Faculty

Norman Harrison

Norman Harrison, 90, Professor Emeritus of business who taught at UNT from 1949 to 1993, died May 28. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Oklahoma State University. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Military Police in North Africa. He joined the faculty in 1949, teaching marketing and business education, coordinating salesmanship courses, training teaching fellows and serving as the Small Business Institute director. He also worked as a sales, advertising and marketing consultant and was a longtime member of the Denton Optimist Club. He helped to form a baseball club for youth and loved to sail his Catalina 22 boat, travel and play bridge. He joined the Country Club so he could play golf.

Harold Heiberg

Harold Heiberg, 91, Professor Emeritus of music, died June 17. He was a professor of voice and accompanying at UNT from 1971 to 2004. His career included performing at Lincoln Center and translating more than 250 choral and operatic works from German, Italian, Norwegian and French. He earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College, served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II and then earned a master’s from Columbia University. He continued advanced study in piano, organ and voice. As a piano recitalist, soloist with orchestra, chamber musician and accompanist, he performed throughout Western Europe, the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Taiwan, including 75 recitals for the U.S. Information Service of the State Department in Germany and Austria. He accompanied many accomplished musicians including mezzo-soprano Beverly Wolff and violinist Josef Gingold. He served as adjudicator for the Metropolitan Opera, published articles in the Journal of Singing and gave frequent master classes and workshops. For almost 40 summers, he taught German art song at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Germany and Austria. Heiberg received UNT’s Citation for Distinguished Service to International Education and the J.H. Shelton Excellence in Teaching Award. Memorials may be sent to the Harold Heiberg Vocal/Accompanying Scholarship at UNT.

C. Cole

C. Steven Cole, professor of finance since 1988, died March 16. He had earned numerous honors, including the Outstanding Faculty Award for Service from the Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law in 2010, the Outstanding Educator Award from the Southwestern Finance Association in 2008 and the Sigma Phi Epsilon Outstanding Faculty Award and Honor Professor Award in 1996. He was a member of the American Finance Association and a former president of the Southwestern Finance Association and had been a reviewer for the Journal of Business and Economic Perspectives and others. He previously taught at the University of Tulsa and the University of Arkansas. Cole earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Missouri State University and a doctorate from the University of Arkansas. Memorials may be made to the College of Business general scholarship fund

Lorna Francis

Lorna Owens Francis died April 9 in Castroville. She was an instructor in what is now the College of Visual Arts and Design from 1969 to 1976. Francis traveled in India and Europe and lived in Sumatra from 1956 to 1959, where her work was displayed in a U.S. Department of State exhibit. She was a member of the Denton Handweavers Guild, Dallas Craftsman Guild, Southwestern Watercolor Society, Texas Watercolor Society and Texas Association of College Teachers. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and taught there and at Texas Woman’s University, San Antonio College, St. Mary’s Hall, Our Lady of the Lake University and Laredo Community College. She and her husband restored the 1846 Wieser House in Castroville, converting the barn into an art studio, and Francis made pen and ink drawings of the many historic buildings there.

Jake Kobler

Jake Kobler, Professor Emeritus of English, died Jan. 4. He was a faculty member in the Department of English from 1964 to 1997 and served as department co-chair. He taught composition, rhetoric and American literature, specializing in works by Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and F. Scott Fitzgerald. His publications included articles in Modern Fiction Studies, Arizona Quarterly, Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual and Studies in Short Fiction. He was active in the College English Association and the South Central Modern Language Association.Kobler earned bachelor’s degrees from Louisiana State University and a master’s degree from the University of Houston. He earned a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin and previously taught there and at the University of Houston. He also had worked as a reporter for the Shreveport Times, Houston Chronicle and United Press and worked for the Department of Defense and Shell Oil. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran. Memorials may be made to the UNT English department.

Robert Rogers

Robert J. 'Bob' Rogers, pianist and Professor Emeritus of music, died May 14. He never missed a note when it came to being a volunteer, philanthropist, educator, mentor and fixture in the Denton community. Rogers first arrived at North Texas in 1939 on a double bass scholarship and studied piano, but he was drafted into the U.S. Army three years later. After graduating from the Juilliard School of Music and Columbia Teachers College, he returned to campus in 1948 to teach piano pedagogy and remained until 1984, serving as assistant dean in the College of Music from 1969 to 1975. He served as chair of a committee charged with remodeling the Music Building and as a charter member, province governor and chapter advisor for the music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. In 1990, the fraternity named the Robert J. Rogers Lifetime Service Award in his honor.Roger's legacy of service and volunteerism at UNT continued long after he left his teaching post. He was the pianist at countless fundraisers and campus events, and he and his wife, Daisy, were known for tirelessly volunteering at the UNT Music Library and supporting students through scholarships. In 2012, he was honored with UNT’s Outstanding Alumni Service Award, he shared that UNT also brought out the best in him. Memorials may be made to the Robert J. Rogers Piano Scholarship in the College of Music. Donate at giving.unt.edu.

Bobbie L. Wilborn

Bobbie L. Wilborn, Professor Emeritus of education who taught at North Texas from 1971 to 1994 died Nov. 10 in Denton. She was a Meadows Honors Professor and chair of the Department of Counselor Education, and then the Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Development. She previously taught high school in Bellville and Silverton and was a teacher and counselor in Dallas schools. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, a master’s from the University of Colorado and a doctorate from the University of Missouri. Wilborn was a frequent speaker and a widely published author. She served as president of the North Central Texas Personnel and Guidance Association, the Texas School Counselor Association and the Texas Classroom Teachers Association, and was active in the American Counseling Association, among many other organizations. She was a member of the Texas State Board of Examiners for Teacher Education and the National Commission for Teacher Education and Professional Standards. Memorials may be made to the Bobbie Wilborn Scholarship at UNT.

Lalia Lewis

Lalia Mae Lewis, former physical education faculty member, died Dec. 17 in Mabank. Lewis joined North Texas in 1961 as an assistant professor of physical education. She taught at Texas high schools in Electra and Wharton and, during World War II, worked in Hawaii and the Philippines as an entertainment organizer with the USO. After the war, she taught at the Peck School in Morristown, N.J., and for 12 years was a teacher and camp director for refugee children at Goddard Neighborhood Center in New York City. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Texas Woman’s University and a master’s from Columbia University. In her youth, she and her brother entertained at rodeos as trick riders, and she also played on the Walk-Over Shoe Co. Pro-Women's basketball team in Fort Worth. As a senior at Athens High School, she organized the women's volleyball and basketball programs. She enjoyed traveling all over the world and retired to her family's home in Eustace. She was 98.

H.W. 'Wib' Kamp

H.W. ‘Wib’ Kamp, Professor Emeritus of political science who worked at North Texas from 1950 to 1984, died Dec. 24 in Denton. A former chair of the Department of Political Science, he was instrumental in the formation of the political science doctoral program and the Master of Public Administration program. He also was chair of the oral history committee and served on the Faculty Senate. He was the last surviving member of the Denton Charter Committee, which wrote the Denton city charter in 1959, and also served on what is now the Public Utility Board for Denton in the 1950s and 1960s. Kamp was a University Honors Professor in 1974 and received the Regents Award for Distinguished Teaching and Research in 1975. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Hendrix College and master’s and doctoral degrees from Columbia University, where he also taught. During World War II, he was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps, serving as a cryptographer in North Africa.

Charles M. 'Chuck' Foster

Charles M. ‘Chuck’ Foster Jr. (’71 M.B.A.), retired associate professor in the Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law, died Nov. 29 in Dallas. He served on the faculty for more than 40 years, retiring in 2011. He earned a law degree from Southern Methodist University and taught business law courses in the department, publishing articles on compliance programs and consumer bankruptcy. Foster, who began his teaching career at North Texas as a graduate student, received the ’Fessor Graham Award for teaching excellence and was a UNT Honor Professor. He also won the Ralph C. Hoeber Award for Excellence in Research from the Academy of Legal Studies in Business in 1995 and the 1997 Best Paper Award from the Southern Academy of Legal Studies in Business. He was a mentor to business students and served on university, college and departmental committees. Donations may be made to the FIREL Department Scholarship Fund.

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