Distinguished Alumni 2006
Gala | Distinguished Alumni Honorees | Criteria | Nomination Form
School of Architecture
Mojy Haddad is co-founder and president of CHS Architects, established in Arlington in 1984 to provide architectural services for commercial projects. He is also the founder and president of Oakhollow Group, a commercial real estate company established in the late 1980s. Through both companies, he has designed and built several million square feet of commercial projects in the United States, Japan, Australia, Mexico and Canada. Haddad earned three UT Arlington degrees: a bachelor’s in architecture in 1977 and master’s degrees in architecture and in city and regional planning in 1981. He has served on numerous boards in Arlington and is chair-elect of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
Department of Athletics
David L. Webster has been president and CEO at Arlington-based Kinro for 27 years. Kinro manufactures aluminum and vinyl windows and doors for recreational vehicles, manufactured homes and modular housing. He is a member of the board of directors for Drew Industries, of which Kinro is a subsidiary. He helped pioneer the move from awning-type windows to a lower-cost slider window and was an early proponent of bay windows. Webster attended Arlington State College (now UT Arlington) when it was a two-year school from 1955-57 and again in 1959-60. He played offensive end and defensive back on the Junior Rose Bowl championship football team in 1956, earning honorable mention Little All-American honors. He was a long jumper on the track team and helped found the Ex-Letterman’s Club.
College of Education
Dr. Melody D. Phillips is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Texas Christian University. She received her bachelor of arts degree in exercise, sport and health studies at UT Arlington in 1994. After earning a master’s degree at TCU and a Ph.D. from Purdue University, she was an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University for three years before returning to TCU. Her research has focused on the immune system and its interaction with exercise and influence on age- or inactivity-related diseases such as atherosclerosis and diabetes in elderly women and young adults. She has received two internal TCU grants to fund a major project beginning this fall. She gives research presentations and lectures both nationally and internationally.
College of Engineering
Lawrence W. Stephens is director of systems engineering for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, which develops and produces advanced weapon systems for the Department of Defense and international customers. With more than 30 years of project management experience in aircraft, space and missile systems development, he manages 430 technical specialists at the Dallas-based operation. He also oversees systems engineering activities at three other company locations. Stephens received two degrees in aerospace engineering from UT Arlington, a bachelor’s in 1972 and a master’s in 1979. An associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the institute. He also teaches engineering and management topics in the Lockheed Martin Leadership Development Program.
Honors College
Susan M. Ponce was appointed senior vice president, commercial law, for Halliburton’s Energy Services Group (ESG) in February. Based in Houston, she acts as the general counsel for the oilfield services legal function, leading 30 lawyers and 13 offices worldwide. Previously, she oversaw the international commercial legal function for ESG and led the company’s Environmental Law Practice Group. She is a past chair of the American Bar Association Section of Energy, Environment and Resources’ Ethics Committee. Ponce earned her bachelor’s degree from UT Arlington in 1985 before graduating from The University of Texas School of Law in 1988. In 1990 she received a master of laws degree with merit from the University of London.
College of Liberal Arts
Timothy A. Westmoreland is a visiting assistant professor of creative writing at Indiana University. He received his bachelor’s degree in English at UT Arlington in 1992 and his M.F.A. in creative writing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1999. Westmoreland began teaching writing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1993 and is still listed on the faculty there. He has taught in the Amherst College EXCEL program since 1998. During the 2003-04 academic year, he was a visiting writer at Hampshire College, and for the last two years he was visiting associate professor of fiction writing at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. A prolific writer, his collection of short stories, Good As Any, was selected by Amazon.com as one of the top books of the year in 2002.
Department of Military Science
Col. Joel H. Ward (Ret.) received his bachelor’s degree in history from Arlington State College (now UT Arlington) in 1962. A distinguished military graduate, he was commissioned as an Army second lieutenant in January 1963 and served two combat tours in Vietnam, advising Vietnamese forces in 1965-66 and 1969-70. While there, he was awarded three Bronze Stars (one for valor) along with numerous other medals and citations. He served in the Pentagon and commanded a battalion in Germany before returning to UT Arlington in 1984 as the professor of military science. After retiring from the military in 1988, he was a bank consultant and vice president of information technology for Bank of America until 2003. In 1993 he was inducted into the UT Arlington Military Science Hall of Honor.
School of Nursing
Corrine M. Anderson is an advanced practice nurse for palliative care management at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth. She became a registered nurse in 1961, received her bachelor’s degree in nursing from UT Arlington in 1985 and earned her master’s in 1999, which lead to certification as a geriatric nurse practitioner. Her nursing practice areas were varied until she entered hospice and palliative care 20 years ago. Anderson was one of six nurses selected from across the country in 1994 to develop a national certification program for hospice and palliative nurses. She was the founding president of the Fort Worth chapter of the Hospice and Palliative Care Association. In 2004 the Texas Partnership for End of Life Care honored her as a Texas Champion for End of Life Care.
College of Science
Dr. Dwight P. Lawson is vice president of animal programs and science at Zoo Atlanta. He served as general curator there from 2000 until taking his current position in 2004. He earned his master’s degree in biology from UT Arlington in 1992 and his Ph.D. in quantitative biology from the University in 1999. He has served as an associate research scientist and field project director for the Wildlife Conservation Society in Cameroon, Africa, and was biological curator and live collections manager for the herpetological collection at the UT Arlington Collection of Vertebrates (now the Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center). Lawson is an adjunct professor of biology at Georgia State University and a professional fellow of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.
School of Social Work
Rosalie Budnoff began her social work career in Maine after graduating from Harvard University in 1949 and completing a year of graduate social work studies at Boston University. After time off to raise a family, she enrolled in the School of Social Work at UT Arlington, receiving her M.S.S.W. with the first graduating class in 1970. She spent 13 years with the Dallas City Dental Health Program, writing grants to expand dental services for low-income Dallasites and creating innovative community dental health education/disease prevention activities. Later she became a consultant to several public health programs and an investigator for Child Protective Services. Since retiring in 2002, she volunteers for a nursing home, an inner-city school and a senior affairs advocacy group and works to strengthen alumni ties to the School of Social Work.
School of Urban and Public Affairs
Dr. Theron L. Bowman is Arlington police chief. He has been with the Arlington Police Department since 1983, working his way through the ranks to become chief in 1999. Since 1990 he has served on the faculty of three local universities, teaching sociology, criminology and criminal justice classes. He has received a Proclamation of Achievement from both the Texas Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2005 he was elected to chair the Texas Intelligence Council and this year began his service as a CALEA commissioner. He received three UT Arlington degrees: a bachelor’s in biology in 1983, a master’s in public administration in 1991 and a doctorate in urban and public administration in 1997.
Distinguished Alumni Service Award
Mary Ann Van Siclen received her M.B.A. from UT Arlington in 1985. Upon graduation, she heard that the College of Business Administration was looking for a representative for the Alumni Association board of directors. She volunteered, was accepted and has spent the last 20 years involved in a variety of activities, from doing volunteer work to serving as president. She and her husband, Bob, have established a scholarship endowment through the Alumni Association for junior and senior students. Retired from Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Van Siclen served as a member of the advisory board and secretary for Theatre Arlington for three years and as a Girl Scout troop leader for 12 years, guiding more than 30 young women as they earned the Gold Award.
