Alumni denoted by an asterisk (*) are members of the North Texas Exes

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*Phillip Hughes ('62 M.M.), Dallas, retired as principal technical software architect from the Computer Sciences Corp. after 37 years in the commercial software industry.

David Klement, Bradenton, Fla., is director of the Institute for Public Policy and Leadership, a think tank for public policy research and debate at the University of South Florida. He retired as editorial page editor of the Bradenton Herald after serving 32 of his 45 years in daily journalism there. He also worked at the Daily Oklahoman and Detroit Free Press, where he shared a staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1967 Detroit Riots.

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Bob Thomson, Roswell, N.M., retired after 16 years as parks and recreation director and assistant city manager. He previously worked for the government of Saskatchewan and the cities of Midland, St. Louis, Lawton, and Oklahoma City. In 2005, he received a certificate of service from the National Recreation and Park Association and an individual citation from its southwest district. At UNT, he lettered two years in golf.

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Mike Gentry ('75 M.A.), Houston, is still working in the Office of Communications and Public Affairs at NASA after hiring on for 120 days during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. He has received the NASA Public Service Award and the Astronaut Silver Snoopy Award and was named employee of the quarter by contractor Tessada and Associates in 2007. He also contributed to NASA's online Interactive Reference Guide of the International Space Station, which won the 2007 MAX Award in the public sector category.

Judy Nell Rains Johnston ('73 M.Ed.), Dallas, director of districtwide activities for the Dallas ISD, was honored with the Dr. John M. Davis Distinguished Educational Achievement Award by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council on Accreditation and School Improvement at its 2007 annual conference in December in Orlando, Fla. She has been an educator for more than 30 years and is involved in state and national accreditation activities.

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Lino García Jr. (M.A.), Edinburg, was named Professor Emeritus of Spanish literature at the University of Texas-Pan American, where he has taught for more than 40 years. He retired in 1999 as assistant vice president for international affairs and programs. He continues to teach graduate courses, writes columns on "Spanish Colonial Tejas" and recently published a book of his poetry, Homenaje Al Otoño. He is a frequent speaker at universities in México. You can reach him at drlinogarcia@sbcglobal.net.

John Powers, Houston, has retired from the Houston Chronicle after working more than 40 years for newspapers and magazines in Galveston, Beaumont, Houston, Dallas, Amarillo and New Orleans. He served as Austin bureau chief for Hearst Newspapers during Texas Gov. Ann Richards' administration and as publisher of a weekly paper in Hardin, Mont., that covered an area including Little Big Horn National Battlefield and Crow Indian Nation. He previously worked in public relations and invested in tailor shops, and he now owns a convenience store at the University of Houston.

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Patricia Rodriguez Gorman, Dallas, was elected chair of the board for the Hispanic Contractors Association of Dallas-Fort Worth for 2008. She works for Pegasus Texas Construction LP in Dallas.

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James Jorgensen ('70 M.S.), Boerne, has been named 2007 Distinguished Alumnus of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He is a professor in the departments of pathology, medicine, microbiology and immunology, and clinical laboratory sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. His laboratory is the central testing lab in North America for antimicrobial resistance in Streptococcus pneumonia.