Distinguished Alumni 2007
Gala | Distinguished Alumni Honorees | Criteria | Nomination Form
Michael R. Baylor ‘69
Michael R. Baylor worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and its predecessor firms for almost 37 years before retiring at the end of 2005. He then went to work part time for his favorite charity, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Fort Worth. He is a 1969 graduate of the College of Business Administration with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and was most valuable player in the Pecan Bowl, when he quarterbacked UT Arlington to the college division national championship in 1967. A past president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, Baylor has served as an advisory director to the Department of Accounting for more than 10 years and was the primary liaison between UT Arlington and PricewaterhouseCoopers for student recruiting. He joined PwC out of college, became a partner in 1979 and oversaw the tax practice for the Fort Worth office from 1981 until retirement. He currently is community relations director for the Boys & Girls Clubs. He has two children and two grandchildren, and he and his wife, Marsha, live in Arlington.
Lillie M. Biggins ‘75
Lillie M. Biggins is vice president of operations at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth and an adjunct faculty member at UT Arlington. She is a graduate of the School of Nursing, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1975. She received a master’s degree from Texas Woman’s University in 1981. A 31-year veteran of health care and community volunteerism, she has served on numerous councils, boards, committees and professional organizations. Currently, she serves as vice chair of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport board and chairs the Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County board and the American Cancer Society board. In 2006 she received the country’s highest honor for volunteer service, the President’s Volunteer Service Award. With more than 23,000 hours of community service, she was recognized by President George W. Bush for a spirit that encourages others to get involved in their communities through volunteer work. She and her husband, James, live in Fort Worth. They have four children and 10 grandchildren.
Maj. Gen. Charles C. Cannon Jr. ‘67
Maj. Gen. Charles C. Cannon Jr. is the LOGCAP (Logistics Civil Augmentation Program) program manager for DynCorp International, providing logistics services to the Army worldwide. He commanded at all levels through major general and held key logistics staff positions on the Army and Joint staffs. He received his bachelor’s degree in history from the College of Liberal Arts in 1967 and holds a master’s degree in logistics management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Cannon served in five Army divisions, with overseas assignments in Vietnam, Hawaii, Korea, Croatia and three tours in Germany. In 1992 he was promoted to brigadier general and assumed command of the 3d Corps Support Command in Wiesbaden, Germany. After being promoted to major general, he was selected to command the IFOR (Implementation Force) Support Command in Zagreb, Croatia. He has been inducted into the Army Quartermaster Hall of Fame, the highest honor a quartermaster officer can receive, and has received numerous honors, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal. He and his wife, Karen, live in Fort Worth. They have two children and two grandchildren.
Lu Pham ‘87
Lu Pham is managing partner for Lynn Pham & Ross, LLP, the largest labor and employment boutique law firm in Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the College of Liberal Arts in 1987 and three years later a law degree from The University of Texas Law School. He has been admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, all federal district courts in Texas and the Texas Supreme Court. A former municipal judge for Grand Prairie, he was named to Texas Monthly’s Super Lawyer list for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Pham received the Best Under 40 Award from the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and initiated the first American Bar Association delegation to Vietnam in 1997. He serves on an advisory committee to UT Arlington President James D. Spaniolo on diversity and international understanding. He and his wife, Anna, who received her master’s degree in social work from UT Arlington in 1998, live in Fort Worth and have two children.
Phil Porter ‘90
For 17 years, Phil Porter has been a full-time volunteer counselor at Venture School, an alternative school in Arlington that students can choose to attend if they have dropped out of high school. A farm boy from Sherman, Texas, he joined the Marines in 1943 and served on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima during World War II. He received his bachelor’s degree in dairy science from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) in 1950 and for 30 years edited Dairymen’s Digest, a dairy farmer’s magazine. At age 60 he enrolled in UT Arlington and received his master’s degree from the School of Social Work in 1990, 40 years after he earned his bachelor’s. Porter has received the President’s Call to Service Award for 15,000 hours of volunteer service. He was named Outstanding Volunteer in Texas in 1995 and has received numerous other volunteer awards. His book, The Route to Happiness, was published in 2004.He and his wife, Fran, live in Arlington. They have three children and two grandchildren.
Dan G. Sefko ‘77, ‘81
Dan G. Sefko is president of Dunkin, Sefko & Associates, an urban planning consulting firm in Dallas. He received his bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1977, and in 1981 his master’s of city and regional planning from the School of Urban and Public Affairs. He started with Dunkin, Sefko & Associates in 1982 and became president in 1996. He has chaired the Texas Chapter of the American Planning Association Educational Foundation, which promotes education in urban planning and provides scholarships to UT Arlington students. Sefko’s expertise is in comprehensive/long-range planning, zoning and subdivision ordinances, special land use and transportation studies, school enrollment studies, park and open space master planning, and land use assumptions for impact fee programs. He has prepared a wide variety of such planning projects for more than 75 Texas municipalities and has received awards from several cities for outstanding planning. He and his wife, Sherry, who received her bachelor’s and her master’s degrees from UT Arlington, live in Dallas and have one daughter.
Terry D. Steelman ‘77
Terry D. Steelman is executive principal and director of design for Ballinger Architects in Philadelphia. He received his bachelor’s degree in the School of Architecture in 1977 and his master’s of architecture from Washington University in St. Louis in 1982. In 1988 he became chair of the Syracuse University Foreign Studies Program in Florence, Italy. In 1991 he received the Progressive Architecture Award for his work on the Samsung America office building in Piscataway, N.J., an honor that goes to the best internationally recognized projects. He has served as Philadelphia chapter president for the American Institute of Architects and has received numerous awards for projects such as the Cornell University East Campus Research Facility, the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia research building, the College of Engineering building at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J., and the Hall for Life Sciences at Brown University in Providence, R.I. He has three children, and he and his wife, Mary, live in Philadelphia.
Dr. Wesley A. Wampler ‘87, ‘95
Dr. Wesley A. Wampler is vice president for research and development at Sid Richardson Carbon and Energy Co. in Fort Worth. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Tarleton State University in 1981, he received his master’s in organic chemistry in 1987 and his Ph.D. in applied chemistry in 1995 from the UT Arlington College of Science. He has worked for Sid Richardson Carbon and Energy since 1985, serving in his current capacity since 2002. He is responsible for directing activities in product development, research and quality control. Dr. Wampler received the Award of Appreciation from the American Society for Testing and Materials for his work in developing carbon black standards. He serves on the education committee and program planning committee of the American Chemical Society’s Rubber Division and has chaired eight ACS symposiums. He is active with the Boy Scouts of America, serving as a cubmaster, assistant scoutmaster and on the Eagle Board of Review. He has coached soccer and is currently coaching a paintball team. He and his wife, Dorothy, live in Weatherford and have two children.
Kelcy L. Warren ‘78
Kelcy L. Warren is CEO and chairman of Energy Transfer in Dallas. He received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the College of Engineering in 1978 and has more than 25 years experience in the energy industry. He and Ray Davis founded Energy Transfer in 1996 and began to aggregate underperforming natural gas assets with a plan to turn them into efficient, profitable systems. Energy Transfer has approximately 15,000 miles of natural gas gathering and transportation pipelines, plus natural gas treating and processing assets, as well as three natural gas storage facilities, located mostly in Texas. Energy Transfer is the third largest distributor of propane in the United States and was the first company to lay a 42-inch-diameter pipeline in the state. From 1992 to 1996, Warren served as president, chief operating officer and director of Cornerstone Natural Gas. He is a longtime sponsor of the American Diabetes Association and has established a scholarship for UT Arlington engineering students. He lives in Dallas and has a son, Klyde.
Master of Ceremonies: Daniel Kauth ‘84
Daniel Kauth is senior business development manager for Haworth in Dallas and Fort Worth. He is a 1984 marketing graduate of the College of Business Administration. In 19 years in the contract furniture industry, he has worked with numerous companies, including Texas Instruments, SBC, Ericsson, i2 Technologies and Baylor Healthcare. Prior to Haworth, he held sales and marketing positions with Kimball Office, Steelcase, Herman Miller, Collins&Aikman and Goldsmiths. He received the UT Arlington Distinguished Alumni Service Award in 1995 and is a past president of the Alumni Association, Maverick Club and Friends of the UT Arlington Libraries.
