Faculty

Mildred 'Millie' Giles

MILDRED ‘MILLIE’ GILES (’70 M.F.A.), 69, of Denton, a former faculty member in the College of Visual Arts and Design, died Nov. 26. She taught at UNT from 1987 until her retirement in 2013, and served as coordinator of the watercolor concentration. She donated several gifts to CVAD and established the Rob Erdle Watercolor Painting Scholarship, named after her late husband, art professor Robert Erdle. She served as a critic for the VAST Painters of Denton as well as a director of the Chautauqua Art Association Galleries in New York. She was the co-owner of Watercolor World Wide Inc. After retiring, she volunteered for the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity. She helped design Denton’s 30-foot steel 9/11 Firefighters Memorial Bell Tower, which she considered her greatest honor.

Gladys 'Glad" Hudgins Crawford

GLADYS (GLAD) HUDGINS CRAWFORD (’46, ’49 M.S.), 92, of Denton, who spent 57 years teaching biology at UNT, died Sept. 2. At UNT, she coordinated the medical technology and cytotechonology programs and directed Eisenhower Grants. She received a 45-year service to the university award and the ’Fessor Graham Award. Glad met her husband, the late William A. (Al) Crawford (’52), at North Texas. They were President’s Council members and life joint members of the UNT Alumni Association. Donations may be made to the Gladys H. Crawford Biological Sciences Scholarship Endowment, which was established by her husband. Survivors include daughter Kala Marsh (’83, ’84 M.B.A.) and sons Kal (’88, ’94 M.B.A.) and Kurt (’88).

 

 

 

 

Alis Adkins

ALIS ADKINS (’73 Ph.D.), 83, of Denton, a faculty member in the College of Music from 1988 to 1999, died Dec. 6 in Denton. Her doctorate at North Texas earned her the distinction of being the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in the arts from a Texas university. She taught music history and appreciation and often collaborated with her husband, the late Cecil Adkins, Professor Emeritus of music, on numerous publications. Their family often performed together as the Adkins String Ensemble and received the College of Music’s Honored Alumni Award in 2013. Before coming to North Texas in 1965, she earned her bachelor’s degree at Howard Payne College and her master’s in music history and organ at the University of Texas at Austin. She studied in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 1963 to 1965, after being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. Donations can be made to the Adkins-Dickinson String Scholarship. Survivors include children Alexandra (’96), Anthony (’93, ’08 M.B.A., M.S.), Chris­topher (’80), Madeline (’98) and Clare Cason (’91).

 

Miles Anderson

Miles AndersonMILES ANDERSON (’49, ’50 M.S.), 93, of Denton, Professor Emeritus of physics who worked at UNT for four decades and served as vice president for academic affairs in the 1970s, died March 16 in Denton. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and helped with the top-secret project called RADAR. He earned two degrees from UNT, then earned his doctorate from Stanford University before returning to Denton. He worked at UNT starting in 1954 and retired in 1992. An avid musician, he taught musical acoustics in addition to other physics courses. He also was an amateur radio operator, craftsman and carpenter. He and his wife, Harlene (’48), were lifetime members of the UNT Alumni Association.

Irma Pirtle

Irma PirtleIRMA PIRTLE, 78, who was a research assistant professor for the biology department at UNT, died May 3 in Huntsville, Alabama. She received her chemistry degree from the University of Alabama and her Ph.D. in analytic chemistry from the University of Louisville. Before moving to Denton with her husband, Robert Pirtle, she worked in New York after having received a National Institutes of Health Fellowship from Brookhaven National Laboratories. At UNT, Irma and Robert operated a “Ma and Pa” research lab for 32 years, received many research grants, published several scientific articles and presented at numerous conferences in countries such as Sweden, Germany and England. They also donated to UNT Libraries.

William Morris Jr.

William MorrisWILLIAM MORRIS JR., 90, Professor Emeritus of business administration who served as an accounting professor at UNT for 30 years, died May 24 in Denton. He worked at UNT from 1971 to 2001 and was a longtime donor to the Department of Accounting. A former Eagle Scout, he earned his bachelor’s degree from Hardin Simmons University, served in the U.S. Army for two years and then earned his master’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Bill worked in Dallas for 10 years as a public accountant, then earned his doctorate at Michigan State University. He then moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and began his work at UNT. Some of his early research included the use of statistical sampling in historical studies of auditing.

Marc Cutright

Marc CutrightMARC CUTRIGHT, 67, Professor Emeritus of education who worked at UNT from 2007 to 2017 and served as director of the Higher Education Development Initiative, died May 28 in Kampala, Uganda. He worked in public relations, politics and higher education, with his academic studies focusing on the advancement of higher education in east Africa. He also directed the annual Texas Higher Education Law Conference. Marc earned a bachelor’s degree from Lindenwood College, a master’s degree from North Georgia College and State University and a doctorate from the University of Tennessee. He was also a Fulbright scholar to Canada and Uganda. He was one of UNT’s first faculty members to live in a residence hall as part of the faculty-in-residence program. Marc was active in his church and was a huge advocate for human rights.

Edith Lindley

EDITH LINDLEY (’42), 98, of Denton, who taught home economics at North Texas for more than 30 years, died Jan. 25. After graduation, she taught home economics at Hobbs and Sanger ISDs. In 1949, she began teaching at North Texas and returned in 1963 after a stint working at Texas A&M University. She retired in 1982. Edith was an active volunteer at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital for 25 years, an avid seamstress, cook and world traveler, climbing the Great Wall of China at 85. She and her friends never missed a UNT football or basketball game as long as they could make it. Survivors include her daughters, Denise Harpool, a senior buyer in procurement services for the UNT System, and Diane Lindley Weaver ('76).

Edith Lindley

James Andrew Roberts

James Andrew 'Jim' Roberts, 87, of Sanger, who taught physics at UNT for more than 50 years, died on Nov. 7.

As a professor of physics, he was still serving on the faculty at UNT and said he continued to teach into his 80s because he enjoyed working with students. He was an advocate for helping public school teachers receive the training and tools they needed to better teach science and mathematics, and he founded and served for more than 30 years as project director for UNT’s Collaborative Group for the Texas Regional Collaboratives for Excellence in Science Teaching.

His research specialties included the interaction of microwaves with matter, molecular and atomic spectroscopy, plasma physics, and astronomy, and his research funding included grants from the Robert A. Welch Foundation. He published more than 125 papers, collaborated with researchers in several other countries, received many teaching honors and mentored many students over the years.

He also served as an elder for the Sanger Church of Christ for more than 30 years.

Prior to joining North Texas in 1967, he served in the Air Force for four years, then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Louisiana Tech University and a doctorate in engineering physics from the University of Oklahoma.

James Roberts

Janet Koch Ellis

Janet Koch Ellis (’74 M.A., ’81 Ph.D.), 89, of Denton, Professor Emerita of behavior analysis, a program she was instrumental in developing at UNT, died Oct. 28. In her 30 years at UNT, she worked closely with many students in her lab, and her published lab work results led to some of the first reports on functional analysis in public schools in the world. She was a founding member and the second president of the Texas Association of Behavior Analysis.

She and her husband, Edward Ellis, were lifetime members of the UNT Alumni Association and supported the athletics department and College of Health and Public Service. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and her master’s degree from Southern Methodist University.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 1 p.m. on Dec. 14 at her home. For details, email CelebrateJanet@googlegroups.com. Memorials may be made to The Ruth and Joe Koch Behavior Analysis Research Endowment at UNT.

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