School of Architecture

William J. Commer is a licensed architect in 22 states plus Washington, D.C. He is founder/senior partner of Projekt WJCA, Inc., based in Franklin Lakes, N.J. He received his master’s degree in architecture from UT Arlington in 1984 and went to work for Omniplan Architects, where he became vice president of design. He later was vice president of design, construction and facilities for URGI, a 500-store national chain. Since 1994, Commer has guided WJCA. He has been active in Rotary International and also serves as scoutmaster for a troop of 40 scouts.

Department of Athletics

Rayla J. Allison earned her bachelor’s degree in physical education from UT Arlington in 1975. She went on to earn a master’s at Texas Woman’s University and received her juris doctorate from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn. Her law practice focuses on representing a national clientele on Title IX and sport issues. She also is an assistant professor and coordinator of the Sport Management Program in the Human Performance Department at Minnesota State University in Mankato. Allison played softball at UT Arlington and returned to coach the team from 1983-89. From 1991-94, she was executive director of the National Fastpitch Coaches Association and in 2000 was an NFCA Hall of Fame inductee.

College of Business Administration

Roy L. Williams received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from UT Arlington in 1971. He has been chief scout executive—the top professional leader of the Boy Scouts of America—since June 2000. He directs the administration of the organization, which delivers scouting to almost five million youths nationwide. His professional career includes service as a district executive in Graham and Abilene; a finance director in Little Rock, Ark.; and scout executive in Topeka, Kan., and Providence, R.I. He has held the national positions of director, Boy Scout Division, and regional director, Western Region. He is an Air Force veteran and is married to Barbara, a UT Arlington graduate.

College of Education

Dr. Ross G. Querry received the first bachelor of science degree in exercise science awarded by UT Arlington, in 1995, and his Ph.D. in biomedical science at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in 1999. He is an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, joining the department in 2001. During his tenure at UT Southwestern, he has participated in more than $2 million in funded research grants as both a principal and co-investigator. His research focuses on neurological control of arterial blood pressure. In addition to his research efforts, Dr. Querry teaches in the master’s program in physical therapy.

College of Engineering

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.

Honors College

Dr. Lenore McMackin is director of optical engineering at nLine Corp., an Austin company developing hologram-based semiconductor wafer inspection tools. She received her bachelor’s degree in physics with high honors from UT Arlington in 1984 and her Ph.D. in optics from the University of Rochester in 1991. At the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, N.M., she built a high-speed optical tomography system that produced the first detailed visualizations of dynamic air turbulence. In 1999, she moved to Zebra Imaging in Austin as a senior optical engineer to work on large-format hologram printing systems. Later she developed laser scanning displays at Keyotee Inc., another Austin start-up. She has served on the board of directors of the Optical Society of America.

College of Liberal Arts

Dr. 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, he returned to Monterey in 1997 and, in 2001, became the youngest professor in the institute’s history.

Department of Military Science

Col. George C. McDowell (USAF Retired) graduated from North Texas Agricultural College (now UT Arlington) in 1932. He received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1937. He served in French Morocco, North Africa and Italy during World War II as an Army Air Corps ordnance and armament officer. After receiving an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1948, he transferred to the Air Force and helped develop electronic data processing in the Pentagon and Wright Patterson AFB. From 1958-60, he established the THOR Missile Force in England. After military retirement, he formed his own real estate firm, Clark McDowell & Kic, in Houston. His involvement in Houston civic activities includes serving at intervals on Harris County grand juries.

School of Nursing

Robin W. Newman is co-founder and chief scientific officer at MedTrials, a clinical research consulting firm founded in 1992 and headquartered in Dallas. She received her B.S.N. from The University of Texas at Austin and in 1991 her M.S.N. from UT Arlington. She is certified as a pediatric nurse practitioner and also maintains certification as a clinical research associate and as a regulatory affairs professional. She is an adjunct graduate faculty member at the University of North Texas Health Science Center and chair-elect of the board of trustees for the Association of Clinical Research Professionals. Her clinical specialties are cardiology, pediatrics and interventional technologies.

College of Science

Dr. Maxwell C. Scarlett is emergency department physician at Rollins Brook Community Hospital in Lampasas, Texas. He lives in Fort Worth, where he is president and CEO of Lekar Emergency Medical Associates. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from UT Arlington in 1966, becoming the University’s first African American graduate. In 1971, he earned his medical degree at Howard University College of Medicine. He worked in private practice in Fort Worth and Tyler before going into emergency medicine. Dr. Scarlett received the UT Arlington Outstanding African American Alumni Award in 2004 and this year was honored with the UT Arlington Multicultural Services Trailblazer Award.

School of Social Work

Dr. Walter H. Nguyen is executive director of Mosaic Family Services. Once a Vietnamese refugee, he has spent most of his life in the United States helping other refugees. He began in 1984 working as a bilingual caseworker for Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, helping unaccompanied Vietnamese minors. After earning a master of social work degree from the University of Minnesota, he moved to Texas in 1989 to work for the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation in Palestine. He earned his Ph.D. in social work from UT Arlington in 1994 and since that time has been executive director of Mosaic Family Services. He has also served as a field instructor for the UT Arlington School of Social Work.

School of Urban and Public Affairs

David M. Kunkle is Dallas police chief. He began his law enforcement career in 1972 as a patrol officer with the Dallas Police Department. He received a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from UT Arlington in 1976 and later became the youngest captain in DPD history. In 1982, he was named police chief in Grand Prairie and, in 1985, became chief of police in Arlington. He received his master’s degree in public administration from UT Arlington in 1994. Five years later, he became a deputy city manager in Arlington in charge of the city’s administration group.

Honorary Distinguished
Alumni Award

Jack Davis has been a supporter of UT Arlington and its athletic teams since 1957 when the school was known as Arlington State College. He was named executive director of the Maverick Club in 1998 and is now executive director emeritus. After being discharged from the Air Force in 1956, he settled in Arlington and in early 1957 opened a Prudential Insurance office. He spent the next 37 years as a Prudential agent before retiring in 1994. He currently serves in various capacities in the Athletics Department and assists with the new membership campaign and other Maverick Club activities.