north texan alumni magazine

www.unt.edu/northtexan Fall 2008

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Fall 2008 3

Features14 ‘Living Knows No Season’“Fight, North Texas” composer Fran-cis Stroup nears a century of songs.— By Jill King

16 Legends of JazzNeil Slater’s career with the OneO’Clock Lab Band comes full circlein Europe.— By Ellen Rossetti

20 Teaching With a PassionPrograms attract, prepare new edu-cators for science and math fields.— By Mark Wright

24 Mean Green ManiaSpirit spreads with fan, university andcommunity support.— By Randena Hulstrand

Vol. 58 No. 3

Departments4 FeedbackGlory to the green … More than 20 years

6 University GivingA wife, mother and teacher remembered

7 Campus ConnectionBig Tex … Click & Clack … HuntingUFOs … Research collaborations

13 SnapshotsHurricane relief … New scholars … Step show

32 BookshelfHomeland security … Elegies …McMurtry’s books

34 Time Tracks Boomer the Cannon

35 Alumni NewsClass Notes … New alumni site …Reader survey … Walking to Santiago …A good memory … Friends We’ll Miss

46 Eagle Tale Take our advice

online

tableofcontents

www.unt.edu/northtexanRead about the fans, success andexcitement of Mean Green athletics onpage 24, and visit our web site to shareyour photos and read more about ath-letic highlights — even a Mean Greenwedding. Also, for a chance to winUNT decals, T-shirts or water bottles,don’t miss our reader survey on page37, or fill out the survey online.

24

On the cover: The fervor to “bleed green” has always rundeep in the Mean Green Nation, but the excitement is reach-ing farther than ever. Turn to page 31 to find out how you canbe part of Homecoming activities this year. (Cover photo byAngilee Wilkerson)

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erso

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Courtesy of S

teven and Erin Pettit

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GreennessThe summer issue

of The North Texanarrived last week andthe cover was so wel-coming that I read thewhole magazine.Thanks to all of thestaff for a really enjoy-able green issue!

Marilyn VaughanHartnan (’67)Farmers Branch

The summer issuemakes me feel inspiredto help the planet,proud to be “Green”and a little scared too.

I am very focused onlearning about envi-ronmental issues rightnow, using what Ilearn and passing thisknowledge on to mychildren.

Lacey EdmondsonAllen

My husband, Dennis(’63), and I loved thetips for living greener.We particularly likedthe one about how wecould save 10 gallonsof water every time webrush our teeth if we’djust turn off the tap.What sort of waterdelivery system doesyour tipster use — afire hose?

Jane MalcolmHouston

Editor’s note: Thatwater savings tipshould have been perday rather than perbrushing, though theEPA says you save closer to 8 gallons perday if you’re brushingtwice a day for twominutes per brushingwith the faucet at aflow rate of two gallonsper minute. You couldsave hundreds of gal-lons a day by shuttingthe fire hose off whenbrushing your teeth,but the EPA doesn’t rec-ommend using one.

If someone askedme yesterday about

UNT, I would havenothing but greatthings to say about it,but after reading TheNorth Texan, I amtruly disappointed inmy school. The “BeingGreen” article alertedme to some disturbingthings about the edu-cation UNT is pro-viding.

I’m fine with con-servation and I don’twant a dirty planet,but this whole climatechange thing is tooover the top. If stu-dents want to dothings to help begreener, let them do it on their own or inclubs on campus.Don’t force them to do it as part of their classes. What happensif you have a class witha student who doesn’tbelieve in man-madeglobal warming? Doeshe fail? Does he getridiculed by the pro-fessor?

When you exit 35,on the back of theUNT stone marker itsays, “Only the edu-cated are free.” Notanymore, apparently.

Matt Baker (’07)Denton

New nameI strongly resent the

article titled “UNT at20” (summer ’08).Forgive me, but I wasthe third generation ofmy family to get a

degree from that cam-pus. It’s funny, I wasunder the impressionthat my mother, mygrandfather and I allhad degrees from thesame school (thougheach diploma has adifferent school name:NTSU, North TexasState Teachers Collegeand North Texas Nor-mal), but you havewritten an article tel-ling the world that ourtime there meantnothing. “It” (mean-ing UNT) started 20years ago!

I will admit thatwhen the namechanged to UNT and Ireceived a letter fromthe school asking if Iwanted a new diplomawith the new name, Ijust laughed. I won-dered why anyonewould want to changetheir personal history,but now the truth hascome out. It’s not myschool anymore!

Margaret Ann“Maggi” ConnellFocke (’73)College Station

New souvenirsI read with nostalgia

the fond attachmentsto UNT through insig-nia and school memo-rabilia (Eagle Tale,summer ’08). Likeothers, my attachmentis through my classring, which has neverbeen off my finger.

feedback

4 The North Texan

The North Texan welcomes letters from readers.

Send letters, with writer’s full name and address,

by e-mail to [email protected], 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 Mar-

keting; 1155 Union Circle #311070; Denton, Texas

76203-5017. Letters may be edited for length and

publication style.

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It was 30 years post-graduation that I pur-chased a UNT T-shirt,and have worn theproud symbol of MeanGreen in the Houstonarea for several yearsnow. Like a giddy newgraduate, I sport aUNT sticker on myvehicle for all theworld to see as I driveabout the state. Wecannot promote UNTenough, in my opin-ion, for all the mar-velous programs itoffers scholars.

Donna Beth Shaw(’61)Houston

Editor’s note: Foradditional souvenir responses and photos,go to www.unt.edu/northtexan for moreFeedback.

The fetchingmaids

How wonderful ofyou to print Robin

Fletcher’s article aboutthe Moonmaids (sum-mer ’08). They wereone of the biggestthings going for musicback in the ’40s: greatvoices, fetching looks,charming talents —even including that ofhusband HarroldGrogan (’49), who wasthe greatest baritonearound. Thanks for the historical shot inthe arm!

William Thomson(’48, ’49 M.M.)Pasadena, Calif.

Ranks and stopsRegarding the ques-

tion concerning thenumber of ranks onthe new organ (sum-mer ’08): Dependingon the design, one“stop” could be severalranks and one rankcould be several stops.The number of stopsis misleading as to thesize of the instrument.A mechanical-tracker

action does not radi-cally alter this.

Thomas Boettcher(’69)Dallas

Editor’s note: Wechecked with the makerof the organ, HellmuthWolff of Wolff andAssociates, regardingranks. He says “inEuropean tradition,where the tracker organis much more the norm,one speaks of numberof stops rather thanranks.” But he says assome stops do containseveral ranks of pipes,counting the ranks canbe a more impressivemeasure. For therecord, the UNT organ(once completed withthe 32' Trombone) willhave 60 stops and 78ranks. You’ll find avideo that includescomments from Wolffabout the new organ at www.unt.edu/northtexan. See page 8

for information aboutthe organ’s official cam-pus inauguration inOctober.

Vice President for UniversityRelations, Communications

and Marketing Deborah Leliaert (’96 M.Ed.)

Assistant Vice President of UniversityRelations, Communications

and Marketing Marty Newman (’02 M.J.)

Director of University Relations and CommunicationsKelley Reese (’95)

Director of Communications Systems and Creative Services

Kenn Moffitt

Director of Integrated Branding Rolando N. Rivas

Director of Integrated FundraisingCommunications

Janet Zipperlen (’75)

EditorsJulie Elliott Payne (’97)

Jill King (’93 M.S., ’00 M.A.)

DesignersSteven Altuna

Nola Kemp (’92)

Sean Zeigler (’00)

PhotographersJonathan ReynoldsAngilee Wilkerson

Mike Woodruff

WritersAlyssa Aber

Sarah BahariRobin Fletcher (’03 M.J.)

Randena Hulstrand (’88, ’07 M.J.)

Nancy KolstiBuddy Price

Ellen Rossetti (’00)

Mellina StuckyMark Wright (’01)

Online Communications Greg Altuna (’02)

Lisa E. Largen (’92)

Eric Vandergriff

Integrated BrandingJoy Houser

Project TrafficLaura Robinson

Student ContributorsMonique Bird

Li FanAudra Glover

Elizabeth Knighten

The North Texan (ISSN 0468-6659) is published fourtimes a year (in March, June, September and December)by the University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle#311070, Denton, Texas 76203-5017, for distribution toalumni and friends of the university. Periodicals postagepaid at Denton, Texas, and at additional mailing offices.The diverse views on matters of public interest that arepresented 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 accommoda-tions can be made), disabled veteran status or veteran ofthe Vietnam era status in its educational programs, activ-ities, admission or employment policies. In addition tocomplying with federal and state equal opportunity lawsand regulations, the university through its diversity policydeclares harassment based on individual differences(including sexual orientation) inconsistent with its missionand educational goals. Direct questions or concerns tothe equal opportunity office, (940) 565-2737, or thedean of students, (940) 565-2648. TTY access is avail-able at (940) 369-8652.

Postmaster: Please send requests for changes ofaddress, 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 “Discoverthe power of ideas” and their associated identitymarks are official trademarks of the University ofNorth Texas; their use by others is legally restricted.URCM 9/08 (08-258)

Fall 2008 5

The future Moonmaids sang on a 'FessorGraham stage show in 1944 with the Aces ofCollegeland. Pictured from left are Arline Truax,Katie Myatt, Tinker Cunningham and Mary JoThomas.

Coourtesy of M

ary Jo Thomas G

rogan

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:23 AM

or Betsy Brookins (’72) andJames Wood (’79 Ed.D.), it

was love at first sight in the sum-mer of 1953.

She was a freshman at East Cen-tral State College in Ada, Okla.,and he was a senior. Wood sayshis future wife had a giving spiritand a natural teaching ability, andthey shared a dream of pursuingcareers in education.

After a brief courtship, theyeloped, “just because young people often act spontaneously,”he says.

Fifty-five years later, the Woods’devotion to the education ofthousands of children in Cali-fornia, Texas, Oklahoma andLouisiana has been commemor-ated in one of UNT’s newestendowed scholarship funds. TheBetsy and James Wood Scholar-ship will benefit students whomajor in elementary education.

Wood funded the scholarshipthis summer in tribute to his wife,who was killed Sept. 20, 2004, inan auto accident along with theirdaughter Lisa Wood Martin andher three sons. The family’s SUVwas in the path of a tractor-trailerrig that crossed a median intooncoming traffic about 60 milesnorth of Dallas.

“I started this scholarship forthree reasons,” the retired schooldistrict superintendent says. “One,to preserve the memory of mywife. As long as she is remem-bered, she lives on. Two, to extendher legacy. Throughout her 25-year teaching career, she was dedi-cated to enabling her students toreach their maximum potential. Iwant this scholarship to encour-age new teachers to do the same.

“And, three, because Betsy wasthe most giving person I ever

knew. Now, I want to give back,specifically to those entering theprofession we both loved so much.”

Betsy Wood’s journey into theclassroom was temporarily put onhold one year and two days aftershe and James married. That’swhen Ronald was born. Roger fol-lowed in 1957 and Laura in 1965.Betsy loved being a full-timehomemaker and mother, Woodsays, but her determination toteach never waned.

In 1970, at age 36, she enrolledat North Texas.

“We thought the time was right,our family complete,” recalls Wood,who was then serving as the firstprincipal of the new BrandenburgElementary School in Irving. “Butwe were to have one more daugh-ter, Lisa, who, like her sister, was

destined to be a teacher. Shecrossed the stage with her motherthat night in 1972 when Betsyreceived her diploma — cumlaude in elementary education —and was born three weeks later.”

After Wood completed his doc-torate at North Texas in 1979, heheld superintendent positions andBetsy taught early elementarygrades in Brownsboro and Laredo,and in Many, La. In 1997, theyretired and relocated to McKin-ney. They were nearer, Wood sayswith a smile, to Betsy’s favoritestudents — her six grandchildren.

“Some people have an innateability to teach,” he says. “Betsywas one of those rare individuals.She was a natural.” �

— Janet Zipperlen

6 The North Texan

James Wood (’79 Ed.D.) funded the Betsy and James Wood Scholarship to honor hiswife, 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 benefitstudents who major in elementary education.

Angilee W

ilkerson

Alumnus pays tribute to wife with scholarship

F

universitygiving

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Top 50 nationally Diverse: Issues in

Higher EducationMagazine named UNTamong the top 50 col-leges and universitiesin the United States inthe number of degreesconferred to ethnicminority students. Thenumber of ethnicminority studentsearning degrees in the2006-07 academic yearat UNT increased by19 percent over theprevious year, elevating

the university to 46thon the Diverse list. Themagazine produces thelist annually using U.S.Department of Edu-cation statistics. Forthe 2006-07 academicyear, 1,328 Asian,Native American,Hispanic and AfricanAmerican studentsreceived degrees fromUNT, representingabout 27 percent ofthe graduating class.UNT’s Hispanic andAfrican American

enrollments haveincreased dramaticallysince 2000, withHispanic enrollmentup 81 percent com-pared to the state aver-age of 45 percent andAfrican Americanenrollment up 72 per-cent compared to thestate average of 40 per-cent. Today, almost 25percent of the 28,000undergraduates atUNT are Hispanic orAfrican American.

campusconnection

Fall 2008 7

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 stu-

dent 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 com-

posed, arranged and performed by Finch and the band, are avail-

able for online viewing at www.pbs.org/wrenchturns/epguide.

Howdy, folksImagine 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 Bejar-

ano 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 seam-

stresses 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

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.” �

© 2008 C

TTV LLC

�

Courtesy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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campusconnection

8 The North Texan

Sunday Fun Day Alumni joined

forces with faculty andstaff to help about3,400 students moveinto residence hallsAug. 17. The annualSunday Fun Day event,which began in 1997,ensures students andtheir families arewarmly greeted so theycan start the new sem-ester on the right foot.Volunteers served bev-

erages and lunch,helped students checkin and even helped lugtheir belongings intotheir new rooms.

Education dean Jerry R. Thomas,

professor and chair ofthe Department ofKinesiology at IowaState University since1998, was appointeddean of the College ofEducation, effectiveAug. 1. Thomas alsohad served as interimdean of Iowa State’sCollege of Educationand interim associatedean for research andgraduate studies inthe college. He previ-ously held faculty andadministrative posi-tions at Arizona StateUniversity and Louisi-ana State Universityand also served on thefaculty at FloridaState University,

Georgia SouthernCollege, BloomsburgState College andJefferson State JuniorCollege. He earnedhis bachelor’s degreefrom Furman Uni-versity and master’sand doctoral degreesfrom the University ofAlabama.

Student regent Journalism major

Meghan Vittrup wasappointed by Gov. RickPerry to serve as thestudent member of theUNT System Board ofRegents. The studentregent, authorized bythe Texas Legislature in2005, holds a one-yearterm and is a non-vot-ing board membercharged with repre-senting the interests ofstudents, as well as theinterests of the state ofTexas and the univer-sity system. She

worked this summer atthe Pentagon as anintern writer forAmerican Forces PressService, which providesnews content for theU.S. Department ofDefense web site.

Texas history The National

Endowment for theHumanities selectedUNT’s Portal to TexasHistory as one of thebest online resourcesfor education in thehumanities and linkedto the portal from itsEDSITEment web site,designed to help teach-ers, students and par-ents find high-qualitymaterial in the human-ities online. The portalis one of about 60 siteschosen from morethan 200 nominatedlast year. Go to www.texashistory.unt.edu tovisit the portal.

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The College of Music is hosting a three-day conference during the official inau-

guration 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 registra-

tion. Go to www.unt.edu/northtexan for videos about the organ.

Organ inauguration

Mike Woodruff

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Mariachi camp About 30 aspiring

mariachi players frommiddle and highschools in Arlington,Garland and GrandPrairie attended theCollege of Music’sfirst-ever summermariachi camp inAugust. Not only didthe campers learnfrom UNT studentshow to enhance theirsinging and improvetheir playing, they alsogot a taste of universitylife by touring campusand meeting with stu-dents. Donna Emman-uel, associate professorof music, coordinatedthe camp, which wasfunded by the Office ofEquity and Diversity.Visit www.unt.edu/northtexan for videoand more picturesfrom the camp.

Student learning UNT received a $1.9

million Title III grantaimed at strengtheningstudent learning byexpanding UNT’s NextGeneration courseredesign program anddeveloping additionalstudent support ser-vices, including atracking program toalert counselors andfaculty when a studentis having difficultywith classes. The five-year U.S. Department

of Education grant is acooperative effortbetween the divisionsof academic affairs andstudent development.Students identified asneeding services willbe referred to tutoring,personal counseling,financial managementand career planningservices. The grant alsowill strengthen UNT’sEmerald Eagle Scholarsendowment.

Endangered languages

Shobhana Chelliah,associate professor oflinguistics and techni-cal communication,received a NationalScience Foundationgrant to create asearchable computerarchive of texts in theendangered languageof Lamkang. The lan-guage is spoken prima-rily in one region ofManipur, a state innortheastern India thatborders the country ofMyanmar, and also isspoken in Bangladesh.The archive willinclude 25 hours ofwritten and audio filesof monologues, folk-tales, conversationsand other naturallyoccurring speech pat-terns. Chelliah also willcreate a Lamkang lan-guage web site as partof the project.

Jazz library A consortium of

donors purchased theestate of jazz legendMaynard Ferguson andwill bring it to UNT.The Ferguson musiclibrary will be housedat the Music Libraryalong with the StanKenton Collection, andthe memorabilia,acquired by the Col-lins-Binkley Foun-dation, will be housedin a Denton-based

museum run by thefoundation. The con-sortium’s intent is toensure that the stu-dents of the nation’sfirst jazz program willbenefit from the com-positions and arrange-ments, as well as thehistoric preservationand display of jazzmemorabilia. The 400-item Ferguson librarycovers his career fromthe mid-1950s to hisdeath in 2006.

Fall 2008 9

President’s Note

This year promises to be an exciting

time at UNT as we enhance our stu-

dents’ experiences while continuing to

provide them with outstanding aca-

demic opportunities to thrive.

With the support of a new $1.9 mil-

lion 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 com-

mitted to helping students thrive.

This fall, we launched our One Book, One Community program to

encourage reading and engage Denton and the surrounding com-

munities 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-cen-

tered 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, whichairs on the HistoryChannel, sought thehelp of UNT’s Centerfor Advanced Researchand Technology thissummer to solve a 111-year-old mystery. Oneof the show’s hosts,Ted Acworth, andDavid Diercks, thefacilities manager forCART (pictured abovefrom left), used thescanning environmen-tal microscope to studymaterial from a pur-ported UFO crash inthe town of Aurora in1897. Due to a confi-dentiality agreement,no findings regardingthe infamous WiseCounty crash could bedivulged before theepisode aired. Visitwww.history.com forair dates.

Videophoneresearch

Elaine Wittenberg-Lyles, assistant profes-sor of communicationstudies, is part of a

national research teamthat will develop a pro-posal to examine theuse of videophonetechnology to helpnursing home resi-dents better communi-cate with their distantcaregivers. Theresearch is funded by agrant from the KeckFutures Initiative ofthe National Acade-mies. Wittenberg-Lylespoints out that the res-idents may be moreopen to using video-phone technology thanother technology, andseeing their imagesthrough videophonesmay help residents andcaregivers have bettercommunication. In aprevious study, sup-ported by the NationalCancer Institute, sheexamined caregivers’use of videophoneswith hospice teams.

Gagarin medalDennis Fisher, pro-

fessor and conductorof the UNT Sym-phonic Band and asso-ciate director of wind

studies, was presentedwith the RussianGagarin Medal ofHonor this springwhile acting as princi-pal guest conductor forthe Volga ProfessionalWind Orchestra inSaratov, Russia. Themedal — named inhonor of the late cos-monaut Yuri Gagarin— is awarded to cos-monauts and otherhighly select individu-als who support theRussian Federal SpaceProgram. The concertconducted by Fisherwas sponsored by theRussian Federal SpaceAgency as a celebrationof space flight, theexploration of spaceand Gagarin’s 1961orbit around the Earth.Fisher has been guestconductor of the VolgaProfessional Orchestraeach year since 2001.

President honored

President GretchenM. Bataille was hon-ored as one of the 25most influentialwomen in business bythe Dallas BusinessJournal in July. Otherhonorees with UNTties included alumnaeCorrie Churchill (’03)and Mary K. Suhm(’74 M.S., ’84 M.B.A.);Kathleen Mason, whois on the School ofMerchandising andHospitality Manage-ment Board of Gov-ernors; and Ebby

Halliday, who receivedthe 2004 MurphyEnterprise CenterAward. Bataille alsorecently was named amember of the Chron-icle of Higher Educa-tion/New York TimesHigher EducationCabinet, a group offorward-thinking uni-

versity officials whoexamine higher educa-tion issues. Partici-pating in this cabinetwill put UNT at theforefront of the highereducation communityand help leaders learnabout how institutionsacross the nation arefacing challenges.

10 The North Texan

campusconnection

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 manage-

ment, positive thinking and goal setting.

She says taekwondo athletes may feel

anxiety about their opponents and the

subjectiveness of the scoring in their sin-

gle-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.

Olympic taekwondoJo

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FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

Outreach The Texas Gover-

nor’s School and theSummer Math Insti-tute at UNT giveyoung students oppor-tunities to shine inmath, science andtechnology whileallowing them toexplore the campus.This summer, thethree-week Texas Gov-ernor’s School, hostedby UNT for the secondyear, focused on devel-oping the abilities of97 high school juniorsin science and technol-

ogy. The SummerMath Institute hosted58 students ages 11 to16 in algebra, geom-etry or pre-calculusclasses. The institute issponsored by UNT’sTexas Academy ofMathematics andScience, one of thenation’s leading pro-grams for producinghighly qualified scien-tists, mathematiciansand engineers.

Business lunchThe Murphy Enter-

prise Center will host

the BDO Seidman LLP2008 LeadershipLuncheon Nov. 14 atthe Hilton Anatole inDallas. The keynotespeaker is ArchieManning, a humani-tarian known for hissuccessful career as aNational FootballLeague quarterbackand as the father ofquarterbacks Peytonand Eli Manning. Forinformation, visitwww.murphycenter.unt.edu or call (940)565-2848.

Order of Academic Palms

Marie-ChristineKoop, chair of theDepartment of ForeignLanguages and Liter-atures, was named anOfficer in the Order ofAcademic Palms by the

French Ministry ofEducation this sum-mer. Created in 1808by Napoléon I, theorder now recognizesmajor contributions toFrench national educa-tion and the expansionof French culture. Itincludes the ranks ofKnight, Officer andCommander. A nativeof Cannes, France,Koop was named aKnight in 1994, theyear after she receiveda French Cultural Ser-vices grant to direct asummer institute forTexas secondary schoolteachers of French thatincluded instruction atUNT and in France.Also in the order fromUNT is Arthur Gionet,Professor Emeritus ofFrench, named aKnight in 1983.

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,

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 [email protected] 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.

One Book, One Community

Fall 2008 11

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Jonathan Reynolds

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12 The North Texan

campusconnection

NT ceremonially marks thestart of the academic year

with an annual Fall Convocation,and this year, President GretchenM. Bataille announced UNT’splan to invest at least $25 millionin collaborative research as part ofa sweeping effort to strengthenthe state’s economy, bolsterresearch and develop technologyvital to addressing today’s mostpressing needs.

She also discussed the yearahead, plans for the coming leg-islative session and UNT’s grow-ing recognition.

That recognition is beingenhanced by an advertising cam-paign that will feature televisionand radio spots as well as bill-boards in the Dallas-Fort Worthregion and display ads in TheChronicle of Higher Education andother newspapers and magazines.You can watch the television ad atwww.unt.edu.

The main thrust of UNT’sresearch investment plan is torecruit world-renowned facultywho will expand the university’scontributions in fields whereUNT already has a proven nucleusof research excellence.

Simultaneously, improvementsto infrastructure will be made bydeveloping the available space oncampus, and more of the equip-ment needed for the research ini-tiatives will be provided.

The plan will begin this yearwith the development of sixresearch clusters that capitalize onthe expertise and reputations ofcurrent UNT faculty members.

By investing in known areas ofexcellence, UNT will use itsstrongest existing research effortsto stimulate growth in comple-

mentary areas. The goal is to tackle some of society’s biggestchallenges today.

The work of the clustersincludes the discovery of moreeffective ways to treat conditionssuch as autism, cancer and heartdisease; the development of moredurable jet engines and bettermaterials for an array of uses; theinvestigation of molecular plantsignals that could lead to innova-tions across the scientific spec-trum; and the exploration of newways to support sustainable envi-ronments.

UNT’s first six clusters willalign common research efforts inseveral broad areas:

• Bio/nano-photonics

• Computational modeling andsimulation of materials

• Developmental physiology andgenetics

• Signaling mechanisms inplants

• Autism spectrum disorders• Advanced research in technol-

ogy and the artsThis initiative builds on previ-

ous significant investments tosupport cutting-edge research. In2004, a new Chemistry Buildingopened, and this year construc-tion begins on a new Life SciencesComplex.

In addition, expansion ofDiscovery Park, UNT’s nearly290-acre research park that wasacquired in 2001, is under way. �

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 GayleStrange, left, Provost Wendy Wilkins, Faculty Senate Chair Terry Clower and (not pic-tured) Staff Council Chair Scott Windham joined Bataille on stage during the event.

U

UNT to invest millions in multidisciplinaryresearch collaborations

Jonathan Reynolds

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

Fall 2008 13

1. The UNT community, including 283 students, worked with RedCross volunteers to turn the UNT Coliseum into an evacuee shelter asHurricane Gustav headed for the Gulf Coast. A total of 131 evacueesused the Coliseum Sept. 1-4. A week later, the facility was again con-verted as evacuees from Hurricane Ike sought shelter.

2. The second class of Emerald Eagle Scholars was welcomed to campusat a reception Sept. 3. The program provides selected students with freetuition and fees for an average of 15 hours per semester, paid by federal,

state and UNT grants, for four years. The students commit to maintaina 2.5 grade point average, complete 30 semester credit hours each yearand engage in university life by working on campus and participatingin mentoring and other programs.

3. Activities on campus the weekend before fall classes began included astep show at Kerr Beach for new and returning students. A voter regis-tration drive was held in conjunction with the Aug. 23 show.

snapshots

3

1

2

Jonathan Reynolds Li Fan

Angilee Wilkerson

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

Composer of ‘Fight, North Texas’ crafts a life full of song

— By Jill King

Composer of ‘Fight, North Texas’ crafts a life full of song

— By Jill King

Francis Stroup,today in DeKalb

David Barrow (‘83, ‘86 M.A.)

14 The North Texan

Music has been a part of Francis Stroup’s life foralmost a century.

The 99-year-old composer of UNT’s fight song — who fig-ures he’s written about 100 tunes so far — remembers singingfor his father in Little Elm when he was 3. It was 1912, the yearhis father died of tuberculosis.

“He came from a large family ‘notorious’ for their music,”Stroup (’29) says. “During Sunday singing competitions, theywere a dreaded opponent.”

At age 8, Stroup took piano lessons but got only as far as thebass clef.

“I dropped out and tried again several times,” he says, “but itwasn’t until I was a senior in high school that I started playingby ear and looked for songs with easy chord progressions. Bythe time I was a senior in college, I could take my turn on thepiano while we waited for the dinner bell to ring.”

Sports and amusementsStroup sang with the glee club as a college freshman in

1925, but he was more interested in sports. He lettered in bas-ketball, played some football and ran track. He also excelled inswimming and worked as a lifeguard at the pool.

He says he began writing songs when he moved to the tinyTexas town of Golden for his first teaching job after college.

“You’ve heard the story of the town so small they have toroll the sidewalks in at night? This town didn’t have anywalks,” he jokes. “The lady I stayed with had a piano. Since Icouldn’t read music and there was no radio, I had to make upmy own songs to amuse myself.”

Stroup moved on to teaching jobs in the Denton area, and

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

he worked on campus for several summers as a swim coachbeginning in 1939. That was the year he entered ’Fessor FloydGraham’s contest for a marching song, adding lyrics to amelody he’d composed a few years earlier.

“By accident I happened to be in the audience when ’FessorGraham announced the contest,” Stroup says.

The song, “Fight, North Texas,” was destined to become hismost-often-performed composition.

Comforting wordsStroup doesn’t recall the first song he ever wrote but says his

“first fairly good song,” in the ’30s, was “Dreaming” — “You’vemade me a dreamer, now make my dreams come true.”

“I didn’t write it about anyone in particular,” he says. “Youdon’t write what you feel or believe. You write from a craftingstandpoint. Songwriting is a craft.”

His favorite song, however, is about someone special. Hewrote “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 inour 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 butlive each lovely autumn day with you.

Stroup says after the song was published in “Dear Abby” in2002 — with the columnist referring to him as not only a lyri-cist, but also a poet and philosopher — he received phone callsand letters from seven states.

“One lady told me she kept the clipping on her refrigeratorand her husband sang it to her every day. Another said it

turned her life around. She was going to start living for thefuture instead of the past,” he says.

More people were affected by Stroup’s music this year, whena lyric he wrote for the Northern Illinois University fight songin the ’60s — “forward, together forward” — became an unof-ficial motto after a campus shooting there in February.

“You never know how your words might help someone,” hesays.

Shared experience Stroup, who’s written about everything from “flirtin’ and

hurtin’” to barbed wire, says although music has been a goodhobby for developing his ideas, he never considered making ita career — “not if you had to read the bass clef.”

“But it’s always nice when someone tells me I had someeffect on their life,” he says. “I’ve had a lot of experience. Therearen’t too many people to talk to about it.”

Stroup left Denton in the ’40s for the Army after the deathsof his mother, Mina Gist Stroup (’31), and brother, Malcolm,who also attended North Texas. He holds master’s and doctoraldegrees from the University of Southern California and taughtat 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 in1979 for his 50th class reunion and again in 1987 for hisinduction into the Athletic Hall of Fame.

He says he’d like to return next year, since ’09 will mark his100th birthday, his 80th class reunion and the 70th anniversaryof the adoption of “Fight, North Texas.”

“I’m a niner,” he says — and it has the sound of anotherlyric in the making. �

Visit www.unt.edu/northtexan for more lyrics and music.

Fall 2008 15

Practicing hisdives, 1929Yucca yearbook

With teacherscollege lettersweater forbasketball, c. 1929

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

16 The North Texan

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

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 andperched on the edges of balconies, turning toward the stage tohear the premiere jazz ensemble of UNT perform at Italy’sUmbria jazz festival.

“As far as you could see, there were people — a sea of faceswho looked like they were really thrilled to see us,” Neil Slater says.

It was a fitting finale for Slater, who retired in August after27 years as chair of jazz studies and One O’Clock Lab Banddirector. His career came full circle as this summer’s three-week tour of major European jazz festivals roughly followedthe same path as the tour he made with the band in 1982 atthe end of his first year at UNT. He leaves behind a programthat has led the nation in jazz innovation — from 1947, whenthe 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 gothe extra mile.”

Jazz heroesA Grammy nominee and former member of the Stan Ken-

ton Orchestra-in-Residence program, Slater directed the jazzeducation department at the University of Bridgeport in Con-necticut before arriving at UNT in 1981. He filled the spot leftby retiring director Leon Breeden, who stepped down after 22years at the helm.

“Neil was coming in and replacing a legacy,” says composerand arranger John Wasson (’80, ’83 M.M.), who played basstrombone in Breeden’s band for two years and in Slater’s bandfor one year.

“Neil has done a fabulous job, not only maintaining thelevel, but pushing the program forward, touring a lot andencouraging young writers to write for the band,” says Wasson,who toured with the Stan Kenton and Woody Herman orches-tras after college. “There was no let-up when he came.”

At UNT, Slater was instrumental in establishing a master ofmusic degree in jazz studies and expanded the UNT JazzLecture Series, which has featured legendary musicians such asDizzy Gillespie and Slide Hampton as performers and teach-ers. The band’s performances across the world helped keep theprogram in an international spotlight and allowed students toplay in the same venues with the heroes of their profession.

Tim Ries (’81), who was lead saxophonist with the OneO’Clock Lab Band on the 1982 tour while working on a mas-ter’s degree in music, remembers performing at the same festi-val as trumpeter Freddie Hubbard.

“It’s a different dynamic. It’s like all of a sudden, you’re onthe court with Michael Jordan,” Ries says.

The real worldWhen Slater stepped into the lab band rehearsal hall in

1981, he brought valuable expertise as a gigging musician inNew York, Ries says.

“He was bringing that reality that when you leave this schoolto pursue a jazz career in New York, your competition is goingto be with all those other already-well-established jazz artists,”Ries says. “It was for me a perfect transition. He gave me sug-gestions 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 inNew York, eventually touring with the Rolling Stones, andreturned to campus in 2001 as a featured artist on the JazzLecture Series. He says people in New York know the seriousreputation of the UNT jazz program and the One O’Clock LabBand, which Ries says “is always one of the best bands in theworld — whether college or professional.”

Chris Bullock, a doctoral student from North Carolina whojoined 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 arehearsal,” Bullock says, stressing the singular. “We can make itsound like we have played it more than one time.”

Bringing itIn preparation for this year’s European tour, students met in

five intense rehearsals in the days before the trip. The tour in-cluded performances at the Brienz and Montreux jazz festivalsin Switzerland, the Vienne Festival in France, the Rüdesheim in Germany, the North Sea jazz festival in the Netherlands, andthe Tuscany and Umbria jazz festivals in Italy.

Other artists performing at the festivals included famedmusicians Diana Krall, Branford Marsalis, Pat Metheny andBobby McFerrin. During breaks, the band members toured themuseums of Florence, devoured stroopwafel in the Nether-lands and savored prosciutto pizza in Italy. And they learnedthat touring on the road presents its share of challenges.

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:24 AM

“You always have to bring it, no matter the circum-stances, no matter how tired you are,” Bullock says. “Wedealt with a lot of those things — jet lag, not getting anample amount of sleep, being on the bus all day and thenhaving 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 arethere to play.”

Sara Jacovino (’05, ’08 M.M.) started playing trombonein the One O’Clock Lab Band three years ago. She just fin-ished her master’s degree in jazz performance in May andplans to try a career as a composer and performer in NewYork. Jacovino says Slater can subtly — but effectively —give directions to the band.

“Neil wants the best out of everybody, and if you don’tgive him the best, he lets you know that’s unacceptable,”Jacovino says. “He doesn’t even need to say much, you justknow. He’s direct but there’s always a lot of insight, even ifhe gives you just a look, a disapproving look, or a look thatsays, ‘I like that.’”

The capstoneTom 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 Bar-ranco (’08 M.M.) from North Pole, Alaska, and bass trom-bonist Ben Polk from Greenbush, Maine, who earned hisgraduate artist certificate in music performance here inMay — 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 youmake those top jazz bands, you are making the transitionfrom student to professional.”

That’s how Slater says he tries to train his students —teaching them that they need to be professionals who areon time, prepared and artistic.

“People start relying on the fact if you came from NorthTexas, you can do the job,” Slater says. “They’re profes-sional, not just in playing, but reliable and serious aboutwhat they are doing in an artistic way. They never lose sightof it as an art form.”

That legacy of excellence has kept the world’s attention.At the final performance in Italy this July, the audienceclapped for two encores from Slater and his band.

They didn’t want to let him go. �

ATribute 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 con-

ducted the Two O’Clock

Lab Band as a graduate stu-

dent in 1971.

UNT will honor the

two retired directors Nov.

22 in a concert featuring

performances by alumni

big bands and the cur-

rent One and Two

O’Clock bands, fol-

lowed by a post-

concert 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. Tic-

kets for the general

public range from $10

to $60.

For information, call

(940) 565-3743 or visit

www.jazz.unt.edu.

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

Alumni share knowledge, address the nation’sshortage 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 cru-cial 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 teachesAlgebra I. “I do the best I can to make it relevant to them. I ask them what job they wantto 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 needUnfortunately, Rooth’s a bit of a rarity. Although math and science skills are more cru-

cial than ever, the teachers needed to teach those subjects are hard to find. School districtsacross the nation are reeling from a shortage of qualified math and science teachers, a situ-ation made worse by a high attrition rate among beginning teachers.

How dire is the problem? Nearly half of all instructors leave the classroom within thefirst five years, according to a 2006 College Board report.

UNT alumni, though, are bucking the attrition trend. More than 85 percent of UNT-trained teachers remain in the classroom three to five years after entering the field. Thestatistics are not a coincidence. Through grant-funded teacher-training programs such asthe Robert Noyce Scholarship, Transition to Teaching and Teach North Texas, the univer-sity is making it a priority to develop high-quality educators with math and sciencedegrees and certification in the subjects they teach.

And UNT takes its teacher preparation a step further by continuing to aid teachers afterthey enter the classroom, which, in turn, increases the likelihood that the beginninginstructors will have a positive experience and choose to stay in teaching for more than afew 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 maxi-

mum of two years. The scholarship — funded by a five-year grant from the NationalScience Foundation that runs through August 2009 — requires students to maintain a 3.0grade point average, and they must commit to teaching at least two years at a high-needTexas school for every year they receive the scholarship.

A supportive environmentHowever, the teachers aren’t pushed blindly into a challenging classroom environment.

At UNT, they receive grade-level and assignment-specific professional development. In theteachers’ first two years on the job, UNT professors keep in close contact with them andarrange for mentor teachers to answer their questions, provide them with encouragementand track their progress.

Right: Heather Rooth (’07), an Algebra I teacher at North Dallas High School, is help-ing to ensure her students learn the math skills necessary to succeed in today’s tech-nology-driven workforce.

20 The North Texan

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

- By Mark Wright

Photos by Jonathan Reynolds

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

“I had mentor teachers the first year, and they helped meout a lot by coming to class and giving me feedback,” says LakeDallas Middle School math teacher Casey Harl, a Noyce recip-ient who earned his teaching certification from UNT in 2007and is finishing up a master’s degree in secondary education.

He says Pam Harrell, associate professor of education andprincipal investigator for the Noyce grant, who also coordi-nates UNT’s Secondary Post Baccalaureate Online TeacherCertification Program and Transition to Teaching grant, con-tinued to be a “tremendous resource” for him after he receivedhis certification.

Rooth says her mentor teachers and UNT professors helpedher create lesson plans and offered strategies for dealing withparticular situations. She also exchanges ideas online througha network of fellow UNT-trained teachers, brought togetherby UNT faculty members.

“It really helps to have somebody to talk to before you trysomething,” Rooth says.

New experiencesScience teacher Anna Bayless (’06, ’08 M.Ed.) credits a

teaching strategies course she took at UNT with giving herpractical knowledge — such as laboratory safety guidelines —useful in her role as a chemistry teacher at Plano East SeniorHigh School.

Bayless, a third-year educator who previously participatedin a Teacher Quality Grant at UNT, spent her summer con-ducting lab research as part of a College of Arts and SciencesNational Science Foundation grant designed to give practicingteachers research experience.

“In the program, I get to be more engaged about the wholediscovery 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 fed-erally funded program geared toward career changers who arepursuing teacher certification — and in some cases certifica-tion and a master’s degree — to teach math and science insecondary schools. The program annually accepts 15 candi-dates, who, in exchange for financial assistance, commit toteaching at least three years at high-need campuses in Dallas,Fort Worth, Grand Prairie or Gainesville.

During those years, UNT faculty members help steer theteachers around the potential pitfalls that can lead to poorretention rates. For example, it’s common for newly certifiededucators to feel overwhelmed at the seemingly chaotic class-room environment, says Mary Harris, Meadows Chair forExcellence in Education and professor of teacher educationand administration.

“They plow a much harder path in which support is neces-sary,” Harris says. “Some, I think, have always wanted to beteachers but didn’t have a pathway.”

Expanding the possibilitiesUNT’s newest initiative, Teach North Texas, began this fall

with a free 1-credit-hour course designed to allow students to

22 The North Texan

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

gauge their interest in teaching math, science or computer sci-ence. A second free course will be added this spring.

Funded by a $1.4 million grant from the Greater TexasFoundation and a challenge grant of up to $1 million fromthe National Math and Science Initiative, TNT is a collabora-tive effort between UNT’s College of Arts and Sciences andCollege of Education that gives students teaching experienceas early as their freshman year. The program enables UNT toreplicate the innovative UTeach program developed at theUniversity of Texas at Austin.

The Greater Texas Foundation Math and Science Scholar-ship Program awarded UNT another $150,000 grant for theprogram to fund scholarships over the next two academicyears and to grow the endowment for TNT for future years.The university has set a goal of raising at least $1 million forthat 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 teacherswill be prepared for their profession with course work that isguided by current research and is specifically tailored for theirfield of interest,” says John Quintanilla, associate professor ofmathematics and co-director of TNT along with Harris. “Wethink that our students will appreciate the connectionsbetween what they learn in Teach North Texas and the multi-ple field experiences they’ll have.”

About 50 students are in the program this fall, includingCourtney Tidwell, a 2008 graduate of UNT’s Texas Academyof Mathematics and Science from Arlington. TAMS is the

nation’s first accelerated residential program for gifted teenswho take university courses to complete their first two years ofcollege while earning their high school diplomas. Tidwell saysshe has long considered majoring in math and becoming ateacher, but the content-area-specific training she will receivethrough TNT clinched her decision to complete her bachelor’sdegree and certification at UNT.

“When I heard about Teach North Texas, I got pretty excited,” Tidwell says.

With eager undergraduates such as Tidwell preparing tojoin the teaching ranks, UNT’s impact on the quality of edu-cation 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.” �

Above left: Casey Harl, a Lake Dallas Middle School mathteacher and Robert Noyce Scholarship recipient, is a formerinformation technology leader for a Fortune 500 chemicaland polymer company. He earned his teacher certificationat UNT in 2007.Below left: Anna Bayless (’06, ’08 M.Ed.), a scienceteacher at Plano East Senior High School, says UNT taughther how to give students the opportunity to engage in sci-entific experimentation.Below right: Courtney Tidwell, a 2008 graduate of UNT’sTexas Academy of Mathematics and Science, stayed at UNTto be part of the first group of students enrolled in theTeach North Texas program.

Fall 2008 23

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

24 The North Texan

Angilee Wilkerson

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

For t Worth firefighter Rick McKinney (’90) has a pas-sion for the Mean Green that burns as intensely as some ofthe fires he puts out. John “Jack” Fincher (’57), who methis wife as a student and attended the first football game atFouts Field, has been a fan for more than 50 years, whileseason ticket holders Robert Alonzo and his family had noties with the university until last year.

All are part of the growing Mean Green Nation, where thefervor to “bleed green” has always run deep, but the excite-ment is reaching farther and resonating louder than ever.

Legendary defensive tackle and NFL Hall of Famer JoeGreene (’69), who helped put Mean Green football in thehistory books, says he senses a new winning attitude at UNT.

“You can feel something happening at North Texas in apositive way, with the administration, the new facilities, anew 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 com-mitment to the Mean Green have led to the building of10 new athletic facilities since 2002, and the university is in a planning phase for a new stadium. The new facilitiesinclude softball, tennis, soccer, swimming and volleyballvenues for women’s sports and a 7,000-square-foot aca-demic center dedicated to helping student-athletes succeedoff the field. With the student-athletes’ current overall GPA the highest in eight years, the zest for green success isattracting recruiting classes that grow stronger every year.

And with more conference championships and postsea-

Fall 2008 25

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

26 The North Texan

son play across all sports — women’s and men’s — fansare gathering like never before to share their collectiveexperiences. Six of the 10 largest crowds in UNT athletichistory have occurred since 2001. These fans, flockingtogether with waving Eagle claws and elaborate tailgatingparties, are transcending the individual experience.

“UNT is a great university that provides our studentsand our extended family with a complete experience, and I am committed to growing our programs and expandingupon our successes in every way possible,” PresidentGretchen M. Bataille says. “A new stadium, just like ournew life science and business buildings, will provide ourstudents with the first-class facilities they deserve as theyearn a top-quality education and have a top-quality expe-rience. Our student-athletes and all of our fans deserve avenue 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. Weneed to work together to succeed in all of our endeavorsand to fully claim the national recognition our universitydeserves.”

Athletic Director Rick Villarreal says he is more excitedthan ever about the opportunity to see the Mean Greenfootball team play in a state-of-the-art facility.

“Our staff has worked very hard over the last six years toprovide student-athletes with the level of facilities neces-sary to be successful both on and off the fields of play atthe Division I level,” Villarreal says.

“In sports like basketball, swimming and diving, tennisand soccer, we’ve seen the ascent to regional and nationalrecognition that is possible when you put the right coachand an outstanding facility together. I truly believe a newfootball stadium would continue that trend, while stand-ing as a symbol of pride for the entire Mean Green Nation.”

Taking it to the streets

Among the faithful fans is McKinney, whose intensity isnot only evidenced by the colorful “FirefightnRick” per-sona he’s created attending every home game, cheering onthe 50-yard-line with his fire hat painted to match theteam’s colors. He also decorates his locker at Fort Worth’sStation No. 14 like a Mean Green shrine. Amid footballposters and schedules, he pastes clippings of UNT sportshighlights as a constant reminder of UNT’s successes.

“I keep it updated to show people UNT’s impressive his-tory,” he says, pointing to stories of the New Orleans Bowlgames and Sun Belt Conference championships.

He describes 1988, the year he says he became a “rabid

26 The North Texan

Diana Bracken Angilee Wilkerson

Li Fan

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

Fall 2008 27

Mean Green fan,” as “the most amazing time at NorthTexas.” That year the football team played three SouthwestConference schools, beating Texas Tech and Rice, and themen’s basketball team made it to the NCAA Tournament.

“North Texas caught lightning in a bottle,” McKinneysays. “That whole year just got me.”

That lightning struck again in 2006-07 when the MeanGreen men’s basketball team racked up a program-best 23wins, its first Sun Belt Conference Championship and itssecond-ever advance to the NCAA Tournament. Last sea-son the team recorded its second-straight 20-win seasonand 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 anannual tradition for four years, creating waves of impas-sioned fans. In 2005, UNT opened new football practicefacilities and a new 50,000-square-foot Athletic Center inthe heart of the Mean Green Athletic Village, providingstate-of-the-art strengthening, conditioning, training andrehabilitation services, as well as new coaching and admin-istrative suites, squad and team meeting space and a first-class football dressing room.

But UNT green isn’t contained on campus. It is seenthroughout the Denton community, where banners line

the main drags and Mean Green posters decorate thestorefronts.

Off the historic square in Denton, Industrial Streetbusinesses — Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, Rooster’s Roadhouse,Little Guys Movers and Dan’s Silver Leaf — pump greenpride through the community. With business plans cater-ing to students and with alumni among the owners, team-ing 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 sportswatching parties on their many TVs, while Little GuysMovers is the official moving company for Mean Greenfootball.

Fall 2008 27

Rick Yeatts

Angilee Wilkerson

Angilee Wilkerson

Top left: Firefighter Rick McKinney (’90) is a long-time 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 enjoyedthe trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. IndustrialStreet business owners, from left, Dan Mojica, MarcusWatson, Chris Hawley, Alan Pierce and Mel Knight, areMean Green supporters

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:25 AM

26 The North Texan

“Our company was born and raised here in Denton since1992, and ever since, the university has been a big part ofour lives and our business,” says Chris Hawley, co-ownerof 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 Dakotaand beat them unmercifully!” he says.

The Finchers, who were both officers of the Rally Club(precursor to the Talons), married just days after graduat-ing. Fincher says he has always felt like he belonged at UNT.

“There’s a great camaraderie among the team and thosewho follow it — you always could be connected at NorthTexas,” says Fincher, who rarely misses a game and hashad 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 youon course to be a big fan,” he says. “It’s amazing what itdoes to your spirit.”

In addition to those football greats, a wealth of acclaimed

athletes have called the university home. Future football starAbner Haynes (’62) and Leon King (’62, ’72 M.S.) helpedbreak the color barrier in Texas in 1956 by becoming someof the first African American football players to integrateany college team in the state. Track and field star BillSchmidt (’70), the first Mean Green athlete to win anOlympic medal, took the bronze for his javelin throw in the1972 Munich games. And in 1978, basketball statisticalchamp Ken Williams, the only Mean Green player to lead theNCAA in a statistical category (14.7 rebounds per game),followed golf great Sandra Palmer (’63), who was namedLPGA Player of the Year in 1975.

Although decades younger than Fincher, Emmitt Jackson(’01) also equates UNT with family and home. Growing upin Denton, he remembers running up and down the aisles ofthe Super Pit during basketball games. At 5, he knew hewould become an Eagle. Missing only one home footballgame in 12 years, he says, “If it is a Saturday, I’m there.”

But going to the games wasn’t enough for Jackson. He andhis wife, Lera Brown (’02), converted a room in their LakeHighlands home into a “Mean Green Room.” Complete withwalls painted UNT green, the space houses prized memora-bilia Jackson has been collecting for 10 years — a signed JoeGreene jersey, vintage pennants and a series of miniature

28 The North Texan

Angilee Wilkerson

Gary Payne

Jonathan Reynolds

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

Fall 2008 27

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 thesame memorable experiences for his new daughter, Cassidy,who already owns a T-shirt that reads “North Texas Classof 2030.”

“Some people just bleed green by nature,” he says.

From the inside out

Spirit also is percolating within the walls of residence hallsand campus courtyards more than ever before. With thecommitted efforts of housing leaders and student organiza-tions, every UNT student has opportunities to experiencethe Mean Green connection.

When senior Dana Cardone came to UNT, she knew shewas coming to a major university but says, “It feels like asmall one.” Living in West Hall her sophomore year, shejoined student housing activities and now is president of theResidence Hall Association. Working to engage other stu-dents, Cardone helps organize the campus pre-game peprally, Friday Night at Clark Park, and student tailgating events.

“There’s nothing better than looking up in the stadium

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 thegrowth 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 havesince become donors and regulars in the stands.

“The Junior Mean Green Club was one of the biggest sellingexperiences,” Alonzo says, adding that head coach Todd Dodgetook time to meet Ally after last spring’s game. “There’s a spe-cialness with the people at UNT.

“The leaders have a true commitment and passion that isvital to a successful university.”

Fall 2008 29

Mike Woodruff

Jonathan ReynoldsLi Fan

Top left: Fans flocked to the game against Navy lastyear. Green Brigade band members add to the spirit.Emmitt (’01) and Lera Brown Jackson (’02) share theirMean Green Room with new fan Cassidy. Above: Tailgaters enjoy pregame festivities. JuniorMean Green Club members meet their football bud-dies. Fans sport their green for the home opener versus Tulsa.

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

30 The North Texan

Turning a corner

From student-athlete to professional NFL superstar, Greene,now retired from his coaching career, helps scout for thePittsburgh Steelers, traveling to colleges across the nationlooking for winning talent.

He sees UNT’s commitment to building facilities as the cor-nerstone 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 haveanything to do with athletics or even like athletics, but they see the whole university through an athletic window. It’s veryimportant,” 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 com-fortable 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

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 GreenVolleyball Center, Lovelace Stadium (for softball) and theMean Green Soccer Field — give the teams and those wholove them an edge, and UNT programs are gaining nationalrecognition. The Mean Green women’s soccer team played inits ninth straight Sun Belt Conference Championship game in2008, winning conference titles and bids to the NCAA tourna-ment in 2004 and 2005. The team also earned a spot amongthe NCAA’s Top 10 teams nationally in 2007 for academic performance.

ESPN ranked the 2008 football signing class seventh in thenation of non-Bowl Championship Series schools. And UNT’sdedication to Title IX earned it a first-place national rankingon the Gender Equity Scorecard, a study by Penn State Uni-versity at York that measures a university’s commitment towomen’s athletics based on participation, scholarships, coach-es’ salaries, recruitment budget and operating expenses.

In addition to Mean Green teamwork, stellar individual per-formances are garnering national recognition. Football’s CaseyFitzgerald was named a 2007 All American after leading the

30 The North Texan

Li FanRick Yeatts

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

Fall 2008 31

league in receptions and yards, and volleyball’s Brooke Engel(’08) was the first player in NCAA history to lead the nationin service aces in back-to-back years.

Recently, the Mean Green Nation has taken on a life of itsown, inspiring fans and donors like Ronald Waranch (’54).Aside from a $1 million gift to build the Waranch TennisComplex in 2006, he has pledged $150,000 for basketballscholarships over the next 10 years.

“My contribution to the university is because I love NorthTexas 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 producingloyal fans.

“I want to puff out my chest with pride for my school,” saysSteven Pettit (’02), an active recruiter for tailgating over thelast 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. “Goingto 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 orattending a game, he’s passing the torch of fandom on tohis children, ages 4 and 7.

“They think Scrappy is second to God,” he laughs, “Andwhen it’s raining and thunder claps, they yell ‘Boomer’ and‘Go Mean Green!” �

Visit www.unt.edu/northtexan for a video aboutour stadium plans and more about the Mean Green

Nation. Go to page 34 to learn more aboutBoomer the Cannon.

Fall 2008 31

Rick YeattsLi Fan

Top left: Paint adds to the fun of fandom. Thewomen’s basketball team will open its 2008 seasonwith a new coach. Above: The Waranch Tennis Complex is one of 10athletic facilities built since 2002. Wide receiver CaseyFitzgerald earned 2007 All American honors. The MeanGreen soccer team played in its ninth straight Sun BeltConference Championship game in 2008.

Rick Yeatts

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

Homeland security

• Movable Tonic: ASequence Sight-Singing Method byAlan C. McClung,associate professor ofmusic and conductorof the UNT ConcertChoir (GIA Publi-cations Inc.).Designed to helpteachers and studentsat all stages of sight-singing development,the book features les-sons on how to estab-lish tonal relation-ships, combine duration and pitch,and develop musicalindependence.Included are practicedrills, music exam-ples and step-by-stepteaching strategies.

• Texas CountrySingers by Phil Fry(’62, ’64 M.A.) ofAustin and Jim Lee,Professor Emeritus ofEnglish (Texas Chris-tian University Press).The 27 Texas-borncountry singers pro-filed include tradi-tional artists such asErnest Tubb, WillieNelson and Ray Price,

and less well-knownnames like VernonDalhart and MoonMullican. Also fea-tured are WaylonJennings, TanyaTucker, George Straitand Gene Autry. Eachbiography includesthe singer’s best-known songs andawards and honorsearned.

• Hell Under theRising Sun: TexanPOWs and theBuilding of theBurma-ThailandDeath Railway byKelly E. Crager (’05Ph.D.) of Austin(Texas A&M Univer-sity Press). This nar-rative follows the members of the 2ndBattalion, 131st FieldArtillery Regiment ofthe Texas NationalGuard who were cap-tured by Japaneseforces in Java in 1942and shipped toBurma. Using infor-mation from theNational Archives,memoirs and oral

ntroduction to Homeland Security:Understanding Terrorism With an

Emergency Management Perspective by DavidA. McEntire, associate professor of emer-gency administration and planning (WileyPathways).

The book provides up-to-date informa-tion about terrorism, homeland securitypolicies and dealing effectively with threatsand attacks. Topics useful for scholars,students and practitioners include the rela-tionship between homeland security andemergency management, causes of terror-ism, trade-offs between security and rights,and preparation for, response to and recov-ery from attack.

lind Rain, by Bruce Bond, professor ofEnglish (LSU Press).

Bond’s latest poetry collection includesseveral elegies concern-ing the last days anddeath of his father. “I amwriting at the edge of theother half of life, the partwithout my father in it,”he says in “Wake.” Alsofeatured are poemsfocusing on madness andmusic, and a long medi-tation, “The Return,” thathinges on a double senseof the word “true” as “thereal” and “the loyal.”Bond’s previous poetrycollections are Cinder,The Throats of Narcissus,Radiography, The Ante-room of Paradise andIndependence Days.

I

32 The North Texan

bookshelf

Collected poemsB

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

Fall 2008 33

history interviewswith members of the“Lost Battalion,”Crager focuses ontheir treatment dur-ing captivity andtheorizes that thebrotherhood amongthe Texans was amain factor in thebattalion’s high sur-vival rate (84 percent).

• Roll the Rock: A LifeJourney by HenryTony Hodges (’74) ofKaty (Publish-America). The poemsin this first collectionreflect life lessons,regrets and personalcomments on currentevents. Hodges sayshe speaks in commonwords to the com-mon person andhopes he leaves read-ers with “somethingto ponder.” Heworked for 30 yearsin human resourcesadministration andhas been writing andpainting for twoyears.

• Now Face to Face byKarleen BarlowKoen (’70) ofHouston (ThreeRivers Press). Firstpublished in 1996 byRandom House,

Koen’s second novelwas a Book of theMonth Club mainselection now beingre-released. Set inVirginia and Englandin the 1720s, thenovel tells the storyof a young widowwho embarks forcolonial Virginia andis pulled into aJacobite plot thatthreatens the throne,her family and a newlove. The new releaseincludes an afterwordfeaturing a scenedropped from theoriginal manuscript.

• Books: A Memoir byLarry McMurtry(’58) of Archer City(Simon and Schus-ter). The author ofthe Pulitzer Prize-winning novelLonesome Dove writesabout his passion forbooks as a reader, awriter and a book-seller — he eventuallyopened bookstores inGeorgetown, Hous-ton and Archer City.He describes how thebooks he has readhelped form his liter-ary tastes andincludes anecdotesand observationsabout authors, book

people, literature and himself.

• Journey from Headto Heart: Living andWorking Authenticallyby Nancy Oelklaus(’74 M.A.) of Austin(Loving HealingPress). This book onhow to live a mean-ingful life combineslogic, emotion, spiri-tuality, science andancient wisdom tocreate “a recipe forwholeness.” Oelklaus,who holds a doctor-ate in educationaladministration,worked in educationbefore building apractice as an execu-tive coach. She hasproduced coachingCDs on topics such as reconciliation,making difficult con-versations easier and creating the lifeyou want.

• Chronic Pain Man-agement: Guidelinesfor MultidisciplinaryProgram Development,edited by Michael E.Schatman (’85 M.S.,’89 Ph.D.) of Bellevue,Wash., and AlexandraCampbell (InformaHealthcare). This ref-erence for developinga multidisciplinarychronic pain manage-ment programincludes best practicesfor maintaining ahigh-quality, cost-effective chronic painmanagement center,achieving accredita-tion and developingpolicies and proce-dures. Schatman is anassistant professor offamily medicine at thePacific NorthwestUniversity of HealthSciences College ofOsteopathic Medicinein Yakima, Wash., anda consulting clinicalpsychologist.

• The Passing of theGibbous Moon byLarry Turner (’64) ofWills Point (TatePublishing). A highschool football herofinds a new meaningto life when his skillshelp save a cheer-leader. The story fol-

lows the two studentsfrom different back-grounds as a senioryear that starts on thefootball field ends upchanging lives. Turneris a retired educatorwho spent 41 years inpublic education,including coachingand working withyoung athletes.

• Movin’ On by theDave Rawlinson Bandof Ellensburg, Wash.The band led by DaveRawlinson (’88) isknown for its all-orig-inal music shows of“boomer rock,” cap-turing the tastes ofbaby boomers. Thissecond CD includessounds of classic rock,jazz rock and countryrock. Rawlinson is anassociate professor ofinformation technol-ogy at Central Wash-ington University aswell as a guitarist andvocalist. �

Other Media

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

oomer the Cannon is a UNT traditionwith a history of mystery, two decades

of careful renovation by members of a truespirit group and a nickname reportedlybestowed by a Mean Green celebrity.

A 1989 Aerie yearbook article by RogersCadenhead (’91) tells the story of the can-non and its caretaker then and now — RickMcKinney (’90), also known today as Fire-fightnRick. As a senior then, McKinney wason the Talons’ cannon crew, helping fire thegun to mark the half and end of footballgames and the Eagle scores in between.

But the cannon’s origins are somewhatmurky. One story credits an alumnus fordonating the three-foot-long, 285-poundbarrel in the 1950s. Another suggests thebarrel was cast by students in a metals shopclass at some point during the next decade.

McKinney describes the cannon today asabout a 7/8 scale replica of an M1841 Six-Pounder Smoothbore Muzzle-loader thatwas widely used in the U.S.-Mexican War

but rendered obsolete by the timeof the 1861-1865 “War Betweenthe States.”

He says as best as anyone recol-lects, Boomer was first used atgames and on campus between1969 and 1970. Before the Talonsbegan renovating the cannon inthe late 1980s, yearbook photosshow it had been displayed duringHomecoming parades pulledbehind pickups on the back frameof an old Willys Army jeep. Thecannon spent years outdoors nearthe Physical Plant complex untilthe Talons found it an indoorhome in the Coliseum.

Boomer has undergone severaltransformations. In 1988, McKin-ney began the long process ofremoving years’ worth of paintand worked odd jobs for moneyto cut off the barrel and mount iton a new carriage he built with

fellow Talon Alex Balic (’89).Eventually, the original barrel succumbed

to a narrowing of its inside walls, so it wasreplaced with an exact match through acompany in Tennessee in the mid ’90s. Itsmost recent refurbishing began in 2002 andended in 2006, when McKinney debuted theaccompanying limber he had built.

Perhaps as interesting as its mysteriousorigins and painstaking restoration is thelegendary tale of how the cannon earned itsnickname.

According to Talons lore, alumnus“Mean” Joe Greene (’69) had come back tocampus for an award ceremony and wassurprised by a blast from the cannon. That’swhen he nicknamed it Boomer. �

34 The North Texan

Blast from the past

B

Down theCorridorThe “First Big All-College

Dance” took place in Harriss

Gymnasium. … Iroquois Chief

Clear Sky spoke on campus.

The campus herbarium

acquired a carnivorous pitcher

plant. … Groundbreaking cer-

emonies were held for the Nike

missile base. … The new cam-

pus hospital opened.

News topics included the

Grenada invasion. … Steve

Smith, drummer for Journey,

and Lewis Soloff, trumpeter

for Blood, Sweat and Tears, vis-

ited campus.

UNT was one of four universi-

ties that split $6 million in

computer technology from

Texas Instruments. … The

Coliseum received a facelift.

50 yearsago

75 yearsago

25 yearsago

10 yearsago

by RobinFletcher

timetracks

Boomer in 1988, top, andBoomer today, along with its new

limber built in 2006

Photos courtesy of Rick McKinney

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

’32 Doris WebbPlumlee, Dallas, is cele-brating 30 years of retire-ment as a former historyteacher at Highland ParkHigh School. She saysshe enjoys the wildlife inthe woods around herDallas home and ven-tures out to concerts.

’63 MarjorieCrenshaw (M.M.Ed.),Fort Worth, was chosento become a member ofthe Dallas MetroplexMusicians Association,an affiliate of theNational Association ofNegro Musicians Inc.

’65 Peggy NellMcElrath (’88 M.S.), LasVegas, and her mother,Loraine W. McElrath,donated an outfit to theLyndon Baines JohnsonMuseum in Austin. The“Ladies for Lyndon” out-fit, which their friendKathryn Howell wore tothe 1960 NationalDemocratic Convention,

was on display as part ofthe “Cowboys and Presi-dents” exhibit at theAutry Museum in LosAngeles. The exhibit willbe at the Bob BullockMuseum in Austin fromOct. 18 to Jan. 4.

’68 Ruth Wood-ward (’73 M.Ed.), Dallas,retired after 36 years ofservice to the Dallas ISD.Her last position wasprincipal of Booker T.Washington High Schoolfor the Performing andVisual Arts.

’71 RobertaMichelson Murphy,Carlsbad, Calif., is a realestate broker with VillaSotheby’s InternationalRealty in Del Mar andwrites for web sites. Shehas been married to MikeMurphy for 25 years.They have three sons,Scott, Eric and Mark.

’73 Al Matthews(’76 M.Ed.), Carrollton,

was elected Employee ofthe Year for the DallasCounty Community Col-lege District. He is anacademic advisor and

dual credit advi-sor at NorthLake College.

’74 CharlesPinnell (’77M.S.), Rockwall,retired from theDallas ISD as acounselor with40 years in edu-

cation. He also retiredfrom the U.S. Air ForceReserve with 20 years ofservice. He and his wife,Cathy Pinnell, have a 7-year-old son, Sammy.

’77 Scott Daniels,Carrollton, is the manag-ing editor of ScoutingMagazine, published bythe national office of theBoy Scouts of America.The magazine has a cir-culation of 1 million.

Carl Davis, Houston,was honored in the sec-ond edition of Who’sWho in Black Houston.He is senior communityliaison for the city ofHouston, working withthe mayor and city coun-cil on neighborhoodissues. He is anappointee to the Port ofHouston’s Small BusinessAdvisory Board andserves on the HolocaustMuseum of HoustonCommunity OutreachCommittee.

Dan Novak, FortWorth, received his Ph.D.

in organizational leader-ship from Regent University’s School ofGlobal Leadership andEntrepreneurship inVirginia Beach, Va., inMay. He has beenemployed for 31 years by IBM.

�Gerard ‘Jerry’ Reis,Irving, has been appoin-ted chair of the board ofNolan Catholic HighSchool for 2008-09. Heowns Property AdvisersRealty in Irving and is amember of the boards ofthe UNT Foundation,the Hatton W. SumnersFoundation and the BigBrothers and Big Sistersof North Texas.

’80 Wesley GearyIII (’81 M.B.A.), Aurora,Colo., won the Inter-national OutstandingChief Business Officeraward in 2007 at theannual CommunityCollege Business Officersconference. He is execu-tive vice president andCFO for the CommunityCollege of Aurora. Hepreviously served as controller and budgetdirector at Red RocksCommunity College inLakewood, Colo., for 10years, and was an assis-tant controller for theColorado CommunityCollege System centraloffice.

Michael J. Truncale,(M.B.A.), Beaumont, anattorney in the firm ofOrgain, Bell and TuckerLLP, was appointed byGov. Rick Perry to the

Fall 2008 35

Class Notes

alumninews

Send class note information 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; Uni-

versity Relations, Communications and Marketing; 1155

Union Circle #311070; Denton, Texas 76203-5017. Mem-

bers of the North Texas Exes Alumni Association are desig-

nated with a �.

�

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

Texas State UniversitySystem Board of Regents.He and his wife, DeniseHolland Truncale (’82M.M.), have two daugh-ters. His parents are thelate Joseph Truncale(’47) and Ruth Hen-derson Truncale (’46,’47 M.M.).

Ron Whitehead(M.P.A.), Addison, wasnamed North TexasPublic Administrator ofthe Year by the NorthTexas chapter of theAmerican Society forPublic Administration.He has been the Addisoncity manager since 1982and previously workedfor the cities of Beau-mont and Irving. Theaward was presented in

April by Abraham Bena-vides, assistant professorin the UNT Departmentof Public Administration.

’81 Ruth A. Taylor(Ph.D.), Austin, market-ing professor at TexasState University, receiveda Fulbright Award toteach at the UniversidadNacional Mayor de SanMarcos in Lima, Peru, inJuly. She conducted amaster’s-level course onmarketing and brandingstrategy as applied totextile wearing apparel.She is married to LeslieMilburn Taylor (’68).

’85 Tobey S. Elliott,Irving, opened the T.S.

Elliott Law Office inCoppell. His practicefocuses on federal fire-arms and explosiveslicense regulationdefense and estate plan-ning as well as elder,disability, education,land use, oil and gas,small business and realestate law.

’86 Laura Cobb(M.Ed.), Allen, wasnamed chief of schoolsfor Uplift Education, a501(c)(3) nonprofitorganization dedicatedto operating high-qualityschools with an empha-sis on college prepara-tion. She writes, travelsand lectures regularly onschool choice, helpingstudents succeed inschool and working withspecial needs children.

George Nugent,Chevy Chase, Md., hasworked for the WorldBank Group’s Inter-national Finance Corp.since 1995. He doesanalyses on infrastruc-ture privatization proj-ects in developing countries and hasworked on projects inSouth and CentralAmerica, Eastern Eur-ope, Asia and Africa. Heis now working on ahospitals project in theMexico City area. Pre-viously, he was a consult-ant for electric utilities,the U.S. Department ofEnergy and the Environ-mental ProtectionAgency.

Jennifer S. Stephens,Denton, was elected tothe board of the Private

Law Libraries SpecialInterest Section of theAmerican Association ofLaw Libraries. It is thelargest special interestsection of the associa-tion. She previouslyserved the DallasAssociation of LawLibrarians as president,secretary, Internet com-mittee chair and web-master.

’88 Terri GreenCedro, Las Vegas, Nev.,was re-elected to the2008-09 board of direc-tors of the Nevada Para-legal Association. She is alegal assistant at LewisBrisbois Bisgaard andSmith LLP.

Timothy McCormick,Denton, heads the YouthSteel Band Foundation,a nonprofit groupdesigned to positivelyinfluence children bygetting them involved inthe fun of making music.He has played steeldrums professionallyaround the Dallas-FortWorth area, in collegeand with the Texas All-Star band.

Dave Rawlinson,Ellensburg, Wash., is anassociate professor in theinformation technologydepartment of CentralWashington University.He worked at NASAwhile earning a lawdegree and practiced lawthrough 1996. See p. 33for news of his band’slatest CD.

’91�Randall M.Good, Denton, displayed

36 The North Texan

North Texas Exes NewsAlumni association launchesnew web site

The North Texas Exes Alumni Associationinvites UNT alumni to visit its newly launchedweb site — www.untalumni.com — to learnmore about the alumni association and itsprograms, services and membership.

The new site is designed to expand the alumni association’sexisting online presence while helping it communicate withalumni, students and friends, says Derrick Morgan, executivedirector of the association.

“Reaching out to UNT’s alumni and helping them make con-nections with each other and the university is an integral partof our alumni association’s mission,” Morgan says.

“Our new web site will be an important tool in helping usaccomplish that.”

Connect today at www.untalumni.com. For more informa-tion about the alumni association, you also can e-mail [email protected] or call (940) 565-2834.

alumninews

�

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

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his 14 oil paintings titledThe Way of the Cross: ThePassion of the Christ inArt at Manhattan Col-lege, to coincide withPope Benedict XVI’sAmerican visit last April.

Mike Harris (’91M.Ed.), Bedford, waspromoted to principal ofTrinity High School inthe Hurst-Euless-BedfordISD. He was a student in the Meadows Excel-lence in Teaching pro-gram at UNT.

’92 James Parsons(Ph.D.), Springfield, Mo.,is professor of music his-tory at Missouri StateUniversity. He presentedhis paper, “Hanns Eisler’sHollywooder Liederbuchand ‘The New Stuff ofLife,’” at “The Impact ofNazism on Music in the20th Century” confer-ence in April in London.

Monique GulyasPosa, Denton, passed the

American Society forClinical Pathology Boardof Registry examinationfor pathologists’ assis-tants and was accepted asa Fellow member in theAmerican Association ofPathologists’ Assistants.

’93 Jerry B. Coats(M.A.), Duncanville, wasnamed dean of liberalarts for Tarrant CountyCollege District’s South-east Campus in Arling-ton. He is an associateprofessor of English whohas taught for 12 years at TCCD.

U.S. Air Force MajorsMike Connolly, ChrisEchols, Chris Edwardsand Lance Hill wereselected for promotionto lieutenant colonel inMarch. The four friendsgraduated from UNTtogether and were com-missioned from AirForce ROTC Detachment835. Connolly is chief of

the Director’s ActionGroup at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base,Ohio. Echols transferredthis summer from ScottAir Force Base, Ill., toHanscom Air Force Base,Mass., to command theSecurity Forces Squad-ron. Edwards is workingas an operations officerat an undisclosed loca-tion. And Hill, who wasmost recently a KC-10pilot at McGuire AirForce Base, N.J., trans-ferred this summer toMacDill Air Force Base,Fla., to fly the new C-37Gulfstream executive jet.

Mark A. Keeton, LongIsland City, N.Y.,appeared in the hit sum-mer comedy Baby Mamaas the Denim Suit Guy.He’s had roles in TheGuitar directed by AmyRedford, which pre-miered at the SundanceFilm Festival, and AcrossDot Ave., which pre-miered at the Boston

International FilmFestival in June.

�Michael Parkhill(’99 M.Ed., ’05 M.S.),Lindsay, is an assistantprincipal and scienceteacher for the Era ISDand serves as a NASAeducational trainer andan aerospace educationofficer for the Civil AirPatrol (U.S. Air ForceAuxiliary). In April, heformed a team of fourstudents and traveled tothe NASA MarshallSpace Flight Center inHuntsville, Ala. While hewas undergoing trainingin Houston, they wereamong those selectedthrough the Texas SpaceGrant Consortium andNASA to prepare a pro-tein crystal growthexperiment to be sent toRussia and flown to theInternational SpaceStation on ColumbusDay.

Arminda Santiago(M.A.), Quezon City,

alumninews

38 The North Texan

t’s not the destination, but the jour-ney. In 2007, Steve Cooper (’90 D.M.A.)

took a six-month sabbatical fromteaching at NorthWest Arkansas Com-munity College in Bentonville, Ark., torest, recharge and write music.

His idea of resting was a 2,000-milewalk.

After selling his home and storinghis belongings, Cooper — with abackpack, hiking boots and a journal— began his trek in the heel of Italy’sboot at a convent in Finibus Terrae onthe Mediterranean Sea. He continuedthrough France and into Spain to tracethe historic pilgrimage known as ElCamino de Santiago, ending in Finis-

terra just past Santiago de Compostela onSpain’s western coast.

“I walked from one ‘end of the earth’ to theother,” he says, referring to the literal transla-tions of Finibus Terrae and Finisterra — “end ofthe earth” in Latin and Spanish.

Having made the excursion through northernSpain three other times, Cooper knew he wantedto end his sabbatical with the famous 500-mileEl Camino de Santiago.

“I fell in love with the trail and the peoplewho walk it,” he says. “It has changed people’slives.”

More than 100,000 people traverse the Span-ish section of the trail each year from aroundthe world to visit the Cathedral at Santiago deCompostela, the alleged burial site of St. James,the disciple of Christ.

The long way to SantiagoI

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

Luzon, Philippines, chairof the University of thePhilippines College ofMass CommunicationGraduate StudiesDepartment, was pro-moted to professor 2 atthe college.

’94 Todd Herauf(’04 M.Ed.), Corinth,and his wife, Holly, wel-comed their second“Mean Green child,”Piper Lynn, in April.

�Peter Razey, LakeOswego, Ore., was pro-moted to senior areasales representative withProgressive Insurance inthe states of Hawaii andOregon.

Bill Staples, Chandler,Ariz., wrote an articletitled “Black Giant: BizMackey’s Texas NegroLeague Career” for the premiere issue ofBlack Ball: A Journal ofthe Negro Leagues inspring 2008.

’95 MatthewMailman (D.M.A.),

Oklahoma City, Okla.,professor of conductingat Oklahoma City Uni-versity, conductedMozart’s Cosi fan tutte atOpera in the Ozarks thissummer.

�Norman Nieves(’98, ’02 M.S.) and�Christy Coffman-Nieves (’98), Edmond,Okla., welcomed theirsecond child, BradenMiguel Nieves, in March.He joins big sisterKristen Lindsay Nieves,5. Norman is the emer-gency management coor-dinator at the Universityof Central Oklahoma,and Christy is an Englishteacher at EdmondMemorial High School.

’96 Lisa L. Rollins,La Vergne, Tenn., direc-tor of public affairs and amember of the journal-ism faculty at MiddleTennessee State Univer-sity, won a Grand Awardprize from the Councilfor the Advancement andSupport of EducationDistrict III this year. Theaward was for a partner-

ship she initiatedbetween students in herreporting class and edi-tors at a Murfreesboronewspaper. She alsoreceived two Silver Awardtrophies from the Ten-nessee College PublicRelations Association for a public relationscampaign and news program.

’97 Laura LeeMcCartney (M.A.), FortWorth, was one of 80women out of more than800 applicants to receivea Philanthropic Educa-tional Organization doc-toral dissertationresearch award for 2008-09. She is working on herdoctorate in art educa-tion at UNT.

Chris Mosmeyer(M.A.) and TristanConnors Mosmeyer(’98), Temple, had theirfifth child, Victoria Rose,in June. Chris receivedthe Lumen Gentiumaward from the Dioceseof Austin last year andwas named Fine ArtsTeacher of the Year for

2007-08 by the TexasAssociation for Privateand Parochial Schoolsfor all 3A schools. He isthe English departmentchair and coach of theforensics and academicteams at Holy TrinityCatholic High School.The academic team wonits fourth straight statechampionship in April.

Teryn RichardsonTodd, McKinney, andher husband, Ryan, wel-comed triplet sons inJune 2007. Jake Robert,Tyson Nicholas andZachary Kyle were alsowelcomed by their bigsister, Taylor Ryanne,who was born in 2002.

’98 Passion Hayes(’03 M.P.A.), Denton,was named humanresources director for thetown of Addison. Shepreviously worked inlocal government forDenton County and thecities of Denton and FortWorth.

Traci SchwartzMcGowan, Frisco, is a

“For me, it wasn’t so much a religious experi-ence as much a historical and physical journey,”Cooper says. “I like a challenge.”

Cooper walked 12 to 20 miles each day, tak-ing one day a week off to rest. He traveled aloneup the Ligurian coastline in Italy, and acrossFrance over the Pyrenees into Spain throughmountain rains and 105-degree days in wheatfields. But, by sharing meals and camaraderie at hostels and on the trail, he says he mademany friends.

Cooper earned his doctorate in compositionfrom UNT’s College of Music and immediatelyafter jumpstarted the music department atNorthWest Arkansas. He serves as chair andwrites music for the school’s a cappella chamberchoir as well as publishing works for brass andmusical theater.

Through his sabbatical, Cooper produced aseries of orchestral pieces, Santiago Suite, whichwill be performed next spring by the local civicsymphony. He also has published a traveloguefrom his daily journal entries — Six MonthsWalking the Wilds (Of Western Europe): TheLong Way to Santiago.

In the book, laced with humor, Cooper shareshis trials of walking with worn hiking boots thatsoaked in rain water, forcing him to break in anew pair, along with his insightful discoveries ofthe genuineness of human nature.

“It turned out to be an amazing adventure,”he says. “Simplifying your life and findingpeace, that’s what the walk is really about.”

— Randena Hulstrand

Fall 2008 39

�

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

paralegal in a Dallas lawfirm. Her husband, ToddMcGowan, whom shedated while she was astudent at UNT, is a sen-ior vice president andproject director withCitiMortgage in Irving.Todd, a 1999 West Pointgraduate who served inIraq with the U.S. Armyout of Fort Hood, is pur-suing a graduate aca-demic certificate in SixSigma at UNT.

Mary McMinn, Irving,earned the status ofaccredited business com-municator through theInternational Associationof Business Communi-cators and is the directorof communications forthe Dallas IABC.

Michael Wright,Flower Mound, was pro-moted to director ofclient services ofPFSweb, where he hasworked since the com-pany went public in1999. He also was a

speaker for the UNTchapter of the Instituteof Supply Managementin March. His wife,Shannon (’01), taught inthe Lewisville ISD and isa stay-at-home momwith their two daughters,Maren and Ella.

’99 CameronHernholm, Dallas, is thedirector of developmentfor the National KidneyFoundation of NorthTexas. She was formerlythe development directorof the Center for FamilyResources.

Marcus Parkhill,Gainesville, was namedCEO of ChancellorManufacturing Inc.

�Gary Payne,Denton, won honorablemention awards forsports and spot newsphotography from theTexas Associated PressManaging Editors (class2A) this year. He is a staff

photographer with theDenton Record-Chronicle.

Amy Michelle Sampleand James AnthonyPence (’07), Plano, weremarried in January inDallas. Amy teaches fifthgrade in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, andTony is an insuranceadjuster for AlliedSolutions.

’00 Christa Boyd-Nafstad and Karl Boyd-Nafstad (’04), Brooklyn,N.Y., celebrated the birthof their daughter, AuroraMarie Ion Boyd-Nafstad,in March. She was 21 1/4inches and weighed 8pounds, 8 ounces.

Kelly Edmunds Finley(’01), McKinney, gradu-ated with a master ofeducation degree inschool counseling fromDallas Baptist Universityand is now a counselorin Plano.

Wendy Machalicek,Austin, graduated fromthe University of Texas atAustin with a Ph.D. inMay. She began work thisfall as an assistant pro-fessor of special educa-tion at Portland StateUniversity in Oregon.

Steve Wilson, SanAntonio, and his bandThe Black Doves wereselected to perform onthe San Antonio leg ofthis years Van’s WarpedTour. The performancetook place at the VerizonWireless Amphitheaterin nearby Selma in July.

’01 ChristiWilliams, Mill Valley,Calif., was promoted todirector of Golden GateAcademy, the lab pre-school at the GoldenGate Baptist TheologicalSeminary. She earned amaster of arts in educa-tion leadership at theseminary in May.

hen Ron White drives, he memorizeslicense plates.

When he watches TV, he memo-rizes numbers flashed onto thewall.

Everywhere, every day, he prac-tices. He’s getting ready for theWorld Memory Championship inOctober in Bahrain — a competi-tion that he calls “the memoryOlympics.”

White, a resident of Grapevine,has made a living as a memoryexpert, traveling across the worldto deliver seminars where hesometimes demonstrates his skill

by memorizing 200 names at a time.“We all have the ability,” White says. When

younger, “I was not learning foreign lan-guages or memorizing long numbers, and ifyou don’t believe me, just quote my GPA,” hejokes. “I was someone with average memory— nothing special. I trained myself to develop this ability.”

The skill began in fall 1991, when heattended a memory training seminar while astudent at UNT.

“I just thought it was neat learning how tomemorize stuff,” he says.

He used his newly acquired skill to memo-rize pages of notes minutes before a historyexam. After that, he became a believer, he says.

People need “mental file cabinets” to store

Memory champW

alumninews

40 The North Texan

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

’02 Sarah Broom,New York, N.Y., is assis-tant book editor at Omagazine. She internedat O in 2003 and was areporter for Time in Asiain 2004. She graduatedfrom the University ofCalifornia at Berkeleywith her master’s injournalism in May. Shewas a McNair Scholar at UNT.

Rebecca MalsonKrober, Dallas, was cho-sen Teacher of the Yearat Gabe P. Allen Elemen-tary School in her sec-ond year at the school.She says thank you tothe College of Educationfor providing her withan outstanding educa-tion that allowed her tobe recognized by herpeers.

Mike McClendon and Sundey StewartMcClendon, Mansfield,welcomed their secondson, Hayden Jack, inMarch. He joins his bigbrother, AndersonJames. Mike, who is amarketing representative

for Federated Insurance,and Sundey, who is astay-at-home mom, wereboth involved in studentgovernment at UNT.

’03 Eric Olmedo(M.P.A.), Jamestown,N.C., is the financialservices manager for thecity of High Point, N.C.

’04 Rick Gershon,Dallas, a multimediaphotojournalist at GettyImages, won first placein the National PressPhotographers Associ-ation 2008 Best of Pho-tojournalism contest forthe news feature web category with his video“Coney Island: AnUncertain Future.” Thepiece also won theWebby Award andPeople’s Voice WebbyAward for Documen-tary: Individual Episode,presented by the Inter-national Academy ofDigital Arts and Sci-ences, at a New YorkCity awards ceremony in June.

Thomas Luna, Dallas,accepted the position ofnational transportationnetwork optimizationmanager at CadburySchweppes AmericasBeverages. Previously,he served in varioustransportation and logis-tics roles at PepsiCo/Frito Lay.

’05 Cathi Ball(M.A.), Brownwood, waspromoted to assistantprofessor of art educa-tion at Howard PayneUniversity.

Phillip Matthews andKaty McDonald (’08),Richardson, were mar-ried in May. They met atUNT and say they willalways support theiralma mater.

Mary Elizabeth Penceand William Ryan Durr(’04), Irving, were mar-ried in March in Dallas.Lisa works in theaccount service depart-ment of an advertisingagency, and Ryan is awriter for the TMAdvertising Agency.

’06 �Sarah Ayala-Marquez, Garland,accepted a position asthe assistant band direc-tor at Wakeland HighSchool in Frisco. Shemarried her high schoolsweetheart, IsaacMarquez, in June.

Christie Jones (M.J.),Denton, founded BlackEducation News. It pro-vides writing prepara-tion for college-boundAfrican American stu-dents and is dedicated toinspiring a new genera-tion of teachers, journal-ists and academic scholars. Currently, she is working on her doc-torate at UNT.

’07 Carrie Scarr(M.S.), West Fargo, N.D.,became the assistantdirector of the WestFargo Public Library inOctober 2007. This year,she published her firstbook review in the April15 Library Journal. �

Fall 2008 41

data, White says. He mentally numberspieces of furniture in his house and build-ings around town, and then associates eachwith an image. It’s so effective, he can mem-orize a 135-digit number every minute, hesays.

Recently, he took fourth place out of 43 atthe USA Memory Championship in NewYork. At the World Memory Championship,he will be challenged to memorize hundredsof numbers and a deck of 52 shuffled cards.

Since long strings of numbers can be hardto remember, he associates the first two dig-its with a person, the next two with a verb,and the last three with an object. So histhought process might go something likethis … Abraham Lincoln throwing a base-

ball. What number is that? 16 14 909.White — a U.S. Navy reservist who

served in Afghanistan from July toDecember 2007 — says a sharper memorycan help people improve their confidence,recall names and faces, give speecheswithout notes and improve grades. In themeantime, when he’s not giving seminars,he’s practicing for the World MemoryChampionship — in the car, at home …and while watching baseball.

Perhaps it’s no surprise White is a base-ball fan. After all, with the numbers onthe scoreboard, he says, it’s heaven.

— Ellen Rossetti

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

1930s

• Oleta Miller Air-hart (’36), Anna.She earned her bach-

elor’s degree in Englishfrom North Texas andwas a member of AlphaChi and the Ides Club.

• William ‘Bill’ WheatCollins Jr. (’37, ’38M.S.), Fort Worth. Hewas an economist withthe Federal PowerCommission and servedin the Navy duringWorld War II. He laterworked for the PublicHousing Admin-istration, the Housingand Home FinanceAgency and the Depart-ment of Housing andUrban Development.He played trumpet inthe Aces of Collegelandas a student and was afounder and presidentof the Floyd GrahamSociety. A DistinguishedAlumnus of UNT, healso received the Collegeof Music’s first Dean’sAward for OutstandingContributions to theMusical Life of theCollege. He playedtrumpet in a Dixielandband until shortlybefore his death. Mem-orials, payable to theUNT Foundation, maybe made to the Univer-sity of North Texas,Division of Advance-ment, Bill Collins Jr.Trumpet Scholarship,1155 Union Circle#311250, Denton, Texas76203-5017.

• Kenneth MartinKing (’39), Fort Worth.He worked at Voert-man’s store, where helearned salesmanship,and after graduationspent 33 years at W.A.Sheaffer Pen Co. as asales representative. Heserved in the U.S. Armyfor three years duringWorld War II as a mili-tary policeman beforeresuming his work with

Sheaffer Pen. Two of histhree children also grad-uated from North Texas.

1940s

• Mary Evelyn Bur-den Dotson, Riverside,Calif. She attendedNorth Texas in the late1930s and earned herteaching certificate in1940. She worked forthe Social SecurityAdministration for 32years, retiring in 1976.

• George CliffordRichey, San Angelo.After attending NorthTexas from 1940 to1941, he embarked on a long and successfulcareer as a tennis pro-fessional. He attainedthe No. 8 professionalranking in the world in1952 and World Tennismagazine ranked him asone of the top threecoaches in the world.Among his pupils werehis son and daughter,Cliff and Nancy Richey,who became No. 1ranked pros in theUnited States in theirrespective divisions.

• Austin JacksonJernigan (’42), McKin-ney. He retired as chiefpsychologist of theDallas Veterans Admin-istration Medical Centerin 1979. He held a Ph.D.in clinical psychologyfrom the University ofKentucky. Survivorsinclude his wife, Eliza-beth Jean Gibson Jer-nigan (’46).

• Albert Hollinger(’43, ’47 M.M.), HarkerHeights. He earned hisbachelor’s degree inmusic education from

Send information about alumni deaths by e-mail

to [email protected], 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.

Friends We’ll Miss

42 The North Texan

alumninews

Stefan BardasProfessor Emeritus of music

Stefan Bardas, 93, Professor Emeritus ofmusic who worked at North Texas from 1955 to1980, died April 29.

He was born in Germany to a musicallyprominent Austrian family and survived the

Holocaust by attending the Conservatory of Saint Cecilia in Rome, earninghis bachelor's degree in music. In New York he played popular music inpiano bars before teaching at Carroll College, Wesleyan University andNorthwestern University.

He came to North Texas as artist in residence, and was well known for hisperformances of the 32 pieces in the Beethoven Cycle of Sonatas. He wasone 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, wasan adjunct faculty member at New Mexico State University and taught pri-vate lessons.

Memorials to a scholarship in his memory, made payable to the UNTFoundation, may be sent to the University of North Texas, Division ofAdvancement, 1155 Union Circle #311250, Denton, Texas 76203-5017. Forinformation, call (940) 565-2243 or e-mail [email protected].

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

North Texas. His wifewas the late Hazel MaeTaylor Hollinger (’42).

• Ruby Lee SlaydenBuchholz (’46), SanAngelo. She met herhusband, the late Rob-ert G. Buchholz (’50),while working as a die-titian and foods instruc-tor at North Texas. Shealso served as a dietitianat Baylor Hospital inDallas and was a juniorhigh and high schoolbiology teacher foralmost 30 years.

• Frank Gioviale(’46), Orange. He servedin the U.S. Army duringWorld War II and was ateacher and a banddirector for 30 yearswith the Port Neches-Groves ISD. He initiatedthe fight song and thetraditional marching “I”there and was instru-mental in developingthe high school drillteam.

• Albert Machel (’46),Nacogdoches. He retiredfrom Stephen F. AustinState University, wherehe taught chemistry formany years.

• Betty Alford Degan(’47), Austin. Aftergraduating from NorthTexas, she worked as adietitian at a campusdormitory until marry-ing and moving toLewisville. She was anavid bird watcher wholoved to travel and pho-tograph wildlife. Shealso was a talented handweaver. Memorials maybe made to the Uni-versity of North Texas,North Texas ExesAlumni Association,1155 Union Circle#311250, Denton, Texas76203-5017.

• Dorothy SimpkinsDement (’49), Sweet-water. She earned herbachelor’s degree inmusic education fromNorth Texas.

• Edward V. Thomp-son (’49), Lufkin. Hewas a U.S. Air Forceveteran, a retired self-employed rancher and aco-owner of the Thomp-son School of Dance.

1950s

• Kenneth GuinnDuBois (’50, ’54 M.A.),Dallas. He served in theU.S. Army at Fort SamHouston in the SurgicalResearch Unit. He estab-lished a family medicinepractice in Irving aftergraduating from theUniversity of TexasSouthwestern MedicalSchool in 1961. In 1970,he joined the Medicaland Surgical Clinic ofIrving, where heremained until hisretirement in 1995.

• Vera Lee Brown (’51,’53 M.B.Ed.), Dallas.She served in WorldWar II and was in theWAVES reserves from1946 to 1973, retiring asa lieutenant commander.She taught business inthe Dallas ISD from1951 to 1981 and wasan accomplished water-colorist and painter.

• John H. Kelly (’51),Orange. He served inthe U.S. Air Force dur-ing the Korean War andworked as a Boy Scoutexecutive until the early1970s. He then becamea Watkins Productsdealer for many years.He was a 20-year mem-ber of the LutcherTheater Guild andhelped in the soup

kitchen at his church,where he was an elderand deacon.

• Loleta Joyce Per-kins Stephens (’54),Denton. She was a first-generation college stu-dent who grew up inthe Mustang communitynear Pilot Point. Shetaught in the Sadler,Ponder, Prosper andSherman schools beforebecoming a full-timemother. She also volun-teered in the Dentonschools and taught Sun-day School. She was amember of the UNTPresident's Council andwith her husband, Elvis(’58, ’59 M.B.A.), Pro-fessor Emeritus of busi-ness, established theElvis and Joyce StephensScholarship in theCollege of BusinessAdministration.

• Doyle Ray Caughey(’57), Dallas. He servedin the U.S. Army duringthe Korean War. Hebegan his career in salesand later opened a con-struction business inHouston in 1971 withKickerillo Development,building more than 400homes and commercialbuildings. He alsoserved as president ofSynergism’s residentialand commercial con-struction in Abilene andestablished an insurancebusiness in Dallas. Hesang with the VocalMajority Men's Chorusin Dallas. At NorthTexas, he was a memberof the Trojans fraternity.

• Jerry Evrage (’58),Hobbs, N.M. He attendedNew Mexico MilitaryInstitute and was a vet-eran of the U.S. Navy.He was a resident of

Fall 2008 43

Ben Gerald HarrisProfessor of biology

Ben Gerald Harris, 67, professor of biologyfrom 1968 to 1982 at UNT and Regents Pro-fessor in the Department of Molecular Biologyand Immunology at the UNT Health ScienceCenter at Fort Worth, died May 26 in Burleson.

Harris earned his bachelor’s degree from Southwestern State College inWeatherford, Okla., and his master’s and doctoral degrees from OklahomaState University. He also did postdoctoral work at Rice University and servedas a visiting professor at the University of Konstanz in Germany.

For nearly 40 years, he conducted research in biochemistry at UNT andthe Health Science Center. His work was funded by the NIH and the NationalScience Foundation and included interests in the regulation of energymetabolism in parasites and the structure of proteins.

He received the Bueding-Von Brand Memorial Award for Excellence inBiochemistry Research on Parasites from the American Society ofParasitologists in 1996 and the Benjamin L. Cohen Award for OutstandingResearch Achievement in 2003. He was named a Regents Professor at theHealth Science Center in 2004.

�

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

Hobbs for more than30 years and was activein the Hobbs Bass Club.

• Carolyn Ann Rai-ford (’58), Fayetteville,Ark. She taught atNorth Texas and PurdueUniversity before join-ing the faculty of theprogram in communi-cation disorders at theUniversity of Arkansasin 1974. She retired asEmeritus AssociateProfessor in 1998.

1960s

• Arthur Murrin(’60), The Woodlands.He earned his bache-lor’s degree in generalbusiness from NorthTexas.

• Joe Brown (’62),Mobile, Ala. He taught

elementary schoolmath for seven years

in Dallas and receivedan award for teachingexcellence. In Mobile,he worked for HoraceMann Insurance Co.before becoming aninsurance broker andowner of B&BInsurance Agency. Hewas a ’71 Rookie of theYear and taught licens-ing courses.

• Betty BryanWehrle (’63 M.Ed.),Mineola. She receivedher counselor’s certifi-cate from North Texasin addition to her mas-ter’s degree and taughtin the Abilene and Dal-las public schools. Afterretiring as evening deanat El Centro College inDallas in 1981, she sub-stitute taught at thecollege and taughtclasses for jailers andinmates.

• Anna Grace BrownBurk (’65, ’72 M.Ed.),Gainesville. She was aretired school teacherwho earned businessand education degreesfrom North Texas.

• John C. Garth (’66),Temple. He was ateacher and principaland served as judge inBell County from 1979to 1999. He was instru-mental in the creationof the Bell CountyExpo Center and otherfacilities. He alsobrought videoconfer-encing technology tothe county and workedto preserve the watersupply. Survivorsinclude his wife, BeckySimmonds Garth (’73).

• Thomas E. ‘Tom’Shuford (’66), Marfa.He was a writer, jour-nalist and teacherwhose father, C.E.Shuford, founded thejournalism departmentat North Texas. Tomtaught at UNT andTarleton State Univer-sity, and taught jour-nalism for nearly 30years at the Universityof Texas at Arlington,specializing in publicaffairs reporting andmedia law. He contin-ued to work as a free-lance journalist, and hisstories appeared in anumber of Texas maga-zines and newspapers.He served as a directorof the Texas Freedomof Information Foun-dation and was theprincipal author of ahandbook on medialaw for Texas journal-ists. He published anewsletter on Texas

open meetings andopen records law. Hemoved to the Big Bendin 2003 to help foundthe Desert-MountainTimes newspaper.

• David DonaldBonnick (’67 M.Ed.),Oklahoma City, Okla.He moved to theUnited States fromPanama and taughtschool in Cuero, Mexiaand Fort Worth. Heworked for the city ofFort Worth’s Com-munity Action Agencyand the Department ofLabor in Boston, Mass.,before retiring as direc-tor of civil rights forthe Federal AviationAdministration in 2004after 30 years of service.

• Doris Jean CrewsJenkins (’67 M.Ed.),Longview. She taughtelementary school inBastrop, Cleveland,Slaton and Brownsborobefore spending themajority of her 31-yearteaching career in theLongview ISD. Sheenjoyed painting, quilt-ing and writing lettersto her granddaughters.

• Robert Reeves (’67),Carrollton. He receiveda bachelor’s degree inbusiness from NorthTexas.

• John Grady Twy-man (’69), Plano. AnEpiscopal priest, he wasserving as a retiredmember of the clergy atChrist Church in Planoat the time of his death.He had served atchurches in Dallas,Gainesville, Fort Worthand Grand Prairie.

Lloyd Nicholas JeffreyProfessor Emeritus of

English

Lloyd Nicholas Jeffrey, 89, ProfessorEmeritus of English who worked at North Texasfrom 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 numerousdecorations. He participated in the battles of Normandy and Eindhoven andwas seriously wounded at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge.

Jeffrey earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from theUniversity of Texas, where he was named Phi Beta Kappa. At North Texas,he specialized in the Romantic poets and Shakespeare. He published arti-cles in many scholarly journals, including the Southwest Review andWestern Folklore, and was the author of the book Thomas Hood.

He was listed in the Dictionary of American Scholars and was a memberof the Modern Language Association of America and the College Conferenceof Teachers of English, among other organizations.

44 The North Texan

alumninews

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

1970s

• Mary Nell JenningsSchad (’70), Opelousas,La. She taught for 20years in the RichardsonISD and also taughtAmerican history andgovernment to militarychildren in France forone year and in Oxford,England, for four years.She was instrumental insending medical suppliesto the children’s cancercenter in St. Petersburg,Russia, traveling twice toRussia to oversee thedonations.

• Sharian L. Deering(’71), Jacksonville, Fla.She served as a facultymember at the Universityof North Florida Depart-ment of ExceptionalStudent and Deaf Educa-tion for 29 years. Herservice there includeddirecting the UrbanTeaching ResidencyPartnership grant.

• Cynthia Anne RoseOgden (’75), Queens-town, Md. She earned herdegree in speech pathol-ogy from North Texasand had taught in Kauf-man and Mesquite.

• Linda Lee Thrones-bery Kraeger (’77M.B.A., ’92 M.A.), Knox-ville, Tenn. An authorand humanitarian, shedied after a shooting at aKnoxville church. Shewas an English instructorat Grayson County Col-lege in Denison for 25years and served as thenational president ofSigma Kappa Delta Eng-lish Honor Society, estab-lishing its first nationalliterary magazine. AtUNT, she wrote her thesison Dostoevsky’s idea ofthe origin of human eviland co-wrote a book on

the subject. She also pub-lished works on earlyChristianity and theolo-gian Roger Williams.

• Weldon Flanery (’78M.P.A.), Haslet. Heserved as clerk and treas-urer for the city ofDeQueen, Ark., beforemoving to Texas wherehe worked for the city ofDallas for 30 years. Asvice president of Foun-dation DevelopmentConsultants Inc., hehelped school districtsestablish education foun-dations. He also workedfor Threshold LandServices.

1990s

• Camille Stout (’91),Dallas. After earning herdegree in advertising art,she had a career as anadvertising executive. Sheloved all animals, espe-cially dogs.

• Charles John Hearn(’97 M.S.), Bedford. Hewas employed as a clini-cal research scientist byCovance PharmaceuticalCo. He enjoyed hunting.

2000s

• Daniel MichaelHenry, Denton. He was aphysics doctoral studentand teaching assistantwho had attended UNTsince 1999. In addition toastronomy, he enjoyedgaming and comics andwas a member of theDallas-Fort Worth areashadow cast for the RockyHorror Picture Show.

• Hazel Harvey Peace,Fort Worth, namesake ofthe School of Library and

Information SciencesHazel Harvey PeaceProfessorship in Chil-dren’s Library Services.Peace, 101, receivedUNT’s HonoraryAlumna Award in 2005.She worked for morethan four decades atI.M. Terrell High Schoolas a teacher, counselor,dean of girls and viceprincipal and laterworked at Bishop Col-lege in Dallas for nineyears. She also taughtsummers at Paul QuinnCollege in Waco,Huston-Tillotson Col-lege in Austin andPrairie View A&M Uni-versity in Prairie View.She was a stong propo-nent of education andliteracy, known for herwork promoting readingamong young children.The UNT professorshipis the first at a four-year

public institution inTexas named for anAfrican Americanwoman.

• James Anderson Reid(’76 Ph.D.), Albu-querque, N.M., directorof development, 1971-1979. He taught inPasadena and Midlandschools and worked indevelopment at South-western University andthe University of Texasbefore joining NorthTexas. In addition toconsulting work andteaching, he wrote poetry and prose,including a children’sbook, and was involvedwith several performingarts organizations. Hewas an avid canineenthusiast and had alove of classical music,regularly attending theSanta Fe Opera. �

Fall 2008 45

UniversityCommunity

Mack D. Vaughan Jr.Professor Emeritus of art

Mack D. Vaughan Jr. (’42, ’49 M.A.), 87,Professor Emeritus of art who worked at NorthTexas from 1965 to 1989, died June 18 inDenton.

He earned his bachelor’s degree at North Texas and served in the U.S. AirForce during World War II before returning for his master’s. He later earneda doctorate from Columbia University.

He taught at Henderson State Teachers College in Arkansas, the LouisianaPolytechnic Institute, the University of Southwestern Louisiana andNortheastern Louisiana State College before joining the art faculty at NorthTexas. He also spent two years in Beirut, Lebanon, introducing an art pro-gram at Ecole des Arts et Metiers, and traveled extensively in the Middle Eastand Europe.

During his tenure as chair of what was then the art department from 1967to 1971, the department added undergraduate and graduate courses tobegin offering art history and bachelor of fine arts degrees. Also during thattime, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the offeringof the doctorate, and plans for a new art building were begun.

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

eagletale

Note to students:

For students living away from homefor the first time this fall, learning theropes of college life can be filled withtrial and error. But these words ofadvice, posted by alumni on the UNThome page at the start of the semester,may help new students avoid a few pit-falls. Read here what lessons alumnilearned from their college experiencesand visit www.unt.edu/northtexan formore stories.

ead the assigned material inyour textbook before you go to

class. As a result, you will be able toask informed questions and connectthe loose ends.

— Steven Miller

Represent yourself well while atUNT. Your fellow “Eagle” now maywell be a co-worker or a boss one day.Conduct yourself accordingly.

— Daryeljr

If you meet the love of your lifeeither at UNT or outside of schooland you’re close to graduating, finishyour degree before you get married. ...I was three semesters away from grad-uating when I dropped out in 2000. Ifinally went back and graduated in2004! However, young married lifeand children would have been a loteasier had I simply graduated first.

— Joe316

Party wisely. … If you know youhave to take an exam the next day,save the partying for the next week-end. … Develop a good relationship

with your professors. … Start makingconnections now. Even if you are justa first semester freshman, startattending professional meetings, con-tacting professionals in your field andbuilding up your network. The moreyou build it up, the more likely youare to get a job straight out of college,and the more likely you are to get aninternship while you are in college.

— Joyful2008

The best advice I could give a newstudent is do not get hooked by thecredit card companies when they sendpreapproved card offers to you. Useyour credit wisely.

— GlennK

The best advice I could give to newUNT students is study, study, study.Read what is assigned and study foryour exams. That’s all there is to it. Ifyou work well with others, start orfind a study group. … Take breaks.You need to take a break from study-ing so that you do not get overloaded.

Relax. The University Union offerssnacks around midterms and finalsweeks. Get involved in groups andstudent organizations. This will helpwith networking as well. Attend thecareer fairs and use the Career Center.Use the Student Health and WellnessCenter. … Enjoy your time at UNT.College is a place for learning andgrowing, and your experience at UNTwill help you achieve just that.

— UNTGrad2008

I’ve been back at UNT for a yearnow, and I’m really enjoying it, but Iwish I’d never dropped out 20 yearsago. …The biggest mistake I madewas dropping out for an airline jobwhen I had 100 hours of credit. Thelesson I learned was don’t go for theeasy money and let go of the degree,because we all know what has hap-pened to the airlines. At the very least,make sure you get that degree, thengo play.

— 1982geezer

R

46 The North Texan

Go to class, study, beware of credit cards

Li Fan

New students sign the official roster for the Class of 2012 at New StudentConvocation Aug. 24.

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:26 AM

University Relations, Communications and Marketing1155 Union Circle #311070Denton, Texas 76203-5017

FALL NT 2008 11/4/08 9:27 AM

north texan alumni magazine

Documents

mean green nation

able green issue

green maniaspirit spreads

mean greenwedding

new educators

greennessthe summer

week andthe cover

erin pettitfall nt