The University of Texas at Arlington

The following individuals were selected by the Alumni Association to recognize outstanding alumni for their individual achievements, contributions to their industries or professions, service to their community and demonstrated loyalty to The University of Texas at Arlington.

Clifford A. Hahne ‘82
Distinguished Alumnus 2010
Clifford A. Hahne ‘82 holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering. He is a regional president for Lehigh Hanson, Inc., North America’s leading supplier of heavy construction materials, including aggregates, cement, concrete, and concrete products. He also serves on the boards of Texas Lehigh Cement LP, American Stone LP in North Carolina, and KSA LP in Ohio. Hahne has worked for Lehigh Hanson for more than 25 years in various leadership roles and has been recognized for his contributions by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Associated General Contractors, and other organizations in the concrete pipe and products industry. He volunteers with the College of Engineering Advisory Board, The Boy Scouts of America, and various school and athletic groups.

Rudy M. Garcia, P.E.
Distinguished Alumni 2009
A 1977 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, Rudy Garcia was the co-founder and president of the LOPEZGARCIA Group, which was purchased by URS in 2008. Mr. Garcia has experience across a broad spectrum of civil engineering practice, including several high-profile projects such as being the civil engineer of record for the Tarrant County College District’s Downtown Campus and the Omni Convention Center Hotel in Fort Worth. Additionally, he managed design review services for the Dallas Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. Mr. Garcia participates in a number of professional and civic organizations, including the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. 

Jeffrey O. Smith
Distinguished Alumnus 2008
Jeffrey Smith is founder and CEO of Ublip, which develops tracking software for global positioning systems. A graduate of the College of Engineering, he received a master’s degree in 1988 and a Ph.D. in 2004, both in computer science and engineering. In 1993 he co-founded and served as president and CEO of OnRamp Technologies, a leading Internet service provider that grew into one of the largest web-hosting companies in the world. In 2002 he founded and became chief technical officer of SensorLogic, one of the industry’s first telemetry service providers. He also is founder of EntreCorps.org, an Internet-based initiative to leverage successful entrepreneurs’ mental and material assets on behalf of poor countries. Dr. Smith recently received the Kauffman Foundation’s Community Award for his entrepreneurial success in business, education and social involvement. A church mission trip to Honduras in 2002 led him to develop self-help programs for the citizens of Magote, a Honduran mountain village.

Gloria Gatlin Bender
Distinguished Alumna Service Award 2008
Gloria Bender is founder and co-owner of Fort Worth-based TransSolutions, LLC, a transportation consulting firm. A graduate of the College of Engineering, she received a bachelor’s degree in 1982 and a master’s degree in 1988, both in industrial engineering. She chaired the first Distinguished Alumni Gala that honored one graduate from each UT Arlington college and school, a dramatic change from previous events. She served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1990-2000, holding every elected office, and she currently serves on the UT Arlington Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Advisory Council and the Development Board. An expert in airport baggage systems, terminal planning and security, she is a fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers, a former chair of the Airports Council International-North America Board of Directors and an active member of two Transportation Research Board committees. She has lectured in the University of California at Berkeley Airport Planning Course for more than 10 years.

Kelcy L. Warren
Distinguished Alumnus 2007
Kelcy Warren is president and C.E.O. of Energy Transfer Partners, LLP. He received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1978 and has more than 25 years experience in the energy industry. From 1992 to 1996, Warren served as president, chief operating officer and director of Cornerstone Natural Gas. He and a partner founded Energy Transfer Partners in 1996 and began to aggregate underperforming natural gas assets with a plan to turn them into efficient, profitable systems. Energy Transfer currently 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.

Lawrence L. Stephens
Distinguished Alumnus 2006
Larry 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.

Gary Trietsch
Distinguished Alumnus 2005
Gary Trietsch has been district engineer for the Houston District of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) since 1995. He joined TxDOT's Fort Worth district in 1967, working summers and part time while pursuing his degree at UT Arlington. He received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1970 and a master's degree in 1974. In 1992, he became director of the Safety and Maintenance Operations Division in Austin. In 1996, he was named Transportation Engineer of the Year and in 2005 Houston Engineer of the Year. Trietsch oversees a construction letting that has grown from $400 million to $1 billion annually and right-of-way purchases that have increased to more than $100 million a year.

Michael S. Greene
Distinguished Alumnus 2004
Mike Green is the chairman and chief executive officer of TXU Power, the generation subsidiary of TXU, a company with which he has 35 years of experience. He graduated from UTA in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, and his tenure began that year at Texas Electric Service Co. in the power department as a junior engineer. He has held several positions at TXU, including power sales representative, plant superintendent, general manager of engineering, vice president of marketing and president of electric transmission. In 2003, he became president of the Oncor Group, consisting of Oncor Electric Delivery and TXU Gas, before assuming his current position in May 2004.

George F. Pickett
Distinguished Alumnus 2003
George Pickett is the retired founder, chairman and CEO of Atlantic Southeast Airlines. After graduating from Arlington State College (now UTA) with a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering in 1967, he went to work for Southern Airways, a local service airline based in Atlanta. Under his marketing direction, the airline's 1975 television ads became famous, winning three Clio awards, including best overall television commercial of the year. In 1979, he and two other Southern employees founded Atlantic Southeast Airlines. ASA began its most dramatic growth in 1984 when it solidified became Delta Airlines' first Delta Connection carrier. Today, ASA operates more than 800 daily flights to 100 cities in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas.

Robert C. Davis
Distinguished Alumnus 2002
Dr. Robert C. Davis is a senior geotechnical consultant with Trinity Engineering/Kleinfelder, a geotechnical, materials and environmental engineering firm in Austin. He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from UTA in 1970, followed by a master's in 1971 and a doctorate in 1973. He has served as the principal investigator, project manager and consultant for thousands of geotechnical projects, including residential subdivisions, commercial shopping and retail centers, office buildings, high-rise office towers, manufacturing plants, industrial facilities and public works. Dr. Davis is a member of the National Society of Professional Engineers, the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

James Royce Lummus Jr.
Distinguished Alumnus 2001
James Royce Lummus Jr., a member of the UTA College of Engineering Hall of Achievement, graduated in 1972 with a master's degree in aerospace engineering. He returned to earn a Ph.D. in the same discipline in 1980. Dr. Lummus is the director of cross-product integration operations and advanced development programs at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., where he is responsible for operational management of product improvements and derivatives programs for the company's aircraft systems product lines. He supervises a staff of 600-800 at three locations. He is also president and partner of Consulting Services International, based in Fort Worth.

Walter Sonneborn
Distinguished Alumnus 2000
Walter Sonneborn graduated from UTA in 1968 with a Master's degree in engineering. He began his career as a research engineer in Germany at the Institute for Flight Mechanical of the German DFVLR, Stuttgart, and has since amassed more than 36 years of experience in all aspects of rotary wing engineering. Upon completion of his work in Germany, he moved to Bell Helicopter Textron in Fort Worth as a flight test engineer. He progressed to chief research engineer and director of advanced technology programs and eventually served as the deputy for design engineering to the senior vice president for research and engineering. Sonneborn in now the company's vice president for product strategy and management. A fellow of the American Helicopter Society, he currently serves as the society's technical director. He is a graduate of the Program for Senior Executives at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School.

Dick Moeller
Distinguished Alumnus 1999
Dick Moeller graduated from UTA in 1967. His career included 12 years with Texas Instruments and seven years as founder and president of ProfitMaster Computer Systems, Inc. In 1989, he joined Austin-based VTEL Corp. as president and chief executive officer. Under his decade-long leadership, the company has grown to include 650 employees and $200 million in annual revenues. With VTEL moving into the leading ranks of the video-conferencing industry, in 1998 Moeller became a partner in SSM Ventures, a venture capital investment firm, where he specialized in communications, Internet and software opportunities with emerging growth companies. In addition to his work in Austin's Silicon Hills, Moeller dedicates many hours to civic service and volunteerism. He serves on the board of directors for the Austin area United Way and the Austin Chamber of Commerce, and is involved in numerous other civic activities.

Sam Simonian & Elie Akilian
Distinguished Alumni 1998
Sam Simonian and Elie Akilian both graduated from UTA with degrees in electrical engineering. Family friends who grew up together in Beirut, they left Lebanon as teenagers to escape the country's civil war and eventually came to study at UTA. In 1989, they invested their savings in an idea they and another friend had mapped out on the back of a napkin at a Denny's restaurant late one night. From that late-night encounter, Inet Technologies was born, with Simonian as president and CEO and Akilian as executive vice president. Inet became a multimillion-dollar international company with almost 300 employees, supplying telecommunications products to a customer base that included AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Southwestern Bell and British Telecom. From 1996 to 1997, Inet sales more than doubled, jumping from $17 million to $42 million. The company's success has been recognized with several awards including Dallas' Fastest Growing Company (SMU 1993), Entrepreneurs of the Year ( Inc. Magazine , 1994 Southwest Region), Fastest Revenue Growth Private Company (Dallas Business Journal 1996) and Inc. 500 ( Inc. Magazine 1996)

Jim Oliphant
Distinguished Alumnus 1997
Raytheon TI Systems executive Jim Oliphant earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from UTA in 1965 and completed his master's degree in the same field at Southern Methodist University in 1969. Oliphant currently serves as manager of the Microelectronics Technology Center at Raytheon TI Systems in Dallas. In that capacity, he is responsible for the development of digital signal processors, digital and linear sub micron integrated circuits, hybrid circuits, multichip modules and power supplies. Oliphant has served on the UTA Alumni Association board of directors and as the Raytheon IT Systems coordinator for recruiting at UTA. He is involved in community service with Richardson Pearce High School's Band Club and with Junior Achievement. He is also a member of several professional and engineering organizations including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Epsilon Nu Gamma and Phi Kappa Theta.

T. Anthony Reid
Distinguished Alumnus 1996
T. Anthony Reid, a vice president with Freese & Nichols, Inc., in McAllen, earned his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from UTA in 1965. He continued his education with a master's degree from Colorado State University in 1967. Reid, a member of the Civil Engineering Department Advisory Committee since 1986, is also past president of both the UTA Alumni Association and the UTA Engineering Alumni Association. He is a member of the Texas Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. His awards include a selection as Young Engineer of the Year by the Professional Engineers' Mid-Cities Chapter. As a student, Reid served as escort for Lady Bird Johnson when she and her husband, then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, visited the UTA campus. In his current position with Freese & Nichols, Reid has primary responsibility for the management of approximately one third of the operation.

C. Roland Haden
Distinguished Alumnus 1995
Roland Haden was a member of the first four-year graduation class at Arlington State College (now UTA) in 1961. He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and continued his education by earning a master's degree from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. Haden is vice chancellor and dean of engineering at Texas A&M University and director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station. In 1989, he received the George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation for his innovative private/public sector partnerships. He is a fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Safi Qureshey
Distinguished Alumnus 1993
Safi Qureshey graduated from UTA in 1975 with a degree in electrical engineering after graduating from the University of Karachi in Pakistan with a physics degree in 1971. He is currently President and CEO of AST Research, Inc., a Fortune 500 computer company headquartered in Irvine, Calif. His company was ranked 367 out of 500 companies nationwide, with third-quarter 1993 sales of $370 million and more than $1 billion of sales during the year after its acquisition of Tandy's manufacturing business in July 1993. AST is the fourth largest computer company in the United States and sixth largest in the world.

Dr. C. Marvin Applewhite
Distinguished Alumnus Service Award 1991
C. Marvin Applewhite graduated from UTA with a bachelor's of science degree in Electrical engineering in 1964. He received his master's of science degree and his doctorate in electrical Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1966 and 1969. He was vice president of Texas Instrument's Information Technology Group and manager of TI's Computer Systems division in Austin. Applewhite is a six-year member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and served as Alumni Association president in 1986.

John D. Patterson
Distinguished Alumnus 1991
John Patterson graduated with his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from UTA and his master's and doctorate from UT Austin. Patterson made significant contributions to the development of the personal computer industry. He was responsible for many designs that advanced the technology and made Tandy a major force in the PC industry over the past 15 years. He helped develop UTA's electrical engineering graduate program by initiating several graduate courses in computer logic, design and communications.

J. Jan Collmer
Distinguished Alumnus 1989
Jan Collmer graduated from UTA in 1954 with an associate's degree in mechanical engineering. He then enlisted in the Navy completing flight training in Pensacola, Fla. After serving four years active duty as a fighter pilot he returned to UTA, earning a bachelor's degree in math. After working for Texas Instruments, he went on to work for Varo, Inc., in Garland. He was elected president of Varo in 1976, and started his own business in 1978, Collmer Semiconductor, Inc.

Dr. Glenn Gaustad
Distinguished Alumnus 1988
Dr. Glenn Gaustad was a member of the first graduating class of the department of electrical engineering in 1961 at UTA. Before beginning his graduate work he taught electrical engineering courses at UTA for one year. Dr. Gaustad joined Texas Instruments in 1965 and in 1986, became chairman of the Military components Intracompany Objective. Dr. Gaustad chaired an industrial panel were he was instrumental in securing nearly $1 million in donations and equipment from TI and five other local firms for the purpose of establishing the Center for Advanced Electron Devices and Systems at UTA.

Robert L. Stewart
Distinguished Alumnus 1987
Robert Stewart received a master’s degree in aerospace engineering in 1972.  He became a NASA Astronaut in August 1979. He served as a mission specialist on STS-41B in 1984 and STS-51J in 1985, and logged a total of 289 hours in space, including approximately 12 hours of EVA operations. In 1986, while in training for his scheduled third flight, Col. Stewart was selected for promotion to Brigadier General. Upon accepting this promotion, General Stewart was reassigned from NASA to be the Deputy Commanding General, US Army Strategic Defense Command, in Huntsville, Alabama. In this capacity General Stewart managed research efforts in developing ballistic missile defense technology.

E.D. Scarth
Honorary Distinguished Alumnus 1987
E.D. Scarth, currently Division President of TU Electric earned his B.S. in electrical engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1949. He was a strong influence on the electrical engineering department at UTA where he served on the Electrical Engineering Advisory Committee. He is a registered Professional engineer and a member of both the Texas and National Societies of Professional Engineers.

Dr. Wendell H. Nedderman
Honorary Distinguished Alumnus 1984
Wendell H. Nedderman graduated from Iowa State University with his bachelor's of science in 1943. He returned from WWII and attended Texas A&M University and received his master's of engineering in 1949. In 1951 he earned his doctorate from Iowa State University. He served as the first dean of engineering at UTA from 1959-69. In 1968 he became vice president for academic affairs, serving in that post until 1972. In 1972 he was named acting president, succeeding Jack Woolf. He served as president of UTA for twenty years, until 1992, seeing it through times of explosive growth.

Joseph J. Rady
Honorary Distinguished Alumnus 1982
Joseph Rady was a consultant and chairman emeritus of Rady and Associates Incorporated, a major Fort Worth engineering firm. A longtime supporter of UTA Rady helped lead the drive to obtain four-year senior college status for the then Arlington State Junior College. His service to UTA has included the establishment of the Bettye M. Rady Scholarship Fund for women engineering students, a Civil Engineering endowment fund with Southland Royalty stock, and the funding of a special engineering conference room. Rady has been awarded the Citation for Distinguished Professional Service from the faculty of UTA College of Engineering.

Dr. Mo-Shing Chen
Honorary Distinguished Alumnus 1979
Dr. Mo-Shing Chen came to UTA in 1968 as a professor of electrical engineering. He earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from National Taiwan University, coming to the U.S. to attend UT Austin earning his master's and doctorate in electrical engineering in 1958 and 1962. He is currently Director, Energy Systems Research Center and professor of engineering. He is an honorary professor for several Chinese universities and won the IEEE Centennial Medal Award in 1984. He has written extensively with more than 100 written publications and has served as the principal investigator in numerous research projects totaling more than $10 million.

Paul E. Yarbrough, Jr.
Distinguished Alumnus 1975
Paul Yarbrough, Jr. graduated with an Electrical Engineering degree in 1950. He is currently President/Owner of Peyco, Inc. He was one of the founders and presidents of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, a charter member of the President's Council at UTA and a member of the board of Directors for the Boy Scouts Foundation. He was awarded the Order of the Arrow by the Boy Scouts and served in the U.S. Air Force from 1950-56 as a fighter pilot.

H.J. Haynes
Distinguished Alumnus 1975
H.J. Haynes is a Fort Worth native and 1942 graduate of UTA. Haynes was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Standard Oil Company of California. He attended Texas A&M University, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 1947, after serving with the U.S. Navy in WWII. Haynes joined Standard in 1947 as an engineer in the Gulf Coast region. After several years of production activities in that area, he was named chief engineer of Standard's subsidiary in Maracaibo, Venezuela. In 1969, Haynes was elected president of Standard Oil of California.

Wayne E. Glenn
Distinguished Alumnus 1974
Wayne Glenn graduated from UTA in 1937. He attended the University of Oklahoma; obtaining his B.S. in Petroleum Engineering in 1940 and in 1943 received his M.B.A. from Harvard. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Montana School of Mining and Technology. He is an independent oil and gas producer and natural resources consultant. He is president and Chairman of the Board of Wayne E. Glenn Associates, Inc., and is a member of many professional organizations.

Edwin L. Hamilton
Distinguished Alumnus 1973
Edwin Hamilton graduated from UTA in 1934 and earned his bachelor's of science in civil engineering from Texas A&M in 1936. He obtained his master's of science in geology in 1950 from Stanford and his doctorate in 1952. He was a lecturer in the geology department of the University of Washington in Seattle in 1951, leaving to take a job as a research marine geologist and oceanographer at the Navy Electronics Lab in San Diego. His fieldwork at sea has included 20 major expeditions to various parts of the Pacific Ocean. His explorations have included dives in research submersibles, including the bathyscaphs Trieste and Deepstar 4000, as well as more than 1000 scuba dives.

H. Earl Singleton
Distinguished Alumnus 1971
H. Earl Singleton was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Teledyne, Inc., which he organized in 1960. He attended UTA in 1934-35 and the Naval Academy in 1935-38. Singleton received both Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940 and his doctorate from MIT in 1950. During WWII Singleton did research for the Naval Ordnance Laboratory and later served as consultant for the U.S. Navy's Operations Research Group. He was an instructor at MIT 1948-50, and was vice president and general manager of the electric equipment division of Litton Industries during 1954-60.