1971
Laxmi Mrig (MS, Electrical Engineering) and his wife, Raj, endowed a $100,000 graduate fellowship for UTA electrical engineering students.
1974
Mitch Womble (BA, Health, PE, and Recreation) retired in 2009 after 34 years in the photography and microfilm industry. In 1994, he retired after a 26-year career in the U.S. Naval Reserves.
1975
Tom Moore (BA, History) has been president and senior consultant of the Thomas R. Moore Executive Search LLC, a retained search firm serving the nonprofit community nationwide, for 32 years.
Alfred Vidaurri Jr.
(’82 MArch, ’79 BS, Architecture) became the first Latino president of the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Vidaurri is a vice president at Fort Worth-based Freese and Nichols. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, U.S. Green Building Council, and Texas Society of Architects.
1980
Lloyd “Loi” D. Khuc (BS, Electrical Engineering) retired in November 2020 after working at Motorola Semiconductor, Lockheed Missile & Space Co., and serving 16 years with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey. He received the Army’s Research and Development Achievement Award for technical excellence in 2010 and was granted six patents over the years.
1982
Michele Wong Krause (BA, Political Science) has been elected chair of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit board of directors.
Timothy D. Strucely (BS, Architecture) joined Lockwood, Andrews, & Newnam Inc. as a program manager. He is responsible for planning, executing, and finalizing the design and construction of K-12 school facilities and higher education projects. He previously served the Dallas ISD as executive director of construction.
1984
Ron Berggren (MBA) has been promoted from controller to CFO at Palomar Modular Buildings in DeSoto, Texas. Palomar designs and manufactures advanced modular buildings.
1986
Ken Cummins Hall (BS, Civil Engineering) is a vice president and southwest regional manager at Hazen and Sawyer, an environmental engineering firm in Fort Worth. Hall’s 35-year career includes multiple global and regional management and technology roles. He serves on the advisory board of the UTA College of Engineering.
1990
Toska Medlock Lee (BA, Communication), owner of The Myriad Group & Co., received the 2021 President’s Volunteer Service Award silver medallion. Lee’s service and engagement activities include community building through Project Unity, voter and education awareness, COVID-19 relief through food giveaways and school drives, and breaking barriers for the underserved.
Greg Muccio (BBA, Marketing) is senior director of Talent Acquisition for Southwest Airlines. He is in his 20th year with Southwest.
1991
Sam Mahrouq (BA, Journalism) threw out the first pitch during UTA Night at the Rangers. Mahrouq is chairman and CEO at MEI Group. In 2019, UTA’s College of Business dedicated the Sam Mahrouq Financial Markets Lab.
1998
Mark Dvorak (MEd, Teaching; ’83 BM, Music) retired after 30 years of teaching music at Holiday Heights Elementary School in North Richland Hills, Texas. He directed the Husky Harmonics, a fourth- and fifth-grade choir, and he also sang during the College of Education holiday reception from 2000-20.
“My business degree helped me build my insurance agency, and we are now in our 44th year in business. Go Mavs!”
—Emory Estes III
(’73 BBA)
Owner and President of the Estes Insurance Group LLC
2001
Lee Mulcahy (PhD, Humanities; ’88 BA, French) exhibited paintings and sculptures on Africa Water Wells—a clean water well ministry in Kenya started by Mulcahy’s late father—at UTA’s Gallery West in late 2021. The installation at Gallery West celebrated the ministry’s plans for a 10th water well at an outlying clinic of Tenwick Hospital. Mulcahy is based in Aspen, Colorado.
Charlene Parham (BA, Interdisciplinary Studies) has been named area superintendent of academic programs for the Denton ISD. Previously, she was principal of Crownover Middle School in Denton, Texas, Sanger High School in Sanger, Texas, and Tannahill Intermediate School in White Settlement, Texas.
2002
Linda Plank (PhD, Public and Urban Administration) was appointed dean of Baylor University’s Louise Herrington School of Nursing in Dallas, where she is a clinical associate professor. Previously, she was interim dean and senior associate dean of academic affairs.
2005
Theresa O’Donnell (MPA) has been appointed the director of planning and general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability for the city of Vancouver, Washington.
Salem Butti Salem Al Qubaisi (MS, Electrical Engineering) has been appointed as the director-general of the United Arab Emirates Space Agency. He will lead efforts to develop space sciences and associated advanced technologies, establish related regulations and policies, and promote the nation’s capabilities.
2006
Anthony Sorola (MEd, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies) is the associate superintendent of operations for the Ector County ISD in Texas. Previously, he was an elementary bilingual teacher and assistant superintendent for Dallas ISD and interim superintendent at Donna ISD.
2007
Michael Talley (BA, Sports Management) has been named senior vice president at the McKinney Economic Development Corporation. Previously, he was the director of economic development for Denton County and for the city of Keene, Texas.
2009
Jennifer Ellison (MEd, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies) is chief of staff for Midlothian ISD. She began her career as a middle school teacher and coach in Arlington, Lancaster, and Bryan, all in Texas. She was also an assistant principal in the Arlington ISD. She served as the dean of instruction at South Grand Prairie High School, chancellor at the Grand Prairie Collegiate Institute, executive director of secondary curriculum at Southwest ISD, and director of high school programs at Palo Alto College in San Antonio
Washima Huq
(’14 BBA, Management), executive director of the Texas Trust Giving Foundation, which is the nonprofit arm of the Texas Trust Credit Union, has received the 2022 Rising Star award from the Greater Arlington Chamber’s Women’s Alliance. Huq was recognized for her unwavering dedication to the mission of enhancing the city of Arlington and its surrounding communities through professional, volunteer, and charitable endeavors and civic engagement.
2010
Joseph Chacon (MPA) has been named chief of the Austin Police Department. Chacon previously served as interim chief since March 2021. He has 29 years of law enforcement experience.
Esperanza Sanchez (BSN) is a nurse on the Rapid Response Team at the George Washington University Hospital and a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Labor
2011
Brian Joseph Renteria (MPA) is a certification officer at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth. He is a member of Board Build, a nonprofit organization focused on community stewardship.
2012
Malcolm K. Oliver (PhD, Public and Urban Administration) has been appointed dean of the John S. Watson School of Public Service at Thomas Edison State University in Trenton, New Jersey.
2013
Peggy Esparza (MBA, Management; ’11 BBA, Accounting) has been named the new CFO at Texas Trust Credit Union. She is a 26-year Texas Trust veteran who began her career in 1995 as a part-time teller.
2015
Samuel Lackey (MS, Exercise Science and Health and Fitness) is the new director of football sports performance at California State University in Fresno. Previously, he was head strength and conditioning coach at Northern Arizona University.
John McPhail (BS, University Studies) played for the Australian Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team in the Tokyo Paralympics. He was a member of the Movin’ Mavs wheelchair basketball team.
2016
Amina Taj (MArch) is an architectural designer at Tesla in Fremont, California. She develops, designs, improves, and articulates future manufacturing/production design strategies for a wide range of Tesla’s project areas. Previously, she was design coordinator at HGA Architects and Engineers in San Jose, California.
Krista Torralva (BA, Journalism) is a reporter covering primarily Dallas County criminal courts for the Dallas Morning News. She first joined the newspaper as an intern on the business desk in 2013. Previously, she was an education reporter for the San Antonio Express-News and a court reporter for the Orlando Sentinel and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
2017
Amy Pace (BS, Exercise Science) has been promoted to fitness manager at 24 Hour Fitness in The Colony, Texas, after more than three years as a master coach.
Chelsea Yerger (MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner; BSN) is a primary care provider with the Family Medicine Center at Limestone Medical Center in Groesbeck, Texas.
“Thank you for the great experience you’ve given me, UTA. It’s led to amazing opportunities, including working in Hawaii for five years!”
—Silvia Loh
(’16 MS, Biomedical engineering; ’15 BS, Biology)
Medical Device Auditor, BSI
2018
Samantha Douty (BA, Journalism) joined Community Impact Newspaper as the Lewisville/Flower Mound/Highland Village, Texas, editor. Previously, she reported on education for the Victoria Advocate, a rural South Texas daily newspaper.
Susan Grafton (MSN, Nursing Administration; ’17 BSN) works for the California Department of Justice in the Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, working side by side with special agents to conduct investigations and serving as the team’s medical expert in criminal prosecution.
2019
Brannon Heake (MArch; ’17 BS, Architecture) was promoted to professional designer as announced by BOKA Powell, an architecture interior design, planning, and strategic services firm with offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Austin.
John Wheeler Jr. (’19 EMBA) is a customer success manager at Alteryx in Plano, Texas.
2020
Megan Cardona (BA, Broadcasting) is a service journalism reporter at the Star-Telegram. Previously, she was a reporter for Community Impact Newspaper in Pflugerville and Hutto, Texas and at The Shorthorn.
Maverick L. Crawford III (MSW) is employed at Special Reach in San Antonio, Texas, a nonprofit organization providing dynamic enrichment programs for children with special needs and respite for their families. He is a member of Ebony Alliance Advocates for African Americans with disabilities.
Brayden Garcia (BA, Journalism) is an intern for the education lab at the Dallas Morning News. He previously was a freelance reporter covering Arlington.
Brandt Wood (BA, Kinesiology) is general manager of World Gym Burleson and a certified personal trainer. A former UTA baseball player, he specializes in baseball and softball programming.
Ben Young (PhD, Kinesiology) won Experimental Physiology’s prestigious Early Career Author Prize for 2020-21 for his research on blood pressure regulation in Black men. The paper was based on research conducted in the Human Neural Cardiovascular Control Lab at UTA.
2021
Alexia Christine (BS, Interior Design) won first place in the Commercial Student Design Category at 2021 Celebrating Design TX by the American Society of Interior Designers. This award recognized the NEXT Steelcase Project completed in fall 2020 at Interior Design Studio with Barbara Marini, director of interior design.
Rocio Hernandez (BA, Advertising, and Public Relations) is the insider membership producer for KSAT-12 in San Antonio, Texas. Previously, she was an intern at the International Center for Journalists and a fellow at The Texas Tribune.
Alexia Koltes (BS, Interior Design) won first place in the American Society of Interior Designers’ 2021 Dallas Design Ovation Student Awards for Commercial Design.
Maria Rodriguez (BS, Interior Design) was the second-place winner of the 2021 FORM Student Innovation Competition.
Dayoung “Day” Son (MArch) joined the architectural design staff at Quorum Architects in Fort Worth.
