition. Ponthier, who attended UNT from 2015 to 2017, has released two EPs, Faking My Own Death and Shaking Hands with Elvis, which tackle her struggles with anxiety and ADHD — and resulted in performances on The Tonight Show and features in Glamour, Rolling Stone and other publications.