When Ben and Trudy Termini established their medical practices in Arlington in 1975, they wanted to continue their learning process by exploring what UT Arlington had to offer.

So they audited courses in art and Spanish, and took continuing education classes.

An anthropology course piqued their interest, and eventually they began sponsoring a lectureship series. After six years of helping bring top lecturers to campus, the Terminis have now established an endowed lecture series in anthropology with a gift of $80,000.

“We wanted to see that the lectureship would continue after we’re gone,” said Trudy, who, along with Ben, retired from medical practice in 2003.

“We’ve both always been interested in anthropology, mainly because of curiosity about the origins of people,” Ben added. “Whenever we’ve traveled, we’ve always tried to travel to places of historical significance.”

The lecture series has attracted speakers like world-renowned anthropologist Johann Reinhard, whose discovery of the “Juanita” mummy at 22,000 feet in the Andes changed the face of Andean anthropology.

“I think it is really good for the students in anthropology to see professional people in their field and get exposed to divergent viewpoints,” Ben explained.

Typically held in the spring, the lectures invite experts working in varied anthropology disciplines—biological, sociocultural, archeological, medical, forensic. The lectures are open to the public.

The Terminis met at the University of Maryland Medical School when Ben was a student and Trudy was on the pharmacology faculty. Ben completed his medical studies, and, after they were married, Trudy earned her medical degree before they came to Arlington.

“We’ve been affiliated with UT Arlington ever since we’ve been here,” Ben said. “We both feel that the University is one of the best things about Arlington. It’s an asset that is underappreciated by people who live here.

“We’ve had the opportunity to know a lot of the faculty at the University, both as personal friends and as patients, when we were in practice, and we really have appreciated the University and the people who are involved with it.”

The Terminis recently returned from a trip to South America. When they aren’t traveling, they enjoy spending time with their three cats and bird-watching in their backyard.