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).