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

'00

Christa Boyd-Nafstad and Karl Boyd-Nafstad ('04), Brooklyn, N.Y., celebrated the birth of their daughter, Aurora Marie Ion Boyd-Nafstad, in March. She was 21 1/4 inches and weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces.

Kelly Edmunds Finley ('01), McKinney, graduated with a master of education degree in school counseling from Dallas Baptist University and is now a counselor in Plano.

Wendy Machalicek, Austin, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Ph.D. in May. She began work this fall as an assistant professor of special education at Portland State University in Oregon.

Steve Wilson, San Antonio, and his band The Black Doves were selected to perform on the San Antonio leg of this year's Van's Warped Tour. The performance took place at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in nearby Selma in July.

'01

Christi Williams, Mill Valley, Calif., was promoted to director of Golden Gate Academy, the lab preschool at the Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. She earned a master of arts in education leadership at the seminary in May.

'02

Sarah Broom, New York, N.Y., is assistant book editor at O magazine. She interned at O in 2003 and was a reporter for Time in Asia in 2004. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with her master's in journalism in May. She was a McNair Scholar at UNT.

Rebecca Malson Krober, Dallas, was chosen Teacher of the Year at Gabe P. Allen Elementary School in her second year at the school. She says thank you to the College of Education for providing her with an outstanding education that allowed her to be recognized by her peers.

Mike McClendon and Sundey Stewart McClendon, Mansfield, welcomed their second son, Hayden Jack, in March. He joins his big brother, Anderson James. Mike, who is a marketing representative for Federated Insurance, and Sundey, who is a stay-at-home mom, were both involved in student government at UNT.

'03

Eric Olmedo (M.P.A.), Jamestown, N.C., is the financial services manager for the city of High Point, N.C.

'04

Rick Gershon, Dallas, a multimedia photojournalist at Getty Images, won first place in the National Press Photographers Association 2008 Best of Photojournalism contest for the news feature web category with his video Coney Island: An Uncertain Future. The piece also won the Webby Award and People's Voice Webby Award for Documentary: Individual Episode, presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, at a New York City awards ceremony in June.

Thomas Luna, Dallas, accepted the position of national transportation network optimization manager at Cadbury Schweppes Americas Beverages. Previously, he served in various transportation and logistics roles at PepsiCo/Frito Lay.

'05

Cathi Ball (M.A.), Eastland/Brownwood, was promoted to assistant professor of art education at Howard Payne University.

Phillip Matthews and Katy McDonald ('08), Richardson, were married in May. They met at UNT and say they will always support their alma mater.

Mary Elizabeth Pence and William Ryan Durr ('04), Irving, were married in March in Dallas. Lisa works in the account service department of an advertising agency, and Ryan is a writer for the TM Advertising Agency.

'06

*Sarah Ayala-Marquez, Garland, accepted a position as the assistant band director at Wakeland High School in Frisco. She married her high school sweetheart, Isaac Marquez, in June.

Christie Jones (M.J.), Denton, founded Black Education News. It provides writing preparation for college-bound African American students and is dedicated to inspiring a new generation of teachers, journalists and academic scholars. Currently, she is working on her doctorate at UNT.

'07

Carrie Scarr (M.S.), West Fargo, N.D., became the assistant director of the West Fargo Public Library in October 2007. This year, she published her first book review in the April 15 Library Journal.