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

’80
Sidney McLaughlin, Euless, accepted a position as school counselor at Carson Elementary School in Decatur. She taught In-School Suspension at Colleyville Heritage High School for the last three years and planned to finish an M.Ed. in school counseling at Dallas Baptist University in December.

Robert Peebles (Ph.D.), Beaumont, retired from full-time teaching at Lamar College in Orange after 36 years. Upon retiring in May, he was named Professor Emeritus of history. He will continue to teach part time and to do research on naval and maritime topics.

’81
Stephanie Jones Hawley, Austin, was selected as vice president of academic affairs at Morton College in Cicero, Ill. She is responsible directly to the president for all academic matters and has administrative jurisdiction over teaching, student admissions, registration, financial aid and computing services. She was previously associate professor of education and director of the Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence at Oklahoma City University.

’85
Lora-Marie Bernard, Texas City, accepted the position of director of development at the University of Houston at Clear Lake. She will be heading efforts to raise funding for the university’s programs. She also has completed her certification in nonprofit management from Duke.

Jeff Briggs, Dallas, was awarded the designation Accredited Senior Appraiser by the American Society of Appraisers with a real property/ urban specialty. He has also been granted membership in the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a professional valuation society based in the United Kingdom. He is a senior manager within the Real Estate Advisory Group of the Dallas office of American Appraisal Associates.

Jeffrey Cottrell (’96 M.M., ’04 D.M.A.), Hurst, was named visiting instructor of low brass and theory at Hardin Simmons University in Abilene. This summer he was awarded the International Tuba-Euphonium Association’s Harvey Phillips Award for Composition Excellence for euphonium featured in jazz/rock/ fusion. He has spent the last 20 years as a teacher, composer and performer with groups such as Legend Brass Quintet, Dash Riprock and the Dragons, Razzmajazz and Johnny D and the Doo-Wops.

’86
Jennifer Works Burchfiel (’06 M.Ed.), Dallas, is an instructional specialist in the Irving ISD. She earned her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction in August.

Patrick Turner, Dallas, was promoted to area sales manager for Advanced Micro Devices. Prior to his promotion, he served as a marketing manager for Keystone Marketing, based in Las Vegas. He also served as president of the Dallas chapter of the alumni association. He and his wife, Adriene, live in North Dallas.

’87
Luis Lopez, Harlingen, was appointed as a U.S. probation officer in July 1998 and was promoted to supervising U.S. probation officer in December 2004. He is serving in that capacity in the U.S. District Court’s Brownsville Division.

Mark Spicer (’90 M.M.), New Haven, Conn., was promoted to associate professor with tenure at Hunter College of the City University of New York, where he serves as director of undergraduate studies in music. He is also a member of the doctoral faculty in music theory at the CUNY Graduate Center. He continues to lecture and publish widely on subjects relating to the history and analysis of popular music and maintains an active career as a professional keyboardist and vocalist.

’88
Rob Lowry, Dallas, is president of the Dallas Claims Association for 2006-07. He serves the insurance industry through Lowry Claims and Insurance Temporary Services as a casualty adjuster. He is active in the Boy Scouts of America Longhorn Council as an assistant scout master.

Charles L. Pace (’90 M.S.), St. Louis, Mo., became director of the St. Louis County Library in October. He was previously the library director at Fargo Public Library in North Dakota and was named a “Mover & Shaker” by Library Journal this year.

Sherri Williams, Denton, was the president of the Metroplex Area Consortium of Career Centers (MAC3) through December. Recently, she celebrated the second birthday of her son, Jeremiah.

’89
Brian Bowden (’91 M.Ed.), Freedom, N.H., accepted a position with Dartmouth College, including Dartmouth College Medical School, as specialist/coordinator of alcohol and drug education and prevention services. He has worked in alcohol and drug prevention, education and counseling in private practice and in secondary and post-secondary education for the last 16 years.

Chris McAllister (Ph.D.), Texarkana, accepted a tenure-track faculty position in August as associate professor of biology at Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb. He is married to the former Monique Harsh, and they have a son, Nikolas, who was born in December 2005.

Jeff Stringer, Austin, has been named speech department chair at Austin Community College.