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Tributes: Faculty and Donors Reflect on Rites

By: Office of Media Relations | Feb. 20, 2012

The investiture ceremonies were designed to celebrate the careers of the professors being recognized, but the newly invested faculty members used the opportunity to honor others in the room as well.

From the Leadership

“I use the word ‘colleague’ a lot, and it’s a very proud word for me. I truly am honored and humbled to stand with each of you.” — Dr. David E. Daniel,
UT Dallas President

“What else is there at the University besides the faculty?” — Dr. Hobson Wildenthal, Executive Vice President and Provost

From the Honorees

“Excellence is not enough. We must make UT Dallas unavoidable, and I am happy to help make this happen.”— Dr. Roger Malina, Arts and Technology Distinguished Chair

“This is a great pleasure to be honored for doing work I love to do. And I’ve been very privileged in another way, to have the economic means to help other people, my colleagues, pursue the important work that means so much to them.” — Dr. Aage Møller, Margaret Fonde Jonsson Professor

“There have been a lot of changes since the ’70s. I’m very proud of the transformation. It takes a long time to build a great university.” — Dr. Stephen Rabe, Ashbel Smith Professor who has taught history at UT Dallas for 35 years

“It’s going to be a great privilege to be part of this University over the next few years as it establishes its Tier One status.” — Dr. Michael Rugg, Distinguished Chair in Behavioral and Brain Sciences

“At age 10, I declared I wanted to be a policewoman. My father said, ‘No Marion, I think you’ll be getting a doctorate.’” — Dr. Marion Underwood, Ashbel Smith Professor, whose father attended her investiture

“I do have the coolest job in the world.” — Dr. John Hart. Jane and Bud Smith Distinguished Chair and the Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience

From Supporters:

“It was very emotional. We are so glad to see Professor Ma have such a great honor and we are also happy we can be part of this achievement.”

— Chen Zheng, an international student of Dr. Dongsheng Ma who followed his mentor from Arizona to UT Dallas

“He’s always supported my career. I’m happy to be here for him.”

— Dr. Naofal Al-Dhahir’s wife, Alia, who is a pharmacist

“You have the most hard-working, most creative and most thoughtful people, and students need inspiration. This type of ceremony and honor accelerates in people to become teachers because we need teachers very badly.”

— Dr. C.V. Ramamoorthy, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, who is a mentor to Dr. Farokh Bastani, holder of the Excellence in Education Chair and a computer science professor at UT Dallas

“He’s a great communicator and scientist,” Dei said. “I would eventually like to follow in his footsteps and make a career in academics. Plus, he supports us all of the time, so it’s great to be able to be here and support him.”

— Daniel Dei, a post-doctoral researcher in Dr. Dennis Smith’s lab who said he was thrilled to be asked to attend the investiture and champion his professor

Media Contact:

Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, 972-883-2155, newscenter@utdallas.edu, or the Office of Media Relations, UT Dallas, (972) 883-2155, newscenter@utdallas.edu.

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