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Vol. 58 No. 3
tableof
contents Courtesy of Steven and Erin Pettit
Features 14 ‘Living Knows No Season’ “Fight, North Texas” composer Francis Stroup nears a century of songs. — By Jill King
16 Legends of Jazz online
Neil Slater’s career with the One O’Clock Lab Band comes full circle in Europe. — By Ellen Rossetti
www.unt.edu/northtexan Read about the fans, success and excitement of Mean Green athletics on page 24, and visit our web site to share your photos and read more about athletic highlights — even a Mean Green wedding. Also, for a chance to win UNT decals, T-shirts or water bottles, don’t miss our reader survey on page 37, or fill out the survey online.
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Teaching With a Passion Programs attract, prepare new educators for science and math fields. — By Mark Wright
24 Mean Green Mania Spirit spreads with fan, university and community support. — By Randena Hulstrand
Departments 4 Feedback Glory to the green … More than 20 years
Angilee Wilkerson
6 University Giving A wife, mother and teacher remembered
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7 Campus Connection Big Tex … Click & Clack … Hunting UFOs … Research collaborations 13 Snapshots Hurricane relief … New scholars … Step show 32 Bookshelf Homeland security … Elegies … McMurtry’s books 34 Time Tracks Boomer the Cannon
On the cover: The fervor to “bleed green” has always run deep in the Mean Green Nation, but the excitement is reaching farther than ever. Turn to page 31 to find out how you can be part of Homecoming activities this year. (Cover photo by Angilee Wilkerson)
35 Alumni News Class Notes … New alumni site … Reader survey … Walking to Santiago … A good memory … Friends We’ll Miss 46 Eagle Tale Take our advice
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feedback I am very focused on learning about environmental issues right now, using what I learn and passing this knowledge on to my children. Lacey Edmondson Allen
The North Texan welcomes letters from readers. Send letters, with writer’s full name and address, by e-mail to north_texan@unt.edu, fax to (940) 369-8763, submit on the web at www.unt.edu/ northtexan (follow the “Contact us” link) or mail to The North Texan; University of North Texas; University Relations, Communications and Marketing; 1155 Union Circle #311070; Denton, Texas 76203-5017. Letters may be edited for length and publication style. Greenness The summer issue of The North Texan arrived last week and the cover was so welcoming that I read the whole magazine. Thanks to all of the staff for a really enjoyable green issue! Marilyn Vaughan Hartnan (’67) Farmers Branch The summer issue makes me feel inspired to help the planet, proud to be “Green” and a little scared too.
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My husband, Dennis (’63), and I loved the tips for living greener. We particularly liked the one about how we could save 10 gallons of water every time we brush our teeth if we’d just turn off the tap. What sort of water delivery system does your tipster use — a fire hose? Jane Malcolm Houston Editor’s note: That water savings tip should have been per day rather than per brushing, though the EPA says you save closer to 8 gallons per day if you’re brushing twice a day for two minutes per brushing with the faucet at a flow rate of two gallons per minute. You could save hundreds of gallons a day by shutting the fire hose off when brushing your teeth, but the EPA doesn’t recommend using one. If someone asked me yesterday about
UNT, I would have nothing but great things to say about it, but after reading The North Texan, I am truly disappointed in my school. The “Being Green” article alerted me to some disturbing things about the education UNT is providing. I’m fine with conservation and I don’t want a dirty planet, but this whole climate change thing is too over the top. If students want to do things to help be greener, let them do it on their own or in clubs on campus. Don’t force them to do it as part of their classes. What happens if you have a class with a student who doesn’t believe in man-made global warming? Does he fail? Does he get ridiculed by the professor? When you exit 35, on the back of the UNT stone marker it says, “Only the educated are free.” Not anymore, apparently. Matt Baker (’07) Denton New name I strongly resent the article titled “UNT at 20” (summer ’08). Forgive me, but I was the third generation of my family to get a
degree from that campus. It’s funny, I was under the impression that my mother, my grandfather and I all had degrees from the same school (though each diploma has a different school name: NTSU, North Texas State Teachers College and North Texas Normal), but you have written an article telling the world that our time there meant nothing. “It” (meaning UNT) started 20 years ago! I will admit that when the name changed to UNT and I received a letter from the school asking if I wanted a new diploma with the new name, I just laughed. I wondered why anyone would want to change their personal history, but now the truth has come out. It’s not my school anymore! Margaret Ann “Maggi” Connell Focke (’73) College Station New souvenirs I read with nostalgia the fond attachments to UNT through insignia and school memorabilia (Eagle Tale, summer ’08). Like others, my attachment is through my class ring, which has never been off my finger.
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Donna Beth Shaw (’61) Houston Editor’s note: For additional souvenir responses and photos, go to www.unt.edu/ northtexan for more Feedback. The fetching maids How wonderful of you to print Robin
Fletcher’s article about the Moonmaids (summer ’08). They were one of the biggest things going for music back in the ’40s: great voices, fetching looks, charming talents — even including that of husband Harrold Grogan (’49), who was the greatest baritone around. Thanks for the historical shot in the arm! William Thomson (’48, ’49 M.M.) Pasadena, Calif. Ranks and stops Regarding the question concerning the number of ranks on the new organ (summer ’08): Depending on the design, one “stop” could be several ranks and one rank could be several stops. The number of stops is misleading as to the size of the instrument. A mechanical-tracker
Vice President for University Relations, Communications and Marketing
Coourtesy of Mary Jo Thomas Grogan
It was 30 years postgraduation that I purchased a UNT T-shirt, and have worn the proud symbol of Mean Green in the Houston area for several years now. Like a giddy new graduate, I sport a UNT sticker on my vehicle for all the world to see as I drive about the state. We cannot promote UNT enough, in my opinion, for all the marvelous programs it offers scholars.
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action does not radically alter this. Thomas Boettcher (’69) Dallas Editor’s note: We checked with the maker of the organ, Hellmuth Wolff of Wolff and Associates, regarding ranks. He says “in European tradition, where the tracker organ is much more the norm, one speaks of number of stops rather than ranks.” But he says as some stops do contain several ranks of pipes, counting the ranks can be a more impressive measure. For the record, the UNT organ (once completed with the 32' Trombone) will have 60 stops and 78 ranks. You’ll find a video that includes comments from Wolff about the new organ at www.unt.edu/ northtexan. See page 8
Editors
Julie Elliott Payne (’97) Jill King (’93 M.S., ’00 M.A.)
Deborah Leliaert (’96 M.Ed.)
The future Moonmaids sang on a 'Fessor Graham stage show in 1944 with the Aces of Collegeland. Pictured from left are Arline Truax, Katie Myatt, Tinker Cunningham and Mary Jo Thomas.
for information about the organ’s official campus inauguration in October.
Online Communications
Greg Altuna (’02) Lisa E. Largen (’92) Eric Vandergriff
Designers Assistant Vice President of University Relations, Communications and Marketing
Steven Altuna Nola Kemp (’92) Sean Zeigler (’00)
Integrated Branding
Photographers
Laura Robinson
Jonathan Reynolds Angilee Wilkerson Mike Woodruff
Student Contributors
Marty Newman (’02 M.J.) Director of University Relations and Communications
Kelley Reese (’95) Director of Communications Systems and Creative Services
Kenn Moffitt Director of Integrated Branding
Rolando N. Rivas Director of Integrated Fundraising Communications
Janet Zipperlen (’75)
Writers
Alyssa Aber Sarah Bahari Robin Fletcher (’03 M.J.) Randena Hulstrand (’88, ’07 M.J.) Nancy Kolsti Buddy Price Ellen Rossetti (’00) Mellina Stucky Mark Wright (’01)
Joy Houser Project Traffic
Monique Bird Li Fan Audra Glover Elizabeth Knighten The North Texan (ISSN 0468-6659) is published four times a year (in March, June, September and December) by the University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #311070, Denton, Texas 76203-5017, for distribution to alumni and friends of the university. Periodicals postage paid at Denton, Texas, and at additional mailing offices. The diverse views on matters of public interest that are presented in The North Texan do not necessarily reflect
the official policies of the university. It is the policy of the University of North Texas not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability (where reasonable accommodations can be made), disabled veteran status or veteran of the Vietnam era status in its educational programs, activities, admission or employment policies. In addition to complying with federal and state equal opportunity laws and regulations, the university through its diversity policy declares harassment based on individual differences (including sexual orientation) inconsistent with its mission and educational goals. Direct questions or concerns to the equal opportunity office, (940) 565-2737, or the dean of students, (940) 565-2648. TTY access is available at (940) 369-8652. Postmaster: Please send requests for changes of address, accompanied if possible by old address labels, to the University of North Texas, University Relations, Communications and Marketing, 1155 Union Circle #311070, Denton, Texas 76203-5017. “University of North Texas,” “UNT” and “Discover the power of ideas” and their associated identity marks are official trademarks of the University of North Texas; their use by others is legally restricted. URCM 9/08 (08-258)
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university giving
Alumnus pays tribute to wife with scholarship Angilee Wilkerson
Betsy Brookins (’72) and F or James Wood (’79 Ed.D.), it was love at first sight in the summer of 1953. She was a freshman at East Central State College in Ada, Okla., and he was a senior. Wood says his future wife had a giving spirit and a natural teaching ability, and they shared a dream of pursuing careers in education. After a brief courtship, they eloped, “just because young people often act spontaneously,” he says. Fifty-five years later, the Woods’ devotion to the education of thousands of children in California, Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana has been commemorated in one of UNT’s newest endowed scholarship funds. The Betsy and James Wood Scholarship will benefit students who major in elementary education. Wood funded the scholarship this summer in tribute to his wife, who was killed Sept. 20, 2004, in an auto accident along with their daughter Lisa Wood Martin and her three sons. The family’s SUV was in the path of a tractor-trailer rig that crossed a median into oncoming traffic about 60 miles north of Dallas. “I started this scholarship for three reasons,” the retired school district superintendent says. “One, to preserve the memory of my wife. As long as she is remembered, she lives on. Two, to extend her legacy. Throughout her 25year teaching career, she was dedicated to enabling her students to reach their maximum potential. I want this scholarship to encourage new teachers to do the same. “And, three, because Betsy was the most giving person I ever
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James Wood (’79 Ed.D.) funded the Betsy and James Wood Scholarship to honor his wife, Betsy Brookins Wood (’72), who was killed in an auto accident in 2004 along with their daughter Lisa Wood Martin and her three sons. The scholarship will benefit students who major in elementary education.
knew. Now, I want to give back, specifically to those entering the profession we both loved so much.” Betsy Wood’s journey into the classroom was temporarily put on hold one year and two days after she and James married. That’s when Ronald was born. Roger followed in 1957 and Laura in 1965. Betsy loved being a full-time homemaker and mother, Wood says, but her determination to teach never waned. In 1970, at age 36, she enrolled at North Texas. “We thought the time was right, our family complete,” recalls Wood, who was then serving as the first principal of the new Brandenburg Elementary School in Irving. “But we were to have one more daughter, Lisa, who, like her sister, was
destined to be a teacher. She crossed the stage with her mother that night in 1972 when Betsy received her diploma — cum laude in elementary education — and was born three weeks later.” After Wood completed his doctorate at North Texas in 1979, he held superintendent positions and Betsy taught early elementary grades in Brownsboro and Laredo, and in Many, La. In 1997, they retired and relocated to McKinney. They were nearer, Wood says with a smile, to Betsy’s favorite students — her six grandchildren. “Some people have an innate ability to teach,” he says. “Betsy was one of those rare individuals. She was a natural.” I — Janet Zipperlen
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© 2008 CTTV LLC
Howdy, folks Imagine being the fashion designer charged with dressing a cowboy who has a 100-inch neck and 181-inch sleeve length. That’s exactly what Corinna Bejarano Wright (’88) has spent the last 12 years doing — designing the unique styles of the State Fair of Texas’ official greeter, Big Tex. This year, the 52-foot cowboy sports a new yellow and blue Dickies work shirt that features red piping for the 2008 Ignite Your Senses theme. Eight seamstresses spent two weeks sewing 80 yards of awning material for the shirt. “It is always a lot of fun to work with our marketing department and the people at the fair and to learn what theme they have in store,” says Wright, a senior designer at Williamson-Dickie Manufacturing (shown with Big Tex on his 50th birthday in 2002). “We have a couple of fittings on Big Tex prior to the fair opening with our pattern and sample makers to make sure the fit is
Did You Know...? Brave Combo, Denton’s Grammy Award-winning polka rock band with UNT ties, is creating the musical scores for PBS’ first prime-time animated series, Click & Clack’s As the Wrench Turns. As an art student 29 years ago, Carl Finch (’75, ’79 M.F.A.) founded Brave Combo, which also includes former students Danny O’Brien and Alan Emert. The new PBS series, which debuted in July, is inspired by the popular syndicated NPR show Car Talk, starring brothers Tom and Ray Magliozzi (their cartoon alter egos, the Tappet brothers, are shown above). The show’s episodes, which feature music composed, arranged and performed by Finch and the band, are available for online viewing at www.pbs.org/wrenchturns/epguide.
perfect,” she says. “Then, on the first day of the fair, it is really great to see the big guy standing proudly with his new shirt in front of all those people.” I
Top 50 nationally Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine named UNT among the top 50 colleges and universities in the United States in the number of degrees conferred to ethnic minority students. The number of ethnic minority students earning degrees in the 2006-07 academic year at UNT increased by 19 percent over the previous year, elevating
the university to 46th on the Diverse list. The magazine produces the list annually using U.S. Department of Education statistics. For the 2006-07 academic year, 1,328 Asian, Native American, Hispanic and African American students received degrees from UNT, representing about 27 percent of the graduating class. UNT’s Hispanic and African American
enrollments have increased dramatically since 2000, with Hispanic enrollment up 81 percent compared to the state average of 45 percent and African American enrollment up 72 percent compared to the state average of 40 percent. Today, almost 25 percent of the 28,000 undergraduates at UNT are Hispanic or African American. ¢
Courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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erages and lunch, helped students check in and even helped lug their belongings into their new rooms.
Sunday Fun Day Alumni joined forces with faculty and staff to help about 3,400 students move into residence halls Aug. 17. The annual Sunday Fun Day event, which began in 1997, ensures students and their families are warmly greeted so they can start the new semester on the right foot. Volunteers served bev-
Education dean Jerry R. Thomas, professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology at Iowa State University since 1998, was appointed dean of the College of Education, effective Aug. 1. Thomas also had served as interim dean of Iowa State’s College of Education and interim associate dean for research and graduate studies in the college. He previously held faculty and administrative positions at Arizona State University and Louisiana State University and also served on the faculty at Florida State University,
Georgia Southern College, Bloomsburg State College and Jefferson State Junior College. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Furman University and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Alabama. Student regent Journalism major Meghan Vittrup was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to serve as the student member of the UNT System Board of Regents. The student regent, authorized by the Texas Legislature in 2005, holds a one-year term and is a non-voting board member charged with representing the interests of students, as well as the interests of the state of Texas and the university system. She
worked this summer at the Pentagon as an intern writer for American Forces Press Service, which provides news content for the U.S. Department of Defense web site. Texas history The National Endowment for the Humanities selected UNT’s Portal to Texas History as one of the best online resources for education in the humanities and linked to the portal from its EDSITEment web site, designed to help teachers, students and parents find high-quality material in the humanities online. The portal is one of about 60 sites chosen from more than 200 nominated last year. Go to www. texashistory.unt.edu to visit the portal.
Organ inauguration The College of Music is hosting a three-day conference during the official inauguration of the Richard Ardoin-Paul Voertman concert organ Oct. 20-22. The conference, which will focus on specific repertory and performance practices relating to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and 19th- and 20th-century music, includes master classes and concerts by James David Christie, Dame Gillian Weir and Maître Jean Guillou and sessions by distinguished lecturers and respondents from across North America. The $1.5 million organ in the Murchison Performing Arts Center was built by renowned maker Hellmuth Wolff (left). Visit www.music.unt.edu/organ2008 for details on the organ and conference registration. Go to www.unt.edu/northtexan for videos about the organ. Mike Woodruff
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Mariachi camp About 30 aspiring mariachi players from middle and high schools in Arlington, Garland and Grand Prairie attended the College of Music’s first-ever summer mariachi camp in August. Not only did the campers learn from UNT students how to enhance their singing and improve their playing, they also got a taste of university life by touring campus and meeting with students. Donna Emmanuel, associate professor of music, coordinated the camp, which was funded by the Office of Equity and Diversity. Visit www.unt.edu/ northtexan for video and more pictures from the camp. Student learning UNT received a $1.9 million Title III grant aimed at strengthening student learning by expanding UNT’s Next Generation course redesign program and developing additional student support services, including a tracking program to alert counselors and faculty when a student is having difficulty with classes. The fiveyear U.S. Department
of Education grant is a cooperative effort between the divisions of academic affairs and student development. Students identified as needing services will be referred to tutoring, personal counseling, financial management and career planning services. The grant also will strengthen UNT’s Emerald Eagle Scholars endowment. Endangered languages Shobhana Chelliah, associate professor of linguistics and technical communication, received a National Science Foundation grant to create a searchable computer archive of texts in the endangered language of Lamkang. The language is spoken primarily in one region of Manipur, a state in northeastern India that borders the country of Myanmar, and also is spoken in Bangladesh. The archive will include 25 hours of written and audio files of monologues, folktales, conversations and other naturally occurring speech patterns. Chelliah also will create a Lamkang language web site as part of the project.
Jazz library A consortium of donors purchased the estate of jazz legend Maynard Ferguson and will bring it to UNT. The Ferguson music library will be housed at the Music Library along with the Stan Kenton Collection, and the memorabilia, acquired by the Collins-Binkley Foundation, will be housed in a Denton-based
museum run by the foundation. The consortium’s intent is to ensure that the students of the nation’s first jazz program will benefit from the compositions and arrangements, as well as the historic preservation and display of jazz memorabilia. The 400item Ferguson library covers his career from the mid-1950s to his death in 2006. ¢
President’s Note This year promises to be an exciting time at UNT as we enhance our students’ experiences while continuing to provide them with outstanding academic opportunities to thrive. With the support of a new $1.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education, we will continue to develop ways to identify at-risk students and do even more to help all of our students earn their degrees. This will help us build upon our success to create new student support services and a comprehensive tracking program to alert counselors and faculty when a student is having difficulty with classes. I also am excited to welcome a new group of Emerald Eagle Scholars who are joining our inaugural class in pursuing their dreams of a higher education. Through all of these programs, we are committed to helping students thrive. This fall, we launched our One Book, One Community program to encourage reading and engage Denton and the surrounding communities in discussions about American identity and immigration (see page 11). I encourage each of you to read along with us. I am proud to see UNT’s star rising and our reputation as a student-centered public research university extending far beyond our campus. — With green pride, Gretchen M. Bataille
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UFO hunting The television show UFO Hunters, which airs on the History Channel, sought the help of UNT’s Center for Advanced Research and Technology this summer to solve a 111year-old mystery. One of the show’s hosts, Ted Acworth, and David Diercks, the facilities manager for CART (pictured above from left), used the scanning environmental microscope to study material from a purported UFO crash in the town of Aurora in 1897. Due to a confidentiality agreement, no findings regarding the infamous Wise County crash could be divulged before the episode aired. Visit www.history.com for air dates.
national research team that will develop a proposal to examine the use of videophone technology to help nursing home residents better communicate with their distant caregivers. The research is funded by a grant from the Keck Futures Initiative of the National Academies. Wittenberg-Lyles points out that the residents may be more open to using videophone technology than other technology, and seeing their images through videophones may help residents and caregivers have better communication. In a previous study, supported by the National Cancer Institute, she examined caregivers’ use of videophones with hospice teams.
Videophone research Elaine WittenbergLyles, assistant professor of communication studies, is part of a
Gagarin medal Dennis Fisher, professor and conductor of the UNT Symphonic Band and associate director of wind
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studies, was presented with the Russian Gagarin Medal of Honor this spring while acting as principal guest conductor for the Volga Professional Wind Orchestra in Saratov, Russia. The medal — named in honor of the late cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin — is awarded to cosmonauts and other highly select individuals who support the Russian Federal Space Program. The concert conducted by Fisher was sponsored by the Russian Federal Space Agency as a celebration of space flight, the exploration of space and Gagarin’s 1961 orbit around the Earth. Fisher has been guest conductor of the Volga Professional Orchestra each year since 2001. President honored President Gretchen M. Bataille was honored as one of the 25 most influential women in business by the Dallas Business Journal in July. Other honorees with UNT ties included alumnae Corrie Churchill (’03) and Mary K. Suhm (’74 M.S., ’84 M.B.A.); Kathleen Mason, who is on the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management Board of Governors; and Ebby
Olympic taekwondo Karen Cogan, assistant professor of psychology, experienced a new Olympic season and competition this summer when she traveled to Beijing as the sport psychologist
for
the
U.S.
Olympic
Taekwondo Team. She previously served as a sport psychologist for the U.S. Freestyle Mogul Team in the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002 and in Torino, Italy, in 2006. Whether you’re a mogul skier speeding down a hill or a taekwondo competitor judged on your kicking techniques, Cogan says some of the mental preparation and training is similar. She helps the athletes by working on relaxation, anxiety management, positive thinking and goal setting. She says taekwondo athletes may feel anxiety about their opponents and the subjectiveness of the scoring in their single-elimination competitions. The U.S. team made Olympic history this year when three siblings earned medals. Mark, Steven and Diana Lopez of Sugar Land won a silver and two bronzes in Beijing. Halliday, who received the 2004 Murphy Enterprise Center Award. Bataille also recently was named a member of the Chronicle of Higher Education/New York Times Higher Education Cabinet, a group of forward-thinking uni-
versity officials who examine higher education issues. Participating in this cabinet will put UNT at the forefront of the higher education community and help leaders learn about how institutions across the nation are facing challenges.
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Outreach The Texas Governor’s School and the Summer Math Institute at UNT give young students opportunities to shine in math, science and technology while allowing them to explore the campus. This summer, the three-week Texas Governor’s School, hosted by UNT for the second year, focused on developing the abilities of 97 high school juniors in science and technol-
ogy. The Summer Math Institute hosted 58 students ages 11 to 16 in algebra, geometry or pre-calculus classes. The institute is sponsored by UNT’s Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, one of the nation’s leading programs for producing highly qualified scientists, mathematicians and engineers. Business lunch The Murphy Enterprise Center will host
the BDO Seidman LLP 2008 Leadership Luncheon Nov. 14 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas. The keynote speaker is Archie Manning, a humanitarian known for his successful career as a National Football League quarterback and as the father of quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning. For information, visit www.murphycenter. unt.edu or call (940) 565-2848. Order of Academic Palms Marie-Christine Koop, chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, was named an Officer in the Order of Academic Palms by the
French Ministry of Education this summer. Created in 1808 by Napoléon I, the order now recognizes major contributions to French national education and the expansion of French culture. It includes the ranks of Knight, Officer and Commander. A native of Cannes, France, Koop was named a Knight in 1994, the year after she received a French Cultural Services grant to direct a summer institute for Texas secondary school teachers of French that included instruction at UNT and in France. Also in the order from UNT is Arthur Gionet, Professor Emeritus of French, named a Knight in 1983. ¢
One Book, One Community Strong academics are a hallmark of a UNT education, and this year’s new freshmen got straight to the books — even before classes started. During the summer, each new freshman was expected to read Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees as part of the university’s new One Book, One Community reading program. On Aug. 20, hundreds of new freshmen participated in small group discussions about the book led by faculty in seminar style. The discussions were the first event of the One Book program, Jonathan Reynolds
which will sponsor an array of activities throughout the year that
are designed to use literature as a way to explore a common theme through different disciplines. This year’s theme is “American Identity in an Age of Immigration: Beyond the Melting Pot.” The One Book, One Community program will help ensure all UNT students have a shared academic experience. And for new students, the program is a key component of the comprehensive first-year experience the university provides to engage new students in campus life. Write The North Texan at north_texan@unt.edu by Oct. 31 to be entered into our random drawing to win a copy of The Bean Trees. Or send a letter to The North Texan; University of North Texas; University Relations, Communications and Marketing; 1155 Union Circle #311070; Denton, Texas 76203-5017. Visit www.unt.edu/northtexan to learn more.
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UNT to invest millions in multidisciplinary research collaborations Jonathan Reynolds
ceremonially marks the U NT start of the academic year with an annual Fall Convocation, and this year, President Gretchen M. Bataille announced UNT’s plan to invest at least $25 million in collaborative research as part of a sweeping effort to strengthen the state’s economy, bolster research and develop technology vital to addressing today’s most pressing needs. She also discussed the year ahead, plans for the coming legislative session and UNT’s growing recognition. That recognition is being enhanced by an advertising campaign that will feature television and radio spots as well as billboards in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and display ads in The Chronicle of Higher Education and other newspapers and magazines. You can watch the television ad at www.unt.edu. The main thrust of UNT’s research investment plan is to recruit world-renowned faculty who will expand the university’s contributions in fields where UNT already has a proven nucleus of research excellence. Simultaneously, improvements to infrastructure will be made by developing the available space on campus, and more of the equipment needed for the research initiatives will be provided. The plan will begin this year with the development of six research clusters that capitalize on the expertise and reputations of current UNT faculty members. By investing in known areas of excellence, UNT will use its strongest existing research efforts to stimulate growth in comple-
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President Gretchen M. Bataille spoke to about 650 faculty and staff members during the annual Fall Convocation Sept. 9. UNT System Board of Regents Chairman Gayle Strange, left, Provost Wendy Wilkins, Faculty Senate Chair Terry Clower and (not pictured) Staff Council Chair Scott Windham joined Bataille on stage during the event.
mentary areas. The goal is to tackle some of society’s biggest challenges today. The work of the clusters includes the discovery of more effective ways to treat conditions such as autism, cancer and heart disease; the development of more durable jet engines and better materials for an array of uses; the investigation of molecular plant signals that could lead to innovations across the scientific spectrum; and the exploration of new ways to support sustainable environments. UNT’s first six clusters will align common research efforts in several broad areas: • Bio/nano-photonics
• Computational modeling and simulation of materials • Developmental physiology and genetics • Signaling mechanisms in plants • Autism spectrum disorders • Advanced research in technology and the arts This initiative builds on previous significant investments to support cutting-edge research. In 2004, a new Chemistry Building opened, and this year construction begins on a new Life Sciences Complex. In addition, expansion of Discovery Park, UNT’s nearly 290-acre research park that was acquired in 2001, is under way. I
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1. The UNT community, including 283 students, worked with Red Cross volunteers to turn the UNT Coliseum into an evacuee shelter as Hurricane Gustav headed for the Gulf Coast. A total of 131 evacuees used the Coliseum Sept. 1-4. A week later, the facility was again converted as evacuees from Hurricane Ike sought shelter. 2. The second class of Emerald Eagle Scholars was welcomed to campus at a reception Sept. 3. The program provides selected students with free tuition and fees for an average of 15 hours per semester, paid by federal,
Li Fan
state and UNT grants, for four years. The students commit to maintain a 2.5 grade point average, complete 30 semester credit hours each year and engage in university life by working on campus and participating in mentoring and other programs. 3. Activities on campus the weekend before fall classes began included a step show at Kerr Beach for new and returning students. A voter registration drive was held in conjunction with the Aug. 23 show.
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Composer of ‘Fight, North Texas’ crafts a life full of song
— By Jill King David Barrow (‘83, ‘86 M.A.)
Francis Stroup, today in DeKalb
M
usic has been a part of Francis Stroup’s life for almost a century. The 99-year-old composer of UNT’s fight song — who figures he’s written about 100 tunes so far — remembers singing for his father in Little Elm when he was 3. It was 1912, the year his father died of tuberculosis. “He came from a large family ‘notorious’ for their music,” Stroup (’29) says. “During Sunday singing competitions, they were a dreaded opponent.” At age 8, Stroup took piano lessons but got only as far as the bass clef. “I dropped out and tried again several times,” he says, “but it wasn’t until I was a senior in high school that I started playing by ear and looked for songs with easy chord progressions. By the time I was a senior in college, I could take my turn on the piano while we waited for the dinner bell to ring.”
Sports and amusements Stroup sang with the glee club as a college freshman in 1925, but he was more interested in sports. He lettered in basketball, played some football and ran track. He also excelled in swimming and worked as a lifeguard at the pool. He says he began writing songs when he moved to the tiny Texas town of Golden for his first teaching job after college. “You’ve heard the story of the town so small they have to roll the sidewalks in at night? This town didn’t have any walks,” he jokes. “The lady I stayed with had a piano. Since I couldn’t read music and there was no radio, I had to make up my own songs to amuse myself.” Stroup moved on to teaching jobs in the Denton area, and
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Practicing his dives, 1929 Yucca yearbook
he worked on campus for several summers as a swim coach beginning in 1939. That was the year he entered ’Fessor Floyd Graham’s contest for a marching song, adding lyrics to a melody he’d composed a few years earlier. “By accident I happened to be in the audience when ’Fessor Graham announced the contest,” Stroup says. The song, “Fight, North Texas,” was destined to become his most-often-performed composition.
Comforting words Stroup doesn’t recall the first song he ever wrote but says his “first fairly good song,” in the ’30s, was “Dreaming” — “You’ve made me a dreamer, now make my dreams come true.” “I didn’t write it about anyone in particular,” he says. “You don’t write what you feel or believe. You write from a crafting standpoint. Songwriting is a craft.” His favorite song, however, is about someone special. He wrote “Autumn Days” to describe retired life with his wife, Marjory, who has since passed away: When autumn days remind us that the summer time is gone and the shadows show the sun is on the wane, It seems so easy to forget that life continues on as we revel in our strolls down mem’ry lane. But then I stop to reason that living knows no season and realize our numbered days are few. That’s why I don’t recall if summer skies were gray or blue but live each lovely autumn day with you. Stroup says after the song was published in “Dear Abby” in 2002 — with the columnist referring to him as not only a lyricist, but also a poet and philosopher — he received phone calls and letters from seven states. “One lady told me she kept the clipping on her refrigerator and her husband sang it to her every day. Another said it With teachers college letter sweater for basketball, c. 1929
turned her life around. She was going to start living for the future instead of the past,” he says. More people were affected by Stroup’s music this year, when a lyric he wrote for the Northern Illinois University fight song in the ’60s — “forward, together forward” — became an unofficial motto after a campus shooting there in February. “You never know how your words might help someone,” he says.
Shared experience Stroup, who’s written about everything from “flirtin’ and hurtin’” to barbed wire, says although music has been a good hobby for developing his ideas, he never considered making it a career — “not if you had to read the bass clef.” “But it’s always nice when someone tells me I had some effect on their life,” he says. “I’ve had a lot of experience. There aren’t too many people to talk to about it.” Stroup left Denton in the ’40s for the Army after the deaths of his mother, Mina Gist Stroup (’31), and brother, Malcolm, who also attended North Texas. He holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Southern California and taught at the University of Wyoming, Southern Arkansas and NIU, where he retired as a professor of physical education. At home in DeKalb, Ill., he now keeps busy with e-mail, music and community events. He made it back to Denton in 1979 for his 50th class reunion and again in 1987 for his induction into the Athletic Hall of Fame. He says he’d like to return next year, since ’09 will mark his 100th birthday, his 80th class reunion and the 70th anniversary of the adoption of “Fight, North Texas.” “I’m a niner,” he says — and it has the sound of another lyric in the making. I Visit www.unt.edu/northtexan for more lyrics and music. Fall 2008
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warms of people packed the streets of Italy in July to hear a band from Texas — the UNT One O’Clock Lab Band. Fans crowded between buildings, lined staircases and perched on the edges of balconies, turning toward the stage to hear the premiere jazz ensemble of UNT perform at Italy’s Umbria jazz festival. “As far as you could see, there were people — a sea of faces who looked like they were really thrilled to see us,” Neil Slater says. It was a fitting finale for Slater, who retired in August after 27 years as chair of jazz studies and One O’Clock Lab Band director. His career came full circle as this summer’s threeweek tour of major European jazz festivals roughly followed the same path as the tour he made with the band in 1982 at the end of his first year at UNT. He leaves behind a program that has led the nation in jazz innovation — from 1947, when the university offered the nation’s first jazz degree, to today. “The band — it’s as good as anything I have ever heard,” Slater says. “They can play anything, and they are willing to go the extra mile.”
Jazz heroes A Grammy nominee and former member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra-in-Residence program, Slater directed the jazz education department at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut before arriving at UNT in 1981. He filled the spot left by retiring director Leon Breeden, who stepped down after 22 years at the helm. “Neil was coming in and replacing a legacy,” says composer and arranger John Wasson (’80, ’83 M.M.), who played bass trombone in Breeden’s band for two years and in Slater’s band for one year. “Neil has done a fabulous job, not only maintaining the level, but pushing the program forward, touring a lot and encouraging young writers to write for the band,” says Wasson, who toured with the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman orchestras after college. “There was no let-up when he came.” At UNT, Slater was instrumental in establishing a master of music degree in jazz studies and expanded the UNT Jazz Lecture Series, which has featured legendary musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Slide Hampton as performers and teachers. The band’s performances across the world helped keep the program in an international spotlight and allowed students to play in the same venues with the heroes of their profession.
Tim Ries (’81), who was lead saxophonist with the One O’Clock Lab Band on the 1982 tour while working on a master’s degree in music, remembers performing at the same festival as trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. “It’s a different dynamic. It’s like all of a sudden, you’re on the court with Michael Jordan,” Ries says.
The real world When Slater stepped into the lab band rehearsal hall in 1981, he brought valuable expertise as a gigging musician in New York, Ries says. “He was bringing that reality that when you leave this school to pursue a jazz career in New York, your competition is going to be with all those other already-well-established jazz artists,” Ries says. “It was for me a perfect transition. He gave me suggestions about people to call. Personally, for me, that was great. It was a wake-up call.” After leaving UNT, Ries built a successful music career in New York, eventually touring with the Rolling Stones, and returned to campus in 2001 as a featured artist on the Jazz Lecture Series. He says people in New York know the serious reputation of the UNT jazz program and the One O’Clock Lab Band, which Ries says “is always one of the best bands in the world — whether college or professional.” Chris Bullock, a doctoral student from North Carolina who joined the One O’Clock Lab Band a year ago, says Slater prepares students to polish music in a short amount of time — as professional musicians must do. “We will go play a gig somewhere and we will have a rehearsal,” Bullock says, stressing the singular. “We can make it sound like we have played it more than one time.”
Bringing it In preparation for this year’s European tour, students met in five intense rehearsals in the days before the trip. The tour included performances at the Brienz and Montreux jazz festivals in Switzerland, the Vienne Festival in France, the Rüdesheim in Germany, the North Sea jazz festival in the Netherlands, and the Tuscany and Umbria jazz festivals in Italy. Other artists performing at the festivals included famed musicians Diana Krall, Branford Marsalis, Pat Metheny and Bobby McFerrin. During breaks, the band members toured the museums of Florence, devoured stroopwafel in the Netherlands and savored prosciutto pizza in Italy. And they learned that touring on the road presents its share of challenges.
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“You always have to bring it, no matter the circumstances, no matter how tired you are,” Bullock says. “We dealt with a lot of those things — jet lag, not getting an ample amount of sleep, being on the bus all day and then having to play challenging high-energy music. But once you get onstage and you have your horn in your hand, everything that happened earlier doesn’t matter. You are there to play.” Sara Jacovino (’05, ’08 M.M.) started playing trombone in the One O’Clock Lab Band three years ago. She just finished her master’s degree in jazz performance in May and plans to try a career as a composer and performer in New York. Jacovino says Slater can subtly — but effectively — give directions to the band. “Neil wants the best out of everybody, and if you don’t give him the best, he lets you know that’s unacceptable,” Jacovino says. “He doesn’t even need to say much, you just know. He’s direct but there’s always a lot of insight, even if he gives you just a look, a disapproving look, or a look that says, ‘I like that.’”
The capstone Tom Ashworth (’86 M.M.) was on the 1982 tour and is now professor of trombone at the University of Minnesota. Two of his former students — lead trombonist Victor Barranco (’08 M.M.) from North Pole, Alaska, and bass trombonist Ben Polk from Greenbush, Maine, who earned his graduate artist certificate in music performance here in May — toured with the One O’Clock this summer. “It is certainly a great capstone for the collegiate career,” Ashworth says of the tour. “At North Texas, by the time you make those top jazz bands, you are making the transition from student to professional.” That’s how Slater says he tries to train his students — teaching them that they need to be professionals who are on time, prepared and artistic. “People start relying on the fact if you came from North Texas, you can do the job,” Slater says. “They’re professional, not just in playing, but reliable and serious about what they are doing in an artistic way. They never lose sight of it as an art form.” That legacy of excellence has kept the world’s attention. At the final performance in Italy this July, the audience clapped for two encores from Slater and his band. They didn’t want to let him go. I
A Tribute Concert This August marked the end of an era in the UNT jazz studies program with the retirements of One O’Clock Lab Band Director Neil Slater and Two O’Clock Lab Band Director Jim Riggs (’72 M.M.). A Regents Professor of saxophone, Riggs first conducted the Two O’Clock Lab Band as a graduate student in 1971. UNT will honor the two retired directors Nov. 22 in a concert featuring performances by alumni big bands and the current One and Two O’Clock bands, followed by a postconcert jam session. The evening begins with cocktails at 5:30 p.m., dinner at 6, and the concert at 7:30. The concert will take place in the UNT Coliseum. Tickets for the general public range from $10 to $60. For information, call (940) 565-3743 or visit www.jazz.unt.edu.
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Alumni share knowledge, address the nation’s shortage of math, science educators Math has always made sense to Heather Rooth (’07). As she was growing up in Oklahoma, she tutored her more arithmetic-averse classmates. And now, as a teacher at North Dallas High School, she’s helping students understand crucial concepts they will need to succeed in an increasingly high-tech workforce. “I have those kids who wonder why they need to know math,” says Rooth, who teaches Algebra I. “I do the best I can to make it relevant to them. I ask them what job they want to do, and I find some kind of math they’ll have to do in that job. “If all else fails, I use a checkbook. You have to be able to balance a checkbook.”
Filling a need Unfortunately, Rooth’s a bit of a rarity. Although math and science skills are more crucial than ever, the teachers needed to teach those subjects are hard to find. School districts across the nation are reeling from a shortage of qualified math and science teachers, a situation made worse by a high attrition rate among beginning teachers. How dire is the problem? Nearly half of all instructors leave the classroom within the first five years, according to a 2006 College Board report. UNT alumni, though, are bucking the attrition trend. More than 85 percent of UNTtrained teachers remain in the classroom three to five years after entering the field. The statistics are not a coincidence. Through grant-funded teacher-training programs such as the Robert Noyce Scholarship, Transition to Teaching and Teach North Texas, the university is making it a priority to develop high-quality educators with math and science degrees and certification in the subjects they teach. And UNT takes its teacher preparation a step further by continuing to aid teachers after they enter the classroom, which, in turn, increases the likelihood that the beginning instructors will have a positive experience and choose to stay in teaching for more than a few years. “I felt prepared to teach because I’d had so much training while at UNT,” Rooth says. As a student, she received the Noyce Scholarship, which pays $7,700 a year for a maximum of two years. The scholarship — funded by a five-year grant from the National Science Foundation that runs through August 2009 — requires students to maintain a 3.0 grade point average, and they must commit to teaching at least two years at a high-need Texas school for every year they receive the scholarship.
A supportive environment However, the teachers aren’t pushed blindly into a challenging classroom environment. At UNT, they receive grade-level and assignment-specific professional development. In the teachers’ first two years on the job, UNT professors keep in close contact with them and arrange for mentor teachers to answer their questions, provide them with encouragement and track their progress. Right: Heather Rooth (’07), an Algebra I teacher at North Dallas High School, is helping to ensure her students learn the math skills necessary to succeed in today’s technology-driven workforce.
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“I had mentor teachers the first year, and they helped me out a lot by coming to class and giving me feedback,” says Lake Dallas Middle School math teacher Casey Harl, a Noyce recipient who earned his teaching certification from UNT in 2007 and is finishing up a master’s degree in secondary education. He says Pam Harrell, associate professor of education and principal investigator for the Noyce grant, who also coordinates UNT’s Secondary Post Baccalaureate Online Teacher Certification Program and Transition to Teaching grant, continued to be a “tremendous resource” for him after he received his certification. Rooth says her mentor teachers and UNT professors helped her create lesson plans and offered strategies for dealing with particular situations. She also exchanges ideas online through a network of fellow UNT-trained teachers, brought together by UNT faculty members. “It really helps to have somebody to talk to before you try something,” Rooth says.
New experiences Science teacher Anna Bayless (’06, ’08 M.Ed.) credits a teaching strategies course she took at UNT with giving her practical knowledge — such as laboratory safety guidelines — useful in her role as a chemistry teacher at Plano East Senior High School. Bayless, a third-year educator who previously participated in a Teacher Quality Grant at UNT, spent her summer conducting lab research as part of a College of Arts and Sciences National Science Foundation grant designed to give practicing teachers research experience. “In the program, I get to be more engaged about the whole discovery of science, and I get to bring that to the classroom,” Bayless says of the lab research. Another UNT initiative, Transition to Teaching, is a federally funded program geared toward career changers who are pursuing teacher certification — and in some cases certification and a master’s degree — to teach math and science in secondary schools. The program annually accepts 15 candidates, who, in exchange for financial assistance, commit to teaching at least three years at high-need campuses in Dallas, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie or Gainesville. During those years, UNT faculty members help steer the teachers around the potential pitfalls that can lead to poor retention rates. For example, it’s common for newly certified educators to feel overwhelmed at the seemingly chaotic classroom environment, says Mary Harris, Meadows Chair for Excellence in Education and professor of teacher education and administration. “They plow a much harder path in which support is necessary,” Harris says. “Some, I think, have always wanted to be teachers but didn’t have a pathway.”
Expanding the possibilities UNT’s newest initiative, Teach North Texas, began this fall with a free 1-credit-hour course designed to allow students to
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gauge their interest in teaching math, science or computer science. A second free course will be added this spring. Funded by a $1.4 million grant from the Greater Texas Foundation and a challenge grant of up to $1 million from the National Math and Science Initiative, TNT is a collaborative effort between UNT’s College of Arts and Sciences and College of Education that gives students teaching experience as early as their freshman year. The program enables UNT to replicate the innovative UTeach program developed at the University of Texas at Austin. The Greater Texas Foundation Math and Science Scholarship Program awarded UNT another $150,000 grant for the program to fund scholarships over the next two academic years and to grow the endowment for TNT for future years. The university has set a goal of raising at least $1 million for that endowment by 2012, which would then be matched up to $1 million by the National Math and Science Initiative. “With Teach North Texas, future math and science teachers will be prepared for their profession with course work that is guided by current research and is specifically tailored for their field of interest,” says John Quintanilla, associate professor of mathematics and co-director of TNT along with Harris. “We think that our students will appreciate the connections between what they learn in Teach North Texas and the multiple field experiences they’ll have.” About 50 students are in the program this fall, including Courtney Tidwell, a 2008 graduate of UNT’s Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science from Arlington. TAMS is the
nation’s first accelerated residential program for gifted teens who take university courses to complete their first two years of college while earning their high school diplomas. Tidwell says she has long considered majoring in math and becoming a teacher, but the content-area-specific training she will receive through TNT clinched her decision to complete her bachelor’s degree and certification at UNT. “When I heard about Teach North Texas, I got pretty excited,” Tidwell says. With eager undergraduates such as Tidwell preparing to join the teaching ranks, UNT’s impact on the quality of education should continue to grow for years to come. “There’s something about teaching that I’m drawn to,” Tidwell says. “I feel it’s my calling now.” I Above left: Casey Harl, a Lake Dallas Middle School math teacher and Robert Noyce Scholarship recipient, is a former information technology leader for a Fortune 500 chemical and polymer company. He earned his teacher certification at UNT in 2007. Below left: Anna Bayless (’06, ’08 M.Ed.), a science teacher at Plano East Senior High School, says UNT taught her how to give students the opportunity to engage in scientific experimentation. Below right: Courtney Tidwell, a 2008 graduate of UNT’s Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, stayed at UNT to be part of the first group of students enrolled in the Teach North Texas program.
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or t Worth firefighter Rick McKinney (’90) has a passion for the Mean Green that burns as intensely as some of the fires he puts out. John “Jack” Fincher (’57), who met his wife as a student and attended the first football game at Fouts Field, has been a fan for more than 50 years, while season ticket holders Robert Alonzo and his family had no ties with the university until last year. All are part of the growing Mean Green Nation, where the fervor to “bleed green” has always run deep, but the excitement is reaching farther and resonating louder than ever. Legendary defensive tackle and NFL Hall of Famer Joe Greene (’69), who helped put Mean Green football in the history books, says he senses a new winning attitude at UNT. “You can feel something happening at North Texas in a positive way, with the administration, the new facilities, a new stadium and a promising head coach. All of this is get-
ting people excited,” Greene says. “I feel the momentum. It’s a good thing.”
The Mean Green Nation Fans excited about the growth of the athletic programs have a lot to cheer about. Donor pledges and UNT’s commitment to the Mean Green have led to the building of 10 new athletic facilities since 2002, and the university is in a planning phase for a new stadium. The new facilities include softball, tennis, soccer, swimming and volleyball venues for women’s sports and a 7,000-square-foot academic center dedicated to helping student-athletes succeed off the field. With the student-athletes’ current overall GPA the highest in eight years, the zest for green success is attracting recruiting classes that grow stronger every year. And with more conference championships and postsea-
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son play across all sports — women’s and men’s — fans are gathering like never before to share their collective experiences. Six of the 10 largest crowds in UNT athletic history have occurred since 2001. These fans, flocking together with waving Eagle claws and elaborate tailgating parties, are transcending the individual experience. “UNT is a great university that provides our students and our extended family with a complete experience, and I am committed to growing our programs and expanding upon our successes in every way possible,” President Gretchen M. Bataille says. “A new stadium, just like our new life science and business buildings, will provide our students with the first-class facilities they deserve as they earn a top-quality education and have a top-quality experience. Our student-athletes and all of our fans deserve a venue that is today as up to date as Fouts Field was when it opened in 1952 for its first football game. “We can’t just succeed academically or athletically. We need to work together to succeed in all of our endeavors and to fully claim the national recognition our university deserves.” Athletic Director Rick Villarreal says he is more excited than ever about the opportunity to see the Mean Green football team play in a state-of-the-art facility.
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“Our staff has worked very hard over the last six years to provide student-athletes with the level of facilities necessary to be successful both on and off the fields of play at the Division I level,” Villarreal says. “In sports like basketball, swimming and diving, tennis and soccer, we’ve seen the ascent to regional and national recognition that is possible when you put the right coach and an outstanding facility together. I truly believe a new football stadium would continue that trend, while standing as a symbol of pride for the entire Mean Green Nation.”
Taking it to the streets Among the faithful fans is McKinney, whose intensity is not only evidenced by the colorful “FirefightnRick” persona he’s created attending every home game, cheering on the 50-yard-line with his fire hat painted to match the team’s colors. He also decorates his locker at Fort Worth’s Station No. 14 like a Mean Green shrine. Amid football posters and schedules, he pastes clippings of UNT sports highlights as a constant reminder of UNT’s successes. “I keep it updated to show people UNT’s impressive history,” he says, pointing to stories of the New Orleans Bowl games and Sun Belt Conference championships. He describes 1988, the year he says he became a “rabid
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Mean Green fan,” as “the most amazing time at North Texas.” That year the football team played three Southwest Conference schools, beating Texas Tech and Rice, and the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament. “North Texas caught lightning in a bottle,” McKinney says. “That whole year just got me.” That lightning struck again in 2006-07 when the Mean Green men’s basketball team racked up a program-best 23 wins, its first Sun Belt Conference Championship and its second-ever advance to the NCAA Tournament. Last season the team recorded its second-straight 20-win season and notched a school-record 15 home wins. Beginning in 2001, ending a 42-year bowl drought, Mean Green football made the trip to New Orleans an annual tradition for four years, creating waves of impassioned fans. In 2005, UNT opened new football practice facilities and a new 50,000-square-foot Athletic Center in the heart of the Mean Green Athletic Village, providing state-of-the-art strengthening, conditioning, training and rehabilitation services, as well as new coaching and administrative suites, squad and team meeting space and a firstclass football dressing room. But UNT green isn’t contained on campus. It is seen throughout the Denton community, where banners line
the main drags and Mean Green posters decorate the storefronts. Off the historic square in Denton, Industrial Street businesses — Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, Rooster’s Roadhouse, Little Guys Movers and Dan’s Silver Leaf — pump green pride through the community. With business plans catering to students and with alumni among the owners, teaming up in support of UNT comes naturally. “We’re definitely business people who want to see to it that the university does well,” says Mel Knight, owner of Fuzzy’s Taco Shop. Fuzzy’s and Rooster’s host sports watching parties on their many TVs, while Little Guys Movers is the official moving company for Mean Green football. Top left: Firefighter Rick McKinney (’90) is a longtime fan — his locker at work is a Mean Green shrine. Todd Dodge and the team take to the field for the 2008 season. Above: The men’s basketball team and fans enjoyed the trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. Industrial Street business owners, from left, Dan Mojica, Marcus Watson, Chris Hawley, Alan Pierce and Mel Knight, are Mean Green supporters
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“Our company was born and raised here in Denton since 1992, and ever since, the university has been a big part of our lives and our business,” says Chris Hawley, co-owner of Little Guys Movers who attended UNT in the 1990s. “We’ve got hometown pride and UNT is a big part of it.”
No place like home Longtime fan Fincher, in addition to meeting his wife, Jessica Klinglesmith Fincher (’57, ’75 M.A.) at UNT, remembers that first game played at Fouts Field in 1952. “North Texas played the University of North Dakota and beat them unmercifully!” he says. The Finchers, who were both officers of the Rally Club (precursor to the Talons), married just days after graduating. Fincher says he has always felt like he belonged at UNT. “There’s a great camaraderie among the team and those who follow it — you always could be connected at North Texas,” says Fincher, who rarely misses a game and has had opportunities to know many coaches and players. “I’ve met and talked with Joe Greene, Ron Shanklin, Bill Carrico (’68), Vernon Cole — people who kept you on course to be a big fan,” he says. “It’s amazing what it does to your spirit.” In addition to those football greats, a wealth of acclaimed
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athletes have called the university home. Future football star Abner Haynes (’62) and Leon King (’62, ’72 M.S.) helped break the color barrier in Texas in 1956 by becoming some of the first African American football players to integrate any college team in the state. Track and field star Bill Schmidt (’70), the first Mean Green athlete to win an Olympic medal, took the bronze for his javelin throw in the 1972 Munich games. And in 1978, basketball statistical champ Ken Williams, the only Mean Green player to lead the NCAA in a statistical category (14.7 rebounds per game), followed golf great Sandra Palmer (’63), who was named LPGA Player of the Year in 1975. Although decades younger than Fincher, Emmitt Jackson (’01) also equates UNT with family and home. Growing up in Denton, he remembers running up and down the aisles of the Super Pit during basketball games. At 5, he knew he would become an Eagle. Missing only one home football game in 12 years, he says, “If it is a Saturday, I’m there.” But going to the games wasn’t enough for Jackson. He and his wife, Lera Brown (’02), converted a room in their Lake Highlands home into a “Mean Green Room.” Complete with walls painted UNT green, the space houses prized memorabilia Jackson has been collecting for 10 years — a signed Joe Greene jersey, vintage pennants and a series of miniature
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UNT football helmets, to name a few. “It was my one stipulation when we bought our house,” he says. Most recently, the couple added an entire line of UNT baby wear to the collection. Jackson hopes to re-create the same memorable experiences for his new daughter, Cassidy, who already owns a T-shirt that reads “North Texas Class of 2030.” “Some people just bleed green by nature,” he says.
From the inside out Spirit also is percolating within the walls of residence halls and campus courtyards more than ever before. With the committed efforts of housing leaders and student organizations, every UNT student has opportunities to experience the Mean Green connection. When senior Dana Cardone came to UNT, she knew she was coming to a major university but says, “It feels like a small one.” Living in West Hall her sophomore year, she joined student housing activities and now is president of the Residence Hall Association. Working to engage other students, Cardone helps organize the campus pre-game pep rally, Friday Night at Clark Park, and student tailgating events. “There’s nothing better than looking up in the stadium
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and seeing painted-up fans and waving pom-poms,” she says. “It’s an awesome experience; you can feel the green.” The Alonzo family of Southlake also exemplifies the growth of the Mean Green Nation, which is building community outside of students and alumni. After attending a neighbor’s reception for the university, Robert and his wife, Pam, bought season football tickets to create a family experience for their 11-year-old daughter, Ally. They have since become donors and regulars in the stands. “The Junior Mean Green Club was one of the biggest selling experiences,” Alonzo says, adding that head coach Todd Dodge took time to meet Ally after last spring’s game. “There’s a specialness with the people at UNT. “The leaders have a true commitment and passion that is vital to a successful university.” Top left: Fans flocked to the game against Navy last year. Green Brigade band members add to the spirit. Emmitt (’01) and Lera Brown Jackson (’02) share their Mean Green Room with new fan Cassidy. Above: Tailgaters enjoy pregame festivities. Junior Mean Green Club members meet their football buddies. Fans sport their green for the home opener versus Tulsa.
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Turning a corner From student-athlete to professional NFL superstar, Greene, now retired from his coaching career, helps scout for the Pittsburgh Steelers, traveling to colleges across the nation looking for winning talent. He sees UNT’s commitment to building facilities as the cornerstone of a nationally competitive school. All the major universities get publicity from their athletic programs, he says. “It’s just the way it is. Prospective students may not have anything to do with athletics or even like athletics, but they see the whole university through an athletic window. It’s very important,” says Greene, who has fond memories of playing in a packed Fouts Field in 1966 during his sophomore Homecoming game and of the close friends he made as a Mean Green athlete. Not only does Greene see the building of a new stadium as important in allowing the university to compete athletically, he says it will strengthen the whole Sun Belt Conference and provide opportunities such as TV contracts and a larger alumni and donor base. “Alumni and fans like to come see athletic events in a comfortable venue,” he says, “And hopefully it can reach some people who could come back into the fold. “In my view, a new stadium is good for the university all
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around,” he says. “The facility is not going to win ball games, but it will help by attracting more fans and ball players.”
National recognition The newest athletic facilities — including the Mean Green Volleyball Center, Lovelace Stadium (for softball) and the Mean Green Soccer Field — give the teams and those who love them an edge, and UNT programs are gaining national recognition. The Mean Green women’s soccer team played in its ninth straight Sun Belt Conference Championship game in 2008, winning conference titles and bids to the NCAA tournament in 2004 and 2005. The team also earned a spot among the NCAA’s Top 10 teams nationally in 2007 for academic performance. ESPN ranked the 2008 football signing class seventh in the nation of non-Bowl Championship Series schools. And UNT’s dedication to Title IX earned it a first-place national ranking on the Gender Equity Scorecard, a study by Penn State University at York that measures a university’s commitment to women’s athletics based on participation, scholarships, coaches’ salaries, recruitment budget and operating expenses. In addition to Mean Green teamwork, stellar individual performances are garnering national recognition. Football’s Casey Fitzgerald was named a 2007 All American after leading the
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league in receptions and yards, and volleyball’s Brooke Engel (’08) was the first player in NCAA history to lead the nation in service aces in back-to-back years. Recently, the Mean Green Nation has taken on a life of its own, inspiring fans and donors like Ronald Waranch (’54). Aside from a $1 million gift to build the Waranch Tennis Complex in 2006, he has pledged $150,000 for basketball scholarships over the next 10 years. “My contribution to the university is because I love North Texas and I want to be a give-back person,” he says.
Breeding excitement Whether it’s a freshman’s first Homecoming bonfire or an alumni celebration at the Big Dance, UNT is producing loyal fans. “I want to puff out my chest with pride for my school,” says Steven Pettit (’02), an active recruiter for tailgating over the last several years. (Read about his Mean Green wedding online.) Jackson, who tailgates with Pettit, agrees. “People are connecting with the university like they never have before and there is a genuine excitement,” he says. “Going to the games and making friends, you develop a love for UNT — anyone can turn into a super fan and get hooked.” The Mean Green Nation also is capturing the hearts of
future generations. When McKinney isn’t fighting fires or attending a game, he’s passing the torch of fandom on to his children, ages 4 and 7. “They think Scrappy is second to God,” he laughs, “And when it’s raining and thunder claps, they yell ‘Boomer’ and ‘Go Mean Green!” I
Visit www.unt.edu/northtexan for a video about our stadium plans and more about the Mean Green Nation. Go to page 34 to learn more about Boomer the Cannon.
Top left: Paint adds to the fun of fandom. The women’s basketball team will open its 2008 season with a new coach. Above: The Waranch Tennis Complex is one of 10 athletic facilities built since 2002. Wide receiver Casey Fitzgerald earned 2007 All American honors. The Mean Green soccer team played in its ninth straight Sun Belt Conference Championship game in 2008.
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bookshelf Homeland security to Homeland Security: I ntroduction Understanding Terrorism With an Emergency Management Perspective by David A. McEntire, associate professor of emergency administration and planning (Wiley Pathways). The book provides up-to-date information about terrorism, homeland security policies and dealing effectively with threats and attacks. Topics useful for scholars, students and practitioners include the relationship between homeland security and emergency management, causes of terrorism, trade-offs between security and rights, and preparation for, response to and recovery from attack.
Collected poems lind Rain, by Bruce Bond, professor of B English (LSU Press). Bond’s latest poetry collection includes several elegies concerning the last days and death of his father. “I am writing at the edge of the other half of life, the part without my father in it,” he says in “Wake.” Also featured are poems focusing on madness and music, and a long meditation, “The Return,” that hinges on a double sense of the word “true” as “the real” and “the loyal.” Bond’s previous poetry collections are Cinder, The Throats of Narcissus, Radiography, The Anteroom of Paradise and Independence Days.
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• Movable Tonic: A Sequence SightSinging Method by Alan C. McClung, associate professor of music and conductor of the UNT Concert Choir (GIA Publications Inc.). Designed to help teachers and students at all stages of sightsinging development, the book features lessons on how to establish tonal relationships, combine duration and pitch, and develop musical independence. Included are practice drills, music examples and step-by-step teaching strategies. • Texas Country Singers by Phil Fry (’62, ’64 M.A.) of Austin and Jim Lee, Professor Emeritus of English (Texas Christian University Press). The 27 Texas-born country singers profiled include traditional artists such as Ernest Tubb, Willie Nelson and Ray Price,
and less well-known names like Vernon Dalhart and Moon Mullican. Also featured are Waylon Jennings, Tanya Tucker, George Strait and Gene Autry. Each biography includes the singer’s bestknown songs and awards and honors earned.
• Hell Under the Rising Sun: Texan POWs and the Building of the Burma-Thailand Death Railway by Kelly E. Crager (’05 Ph.D.) of Austin (Texas A&M University Press). This narrative follows the members of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas National Guard who were captured by Japanese forces in Java in 1942 and shipped to Burma. Using information from the National Archives, memoirs and oral
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history interviews with members of the “Lost Battalion,” Crager focuses on their treatment during captivity and theorizes that the brotherhood among the Texans was a main factor in the battalion’s high survival rate (84 percent). • Roll the Rock: A Life Journey by Henry Tony Hodges (’74) of Katy (PublishAmerica). The poems in this first collection reflect life lessons, regrets and personal comments on current events. Hodges says he speaks in common words to the common person and hopes he leaves readers with “something to ponder.” He worked for 30 years in human resources administration and has been writing and painting for two years. • Now Face to Face by Karleen Barlow Koen (’70) of Houston (Three Rivers Press). First published in 1996 by Random House,
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Koen’s second novel was a Book of the Month Club main selection now being re-released. Set in Virginia and England in the 1720s, the novel tells the story of a young widow who embarks for colonial Virginia and is pulled into a Jacobite plot that threatens the throne, her family and a new love. The new release includes an afterword featuring a scene dropped from the original manuscript. • Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry (’58) of Archer City (Simon and Schuster). The author of the Pulitzer Prizewinning novel Lonesome Dove writes about his passion for books as a reader, a writer and a bookseller — he eventually opened bookstores in Georgetown, Houston and Archer City. He describes how the books he has read helped form his literary tastes and includes anecdotes and observations about authors, book
people, literature and himself. • Journey from Head to Heart: Living and Working Authentically by Nancy Oelklaus (’74 M.A.) of Austin (Loving Healing Press). This book on how to live a meaningful life combines logic, emotion, spirituality, science and ancient wisdom to create “a recipe for wholeness.” Oelklaus, who holds a doctorate in educational administration, worked in education before building a practice as an executive coach. She has produced coaching CDs on topics such as reconciliation, making difficult conversations easier and creating the life you want.
• Chronic Pain Management: Guidelines for Multidisciplinary Program Development, edited by Michael E. Schatman (’85 M.S., ’89 Ph.D.) of Bellevue, Wash., and Alexandra Campbell (Informa Healthcare). This reference for developing a multidisciplinary chronic pain management program includes best practices for maintaining a high-quality, costeffective chronic pain management center, achieving accreditation and developing policies and procedures. Schatman is an assistant professor of family medicine at the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Yakima, Wash., and a consulting clinical psychologist. • The Passing of the Gibbous Moon by Larry Turner (’64) of Wills Point (Tate Publishing). A high school football hero finds a new meaning to life when his skills help save a cheerleader. The story fol-
lows the two students from different backgrounds as a senior year that starts on the football field ends up changing lives. Turner is a retired educator who spent 41 years in public education, including coaching and working with young athletes.
Other Media
• Movin’ On by the Dave Rawlinson Band of Ellensburg, Wash. The band led by Dave Rawlinson (’88) is known for its all-original music shows of “boomer rock,” capturing the tastes of baby boomers. This second CD includes sounds of classic rock, jazz rock and country rock. Rawlinson is an associate professor of information technology at Central Washington University as well as a guitarist and vocalist. I
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time
tracks
by Robin Fletcher
Blast from the past the Cannon is a UNT tradition B oomer with a history of mystery, two decades
Boomer in 1988, top, and Boomer today, along with its new limber built in 2006
of careful renovation by members of a true spirit group and a nickname reportedly bestowed by a Mean Green celebrity. A 1989 Aerie yearbook article by Rogers Cadenhead (’91) tells the story of the cannon and its caretaker then and now — Rick McKinney (’90), also known today as FirefightnRick. As a senior then, McKinney was on the Talons’ cannon crew, helping fire the gun to mark the half and end of football games and the Eagle scores in between. But the cannon’s origins are somewhat murky. One story credits an alumnus for donating the three-foot-long, 285-pound barrel in the 1950s. Another suggests the barrel was cast by students in a metals shop class at some point during the next decade. McKinney describes the cannon today as about a 7/8 scale replica of an M1841 SixPounder Smoothbore Muzzle-loader that was widely used in the U.S.-Mexican War but rendered obsolete by the time of the 1861-1865 “War Between the States.” He says as best as anyone recollects, Boomer was first used at games and on campus between 1969 and 1970. Before the Talons began renovating the cannon in the late 1980s, yearbook photos show it had been displayed during Homecoming parades pulled behind pickups on the back frame of an old Willys Army jeep. The cannon spent years outdoors near the Physical Plant complex until the Talons found it an indoor home in the Coliseum. Boomer has undergone several transformations. In 1988, McKinney began the long process of removing years’ worth of paint and worked odd jobs for money to cut off the barrel and mount it on a new carriage he built with
Photos courtesy of Rick McKinney
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fellow Talon Alex Balic (’89). Eventually, the original barrel succumbed to a narrowing of its inside walls, so it was replaced with an exact match through a company in Tennessee in the mid ’90s. Its most recent refurbishing began in 2002 and ended in 2006, when McKinney debuted the accompanying limber he had built. Perhaps as interesting as its mysterious origins and painstaking restoration is the legendary tale of how the cannon earned its nickname. According to Talons lore, alumnus “Mean” Joe Greene (’69) had come back to campus for an award ceremony and was surprised by a blast from the cannon. That’s when he nicknamed it Boomer. I
Down the Corridor The “First Big All-College 75 years Dance” took place in Harriss ago Gymnasium. … Iroquois Chief Clear Sky spoke on campus. The campus herbarium 50 years acquired a carnivorous pitcher ago plant. … Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the Nike missile base. … The new campus hospital opened. News topics included the 25 years Grenada invasion. … Steve ago Smith, drummer for Journey, and Lewis Soloff, trumpeter for Blood, Sweat and Tears, visited campus. UNT was one of four universi10 years ties that split $6 million in ago computer technology from Texas Instruments. … The Coliseum received a facelift.
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was elected Employee of the Year for the Dallas County Community College District. He is an academic advisor and dual credit adviSend class note information by e-mail to north_texan sor at North @unt.edu, fax to (940) 369-8763, submit on the web at Lake College.
Class Notes
www.unt.edu/northtexan (follow the “Contact us” link) or mail to The North Texan; University of North Texas; University Relations, Communications and Marketing; 1155 Union Circle #311070; Denton, Texas 76203-5017. Members of the North Texas Exes Alumni Association are designated with a #.
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Doris Webb Plumlee, Dallas, is celebrating 30 years of retirement as a former history teacher at Highland Park High School. She says she enjoys the wildlife in the woods around her Dallas home and ventures out to concerts.
’63
Marjorie Crenshaw (M.M.Ed.), Fort Worth, was chosen to become a member of the Dallas Metroplex Musicians Association, an affiliate of the National Association of Negro Musicians Inc.
’65
Peggy Nell McElrath (’88 M.S.), Las Vegas, and her mother, Loraine W. McElrath, donated an outfit to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Museum in Austin. The “Ladies for Lyndon” outfit, which their friend Kathryn Howell wore to the 1960 National Democratic Convention,
was on display as part of the “Cowboys and Presidents” exhibit at the Autry Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibit will be at the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin from Oct. 18 to Jan. 4.
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Ruth Woodward (’73 M.Ed.), Dallas, retired after 36 years of service to the Dallas ISD. Her last position was principal of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
’71
Roberta Michelson Murphy, Carlsbad, Calif., is a real estate broker with Villa Sotheby’s International Realty in Del Mar and writes for web sites. She has been married to Mike Murphy for 25 years. They have three sons, Scott, Eric and Mark.
’73
Al Matthews (’76 M.Ed.), Carrollton,
’74
Charles Pinnell (’77 M.S.), Rockwall, retired from the Dallas ISD as a counselor with 40 years in education. He also retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve with 20 years of service. He and his wife, Cathy Pinnell, have a 7year-old son, Sammy.
’77
Scott Daniels, Carrollton, is the managing editor of Scouting Magazine, published by the national office of the Boy Scouts of America. The magazine has a circulation of 1 million. Carl Davis, Houston, was honored in the second edition of Who’s Who in Black Houston. He is senior community liaison for the city of Houston, working with the mayor and city council on neighborhood issues. He is an appointee to the Port of Houston’s Small Business Advisory Board and serves on the Holocaust Museum of Houston Community Outreach Committee. Dan Novak, Fort Worth, received his Ph.D.
in organizational leadership from Regent University’s School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship in Virginia Beach, Va., in May. He has been employed for 31 years by IBM.
#Gerard ‘Jerry’ Reis, Irving, has been appointed chair of the board of Nolan Catholic High School for 2008-09. He owns Property Advisers Realty in Irving and is a member of the boards of the UNT Foundation, the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation and the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of North Texas.
’80
Wesley Geary III (’81 M.B.A.), Aurora, Colo., won the International Outstanding Chief Business Officer award in 2007 at the annual Community College Business Officers conference. He is executive vice president and CFO for the Community College of Aurora. He previously served as controller and budget director at Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colo., for 10 years, and was an assistant controller for the Colorado Community College System central office. Michael J. Truncale, (M.B.A.), Beaumont, an attorney in the firm of Orgain, Bell and Tucker LLP, was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to the ¢
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North Texas Exes News Alumni association launches new web site The North Texas Exes Alumni Association invites UNT alumni to visit its newly launched web site — www.untalumni.com — to learn more about the alumni association and its programs, services and membership. The new site is designed to expand the alumni association’s existing online presence while helping it communicate with alumni, students and friends, says Derrick Morgan, executive director of the association. “Reaching out to UNT’s alumni and helping them make connections with each other and the university is an integral part of our alumni association’s mission,” Morgan says. “Our new web site will be an important tool in helping us accomplish that.” Connect today at www.untalumni.com. For more information about the alumni association, you also can e-mail alumni@unt.edu or call (940) 565-2834. Texas State University System Board of Regents. He and his wife, Denise Holland Truncale (’82 M.M.), have two daughters. His parents are the late Joseph Truncale (’47) and Ruth Henderson Truncale (’46, ’47 M.M.). Ron Whitehead (M.P.A.), Addison, was named North Texas Public Administrator of the Year by the North Texas chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. He has been the Addison city manager since 1982 and previously worked for the cities of Beaumont and Irving. The award was presented in
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Elliott Law Office in Coppell. His practice focuses on federal firearms and explosives license regulation defense and estate planning as well as elder, disability, education, land use, oil and gas, small business and real estate law.
’86
Laura Cobb (M.Ed.), Allen, was named chief of schools for Uplift Education, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to operating high-quality schools with an emphasis on college preparation. She writes, travels and lectures regularly on school choice, helping students succeed in school and working with special needs children.
Ruth A. Taylor (Ph.D.), Austin, marketing professor at Texas State University, received a Fulbright Award to teach at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru, in July. She conducted a master’s-level course on marketing and branding strategy as applied to textile wearing apparel. She is married to Leslie Milburn Taylor (’68).
George Nugent, Chevy Chase, Md., has worked for the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp. since 1995. He does analyses on infrastructure privatization projects in developing countries and has worked on projects in South and Central America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. He is now working on a hospitals project in the Mexico City area. Previously, he was a consultant for electric utilities, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Jennifer S. Stephens, Denton, was elected to the board of the Private
April by Abraham Benavides, assistant professor in the UNT Department of Public Administration.
’81
Tobey S. Elliott, Irving, opened the T.S.
Law Libraries Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries. It is the largest special interest section of the association. She previously served the Dallas Association of Law Librarians as president, secretary, Internet committee chair and webmaster.
’88
Terri Green Cedro, Las Vegas, Nev., was re-elected to the 2008-09 board of directors of the Nevada Paralegal Association. She is a legal assistant at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard and Smith LLP. Timothy McCormick, Denton, heads the Youth Steel Band Foundation, a nonprofit group designed to positively influence children by getting them involved in the fun of making music. He has played steel drums professionally around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, in college and with the Texas AllStar band. Dave Rawlinson, Ellensburg, Wash., is an associate professor in the information technology department of Central Washington University. He worked at NASA while earning a law degree and practiced law through 1996. See p. 33 for news of his band’s latest CD.
’91
#Randall M. Good, Denton, displayed ¢
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Reader Survey Your feedback about The North Texan is important to us. The better we get to know you and your reading preferences, the better we’ll do at providing you with an enjoyable read each issue. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey and fax it back to us at (940) 369-8763 or mail it to The North Texan; University of North Texas; University Relations, Communications and Marketing; 1155 Union Circle #311070; Denton, Texas 76203-5017. Or you can take the survey online at www.unt.edu/northtexan (follow the “Reader Survey” link). To encourage you to take the time to participate in our survey, we are giving away UNT decals, T-shirts and water bottles in a random drawing from all surveys returned by Nov. 1. You could be among the first to sport this year's new Green Pride T-shirt design, featuring our new sustainability mark. While your survey answers will remain anonymous, you will need to give your name, e-mail and mailing address to enter the contest. If you are mailing or faxing us, please include your identifying information on a separate sheet of paper.
Please check one:
J I read The North Texan print edition. J I read The North Texan online. J I read both.
When did you graduate or attend the university? (check all that apply) J 1920-1929 J 1930-1939 J 1940-1949 J 1950-1959 J 1960-1969 J 1970-1979 J 1980-1989 J 1990-1999 J 2000-present J Did not attend
What is your connection to UNT? (check all that apply)
J Attended as an undergraduate student J Attended as a graduate student J Current undergraduate student J Current graduate student J Faculty/staff member J Donor/friend J Other ___________________________
What is your occupation? _______________________________
Take this reader survey online at www.unt.edu/northtexan.
How often do you use the Internet? J Once a day J Throughout the day J On occasion J Do not use
Do you use any of the following? J Online forums J Wikis J Blogs J Podcasts J RSS feeds J YouTube
Do you participate in any of the following? J Facebook/MySpace J LinkedIn J A personal blog J Instant messaging J Text messaging J Twitter
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J Newspapers/television/radio J The North Texan J UNT Insider J UNT web page J NT Exes Alumni Association web site J Other ___________________________
Why do you read The North Texan? (check all that apply)
J To remember the past and stay connected J To learn about the university today J To learn about campus news and events J To learn what today’s students are doing J To learn how I can help my university J To learn what other UNT alumni are up to J Other ___________________________
Which sections of The North Texan do you read?
J Alumni News (Class Notes, Friends We’ll Miss, alumni association news, profiles) J Bookshelf J Campus Connection (news briefs) J Eagle Tale (alumni essay) J Feature stories (profiles, cover stories) J Feedback (letters to the editor) J Time Tracks (UNT history items) J Institutional ads (inside and back covers)
What additional UNT news would you be interested in receiving between quarterly issues?
J E-mail updates J Updated web content on The North Texan site (dynamic web site where you can leave feedback, post reactions to stories, etc.) J Both J Neither
What was one of your favorite North Texan stories/topics? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Tell us what other types of information or stories you would like The North Texan to include (be specific): ________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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his 14 oil paintings titled The Way of the Cross: The Passion of the Christ in Art at Manhattan College, to coincide with Pope Benedict XVI’s American visit last April. Mike Harris (’91 M.Ed.), Bedford, was promoted to principal of Trinity High School in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD. He was a student in the Meadows Excellence in Teaching program at UNT.
’92
James Parsons (Ph.D.), Springfield, Mo., is professor of music history at Missouri State University. He presented his paper, “Hanns Eisler’s Hollywooder Liederbuch and ‘The New Stuff of Life,’” at “The Impact of Nazism on Music in the 20th Century” conference in April in London. Monique Gulyas Posa, Denton, passed the
’93
Jerry B. Coats (M.A.), Duncanville, was named dean of liberal arts for Tarrant County College District’s Southeast Campus in Arlington. He is an associate professor of English who has taught for 12 years at TCCD.
the Director’s Action Group at WrightPatterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Echols transferred this summer from Scott Air Force Base, Ill., to Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., to command the Security Forces Squadron. Edwards is working as an operations officer at an undisclosed location. And Hill, who was most recently a KC-10 pilot at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., transferred this summer to MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., to fly the new C-37 Gulfstream executive jet.
U.S. Air Force Majors Mike Connolly, Chris Echols, Chris Edwards and Lance Hill were selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel in March. The four friends graduated from UNT together and were commissioned from Air Force ROTC Detachment 835. Connolly is chief of
Mark A. Keeton, Long Island City, N.Y., appeared in the hit summer comedy Baby Mama as the Denim Suit Guy. He’s had roles in The Guitar directed by Amy Redford, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Across Dot Ave., which premiered at the Boston
American Society for Clinical Pathology Board of Registry examination for pathologists’ assistants and was accepted as a Fellow member in the American Association of Pathologists’ Assistants.
The long way to Santiago I
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t’s not the destination, but the journey. In 2007, Steve Cooper (’90 D.M.A.) took a six-month sabbatical from teaching at NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville, Ark., to rest, recharge and write music. His idea of resting was a 2,000-mile walk. After selling his home and storing his belongings, Cooper — with a backpack, hiking boots and a journal — began his trek in the heel of Italy’s boot at a convent in Finibus Terrae on the Mediterranean Sea. He continued through France and into Spain to trace the historic pilgrimage known as El Camino de Santiago, ending in Finis-
International Film Festival in June.
#Michael Parkhill (’99 M.Ed., ’05 M.S.), Lindsay, is an assistant principal and science teacher for the Era ISD and serves as a NASA educational trainer and an aerospace education officer for the Civil Air Patrol (U.S. Air Force Auxiliary). In April, he formed a team of four students and traveled to the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. While he was undergoing training in Houston, they were among those selected through the Texas Space Grant Consortium and NASA to prepare a protein crystal growth experiment to be sent to Russia and flown to the International Space Station on Columbus Day. Arminda Santiago (M.A.), Quezon City,
terra just past Santiago de Compostela on Spain’s western coast. “I walked from one ‘end of the earth’ to the other,” he says, referring to the literal translations of Finibus Terrae and Finisterra — “end of the earth” in Latin and Spanish. Having made the excursion through northern Spain three other times, Cooper knew he wanted to end his sabbatical with the famous 500-mile El Camino de Santiago. “I fell in love with the trail and the people who walk it,” he says. “It has changed people’s lives.” More than 100,000 people traverse the Spanish section of the trail each year from around the world to visit the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, the alleged burial site of St. James, the disciple of Christ.
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Luzon, Philippines, chair of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication Graduate Studies Department, was promoted to professor 2 at the college.
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Todd Herauf (’04 M.Ed.), Corinth, and his wife, Holly, welcomed their second “Mean Green child,” Piper Lynn, in April.
#Peter Razey, Lake Oswego, Ore., was promoted to senior area sales representative with Progressive Insurance in the states of Hawaii and Oregon. Bill Staples, Chandler, Ariz., wrote an article titled “Black Giant: Biz Mackey’s Texas Negro League Career” for the premiere issue of Black Ball: A Journal of the Negro Leagues in spring 2008.
’95
Matthew Mailman (D.M.A.),
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Oklahoma City, Okla., professor of conducting at Oklahoma City University, conducted Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at Opera in the Ozarks this summer.
#Norman Nieves (’98, ’02 M.S.) and #Christy CoffmanNieves (’98), Edmond, Okla., welcomed their second child, Braden Miguel Nieves, in March. He joins big sister Kristen Lindsay Nieves, 5. Norman is the emergency management coordinator at the University of Central Oklahoma, and Christy is an English teacher at Edmond Memorial High School.
’96
Lisa L. Rollins, La Vergne, Tenn., director of public affairs and a member of the journalism faculty at Middle Tennessee State University, won a Grand Award prize from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education District III this year. The award was for a partner-
“For me, it wasn’t so much a religious experience as much a historical and physical journey,” Cooper says. “I like a challenge.” Cooper walked 12 to 20 miles each day, taking one day a week off to rest. He traveled alone up the Ligurian coastline in Italy, and across France over the Pyrenees into Spain through mountain rains and 105-degree days in wheat fields. But, by sharing meals and camaraderie at hostels and on the trail, he says he made many friends. Cooper earned his doctorate in composition from UNT’s College of Music and immediately after jumpstarted the music department at NorthWest Arkansas. He serves as chair and writes music for the school’s a cappella chamber choir as well as publishing works for brass and musical theater.
ship she initiated between students in her reporting class and editors at a Murfreesboro newspaper. She also received two Silver Award trophies from the Tennessee College Public Relations Association for a public relations campaign and news program.
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2007-08 by the Texas Association for Private and Parochial Schools for all 3A schools. He is the English department chair and coach of the forensics and academic teams at Holy Trinity Catholic High School. The academic team won its fourth straight state championship in April. Teryn Richardson Todd, McKinney, and her husband, Ryan, welcomed triplet sons in June 2007. Jake Robert, Tyson Nicholas and Zachary Kyle were also welcomed by their big sister, Taylor Ryanne, who was born in 2002.
Laura Lee McCartney (M.A.), Fort Worth, was one of 80 women out of more than 800 applicants to receive a Philanthropic Educational Organization doctoral dissertation research award for 200809. She is working on her doctorate in art education at UNT.
’98
Chris Mosmeyer (M.A.) and Tristan Connors Mosmeyer (’98), Temple, had their fifth child, Victoria Rose, in June. Chris received the Lumen Gentium award from the Diocese of Austin last year and was named Fine Arts Teacher of the Year for
Traci Schwartz McGowan, Frisco, is a ¢
Passion Hayes (’03 M.P.A.), Denton, was named human resources director for the town of Addison. She previously worked in local government for Denton County and the cities of Denton and Fort Worth.
Through his sabbatical, Cooper produced a series of orchestral pieces, Santiago Suite, which will be performed next spring by the local civic symphony. He also has published a travelogue from his daily journal entries — Six Months Walking the Wilds (Of Western Europe): The Long Way to Santiago. In the book, laced with humor, Cooper shares his trials of walking with worn hiking boots that soaked in rain water, forcing him to break in a new pair, along with his insightful discoveries of the genuineness of human nature. “It turned out to be an amazing adventure,” he says. “Simplifying your life and finding peace, that’s what the walk is really about.” — Randena Hulstrand
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paralegal in a Dallas law firm. Her husband, Todd McGowan, whom she dated while she was a student at UNT, is a senior vice president and project director with CitiMortgage in Irving. Todd, a 1999 West Point graduate who served in Iraq with the U.S. Army out of Fort Hood, is pursuing a graduate academic certificate in Six Sigma at UNT. Mary McMinn, Irving, earned the status of accredited business communicator through the International Association of Business Communicators and is the director of communications for the Dallas IABC. Michael Wright, Flower Mound, was promoted to director of client services of PFSweb, where he has worked since the company went public in 1999. He also was a
speaker for the UNT chapter of the Institute of Supply Management in March. His wife, Shannon (’01), taught in the Lewisville ISD and is a stay-at-home mom with their two daughters, Maren and Ella.
’99
Cameron Hernholm, Dallas, is the director of development for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas. She was formerly the development director of the Center for Family Resources. Marcus Parkhill, Gainesville, was named CEO of Chancellor Manufacturing Inc.
#Gary Payne, Denton, won honorable mention awards for sports and spot news photography from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors (class 2A) this year. He is a staff
Memory champ W
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hen Ron White drives, he memorizes license plates. When he watches TV, he memorizes numbers flashed onto the wall. Everywhere, every day, he practices. He’s getting ready for the World Memory Championship in October in Bahrain — a competition that he calls “the memory Olympics.” White, a resident of Grapevine, has made a living as a memory expert, traveling across the world to deliver seminars where he sometimes demonstrates his skill
photographer with the Denton Record-Chronicle. Amy Michelle Sample and James Anthony Pence (’07), Plano, were married in January in Dallas. Amy teaches fifth grade in the CarrolltonFarmers Branch ISD, and Tony is an insurance adjuster for Allied Solutions.
’00
Christa BoydNafstad and Karl BoydNafstad (’04), Brooklyn, N.Y., celebrated the birth of their daughter, Aurora Marie Ion Boyd-Nafstad, in March. She was 21 1/4 inches and weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces. Kelly Edmunds Finley (’01), McKinney, graduated with a master of education degree in school counseling from Dallas Baptist University and is now a counselor in Plano.
Wendy Machalicek, Austin, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Ph.D. in May. She began work this fall as an assistant professor of special education at Portland State University in Oregon. Steve Wilson, San Antonio, and his band The Black Doves were selected to perform on the San Antonio leg of this years Van’s Warped Tour. The performance took place at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in nearby Selma in July.
’01
Christi Williams, Mill Valley, Calif., was promoted to director of Golden Gate Academy, the lab preschool at the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. She earned a master of arts in education leadership at the seminary in May.
by memorizing 200 names at a time. “We all have the ability,” White says. When younger, “I was not learning foreign languages or memorizing long numbers, and if you don’t believe me, just quote my GPA,” he jokes. “I was someone with average memory — nothing special. I trained myself to develop this ability.” The skill began in fall 1991, when he attended a memory training seminar while a student at UNT. “I just thought it was neat learning how to memorize stuff,” he says. He used his newly acquired skill to memorize pages of notes minutes before a history exam. After that, he became a believer, he says. People need “mental file cabinets” to store
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’02
Sarah Broom, New York, N.Y., is assistant book editor at O magazine. She interned at O in 2003 and was a reporter for Time in Asia in 2004. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with her master’s in journalism in May. She was a McNair Scholar at UNT. Rebecca Malson Krober, Dallas, was chosen Teacher of the Year at Gabe P. Allen Elementary School in her second year at the school. She says thank you to the College of Education for providing her with an outstanding education that allowed her to be recognized by her peers. Mike McClendon and Sundey Stewart McClendon, Mansfield, welcomed their second son, Hayden Jack, in March. He joins his big brother, Anderson James. Mike, who is a marketing representative
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for Federated Insurance, and Sundey, who is a stay-at-home mom, were both involved in student government at UNT.
’03
Eric Olmedo (M.P.A.), Jamestown, N.C., is the financial services manager for the city of High Point, N.C.
’04
Rick Gershon, Dallas, a multimedia photojournalist at Getty Images, won first place in the National Press Photographers Association 2008 Best of Photojournalism contest for the news feature web category with his video “Coney Island: An Uncertain Future.” The piece also won the Webby Award and People’s Voice Webby Award for Documentary: Individual Episode, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, at a New York City awards ceremony in June.
data, White says. He mentally numbers pieces of furniture in his house and buildings around town, and then associates each with an image. It’s so effective, he can memorize a 135-digit number every minute, he says. Recently, he took fourth place out of 43 at the USA Memory Championship in New York. At the World Memory Championship, he will be challenged to memorize hundreds of numbers and a deck of 52 shuffled cards. Since long strings of numbers can be hard to remember, he associates the first two digits with a person, the next two with a verb, and the last three with an object. So his thought process might go something like this … Abraham Lincoln throwing a base-
Thomas Luna, Dallas, accepted the position of national transportation network optimization manager at Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages. Previously, he served in various transportation and logistics roles at PepsiCo/ Frito Lay.
’05
Cathi Ball (M.A.), Brownwood, was promoted to assistant professor of art education at Howard Payne University. Phillip Matthews and Katy McDonald (’08), Richardson, were married in May. They met at UNT and say they will always support their alma mater. Mary Elizabeth Pence and William Ryan Durr (’04), Irving, were married in March in Dallas. Lisa works in the account service department of an advertising agency, and Ryan is a writer for the TM Advertising Agency.
’06
#Sarah AyalaMarquez, Garland, accepted a position as the assistant band director at Wakeland High School in Frisco. She married her high school sweetheart, Isaac Marquez, in June. Christie Jones (M.J.), Denton, founded Black Education News. It provides writing preparation for college-bound African American students and is dedicated to inspiring a new generation of teachers, journalists and academic scholars. Currently, she is working on her doctorate at UNT.
’07
Carrie Scarr (M.S.), West Fargo, N.D., became the assistant director of the West Fargo Public Library in October 2007. This year, she published her first book review in the April 15 Library Journal. I
ball. What number is that? 16 14 909. White — a U.S. Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan from July to December 2007 — says a sharper memory can help people improve their confidence, recall names and faces, give speeches without notes and improve grades. In the meantime, when he’s not giving seminars, he’s practicing for the World Memory Championship — in the car, at home … and while watching baseball. Perhaps it’s no surprise White is a baseball fan. After all, with the numbers on the scoreboard, he says, it’s heaven. — Ellen Rossetti
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Friends We’ll Miss Send information about alumni deaths by e-mail to north_texan@unt.edu, fax to (940) 369-8763, submit on the web at www.unt.edu/northtexan (follow the “Contact us” link) or mail to The North Texan; University of North Texas; University Relations, Communications and Marketing; 1155 Union Circle #311070; Denton, Texas 76203-5017. 1930s • Oleta Miller Airhart (’36), Anna. She earned her bach-
elor’s degree in English from North Texas and was a member of Alpha Chi and the Ides Club.
Stefan Bardas Professor Emeritus of music Stefan Bardas, 93, Professor Emeritus of music who worked at North Texas from 1955 to 1980, died April 29. He was born in Germany to a musically prominent Austrian family and survived the Holocaust by attending the Conservatory of Saint Cecilia in Rome, earning his bachelor's degree in music. In New York he played popular music in piano bars before teaching at Carroll College, Wesleyan University and Northwestern University. He came to North Texas as artist in residence, and was well known for his performances of the 32 pieces in the Beethoven Cycle of Sonatas. He was one of fewer than 1,400 pianists worldwide carrying the distinction of “Steinway Artist.” He continued to teach piano part-time at El Paso Community College, was an adjunct faculty member at New Mexico State University and taught private lessons. Memorials to a scholarship in his memory, made payable to the UNT Foundation, may be sent to the University of North Texas, Division of Advancement, 1155 Union Circle #311250, Denton, Texas 76203-5017. For information, call (940) 565-2243 or e-mail elida.tamez@unt.edu.
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• William ‘Bill’ Wheat Collins Jr. (’37, ’38 M.S.), Fort Worth. He was an economist with the Federal Power Commission and served in the Navy during World War II. He later worked for the Public Housing Administration, the Housing and Home Finance Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He played trumpet in the Aces of Collegeland as a student and was a founder and president of the Floyd Graham Society. A Distinguished Alumnus of UNT, he also received the College of Music’s first Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Musical Life of the College. He played trumpet in a Dixieland band until shortly before his death. Memorials, payable to the UNT Foundation, may be made to the University of North Texas, Division of Advancement, Bill Collins Jr. Trumpet Scholarship, 1155 Union Circle #311250, Denton, Texas 76203-5017. • Kenneth Martin King (’39), Fort Worth. He worked at Voertman’s store, where he learned salesmanship, and after graduation spent 33 years at W.A. Sheaffer Pen Co. as a sales representative. He served in the U.S. Army for three years during World War II as a military policeman before resuming his work with
Sheaffer Pen. Two of his three children also graduated from North Texas. 1940s • Mary Evelyn Burden Dotson, Riverside, Calif. She attended North Texas in the late 1930s and earned her teaching certificate in 1940. She worked for the Social Security Administration for 32 years, retiring in 1976. • George Clifford Richey, San Angelo. After attending North Texas from 1940 to 1941, he embarked on a long and successful career as a tennis professional. He attained the No. 8 professional ranking in the world in 1952 and World Tennis magazine ranked him as one of the top three coaches in the world. Among his pupils were his son and daughter, Cliff and Nancy Richey, who became No. 1 ranked pros in the United States in their respective divisions. • Austin Jackson Jernigan (’42), McKinney. He retired as chief psychologist of the Dallas Veterans Administration Medical Center in 1979. He held a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Kentucky. Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Jean Gibson Jernigan (’46). • Albert Hollinger (’43, ’47 M.M.), Harker Heights. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music education from
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North Texas. His wife was the late Hazel Mae Taylor Hollinger (’42). • Ruby Lee Slayden Buchholz (’46), San Angelo. She met her husband, the late Robert G. Buchholz (’50), while working as a dietitian and foods instructor at North Texas. She also served as a dietitian at Baylor Hospital in Dallas and was a junior high and high school biology teacher for almost 30 years. • Frank Gioviale (’46), Orange. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was a teacher and a band director for 30 years with the Port NechesGroves ISD. He initiated the fight song and the traditional marching “I” there and was instrumental in developing the high school drill team. • Albert Machel (’46), Nacogdoches. He retired from Stephen F. Austin State University, where he taught chemistry for many years. • Betty Alford Degan (’47), Austin. After graduating from North Texas, she worked as a dietitian at a campus dormitory until marrying and moving to Lewisville. She was an avid bird watcher who loved to travel and photograph wildlife. She also was a talented hand weaver. Memorials may be made to the University of North Texas, North Texas Exes Alumni Association, 1155 Union Circle #311250, Denton, Texas 76203-5017.
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• Dorothy Simpkins Dement (’49), Sweetwater. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from North Texas. • Edward V. Thompson (’49), Lufkin. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran, a retired selfemployed rancher and a co-owner of the Thompson School of Dance. 1950s • Kenneth Guinn DuBois (’50, ’54 M.A.), Dallas. He served in the U.S. Army at Fort Sam Houston in the Surgical Research Unit. He established a family medicine practice in Irving after graduating from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1961. In 1970, he joined the Medical and Surgical Clinic of Irving, where he remained until his retirement in 1995. • Vera Lee Brown (’51, ’53 M.B.Ed.), Dallas. She served in World War II and was in the WAVES reserves from 1946 to 1973, retiring as a lieutenant commander. She taught business in the Dallas ISD from 1951 to 1981 and was an accomplished watercolorist and painter. • John H. Kelly (’51), Orange. He served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War and worked as a Boy Scout executive until the early 1970s. He then became a Watkins Products dealer for many years. He was a 20-year member of the Lutcher Theater Guild and helped in the soup
Ben Gerald Harris Professor of biology Ben Gerald Harris, 67, professor of biology from 1968 to 1982 at UNT and Regents Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Immunology at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth, died May 26 in Burleson. Harris earned his bachelor’s degree from Southwestern State College in Weatherford, Okla., and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Oklahoma State University. He also did postdoctoral work at Rice University and served as a visiting professor at the University of Konstanz in Germany. For nearly 40 years, he conducted research in biochemistry at UNT and the Health Science Center. His work was funded by the NIH and the National Science Foundation and included interests in the regulation of energy metabolism in parasites and the structure of proteins. He received the Bueding-Von Brand Memorial Award for Excellence in Biochemistry Research on Parasites from the American Society of Parasitologists in 1996 and the Benjamin L. Cohen Award for Outstanding Research Achievement in 2003. He was named a Regents Professor at the Health Science Center in 2004. kitchen at his church, where he was an elder and deacon. • Loleta Joyce Perkins Stephens (’54), Denton. She was a firstgeneration college student who grew up in the Mustang community near Pilot Point. She taught in the Sadler, Ponder, Prosper and Sherman schools before becoming a full-time mother. She also volunteered in the Denton schools and taught Sunday School. She was a member of the UNT President's Council and with her husband, Elvis (’58, ’59 M.B.A.), Professor Emeritus of business, established the Elvis and Joyce Stephens Scholarship in the College of Business Administration.
• Doyle Ray Caughey (’57), Dallas. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He began his career in sales and later opened a construction business in Houston in 1971 with Kickerillo Development, building more than 400 homes and commercial buildings. He also served as president of Synergism’s residential and commercial construction in Abilene and established an insurance business in Dallas. He sang with the Vocal Majority Men's Chorus in Dallas. At North Texas, he was a member of the Trojans fraternity. • Jerry Evrage (’58), Hobbs, N.M. He attended New Mexico Military Institute and was a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He was a resident of ¢
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Hobbs for more than 30 years and was active in the Hobbs Bass Club. • Carolyn Ann Raiford (’58), Fayetteville, Ark. She taught at North Texas and Purdue University before joining the faculty of the program in communication disorders at the University of Arkansas in 1974. She retired as Emeritus Associate Professor in 1998. 1960s • Arthur Murrin (’60), The Woodlands. He earned his bachelor’s degree in general business from North Texas. • Joe Brown (’62), Mobile, Ala. He taught elementary school math for seven years
in Dallas and received an award for teaching excellence. In Mobile, he worked for Horace Mann Insurance Co. before becoming an insurance broker and owner of B&B Insurance Agency. He was a ’71 Rookie of the Year and taught licensing courses. • Betty Bryan Wehrle (’63 M.Ed.), Mineola. She received her counselor’s certificate from North Texas in addition to her master’s degree and taught in the Abilene and Dallas public schools. After retiring as evening dean at El Centro College in Dallas in 1981, she substitute taught at the college and taught classes for jailers and inmates.
Lloyd Nicholas Jeffrey Professor Emeritus of English Lloyd Nicholas Jeffrey, 89, Professor Emeritus of English who worked at North Texas from 1955 to 1983, died June 19 in Corinth. During World War II, he served as a captain in the 101st Airborne Division, 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and received numerous decorations. He participated in the battles of Normandy and Eindhoven and was seriously wounded at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge. Jeffrey earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Texas, where he was named Phi Beta Kappa. At North Texas, he specialized in the Romantic poets and Shakespeare. He published articles in many scholarly journals, including the Southwest Review and Western Folklore, and was the author of the book Thomas Hood. He was listed in the Dictionary of American Scholars and was a member of the Modern Language Association of America and the College Conference of Teachers of English, among other organizations.
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• Anna Grace Brown Burk (’65, ’72 M.Ed.), Gainesville. She was a retired school teacher who earned business and education degrees from North Texas. • John C. Garth (’66), Temple. He was a teacher and principal and served as judge in Bell County from 1979 to 1999. He was instrumental in the creation of the Bell County Expo Center and other facilities. He also brought videoconferencing technology to the county and worked to preserve the water supply. Survivors include his wife, Becky Simmonds Garth (’73). • Thomas E. ‘Tom’ Shuford (’66), Marfa. He was a writer, journalist and teacher whose father, C.E. Shuford, founded the journalism department at North Texas. Tom taught at UNT and Tarleton State University, and taught journalism for nearly 30 years at the University of Texas at Arlington, specializing in public affairs reporting and media law. He continued to work as a freelance journalist, and his stories appeared in a number of Texas magazines and newspapers. He served as a director of the Texas Freedom of Information Foundation and was the principal author of a handbook on media law for Texas journalists. He published a newsletter on Texas
open meetings and open records law. He moved to the Big Bend in 2003 to help found the Desert-Mountain Times newspaper. • David Donald Bonnick (’67 M.Ed.), Oklahoma City, Okla. He moved to the United States from Panama and taught school in Cuero, Mexia and Fort Worth. He worked for the city of Fort Worth’s Community Action Agency and the Department of Labor in Boston, Mass., before retiring as director of civil rights for the Federal Aviation Administration in 2004 after 30 years of service. • Doris Jean Crews Jenkins (’67 M.Ed.), Longview. She taught elementary school in Bastrop, Cleveland, Slaton and Brownsboro before spending the majority of her 31-year teaching career in the Longview ISD. She enjoyed painting, quilting and writing letters to her granddaughters. • Robert Reeves (’67), Carrollton. He received a bachelor’s degree in business from North Texas. • John Grady Twyman (’69), Plano. An Episcopal priest, he was serving as a retired member of the clergy at Christ Church in Plano at the time of his death. He had served at churches in Dallas, Gainesville, Fort Worth and Grand Prairie.
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1970s • Mary Nell Jennings Schad (’70), Opelousas, La. She taught for 20 years in the Richardson ISD and also taught American history and government to military children in France for one year and in Oxford, England, for four years. She was instrumental in sending medical supplies to the children’s cancer center in St. Petersburg, Russia, traveling twice to Russia to oversee the donations. • Sharian L. Deering (’71), Jacksonville, Fla. She served as a faculty member at the University of North Florida Department of Exceptional Student and Deaf Education for 29 years. Her service there included directing the Urban Teaching Residency Partnership grant. • Cynthia Anne Rose Ogden (’75), Queenstown, Md. She earned her degree in speech pathology from North Texas and had taught in Kaufman and Mesquite. • Linda Lee Thronesbery Kraeger (’77 M.B.A., ’92 M.A.), Knoxville, Tenn. An author and humanitarian, she died after a shooting at a Knoxville church. She was an English instructor at Grayson County College in Denison for 25 years and served as the national president of Sigma Kappa Delta English Honor Society, establishing its first national literary magazine. At UNT, she wrote her thesis on Dostoevsky’s idea of the origin of human evil and co-wrote a book on
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the subject. She also published works on early Christianity and theologian Roger Williams. • Weldon Flanery (’78 M.P.A.), Haslet. He served as clerk and treasurer for the city of DeQueen, Ark., before moving to Texas where he worked for the city of Dallas for 30 years. As vice president of Foundation Development Consultants Inc., he helped school districts establish education foundations. He also worked for Threshold Land Services. 1990s • Camille Stout (’91), Dallas. After earning her degree in advertising art, she had a career as an advertising executive. She loved all animals, especially dogs. • Charles John Hearn (’97 M.S.), Bedford. He was employed as a clinical research scientist by Covance Pharmaceutical Co. He enjoyed hunting. 2000s • Daniel Michael Henry, Denton. He was a physics doctoral student and teaching assistant who had attended UNT since 1999. In addition to astronomy, he enjoyed gaming and comics and was a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth area shadow cast for the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
University Community • Hazel Harvey Peace, Fort Worth, namesake of the School of Library and
Mack D. Vaughan Jr. Professor Emeritus of art Mack D. Vaughan Jr. (’42, ’49 M.A.), 87, Professor Emeritus of art who worked at North Texas from 1965 to 1989, died June 18 in Denton. He earned his bachelor’s degree at North Texas and served in the U.S. Air Force during World War II before returning for his master’s. He later earned a doctorate from Columbia University. He taught at Henderson State Teachers College in Arkansas, the Louisiana Polytechnic Institute, the University of Southwestern Louisiana and Northeastern Louisiana State College before joining the art faculty at North Texas. He also spent two years in Beirut, Lebanon, introducing an art program at Ecole des Arts et Metiers, and traveled extensively in the Middle East and Europe. During his tenure as chair of what was then the art department from 1967 to 1971, the department added undergraduate and graduate courses to begin offering art history and bachelor of fine arts degrees. Also during that time, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the offering of the doctorate, and plans for a new art building were begun.
Information Sciences Hazel Harvey Peace Professorship in Children’s Library Services. Peace, 101, received UNT’s Honorary Alumna Award in 2005. She worked for more than four decades at I.M. Terrell High School as a teacher, counselor, dean of girls and vice principal and later worked at Bishop College in Dallas for nine years. She also taught summers at Paul Quinn College in Waco, Huston-Tillotson College in Austin and Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View. She was a stong proponent of education and literacy, known for her work promoting reading among young children. The UNT professorship is the first at a four-year
public institution in Texas named for an African American woman. • James Anderson Reid (’76 Ph.D.), Albuquerque, N.M., director of development, 19711979. He taught in Pasadena and Midland schools and worked in development at Southwestern University and the University of Texas before joining North Texas. In addition to consulting work and teaching, he wrote poetry and prose, including a children’s book, and was involved with several performing arts organizations. He was an avid canine enthusiast and had a love of classical music, regularly attending the Santa Fe Opera. I
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eagle tale
Li Fan
Note to students: Go to class, study, beware of credit cards For students living away from home for the first time this fall, learning the ropes of college life can be filled with trial and error. But these words of advice, posted by alumni on the UNT home page at the start of the semester, may help new students avoid a few pitfalls. Read here what lessons alumni learned from their college experiences and visit www.unt.edu/northtexan for more stories. the assigned material in R ead your textbook before you go to class. As a result, you will be able to ask informed questions and connect the loose ends. — Steven Miller Represent yourself well while at UNT. Your fellow “Eagle” now may well be a co-worker or a boss one day. Conduct yourself accordingly. — Daryeljr If you meet the love of your life either at UNT or outside of school and you’re close to graduating, finish your degree before you get married. ... I was three semesters away from graduating when I dropped out in 2000. I finally went back and graduated in 2004! However, young married life and children would have been a lot easier had I simply graduated first. — Joe316 Party wisely. … If you know you have to take an exam the next day, save the partying for the next weekend. … Develop a good relationship
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New students sign the official roster for the Class of 2012 at New Student Convocation Aug. 24.
with your professors. … Start making connections now. Even if you are just a first semester freshman, start attending professional meetings, contacting professionals in your field and building up your network. The more you build it up, the more likely you are to get a job straight out of college, and the more likely you are to get an internship while you are in college. — Joyful2008 The best advice I could give a new student is do not get hooked by the credit card companies when they send preapproved card offers to you. Use your credit wisely. — GlennK The best advice I could give to new UNT students is study, study, study. Read what is assigned and study for your exams. That’s all there is to it. If you work well with others, start or find a study group. … Take breaks. You need to take a break from studying so that you do not get overloaded.
Relax. The University Union offers snacks around midterms and finals weeks. Get involved in groups and student organizations. This will help with networking as well. Attend the career fairs and use the Career Center. Use the Student Health and Wellness Center. … Enjoy your time at UNT. College is a place for learning and growing, and your experience at UNT will help you achieve just that. — UNTGrad2008 I’ve been back at UNT for a year now, and I’m really enjoying it, but I wish I’d never dropped out 20 years ago. …The biggest mistake I made was dropping out for an airline job when I had 100 hours of credit. The lesson I learned was don’t go for the easy money and let go of the degree, because we all know what has happened to the airlines. At the very least, make sure you get that degree, then go play. — 1982geezer
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University Relations, Communications and Marketing 1155 Union Circle #311070 Denton, Texas 76203-5017