a family fit for unt

Gregory started at NTSU in 1983 and “wanted to do it all and see it all,” which included joining the track team. He set out to get a radio, TV and flm degree and started a business placing students in key behind-the-scenes production positions so they could network. This led to a brief career in advertising that took him to Hollywood, though he returned to Texas in the early 1990s.

Gregory built a busy career that necessitated putting classes on hold, fnally graduating with a degree in integrative studies in 2018. He and his wife, Jeri Lin, live in Utah, where he’s a code enforcement ofcer with the city of South Salt Lake. He is a life member of the UNT Alumni Association.

Ryleigh followed in her parents’ footsteps and is majoring in media arts. Her mom Melissa was a photography major who went on to represent photographers, designers and illustrators for national advertising companies and campaigns. She was even part owner of the country’s frst digital illustration studio, Studio 212.

When Ryleigh Dunn Walks aRounD unT, iT’s all Too easy To

imagine her mother, father and grandfather on campus with her.

Sitting for a performance of the One O’Clock Lab Band, for instance, Ryleigh feels the presence of her mom, Melissa Hopson (’83). Melissa worked as an assistant staf photographer for the public afairs and news information ofce at North Texas and once shot a concert of the band.

Football and basketball games bring back memories with her dad, Gregory Dunn (’18). He enrolled Ryleigh in the Junior Mean Green Club, and the pair attended games regularly until she reached high school. And of course, the traditional Homecoming bonfre is a throughline back to the 1950s, when Ryleigh’s grandfather and Gregory’s father, Frank Gerald “Jerry” Dunn (’60), fell in love with the college and set his family on the Mean Green path.

Jerry met his wife, Eleanor Anne (Cook) Dunn, as a student and would often take her on dates to the Campus Theater and sports events. He worked for the U.S. Treasury Department for 35 years as a national bank examiner. A longtime contributor to the UNT Alumni Association, Jerry passed away in 2009.

“My dad called North Texas the greatest small college in America,” Gregory says. “He said it ft like it was made just for him.”

Gregory and Melissa met years after college and were briefy married. With their shared love of UNT, Melissa says there was never any doubt that Ryleigh would end up there as well. Ryleigh and Gregory enjoyed daddy-daughter dates going to the football games.

Ryleigh sees herself staying in North Texas. After all, she hopes her children will be the fourth generation to attend UNT.

— Erin Cogswell

Directors of the State Bar of Texas. He also was appointed to the Fifth Circuit Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions (Criminal).

1982 DON WATENPAUGH (’84 M.S.), Aledo, opened the business Studio Videnda LLC, which ofers custom, data-driven graphic, literary and musical art, with his daughter Kendra Houston. He has worked as manager of the space physiology laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center; guest scientist at a medical center in Copenhagen, Denmark; assistant professor at the UNT Health Science Center; research scientist at the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory; and director of a sleep medical clinic and laboratory in Fort Worth. Although Don has traveled around the world, the home base of UNT left such an impression that he named his son Denton (’11).

1987 PAUL T. HEBDA (Ph.D.), Birmingham, Alabama, retired after 20 years working for the Social Security Administration’s Ofce of Hearings Operations, with his last 10 years spent as the chief administrative law judge in the Anchorage, Alaska, hearing ofce. He previously practiced law for 11 years in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and served as director of international studies at UNT.

1987 CLIFF PRICE, Southlake, served as Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Champions chair for the Fort Worth chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization board of directors. Clif is the owner of Clif Price and Co., a wholesale service that showcases diferent top-performing products from numerous vendors.

1993 SHANA GARRETT, Carrollton, wrote the book Pure Heart Leadership: An Authentic Approach to Leadership. She is academic dean at Walden University for the schools of Criminal Justice, Psychology, and Public Policy and Administration.

1994 RUSSELL HILL (Ph.D.), Piscataway, New Jersey, is chief technology ofcer for Solidia Technologies, a construction materials company. He worked for 25 years for Boral, serving as its group chief innovation ofcer. He has 56 patents on inventions.

1996 JENNIFER BINGHAM

COLEMAN (M.S.), Pfugerville, wrote Come ’N Git It! Cookie and His Cowboy Chuckwagon (Pelican Publishing), which takes young readers along to the days of cattle drives in the 1800s. Jennifer also works as a school librarian for Pfugerville ISD.

1996 BRANDON KENNEDY, Dallas, is Texas regional representative for Bonhams auction house. He also worked at other galleries, museums, nonprofts, auction houses and the Dallas Art Fair.

1998 BRADLEY ALLAN SCOTT

(M.S.), Flushing, Michigan, and Tiana Lynn Scott welcomed their daughter, Autumn Rainbow Scott, in 2021. Bradley is electronic resources librarian at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan.

2000 STEPHEN ANDERSON

Tackling Career Goals

“Do you want to work for the Dallas Cowboys?” Nick Eatman, senior manager of digital media for the Cowboys, popped the question to Hailey Sutton (’18 M.J.) over the phone last summer.

“I was obviously shocked, but excited,” Sutton says. “This has been my dream since frst starting in the business.”

Sutton found her way to the top as an ofcial NFL sports reporter, producer and host for America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys. She came to UNT as a graduate transfer on the women’s soccer team, and her experience of being an athlete and her hard work at the Mayborn School of Journalism gives her a unique perspective as a sports reporter.

“It was defnitely a challenge,” she says. “But it prepared me for life, not only as a journalist but as an adult.”

— Erikah Woodworth

(M.M., ’05 D.M.A.), Chapel Hill, N.C., took part in the recording of Desde Lejos, the CD from the Dominican Read more.

northtexan.unt.edu/hailey-sutton