Alumni
News and information about alumni activities and accomplishments.
Academic Bridge Inspires Student to Give Back to Schoolchildren
Alumna Sandra Martinez has made a few journeys in her young life, beginning with a move from Dallas to Mexico when she was 4 years old and a return in middle school. Coming out of high school, Martinez wasn't sure how she could afford to go to college. but UT Dallas' Academic Bridge program helped her see the career she is now embarking upon. read more
Ring Ceremony Creates New Tradition at University's Iconic Trellis
The ring ceremony took on a new tradition this year when students dipped their rings in a pool, symbolically covering the ring and themselves in UT Dallas pride. The ceremony took place on the recently redesigned mall, surrounded by trees beneath the University's iconic trellis. read more
Legendary TV Anchor, McDermott Scholars Among Alumni Honored at University's 10th Awards Gala
The University recently celebrated its exceptional alumni and community leaders at the 10th annual Awards Gala. Honorees included a legendary TV news anchor, the Eugene McDermott Scholars Program Alumni and an alumnus who traveled all the way from Taiwan. Former CBS 11 news anchor Tracy Rowlett MA’80 and six others were honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award. read more
AT&T Gifts Make an Aesthetic Addition to UT Dallas Campus
The University recently received three works of art from the AT&T Corporate Art Collection. The large-scale pieces, done by 20th-century American artists, include work in various media. read more
Alumna Works for Peace in World's Newest Country
Little did UT Dallas alumna Tiffany Ornelas know that her campus leadership experience would prepare her for a humanitarian role that has taken her to the world's newest country, South Sudan, where she has helped mediate a conflict between feuding states. Ornelas, who earned her M.A. in public affairs and B.A. in political science from the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences, is an international civilian peacekeeper with Nonviolent Peaceforce, a non-governmental organization. read more
UTeach Alumnus Works to Build Science Excitement
UTeach alumnus Gianfranco Herrera knows kids can be a tough crowd or even laugh if he has trouble with one of his science demonstrations. But more often than not, they're in awe. Franco is one of the first graduates of UTeach Dallas, a University program launched in 2008 to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors interested in becoming new secondary science or mathematics teachers. read more
Surgeon Started Career Journey in UT Dallas Class 3 Decades Ago
In her office, just a block from San Francisco’s famed Union Square, plastic surgeon Dr. Usha Rajagopal BS’82 is at the pinnacle of a career that began with a cell biology class at UT Dallas. “This was an incredibly demanding class,” she explained. “It was taught by Dr. Jost Kemper, who was equally demanding but in a highly encouraging way. I learned so much in that class, about cell biology and also about myself.” read more
Management Alumnus Provides Winning Suggestion
A tip from an alumnus turned into $10,000 for a team of UT Dallas Naveen Jindal School of Management students recently when they won the inaugural healthcare case competition organized by insurer and medical services provider Humana Inc. MBA graduate Adam Rivon immediately thought of his alma mater when he learned that his employer, Humana, was launching an annual contest to gauge graduate students’ abilities to build viable business opportunities from healthcare challenges. read more
Alumna Redesigning Game Plan for Youths in Sports
A postgraduate scholarship is helping power a UT Dallas alumna’s plan to use sports to help youths excel in all avenues of life. Simone Jackson recently won the John McLendon Postgraduate Scholarship, presented to minority students pursuing graduate studies in athletics administration. Jackson, who played basketball for the Comets when she wasn't busy working toward two accounting degrees, will use the scholarship to pursue a career in sports business management with an emphasis on the social impact of sports. read more
3 Alumni, Veteran Announcer Added to Athletic Hall of Honors
Three leading student-athletes from the University’s past, along with longtime broadcaster Bill Mercer, have been inducted into the UT Dallas Athletic Hall of Honors. Mercer, who has served as a public address announcer and radio broadcaster for UT Dallas Athletics since 2006, was honored along with former men’s soccer standout Ali Morshedi, women’s soccer record-setter Natalie Taylor Crittenden, and Daci DeLeon, the most dominating pitcher in UT Dallas softball history. read more
Alumni at Ericsson Get an Update on Tier One
UT Dallas graduates and student interns who work at Ericsson recently joined President David E. Daniel for an update on the University's progress toward becoming a Tier One research university. read more
Alumni Start-Up Success? There's an App for That
A recent UT Dallas graduate is making a splash in the ever-growing world of application development for mobile devices. George Mavromaras now runs a small start-up company called Mavro Inc. that markets mobile applications intended for healthcare workers. read more
UT Dallas to Honor Key Supporter and 9 Accomplished Alumni
UT Dallas will honor nine alumni and one of its most ardent community supporters at the University’s annual Awards Gala on March 31. The University began recognizing graduates with the Distinguished Alumni Award 10 years ago. Now several hundred alumni and friends attend the gala that also features the Green and Orange Award for Alumni Service and the Gifford K. Johnson Community Leadership Award. read more
Former Legislator Named A&H Alumnus of the Year
Former state representative and current chancellor of the Texas State University System Brian McCall was named the 2010 Arts and Humanities Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. McCall, who received his PhD in Humanities-Aesthetic Studies from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2006, has been a longtime friend of higher education. read more
UT Dallas Rises in Kiplinger’s Public University Rankings
The University of Texas at Dallas is one of the 100 best values among public colleges in the United States, according to Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine. The annual public school rankings appear in Kiplinger’s February 2011 issue, available today online and on newsstands. read more
Grads' Business Idea: A Mailbox Without Junk Mail
Two recent UT Dallas graduates have gone into business to help clients stop junk mail. Former Student Government President Steven Rosson and former McDermott Scholar Paul Ingram have created a company to eliminate identity theft, frustration and eco-waste by canceling the delivery of phone books, pre-approved credit offers and dozens of other types of junk mail for residential customers. read more
Alumni Judges Make a Case for Pre-Law Program
A growing number of alumni have achieved success as judges and reconnected with UT Dallas to impart their wisdom to younger students in the Pre-law Program. As the program has grown stronger, its results have, too. read more
UT Dallas Inducts 6 into Athletic Hall of Honors
The UT Dallas Department of Intercollegiate Athletics inducted its largest group ever into its Hall of Honors on Wednesday night, with six new members joining as the Class of 2010. Athletic program contributor/advocate Leo Eveleth, longtime Head Athletic Trainer Larry Gardner and former soccer players Chris Nelson and Katie Johnson were inducted along with Gordon Walters and Shaunna Lawrence Lynch, the honors program’s first former student-athletes from baseball and softball. read more
Alumnus Chosen for List of Best Public Officials
Governing magazine has named Rep. Jerry Madden, a Texas state legislator and a UT Dallas alumnus, Public Official of the Year. The national publication recognized eight government leaders, including Madden and Sen. John Whitmire of Houston, who were chosen for their team effort to make rehabilitation treatment available to prison inmates and help prevent prison population growth. read more
Financial Oversight is Good Business for '84 Grad
For most of the corporate world, the 2002 passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act—powerful legislation that reformed business practices—brought a deluge of pressure and scrutiny. For Karin French, it meant the start of a new career. “You could say the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley created an entirely new industry,” French explains. And French, who had earned a master's in accounting at UT Dallas in 1984, carved herself a niche right at the center. read more
A Happy Return: Career Decision Rewards Alumnus
During the summer of 2005, Timothy Hise (BA ’05) had a life-altering decision to make. While a UT Dallas Archer Fellow interning with the U.S. Department of Education, he was offered a full-time position working with non-profits and businesses to support education initiatives. Hise, who had long been fascinated by the public education system, would be able to start his career at the nexus of politics and pedagogy. There was one problem. “I just didn’t feel right,” recalls Hise. “I was in D.C. and I felt in my heart that I needed to be back in Dallas.” read more
Seeing a Bright Future in Flexible Light Screens
If you don’t know what OLED means, Rick McCullough (BS '82) promises that you will soon. As vice president for research at Carnegie Mellon University, McCullough bases this prediction on a lifelong career as both scientist and successful entrepreneur. An internationally recognized expert in conductive polymer technology, McCullough turned a laboratory discovery into a spinoff company in 2002. read more
Shared Goals Bring Alumna and UTeach Together
Shared goals recently brought UTeach Dallas and Melendy Lovett together. As president of Texas Instruments’ Education Technology business, Lovett is knee deep in improving math and science education for today’s schoolchildren and young adults. The partnership resulted in a TI gift-in-kind of training, and classroom technology including calculators and projectors for UTeach, the University's initiative to increase the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics majors interested in becoming new secondary science or mathematics teachers.
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Recent Grads Report Hiring on With Top Employers
Despite the slack economy, plenty of recent UT Dallas graduates have snagged jobs at the likes of Microsoft, Sabre Holdings and other leading employers. Nikunj Khankhanwala, who received his master's in electrical engineering in the spring, is now a radio-frequency design engineer at Research In Motion. read more
Swimmer Braves Murky Loch Ness for Charity
One summer after her solo English Channel crossing, Sophie Rutenbar has again boldly gone where few have swum before her. The UT Dallas alumna joined five other long-distance swimmers in a relay crossing of Scotland's fabled Loch Ness to raise money for the Afghan Mother and Child Rescue charity. The six women traversed the 23-mile length of the lake in 13 hours and 23 minutes.
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Alumna’s Success as a PR Exec Speaks for Itself
Jennifer Pascal’s (MPA’98) successful career as executive vice president of Allyn Media is based on a track record of precision, of knowing exactly what to say and when to say it. But Pascal questions where her composure was 14 years ago when she was a UT Dallas student giving a mock mayoral speech in front of her class. “I was just paralyzed. I had no idea what the heck I was doing.” Embarrassed, Pascal froze but was roused back to speaking by a round of “you-can-do-its” from some supportive classmates. “Now I truly enjoy public speaking,” said Pascal, who has worked at the Dallas-based public relations firm for more than a decade. read more
UT Dallas Grad’s Photos Win Awards for Quirkiness
Photographer Carlo Zinzi only recently graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas with an MFA in Arts and Technology (ATEC), but he is already making his mark on the art world with his surreal take on Americana. Zinzi, who imbues his work with a sense of humor and whimsy, was awarded the Juror’s Selection Award in Consumption, an exhibition that ran this month at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado. The winning image, Resort, depicts a hot dog, a recurring theme in Zinzi’s work, soaring through a garden. read more
Alumni at Home in Thriving Neurotechnology Firm
In an office building flanked by a strip mall and a gas station on Greenville Avenue, UT Dallas alumni Chris Heydrick (BS ’06) and Damon Gee (MS ’06) work closely with what is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading devices for analyzing the brain and other parts of the nervous system. Gee spends most of his days on the road, selling Plexon’s products to labs around the world. Heydrick is more comfortable fiddling with computer wires and complicated technical quandaries. read more
Artist Mixes Meaning into Her Cupcake Creations
UT Dallas alumna and artist Leah Foster has organized an exhibition at a local gallery made entirely of cupcakes. Foster, who graduated from UT Dallas in December with a bachelor’s degree in art and performance, bakes dozens (and dozens) of the treats and puts them to novel uses in her work. Her creations serve her mission of exploring gender and body image expectations fashioned by the mass media. read more
Master’s Degree is 8th for Management School Alumnus
For 45-year-old Dale Brimer, it started with a class. That led to more classes. And more classes. Until finally, Brimer recently completed almost every master’s level degree the UT Dallas School of Management offers. The first time he stepped onto campus in 2005, Brimer was newly out of a job and fresh out of ideas on what to do after a 20-year career in IT for Texas Instruments, Eastman Kodak and Ericsson. “I went back to school to figure out what I should do with the rest of my life,” he said. read more
Single Mom's Success Started at UT Dallas
As a 17-year-old freshman, Jennine Lunceford had the typical college pressures, but she was also sharing her Waterview Park apartment with her precocious 1-year-old daughter, Lucy. The duo aced their way through UT Dallas and then headed to Harvard. read more
Alumnus Wins Guggenheim for Photography Research
Writer and folklorist Alan Govenar, who earned his doctorate in arts and humanities at UT Dallas, has received a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to support research for his upcoming exhibition “The Folk Art of Community Photography.” The project is related to an exhibition he is curating “Jasper, Texas: The Community Photographs of Alonzo Jordan,” which opens in January at the International Center of Photography in New York City. read more
Gala Celebrates Alumni Accomplishments
Eight alumni and two of UT Dallas’ most ardent supporters were honored in front of a crowd of nearly 300 at the University’s annual Awards Gala held earlier this month. Sara T. Martineau and Angel Ruiz received the new Gifford K. Johnson Community Leadership Award — named for the former president of the Southwest Center for Advanced Studies, the institution that became UT Dallas in 1969. Alumni received the traditional Distinguished Alumni Award and the Green & Orange Award for Alumni Service. read more
Alumni Award Recipients and New Leadership Honor Announced
UT Dallas has announced the recipients to be honored at the University’s annual Awards Gala April 1. Eight alumni will be honored. New this year is the Gifford K. Johnson Community Leadership Award, bestowed on non-alumni who have evolved as passionate supporters and advocates for UT Dallas. read more
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