UNT's annual Alumni Awards honor the university's best and brightest former students, recognizing their career accomplishments, service to their communities and commitment to their alma mater. This year's recipients include an Academy Award-nominated actor, UNT's first social fraternity and a rising young star in the tech industry.
The awards will be presented April 11 at UNT's Gateway Center. The reception begins at 6 p.m. with dinner at 7. Tickets are $65 each. For more information, email special.events@unt.edu or call 940-565-4851.
Distinguished Young Alumni Award
Graham Douglas ('05)
Graham Douglas ('05), a freelance advertising creative director, has worked on campaigns for many well-known brands, including Adidas, Prudential, Spotify and UNICEF. His work has earned the Cannes Grand Prix for Good and the D&AD White Pencil, both prestigious awards in the advertising industry.
As creative director for New York City-based agency Droga5, Douglas was named one of Forbes magazine's "30 Under 30" in marketing and advertising. He also was named one of the "World's 50 Most Creative People" by Creativity magazine. Douglas became a passionate supporter of bone marrow registry after his identical twin brother, Dallas attorney Britton Douglas ('06), was diagnosed with leukemia and received a life-saving bone marrow transplant.
"To be recognized by my alma mater in this way is very meaningful," he says. "North Texas shaped my world view and prepared me well."
Gabriella Draney ('02)
Gabriella Draney ('02) is the co-founder and CEO of Tech Wildcatters, named one of the Forbes Top 10 seed accelerators for its work connecting technology startups to resources. In January, she was named one of Fast Company's 1,000 most creative business people in the country.
Before starting Tech Wildcatters, Draney worked in the venture capital industry and as a financial advisor. Following her graduation from UNT, she earned her master's in business administration from Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.
"There were a few professors at UNT that definitely stood out, who gave me a good foundation," she says. "And UNT has such diversity. The more that students get out and meet their fellow students and get to know who they are as people and not as stereotypes, the better everybody is."
Distinguished Alumni Award
Terry Brewer ('65, '70 Ph.D.)
Terry Brewer ('65, '70 Ph.D.) is president of Brewer Science, the company he founded in Rolla, Mo., in 1981 to commercialize his invention of anti-reflective coatings. Brewer Science creates, develops and manufactures specialty materials, equipment and process solutions for applications in semiconductors, advanced packaging/3-D ICs, MEMS, sensors, displays, LEDs and printed electronics.
Under Brewer's leadership, Brewer Science has grown into an international company with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. The company has successfully commercialized many government-sponsored technologies and is actively consulted by government leaders for guidance on U.S. advanced technology, manufacturing and small-business development policies.
"I had lots of professors at North Texas who helped create an environment that emphasized that students can choose their own way," he says." When you go from being a student to being an alumnus, you're not only given a diploma, you're given a key, and your job then is to take that key and hand it off to somebody else."
Ernest W. Kuehne Jr. ('66)
Ernie Kuehne Jr. ('66) came to the university in 1962 on a track scholarship. After earning his bachelor's degree in political science in 1966, he earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Baylor University in 1969.
Kuehne is a 2014 UNT Athletics Hall of Fame inductee as the winner of the Fred McCain Award for Outstanding Service, and the 2013 recipient of UNT's Ulys Knight Spirit Award. He established the UNT Kuehne Speaker Series on National Security in 2013. In August 2012, Kuehne led an effort that raised more than $3 million in gifts for a new basketball training facility, a state-of-the-art scoreboard in the UNT Coliseum and scholarships. Kuehne is an attorney and president and board chairman of Kuehne Oil Co.
"I'm very emotional about my love for UNT, because of what it did for me," he says. "It shaped me as a person and prepared me for the future."
Peter Francis Weller ('70)
Peter Francis Weller ('70) is best known for his starring roles in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness, Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite and Robocop, in addition to TV work including Sons of Anarchy, Longmire and Dexter. He received an Academy Award nomination for his direction of the 1993 short Partners, in which he also acted.
Weller attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and was also accepted by and studied at the Actors Studio in New York City. A published art historian, Weller holds a Bachelor of Arts in theater from UNT and a master's degree in Italian Renaissance art history from Syracuse University. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Italian Renaissance and ancient Roman art history at UCLA.
"To receive an honor from UNT is meaningful because … it resonates to me how remarkable it was to be going to school in the '60s when there were huge dilemmas of gender, of race, of war, of money -- the dialogue alone was stupendous," he says.
Outstanding Alumni Service Award
C. Tait Cruse ('89)
C. Tait Cruse ('89) is the managing partner of Northwestern Mutual-Dallas, responsible for all sales and service operations in the Dallas metropolitan area and east, extending to western Arkansas. Since Cruse assumed leadership in 2004, Northwestern Mutual-Dallas has been consistently recognized as one of the top three Northwestern Mutual offices in the country.
Cruse participates in lectures and discussions with current UNT College of Business students each semester. He also is involved with the UNT Career Center and UNT's Integrated Business Case Competition. Cruse supports many causes and organizations and is a founding member of the Team Connor Childhood Cancer Foundation.
"When I look at the University of North Texas and how it's shaped me, I think of the values of hard work, study, the collaborative effort with the professors -- being part of something that at the time was regional, but now is on the rise to a national organization, which I want to be part of," he says. "I'm excited to see the growth and give back to UNT like it gave back to me."
Melisa Denis ('86, '86 M.S.)
Melisa Denis ('86, '86 M.S.) serves as KPMG's partner in charge of international executive services in Dallas. Denis also serves as the overall global lead partner on four multinational corporations tasked with bringing firm-wide resources throughout KPMG and its international affiliates to her clients.
Denis was instrumental in the creation of KNOW – KPMG's Network of Women established to help recruit and retain more than 600 females in the Dallas office. Denis was named one of the region's "Top 25 Changemakers" in 2010 by the Dallas Business Journal.
"What has been really nice is to be able to use the gifts and talents that you got from your education to come back and share that on the campus," she says. "UNT taught me to be bigger than just myself -- that it was about the community, about serving something more than Melisa. I've been blessed and honored to do that."
Ulys Knight Spirit Award
The Geezle Fraternity
Founded by a small group of men in 1927, the Geezle fraternity joined the North Texas campus in 1929. The stated purpose of the Geezles was to "inculcate and promote friendship among men of the College," and members made it their mission to promote school spirit. The group became known as a letterman's fraternity.
Geezles count among their alumni business and civic leaders, professional athletes, UNT regents, university professors and scores of coaches, athletic trainers, administrators and teachers. The Geezles were instrumental in installing "Spiriki," the bronze eagle statue at UNT's Apogee Stadium. The name is an old fraternity greeting believed to be the combination of the words "spirit" and "kee," the cry of an attacking eagle.
"The Geezle organization was built on honor, dedication and service, and love for the university," says C. Dan Smith ('62), former chairman of the UNT System Board of Regents and a former Geezles member.
Generations of Excellence Award
The Guerra Family
The Guerra family's UNT legacy spans three generations. Siblings Joe Guerra ('96), Kathy Guerra Purser ('81) and Linda Guerra Dyer ('90) are UNT graduates. They credit their aunt, Esperanza Espinoza ('75), the family's first UNT graduate, with encouraging them to consider the university. Joe Guerra's wife, Pauline ('05), and Purser's daughter Rachel ('09) are also graduates. Several family cousins are also part of the Mean Green family.
The Guerra family owns and operates Rudy's Tortillas and Food Products, one of the nation's leading wholesale tortilla and chip manufacturers.
"To be part of the Generations of Excellence is a great reward for our parents and their determination and their sacrifice to put us through school," Joe Guerra says.
