The Faculty Success office and the UNT Foundation kicked off awards season at UNT with surprise visits to this year’s winners of the UNT Foundation Awards, which recognize four faculty members for their sustained commitment to excellence in teaching, research and service. Each award includes a monetary reward and a commemorative medallion.

Benjamin Graf holding giant check with students in class“Great faculty do more than teach — they inspire. They engage students’ curiosity, encourage critical thinking and foster a passion for learning,” says UNT Foundation President and CEO Lynette Gillis, who was accompanied on the surprise visits by Provost Michael McPherson, Vice Provost for Faculty Success Holly Hutchins and the winners’ chairs, deans and colleagues. “The UNT Foundation is proud to support and honor these exceptional faculty, who shape the leaders of tomorrow and leave a lasting impact on the university community.”

The 2025 UNT Foundation Award winners will be recognized at the Salute to Faculty Excellence Awards Celebration Thursday, April 17, alongside other esteemed faculty recipients of awards from the Division of Research and Innovation, Faculty Senate, DSI CLEAR, International Affairs, the Toulouse Graduate School and the Office of the Provost. This year’s ceremony will feature a special performance by five-time affiliated Grammy Award-winning jazz violinist Scott Tixier, associate professor of jazz violin in the UNT College of Music.

See all the 2025 Salute to Faculty Excellence award winners and read about the UNT Foundation Award winners below.

UNT Foundation Eminent Faculty Award

Francis D'Souza, Ph.D.

Regents Professor, Chemistry
Joint appointment with Materials Science and Engineering

Francis D'Souza posing with giant checkDr. Francis D’Souza joined UNT in 2011, bringing his international reputation as a pioneering researcher and expansive record of leadership in scientific organizations with worldwide reach.

After beginning his career as an independent researcher at Wichita State University in 1994, Dr. D’Souza quickly established himself as a major player in fundamental and applied porphyrin chemistry, a challenging field that offers potential for converting energy from light into useful forms. In this area, the D’Souza laboratory at UNT is in a league of its own, combining traditional and modern synthetic methods, supramolecular chemistry and state-of-the-art spectroscopic techniques.

In addition to being a renowned expert in his field, Dr. D’Souza is a devoted educator, taking great pride in preparing the next generation of teachers, scientists, engineers and health professionals. He’s known for bringing an enthusiasm to his classes that makes complex concepts accessible to every student and is a tireless mentor, having supervised more than 75 undergraduate research projects and 38 graduate theses and dissertations, with more in progress. Several of his students have won highly competitive awards, including the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship, and secured positions in national laboratories, academia and industry.

Pictured from left: Molly Morgan (Vice President for Administration, UNT Foundation), John Quintanilla (Dean, College of Science), LeGrande Slaughter (Chair, Chemistry), Karen Raitz (Chief Financial Officer, UNT Foundation), Lynette Gillis (President and CEO, UNT Foundation), Michael McPherson (UNT Provost), Francis D'Souza, Holly Hutchins (Vice Provost for Faculty Success)

UNT Foundation Faculty Leadership Award

M. Jean Keller, Ed.D.

Professor, Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation
College of Education

Jean Keller posing with giant check during classGuided by what she calls the “Four Ps” — people, purpose, progress and passion — Dr. M. Jean Keller has time and again answered the call when a need for leadership arose.

As the first female dean of the College of Education, Dr. Keller used her position to develop other leaders amongst its faculty, staff and students. Countless faculty flourished during her 12 years as dean, including professor and associate dean Dr. Bertina Hildreth Combes, who went on to serve as the college’s interim dean and UNT’s vice provost for faculty success. Past students hold influential positions at universities and organizations nationwide, including director of therapeutic recreation at Scottish Rite for Children and director of the School of Interdisciplinary Health at Grand Valley State University.

For more than 24 years, Dr. Keller has served as UNT’s North Texas Regional P-16 Council coordinator, working to advance college- and career-readiness for students throughout the region. From 2008 to 2011, she served as special assistant to the UNT System vice chancellor to facilitate UNT Dallas’ transition to an independently accredited university. Upon her return to UNT, she served as interim dean for the Mayborn School of Journalism, interim vice president for community engagement and acting chair of the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation. Since returning to the faculty, Dr. Keller has dedicated herself to supporting colleagues by assisting with grant writing and chairing numerous faculty committees.

Pictured from left: Jakob Vingren (Chair, Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation), Karen Raitz, Molly Morgan, Lynette Gillis, M. Jean Keller, Michael McPherson, Holly Hutchins, Rudi Thompson (Interim Dean, College of Education)

UNT Foundation Community Engagement Award

Brenda Sweeten, LCSW

Clinical Professor, Social Work
College of Health and Public Service

Brenda Sweeten posing with giant checkProfessor Brenda Sweeten is a true social worker, relentless in her efforts to drive meaningful change and break the cycles of poverty and trauma — not just for UNT students but also for the many communities she serves.

Professor Sweeten is UNT’s Foster Care Liaison Officer and director of field education for UNT’s social work students. In 2012, after recognizing UNT had no organized support for students with experience in foster care, she founded Persevere UNTil Success Happens, or PUSH, a program specifically geared toward improving educational outcomes for former foster youth enrolled at UNT. PUSH has experienced a 300% increase in enrollment since its founding, making UNT a state leader in retention rates for this student population, thanks in large part to Professor Sweeten’s tireless efforts to engage with the university and broader community. Through public, private and nonprofit partnerships, she has netted more than $650,000 in grants, donations and emergency funds for the program, in addition to the Karlow-Robinson Family Endowment, which established a permanent funding stream in 2022.

Since 2019, Professor Sweeten has partnered with the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute on policy research and community assessments, currently serving on their Steering Committee. She also is the immediate past president of Education Reach, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to helping former foster youth succeed in postsecondary education. As president, she ushered in a new strategic plan and secured Education Reach’s first major funding award.

Pictured from left: Karen Raitz, Cassidy Baker (Chair, Social Work), Molly Morgan, Lynette Gillis, Holly Hutchins, Brenda Sweeten, Michael McPherson, Niki Dash (Dean, College of Health and Public Service), Jody Sundt (Associate Dean for Academics, College of Health and Public Service), Tristan Wu (Associate Dean for Research, College of Health and Public Service)

UNT Foundation Outstanding Lecturer

Benjamin Graf, Ph.D.

Principal Lecturer, Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology
College of Music

Benjamin Graf posing with giant check during classDr. Benjamin Graf teaches the first four semesters of music theory at UNT, which means he has profoundly influenced nearly every student in the College of Music.

Despite heading some of the college’s largest introductory classes, Dr. Graf manages to ignite each student’s creativity through a combination of engaging teaching, deep mentorship and masterfully designed courses. From day one, his students encounter excerpts from film music, cartoons, popular music and jazz and classical standards. His innovative approaches are often inspired by discussions from his top-ranking podcast, Note Doctors, in which he and his co-hosts facilitate dialogue with leading music theorists and teachers. As coordinator of UNT’s Czech Music Initiative, he has organized concerts and other events in Texas and the Czech Republic.

As a mentor, Dr. Graf fosters an artistic environment in which students feel safe to take creative risks, seek guidance and learn that failure presents an opportunity for growth. After discovering there was no formal mentorship program for Teaching Fellows, he created one that includes an annual mentorship workshop, goal-setting activities, digital teaching demonstrations and more. He also was instrumental to a cross-disciplinary effort to adjust the college’s theory curriculum to meet the needs of undergraduate jazz students, ultimately gifting all music students with a richer understanding of practices and a wider set of tools to become more versatile musicians.

Pictured from left: John Richmond (Dean, College of Music), Eric Stephens (Vice President for Investments, UNT Foundation), Holly Hutchins, Karen Raitz, Benjamin Graf, Michael McPherson, Lynette Gillis, David Heetderks (Chair, Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology), Molly Morgan

About the Salute to Faculty Excellence

The Salute to Faculty Excellence Awards Celebration originated from a partnership between UNT’s Faculty Success office and the UNT Foundation, which acts as a steward of privately contributed resources, ensuring they are utilized in accordance with donor intent and maintained separately from public funds. In addition to its support of the UNT Foundation Awards, the endowments and other gifts managed by the Foundation help fund faculty research, chair appointments, professorships, student scholarships and other vital university initiatives.