Distinguished Alumni

The Distinguished Alumnus Award was established in 1965 to honor The University of Texas at Arlington graduates and former students who have made significant contributions to society and whose accomplishments and careers have brought credit to the University.

Distinguished Alumni for the College of Liberal Arts include:

1995 Ann Jobe Wynia	2002 Judge James R. Wilson
1996 Nita Scheble Cox	2003 Karen Borta (Service Award)
1997 Jim McClellan	2003 Graciela Berlanga-Cortez
1998 Maurice L. Barksdale	2004 Pamela Dunlop Gates
1999 Howard F. Ahmanson	2005 Jack Franke
2000 Frank W. Hill	2006 Timothy Westmoreland
2000 T. Keith Alcorn	2007 Lu Pham
2000 Royce West (Service Award)	2008 Anita Foster

1995 Distinguished Alumna - Ann Jobe Wynia

Ann Jobe Wynia served seven terms in the Minnesota House of Representatives and twice was elected the body's majority leader. She left the legislature to take a post as commissioner of Minnesota's Department of Human Services.

In 1994 she was the Democratic Party's nominee for the U.S. Senate. Wynia, who earned a bachelor's degree from Arlington State College (now UTA) in 1965, currently is President of North Hennepin Community College in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

She has received numerous honors throughout her public service career including Children's Champion Award from the Children's Defense Fund and the Dr. Nathan Davis Award from the American Medical Association.

A former regent of the University of Minnesota, Wynia was the founder and first board president of the Block Nurse Program which provides home care for seniors.

She and her husband Gary reside in St. Paul.

1996 Distinguished Alumna - Nita Scheble Cox

Nita F. Scheble Cox is the second of three generations in her family to attend The University of Texas at Arlington.

Cox graduated as Valedictorian of The North Texas Agricultural College, a two year college (now UTA). She received her bachelor's from The University of Texas at Austin and her master's from Texas Christian University. She also did graduate work at The University of Wisconsin at Madison.

She taught at UTA, helping develop many speech and theatre arts classes and served as Assistant Chair and Advisor of the Communication Department for fourteen years.

Cox and her husband, B. Wayne Cox, have one daughter, Leslie Cox Recine, who also is a graduate of UTA. Her two granddaughters, Chelsea and Chloe, are their grandmother's chief interest.

Cox is involved in a woman's investment club, the Fielder Museum, Theatre Arlington, Friends of the UTA Libraries, the Arlington Republican Women's Club, Bible Study Fellowship, Altrusa International Club of Arlington, Inc., and the UTA Lecture Series.

1997 Distinguished Alumnus - Jim McClellan

Jim McClellan earned his bachelor's (political science, 1968) and his master's (history, 1970) from UTA.

He earned a master's in philosophy from George Washington University and a Ph.D. in American political history from the Union Institute of Cincinnati, as well as post-graduate work at Georgetown and George Washington universities.

Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College, McClellan has served as Chairman of the NVCC College Senate, President of the Virginia Community Colleges Association, and is the author of a two-volume American history text entitled Historical Moments.

Named Educator of the Year by the College of the Air Tele-Consortium, he was national campaign manager for the 1972 Presidential Campaign of Dr. Benjamin Spock.

He has served three terms as Chair of the Commission of Human Rights for the City of Alexandria, Virginia and three terms as President of the Virginia Association of Human Rights Commissioners. He serves on the Sprint Racing Committee of the US Canoe and Kayak Team.

1998 Distinguished Alumnus - Maurice L. Barksdale

Maurice L. Barksdale graduated from UTA in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in history and is now president and partner with the Fort Worth investment banking house of Harrington, Moran, Barksdale and Day.

The firm, specializing in the acquisition and financing of commercial real estate, is building a national reputation for its work in innovative health care financing and federal contract consulting.

Prior to his tenure at the Fort Worth firm, Barksdale spent many years in the public sector, including service as assistant secretary for multifamily housing in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and as commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA).

In the late 1980s, he was considered a candidate for the HUD secretary cabinet post in the Bush administration, a position which eventually went to Jack Kemp.

1999 Distinguished Alumnus - Howard F. Ahmanson

Howard F. Ahmanson, founder and president of Fieldstead & Co. Inc., graduated from UTA in 1976 with a master's degree in linguistics.

His private philanthropy organization works in national and international relief and development projects, education, the arts, family and children's concerns, and religious freedom issues worldwide.

The foundation is currently involved in projects supporting music education for public school students in Orange County, California, and in funding for the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, 27 volumes of patristic commentary on the Bible to be translated into German, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Hindi and Mandarin Chinese.

A frequent writer on public policy issues, Ahmanson has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Philanthropy and Religion and Liberty.

Ahmanson, whose interests include linguistics, history and geography, recently completed a year-long traveling sabbatical to Spain, Portugal, South America, Italy and Turkey.

2000 Distinguished Alumnus - Frank W. Hill

Frank W. Hill earned a bachelor's degree in history, with honors, graduating from Arlington State College (now UTA) in 1963. He attended law school at Southern Methodist University and was admitted to the law firm of Hill Gilstrap in Arlington in 1972.

Today, the firm operates additional offices in Chicago, Little Rock, Arkansas, and Austin, with clients ranging from major corporations to service organizations to individuals.

Before founding the firm, Hill worked for the U. S. Justice Department in civil rights law during the late 1960's. He is licensed to practice in both Texas and Illinois and to appear before both the 5th and 11th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court.

He is a fellow with the Texas Bar Foundation and a master of the bench with the American Inn of Court. He also serves as an adviser to Ballet Arlington.

2001 Distinguished Alumnus - T. Keith Alcorn

T. Keith Alcorn is the "A" in DNA Animation, a Dallas-based company.

In 2002, he was nominated for Best Animated Feature by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences "Oscars" for producing "Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius", his most recent project, a $14 million feature for Nickelodeon using animation techniques reminiscent of Toy Story.

He studied art at UTA, finishing in 1981.

The company's first animated network special, Santa vs. the Snowman, aired on ABC television in 1997. DNA has also worked on several projects with comedian and producer Steve Oederkerk of Ace Ventura fame.

The "D" in the company logo is for partner John Davis.

The duo, who met in college, have worked together for more than a decade. Since 1992, Alcorn has served as creator, writer, designer and director of an ongoing animated series of short features that have appeared on Comedy Central, Showtime and MTV.

In 1984, he co-founded the Southwest Independent Film Festival.

2001 Distinguished Alumni Service Award - Royce West

State Senator Royce West began his political career at UTA as the first African-American president of Student Congress.

He earned two sociology degrees from the University, a bachelor's in 1974 and a master's in 1979, then earned a law degree from the University of Houston.

After several years in the Dallas County district attorney's office, where he became the state's first African-American chief felony prosecutor, he was elected to the Texas Senate in November 1992. He serves District 23, which covers parts of Dallas and Tarrant counties.

Following the 76th legislative session in 1999, Texas Monthly magazine named him one of the "Ten Best Legislators in Texas."

West is a senior partner with the Dallas law firm Robinson, West and Gooden.

2002 Distinguished Alumnus - Judge James R. Wilson

James R. Wilson was elected Judge of the 371st District Court of Tarrant County in 1994.

Born in Fort Worth, he grew up in Arlington and attended area schools. He graduated from UTA with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech in 1978, and received his law degree in 1989 from the California Western School of Law in San Diego. He married Amy Wilson in 1991; they have four children and four grandchildren.

Judge Wilson is licensed to practice law in Texas and the Federal courts of the Northern District of Texas. He is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Tarrant County Bar Association, the College of the State Bar, the Tarrant County Juvenile Board, the Board of Criminal Judges, the Board of District Judges, and a former member of both the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

In 2001-02, Judge Wilson was the Presiding Judge of the Board of Criminal Judges. Judge Wilson is involved in numerous community endeavors.

2003 Distinguished Alumni Service Award - Karen Borta

Karen Borta is co-anchor for CBS 11 News in Fort Worth-Dallas at 5, 6 and 10 weeknights. She received her bachelor’s degree in radio/TV communication from UTA in 1987. After working for TV stations in Waco, Sacramento, Calif., and Tampa, Fla., she returned to the Metroplex in 1995 as anchor and reporter at KTVT-Channel 11.

She received a regional Emmy for Outstanding Live News Coverage of the 1997 American Airlines strike and a nomination as best feature reporter by the Association of Women Journalists. She was named one of the state’s Favorite Female TV Personalities by Texas Woman magazine in 1998. In 2000, she was honorary co-chair of the Komen Dallas Race for the Cure in helping the fight against breast cancer.

2003 Distinguished Alumna - Graciela Berlanga-Cortez

Graciela Berlanga-Cortez earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and English from UTA in 1981. She taught English, journalism, Spanish and English as a second language in Dallas and Grand Prairie schools while also monitoring magnet, vanguard and Montessori schools in the Dallas Independent School District. She taught ESL and developmental writing in the Dallas County Community College District and in 1995 received the Excellence in Education Award presented by Mexican American Business and Professional Women.

She earned a master’s degree in library science from Texas Woman’s University in 2000 and has spent the last three years as a library media specialist in the Dallas Independent School District. She manages all aspects of the media center, which serves six magnet high schools and the academic center.

2004 Distinguished Alumna - Pamela Dunlop Gates

Pamela Dunlop Gates practices law as a partner with the firm of Thompson, Coe, Cousins and Irons, LLP in Dallas. A licensed attorney for nearly 20 years, she earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from UTA in 1979 and her law degree from Texas Southern University School of Law in 1984.

She was an attorney in the Tarrant County Domestic Relations Office for 10 years, and in 1997 she received the Woman of the Year in Law award presented by the Fort Worth Commission on the Status of Women.She is a second-term director and current secretary of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport board.

2005 Distinguished Alumnus - Jack Franke

Jack Franke is a professor of Russian at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Russian from UT Arlington in 1987 and holds a master’s degree from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. His Ph.D. is in foreign language education from the University of St. Petersburg in Russia.

He worked for three years as an interpreter aboard Russian fishing trawlers in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the Bering Sea and in 1990 began working as a Russian instructor at the Defense Language Institute. After spending time in Russia and Germany, Dr. Franke returned to Monterey in 1997 and, in 2001, became the youngest professor in the institute’s history.

2006 Distinguished Alumni Service Award - Timothy Westmoreland

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 MFA in creative writing at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1993 and is still listed on the faculty there. He was 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 a 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 books of the year in 2002.

2007 Distinguished Alumnus - Lu Pham

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.

2008 Distinguished Alumna - Anita J. Foster

Anita Foster is the Metroplex communications officer for the American Red Cross, a position she has held for 10 years. She is recognized nationally for handling difficult media relations matters, teaching public affairs courses and responding to the worst disasters the Red Cross and the United States have experienced over the last decade. She has dealt with crises throughout Texas, Montana, Arizona, Mississippi, New York, Florida and many other states. She led Red Cross communication efforts following the Wedgwood Baptist Church shooting, Tropical Storm Allison, the space shuttle Columbia explosion, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the series of four catastrophic hurricanes in Florida in 2004, and hurricanes Emily, Katrina and Rita in 2005. She lives in Arlington. A graduate of the College of Liberal Arts, she earned her bachelor’s degree in radio-TV in 1989.

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