University of North Texas 
2020 Emeritus Recognition
- Emeritus
- 2026 Emeritus Recognition
- 2025 Emeritus Recognition
- 2024 Emeritus Recognition
- 2023 Emeritus Recognition
- 2022 Emeritus Recognition
- 2021 Emeritus Recognition
- 2020 Emeritus Recognition
- 2019 Emeritus Recognition
- 2018 Emeritus Recognition
- 2017 Emeritus Recognition
The following faculty members earned the honorary title of Emeritus in 2020 in recognition of their distinguished service to the University of North Texas.
Beverly Bower
Professor Emerita, Counseling and Higher Education
Dr. Beverly Bower served as a professor in the Department of Counseling and Higher Education and director of the Bill J. Priest Center for 11 years and as an assistant department chair for eight years. She made national impact for her scholarly work related to leadership and community college research and practice. Consistent with this expertise, she was invited to speak at the national Academic Leadership Academy, a week-long professional renewal event sponsored by Penn State. Dr. Bower served as the PI for a $50,000 external grant that made UNT the host institution for the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, providing UNT and the Priest Center national visibility with community college policy makers, researchers and organizational leaders. Dr. Bower also served as the Community College Journal of Research & Practice book review editor, presented both invited and peer-reviewed presentations at prestigious meetings in her field of study and provided leadership as an editor, editorial review board member and peer reviewer for several respected journals. Dr. Bower was a transformative leader, mentor and advocate for student-centered learning and community engagement. In many ways, she served as a role model for her colleagues as she engaged in activities that elevated UNT's reputation among higher education researchers.
Randolph Campbell
Professor Emeritus, History
Dr. Randolph "Mike" Campbell is the leading historian of Texas of his generation, and his career at UNT spanned more than 50 years. He published five single-authored books, three co-authored books, three edited books, 38 articles and 11 book chapters. He was recognized with the Summerfield G. Roberts Award from the Sons of the Republic of Texas for the best historical writing on the Republic of Texas, the Texas Institute of Letters' Friends of the Dallas Public Library Award for the most important contribution to knowledge by a Texas author in 1989, and the Outstanding Academic Book in 1998 by Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. He is an elected member of the Philosophical Society of Texas and the Texas Institute of Letters, and served as the chief historian of the Texas State Historical Association from 2008 to 2017. At UNT, he was honored with the Regents Professorship and earned the UNT Foundation Eminent Faculty Award — UNT's highest faculty honor — in 2013.
Shelly Cushman
Professor Emerita, Dance and Theatre
Professor Shelly Cushman led a distinguished 42-year career as a member of the UNT faculty. She is known for her work in movement and choreography and was honored three times with awards from the Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance. Professor Cushman is a nationally-recognized choreographer and her dance pieces have been performed at the Southern Region of the American College Dance Association (ACDA) Festival, with a number of them being selected for the prestigious "Gala Night." In 2008, one of her dance pieces was performed at the ACDA's National College Dance Festival in New York City. Professor Cushman used her extensive knowledge of movement and choreography to excel in the classroom in a number of different courses. She was active in the department, serving on a wide variety of committees, recruiting excellent students and serving as the advisor for the BFA in Dance program for many years.
C. Reid Ferring
Professor Emeritus, Geography and the Environment
Dr. Reid Ferring is an internationally recognized archeologist who brought prominence to the Department of Geography and the Environment throughout his 40-year career at UNT. His reputation began with his methodological approach to the study of stone tools, but he is best known for his archeological discoveries. While working in the North Texas region, he discovered the oldest campsite in North America now known as the Aubrey Clovis Site. He compiled a team of national experts to work with him on this important discovery, and the resulting report is an exceptionally important contribution to New World archeology. His discoveries were not limited to North Texas. After working in sites around the world, Dr. Ferring made the most important stop in his career at Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia. His discovery in Dmanisi represents the earliest evidence of the presence of human ancestors outside of Africa. His work there resulted in almost two decades of external funding for his work and publications in Nature, Science and a feature in National Geographic. Dr. Ferring taught a wide variety of courses in geology and archeology at UNT and served on almost every committee in the department. He also served as department chair twice and was involved in the hiring of numerous faculty members in the department.
Dennis Fisher
Professor Emeritus, Conducting and Ensembles
Professor Dennis Fisher has had a particularly distinguished 36-year career at the College of Music and UNT. As associate director of bands, he conducted virtually every wind group at UNT during his tenure and supervised countless graduate students in Wind Conducting. He was twice named “Top Prof” by the Mortarboard Society at UNT and received the UNT Community Award, which recognizes outstanding service that has enriched the university experience. His national and international career is equally outstanding: he has led sessions at the most distinguished conferences in the United States, Japan, China, Thailand, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Canada, Greece, Brazil, Cuba and Russia. His publications have appeared in GIA's Making Music Through Band series, and he co-authored several other books published by GIA. He has served as the principal guest conductor for the Volga Professional Wind Orchestra in Saratov, Russia since 2006, receiving the Gargarin Medal of Honor from the Russian government for his service to music in Russia. He served on the Legacy Committee for the American Bandmasters Association and has been extraordinarily active as an editor of recordings for several professional publishers (ensembles from The U.S. Air Force Band in Washington D.C., University of Texas at El Paso and University of Ohio, among others) and was nominated more than six times for Classical Producer Awards (Grammys), where he is a voting member. Additionally, he made a number of recordings with the Symphonic Band at UNT, one featuring the music of Julie Giroux, an important and prolific composer in Hollywood and beyond, which has played on WRR, KERA and other NPR stations.
Oscar Garcia
Founding Dean Emeritus, Electrical Engineering
Dr. Oscar Garcia joined UNT in 2003 as a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and founding dean of the College of Engineering. During his leadership, two new departments — Electrical Engineering and Mechanical and Energy Engineering — were established. A new computer engineering program was also created within the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Through collaborations with local industry, the new college also launched the PACCAR Technology Institute and the PACCAR Professorship of Engineering. These new units not only reflected Dr. Garcia's strong leadership, but also served as a solid foundation for the rapid growth of the new College of Engineering. After stepping down in 2008, Dr. Garcia continued his support as an enthusiastic educator. He taught both entry level undergraduate courses such as EENG 1910 Learning to Learn and graduate courses such as EENG 5940 Advanced Topics in Quantum Computing. He supervised two master's students with thesis research. As a lifetime fellow of IEEE, Dr. Garcia is very active in supporting UNT's IEEE student branches and local IEEE societies.
Jean Harden
Librarian Emerita, UNT Libraries
Jean Harden joined the UNT Music Library in 1994 as music catalog librarian and in 2014 assumed the position of coordinator of music technical services. During her tenure at the University of North Texas, she published a number of articles, including many in such standard reference sources as the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the New Harvard Dictionary of Music, and the Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music, as well as innumerable abstracts for the online resource RILM. Her 2018 book Music Description and Access: Solving the Puzzle of Cataloging (Middleton, WI: A-R Editions; Music Library Association) became widely recognized as an indispensable resource for music cataloging across the country. In 2006, the Music OCLC Users Group gave her its Distinguished Service Award, a recognition of lifetime achievement. She served as lead instructor for a team-taught course in music cataloging through the College of Information and led the Music Library-sponsored Music Cataloging Institute, a weeklong class held every summer that drew participants from around the U.S. and abroad.
Robert Hayes
Principal Lecturer Emeritus, Engineering Technology
Dr. Robert Hayes served for 23 years in the Department of Engineering Technology. He begin his career in 1995 as a lecturer and was promoted to principal lecturer in 2015. He proved himself an excellent instructor, as shown by student evaluations that were continuously among the top within the department. He served as the undergraduate advisor for the department for over 12 years. His kind-hearted, detail-driven, compassionate demeanor was an inspiration to students and all who worked with him. He advised thousands of students to meet their graduation goals during his service. At alumni activities, engineering alumni are always asking about Dr. Hayes and reminiscing about his teaching, student projects, and his personal contribution to their success.
Jan Holden
Professor Emerita, Counseling and Higher Education
Dr. Jan Holden joined the Department of Counseling and Higher Education in 1988 and served as department chair for 12 years. Her research focused on counseling implications of near death experiences, after-death communication and transpersonal experiences. She served as lead editor of the 2009 Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation, and for the past 10 years as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Near-Death Studies. Dr. Holden co-authored the textbook Theoretical Models of Counseling Psychotherapy which has served as a foundational text in the counseling field. Dr. Holden received the 2013 Association for Spiritual, Ethical and Religious Values in Counseling's Research Award, and the 2015 American Counseling Association's Gilbert and Kathleen Wrenn Award for a Humanitarian and Caring Person. In 2019, Dr. Holden earned the UNT Foundation Eminent Faculty Award, UNT's highest faculty honor, in recognition of her significant contributions to scholarship, teaching and service.
Linda Holloway
Professor Emerita, Rehabilitation and Health Services
Dr. Linda Holloway's professional career began at UNT in 1988. Since that time, her work on meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities and training competent professionals to deliver those services yielded a robust academic department and hundreds of proud and dedicated UNT alumni throughout DFW and the nation. Dr. Holloway's extensive portfolio of contracts and sponsored projects helped to develop and maintain various systems of supports for professionals. She initiated a Collegiate Recovery Program at UNT, an online professional learning community of addiction professionals, and supported students in recovery as they matriculated at UNT. She was at the forefront of UNT's initiatives to support students, faculty and staff who are neurodivergent and championed equity and inclusion for individuals on the Autism Spectrum across UNT, the Denton community and Texas. Her legacy is the impact that each of these entities continues to have on students, faculty and staff at UNT.
Imre Karafiath
Professor Emeritus, Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate
Dr. Imre Karafiath joined the faculty at UNT in 1984 as an assistant professor. Over the course of his career, he distinguished himself as a teacher, scholar, and university citizen. He retired as a full professor of finance in 2018, having produced 25 peer-reviewed articles in finance, including several articles in highly prestigious journals. Dr. Karafiath mentored finance students at all levels — undergraduate, master's, and doctoral. As a fitting capstone to his career, during his final semester on the faculty, two of his papers co-authored with doctoral students {and other committee members) went to press at the Journal of Financial Research and the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Karafiath was widely regarded as an excellent colleague who contributed to the department, the college and the university through his distinguished service. He was a mentor to legions of junior faculty members and doctoral students. He served as the departmental doctoral advisor and department chair from 1994 to 2000. His many contributions were recognized by the department for outstanding teaching in 2010 and 2014, outstanding research in 2008 and 2009, and outstanding service in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
James Laney
Professor Emeritus, Teacher Education and Administration
Dr. James Laney served as a faculty member in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration for 34 years, serving the last five as department chair. He was member of the core leadership group that established the Professional Development School Model for teacher education at UNT. He led the department's professional development initiatives in equity-diversity and culturally responsive instruction, leading to the department receiving the Inclusion Excellence Award from UNT's Diversity-Equity Office in 2017. Under his leadership, the department was recognized by U.S. News and World Report and others as one of the Top 10 "best buy programs," "outstanding programs," and "outstanding online programs" in early childhood/elementary education, secondary education, and educational leadership. He built a distinguished record of research and publication in economic education for young children, authoring 32 national or international journal articles, three regional journal articles, eight state journal articles, two books, and 11 book chapters, and presented at numerous national and international meetings.
Mark McKnight
Librarian Emeritus, UNT Libraries
Dr. Mark McKnight joined the UNT Music Library in 1990 as associate head of the Music Library and in 2013 assumed the position of head of the Music Library. Under his leadership, the Music Library grew to be recognized for the breadth and depth of its collections and services, and it continues to be known as one of the top music libraries in the country. In addition to his responsibilities in the Music Library, Dr. McKnight was an adjunct professor in the UNT College of Music Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology, as well as in the College of Information. He was highly respected among faculty and students teaching courses in music research, American music, and music in the United States. Dr. McKnight is active in the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and the Music Library Association, where he has held a number of offices, including a three-year term as MLA president. An internationally respected leader and scholar, Dr. McKnight made a significant impact on the field of music librarianship and music history at UNT and beyond.
Nancy Nelson
Professor Emerita, Teacher Education and Administration
Dr. Nancy Nelson served as professor at UNT for 10 years in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration, serving as department chair from 2009 to 2014 and as Meadows Chair for Excellence in Education from 2013 to 2019. She has a record of distinguished service, establishing the accelerated online program in educational leadership and leading a successful academic program review. In 2019, she received UNT's Citation for Distinguished Service to International Education for her global endeavors — establishing a visiting professor program on issues of linguistic and cultural diversity and leading UNT's partnership with the Secretariat of Education for the State of Jalisco, Mexico. She built a distinguished record of research and publication in literacy processes and practices, especially academic discourse and discourse synthesis, authoring two books and one edited book; publishing numerous journal articles, chapters, and technical reports; and presenting at numerous national and international conferences.
James D. Powell
Professor Emeritus, Management
Dr. James Don Powell graduated from UNT in 1962 with a B.B.A. degree in Personnel Management. He became an officer in the United States Air Force and received an M.B.A. in Industrial Management from the Ohio State University in 1967. He served in the USAF until 1969, when he went to work as a systems engineer for electrical distribution systems. Dr. Powell then earned his Ph.D. in Management from Louisiana State University and joined UNT after serving as assistant professor of management at the University of Nevada from 1974 to 1977. He was promoted to full professor at UNT in 1984 and served in that capacity until his retirement. Dr. Powell's expertise is in strategic management, entrepreneurship, organizational theory, general management, and organizational behavior, and he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in those areas for 45 years. His professional activities include over 40 research publications and service on most department and college committees as either a member or chair.
Richard Smith
Associate Professor Emeritus, Behavior Analysis
Dr. Richard Smith joined the faculty of the Department of Behavior Analysis in 1994 and led the department as chair for 13 years. During his time at UNT, Dr. Smith produced a distinguished record of research, teaching and service to the department, the university, and the discipline. He helped train hundreds of students in the treatment and care of adults with developmental disabilities. He and his students developed a state‐of‐the‐art program for the assessment and treatment of severe behavior problems and his work informed the development of practices and procedures implemented in state-supported living centers across Texas. This work was funded by contracts from the state exceeding $10 million over the course of his career, supporting a large number of students who went on to hold leadership positions in a variety of public and private institutions. Dr. Smith also produced a stellar record of service on important committees within the university, on editorial boards for academic journals and in leadership roles for disciplinary institutions such as regional associations.
Richard Sparks
Professor Emeritus, Conducting and Ensembles
Dr. Richard Sparks led a distinguished career as a choral conductor in higher education and conducted professional choirs around the world. He retired from UNT in May 2019 after 11 years as a tenured professor in the Division of Conducting and Ensembles. He also served as division chair for nine years, overseeing the choral, orchestral, wind, opera, and early music programs in the College of Music. Throughout his tenure at UNT, Dr. Sparks was an exemplary educator and colleague. His teaching and mentorship were revered by his students, and he led countless numbers of choral concerts that brought significant visibility to UNT and the College of Music. Because of his international reputation, Dr. Sparks was often asked to serve as the guest conductor/adjudicator for highly respected professional choirs and festivals. Examples include invitations from the Alberta (Canada) Choral Festival, the Swedish Radio Choir, the Boston Early Music Festival, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale.
Marcia J. Staff
Professor Emerita, Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate
Dr. Marcia Staff devoted her entire academic career to teaching, research, and service at the University of North Texas. In 1979, she joined the College of Business faculty as an assistant professor of business law and retired 40 years later as a professor and chair of the Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law. She is past president of the Southern Academy of Legal Studies in Business and former editor in chief of the Southern Law Journal. She authored numerous publications and was elected by the UNT faculty to deliver the summer 2000 commencement speech, "Success is a Means, Not an End." During her time at UNT, Dr. Staff served as assistant/associate dean for 12 years and as chair of the FIREL department for 11 years. Her extensive teaching portfolio includes specialized courses at the bachelor's and master's level, as well at the legal and ethical environment of business. In 2009, Dr. Staff won the Hewitt Memorial Master Teacher Award, presented by the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, and in 2000 she was awarded the UNT President's Council Service Award.
Mike Steinel
Professor Emeritus, Jazz Studies
From 1987 to 2019, Professor Mike Steinel taught all levels of jazz improvisation, jazz fundamentals, pedagogy of jazz at the master's and doctoral levels, and applied jazz trumpet. As coordinator of the fundamentals and improvisation area, he developed and supervised a rigorous system of assessment that provides College of Music students with benchmarks for their study of jazz improvisation and regular feedback. He established an international reputation as a jazz educator, performer, composer, and scholar. He authored widely used textbooks that include Building a Jazz Vocabulary and Essential Elements for Jazz Ensemble, which achieved worldwide distribution by Hal Leonard Corporation, the largest music education publisher. He was active as a clinician and presenter at 25 state music education conferences and many national conferences. He devoted special attention to enabling music educators without a jazz background to teach jazz performance more effectively. Professor Steinel's teaching was distinguished by reflection and continuous improvement, informed by comprehensive knowledge of jazz pedagogy literature. He authored a large number of compositions and arrangements for jazz small group and big band. He performed extensively at jazz clubs, festivals, and universities, and released several CDs of his original music. He also founded and directed UNT's summer Jazz Combo Workshop, which continues to serve an important recruiting role for the College of Music.
Lew Taylor
Professor Emeritus, Management
Throughout his more than 40 years as a professor and 27 years at UNT, Dr. Lew Taylor consistently served in a leadership role, either as a department chair, a director, or as a key faculty member. Dr. Taylor's career was one of a lifetime of service, with roles on the Faculty Senate, the UNT graduate council, the ROTC committee, and the university review committee. Dr. Taylor accepted the challenge of building the Murphy Center and directed its operations for several years. In 2014, he agreed to serve again as department chair and continued in the role until his retirement. His professional service reflects a similar level of involvement with multiple editorial review board memberships, numerous journal reviewer positions, several advisory board positions, and many academic association chairperson positions. His public service includes service with the Girl Scouts and the Wounded Warrior Project. Dr. Taylor also served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Air National Guard, retiring from the military.
Peggy Tobolowsky
Professor Emerita, Criminal Justice
Professor Peggy Tobolowsky provided 30 years of exemplary service to UNT and its students. Her most significant contributions to UNT and the profession include authoring a leading textbook on crime victim rights and a leading book on intellectually disabled offenders facing capital punishment. She also wrote more than 25 journal articles, law reviews, and book chapters on topics ranging from crime victimization to capital punishment. Professor Tobolowsky is considered a leading legal authority on capital punishment involving intellectually disabled offenders. Her courses were widely recognized by students as the most challenging — and rewarding — in the Department of Criminal Justice. Her service to the university was exemplary. In addition to serving as the chair of the Department of Criminal Justice, she was recognized seven times at UNT Honors Day and received numerous awards for teaching and service to UNT and the profession, including the Soaring Eagle Award in 2009. For 25 years, she organized and hosted the annual Criminal Justice Career Day, the largest discipline-specific career day on the UNT campus.
Jeanne Tunks
Associate Professor Emerita, Teacher Education and Administration
Dr. Jeanne Tunks served in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration for 19 years. She directed the UNT Core from 2014 to 2017, served as the lead advisor and program coordinator for elementary education from 2008 to 2012, and was the program facilitator for the M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction fro 2017 to 2019. She also served as faculty advisor for Kappa Delta Pi (2012-2019) and the Alpha Chi Honor Society (2003-2019). She received numerous awards for her teaching and service, including the J.H. Shelton Excellence in Teaching Award (2004), the ACE Award from Kappa Delta Pi (2013, 2015, and 2017), the Alpha Chi Honor Society National Service Award (2013), and the Claudia Balach Action Research Award from the American Educational Research Association (2009, 2012, and 2013). She built a distinguished record of research and publication in mathematics education and the Professional Development School Model, authoring 27 journal articles, one regional journal article, one state journal article, and one book.