"Several faculty had lasting influence: Michael Collins 'forced' me into the epiphany of Baroque dancing, Lenora McCroskey led me to imaginative musical exploration, Deanna Bush was encouraging and intellectually demanding, Thomas Clark was an incredibly patient guide and Kenneth Cuthbert introduced me to the thrill of playing with 65 musicians at once."

-- Michael Quantz ('80, '94 D.M.A.), professor of music at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, who has been called a "pioneer in guitar ensemble curriculum and classroom education" by the National Association for Music Education

"In a graduate special topics course with Marian O'Rourke-Kaplan, we focused on sustainability and discussed ways designers could lessen their carbon footprint through the manufacturing process. That class really made me think about how the choices we make as designers affect the environment, which is my primary focus as I grow my apparel brand, Ottomatic Threads."

-- Alisa Otto ('06, '12 M.F.A.), adjunct instructor in fashion design in the College of Visual Arts and Design

"Surely creative writing is among the most intimate classes in the university, and we grew into our unique styles precisely because teachers Bruce Bond, Corey Marks, Barbara Rodman and John Tait responded to us individually. Workshop and theory classes focused on a literature-based study in the creative writing program. The fine authors that we read set standards and honed our aesthetics in our own writing."

-- Susan Maxwell Campbell ('06 M.A.), a poet and leader of the Denton Poets' Assembly