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RECENT GRAD
Henry Olofin ('22)
It’s been nearly two long years since Henry Olofin last saw his parents. The 25-year-old came to the University of North Texas from Lagos, Nigeria, in January 2021 to pursue a master’s degree in business analytics. His graduation day was a joyous reunion.
“I moved thousands of miles away from my family and friends, coming to a new place I had no knowledge about,” he said. “But I built myself up. I consider it a little win in my book — coming here, doing well, making a good change for myself.”
Olofin started college at the age of 15, enrolling at Redeemers University in Nigeria to study economics. He completed his bachelor’s degree in 2016 and worked in both customer service and data analytics roles at a local bank for several years. After gaining some work experience, he was ready to continue his education and diversify his skills.
As of 2021, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area had the fifth largest African and Nigerian migrant populations in the United States. Approximately 18,000 Nigerians live in the Dallas area, a fact that drew Olofin to Texas. He began looking at colleges and talked with friends who attended UNT. Their referrals, plus the college’s business analytics program, sealed the deal.
“It was a little bit of a struggle coming in, but I have had good experiences here,” he said. “Everywhere you go, it’s all about UNT, which makes it good. Graduation has been bittersweet. I’m happy I’m graduating, but I’m also sad to be leaving a place where I’ve had good experiences and met some good people.”
Olofin is a member of the Nigerian Student Organization and the National Society of Black Engineers. He and three others recently participated in the Humana Data Competition hosted by Texas A&M, which he said was an excellent learning experience. He has also served as a teaching assistant, grader and lab assistant for several semesters for Dr. Chang Koh, an information systems professor in the Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences.
Olofin cites Koh as a great mentor and friend who helped build his confidence. Another professor, Kashif Saeed, has also been an invaluable advisor and mentor, as has Professor Scott Hamilton. Rounding out his UNT support network were the International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) Office, the Learning Center and the Career Center.
“As an international student, the ISSS office is your best friend,” Olofin said. “It’s scary coming to a new country, but meet people and create your community. It’s that community that will help you get through the years you spend in that country.”
Olofin is focused on finding a job in his field. He hopes to end up at a Fortune 500 company that aligns with his goals of continuing to improve himself, build leadership skills and work within a strong team. The data analytics classes behind his master’s degree have opened his eyes to new things, and he now looks at the world in a different way. He’d like to be able to use data to help people.
However, his time as a teaching assistant has been one of his favorite parts about UNT. After working for a few years, Olofin may return to school for his PhD as he has loved being part of students’ journeys to learn more and improve themselves.
During his two years in Texas, Olofin has worked consistently to improve himself. He’s proud to have been part of the larger UNT community — from attending football games to working in dining services — and he encourages future students to get involved as well. In his experience, it’s pretty simple: meet the right people, and you’ll do fine.
“It’s been a good ride,” he said. “Being considered a UNT graduate is an honor and a pleasure. I will always fly a Mean Green flag wherever I go.”
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Published by UNT, 2022
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RECENT GRAD
Rocio Ramirez ('22)
Receiving a college education and a full-time job offer before she graduated was not something Rocio Ramirez thought was in the cards for her growing up. Despite facing several challenges — including raising a family — her education and involvement at UNT led her to a better path.
Ramirez lived in a very poor neighborhood in Dallas, where the sound of gunshots during a family soccer game was normal.
“It was just how we lived,” she says. “We didn’t know we were living in such a bad situation until we got out of it.”
After her father moved the family into a safer environment, she realized that she wanted to pave her own path in this world, but knew it was not going to be as easy as it sounded.
Several years of hardships led to her becoming a statistic at the age of sixteen. Ramirez was pregnant with her first child.
Being a young mom led to a young marriage that included years of domestic abuse and eventually a divorce. Her mental health was at an all-time low because she was so young and didn’t know what to do and it was affecting her new role as a mother.
“It felt like I was at rock bottom.”
Eventually, Ramirez realized that to keep going she had to take responsibility for her actions and the decisions she made in her life — so she decided to make a change. It wasn’t an easy one, but it was one she had to make.
In Fall 2020, Ramirez enrolled in UNT. She didn’t really know what she was getting herself into because none of her family members have ever attended college. Out of all seven of her siblings, she will be the first one in her family to graduate with a college degree.
Growing up, her family did not prioritize education. She was told that it’s not something you should aspire to have and for years she believed it and almost quit attending classes because of it. But Ramirez knew that her pursuit of an education wasn’t to prove anything to anyone, it was something she was doing for herself and for her family.
UNT was the perfect place for Ramirez to shine as her own person. She was ecstatic when she found out UNT is a Hispanic Serving Institution because she is passionate about passing on generational wealth and knowledge to Latino communities.
Her desire stems from not growing up with it herself, and now she is able to put her ideas into action through the student organization, ALPFA, the Association of Latino Professionals for America, which has been one of the turning points in Ramirez's college career. The organization focuses on self-development, professional development, mentorship, finding your place in the world and helping other people make the world a better place so generations after can thrive in it.
Her main goal at ALPFA is to influence those in the organization to be kind to others and embrace cultural diversity – she believes doing this will create a ripple effect to impact individuals outside of the organization as well.
Ramirez even brings her kids to her ALPFA meetings because she knows this is the type of community she wants for them. She wants her children to be surrounded by generations of career-driven and goal-oriented Latinos who can help them move up in the world and be better for themselves and their future families.
Ramirez recently attended an ALPFA convention in Orlando, Florida, where she notes, “I had never been somewhere on the planet where I felt more at home.” Not only did the convention allow her to network and meet new people in the accounting industry, but she accepted a full-time job offer at an accounting firm while attending the event.
The firm she will be working for represents groups like ALPFA, and she is excited to have the opportunity to keep building that type of generational wealth post-graduation.
Ramirez hopes her children will see what an education has meant to her and that all the time spent studying and working full time was well worth it.
“Do it all,” she says. “You’re not going to get the chance later… jump into every opportunity you get because it’s always a better opportunity now than it will be 10 years from now.”
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Published by UNT, 2022
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Marketing alum Kyle Rhodes (’02) is giving one UNT business student the opportunity of a lifetime.
Rhodes founded Focus Staff, a nationwide staffing agency, more than 14 years ago. Since that time, his business has been dubbed one of the fastest growing staffing firms in the nation by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), and one of the fastest growing firms by SMU Cox School of Business.
Today, Rhodes is using his entrepreneurial success to enable others to follow in his footsteps.
In recognition of his hardworking staff, Rhodes gifted the college a $25,000 expendable scholarship to support a first-generation student majoring in entrepreneurship. The generous scholarship will cover tuition, fees, room, board, and books for an entire year, for one student in need.
Financial need is one of many barriers that first-generation students face. According to the Postsecondary National Policy Institute, “27 percent of first-generation students come from households making $20,000 or less, compared to 6% of non-first-generation freshmen.”
“This scholarship will make an immediate difference for a student working to transform their future as they pursue their academic and entrepreneurial dreams,” said Senior Director of Development Patricia Gregory.
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Dr. Chad A. Proell joins college as inaugural G. Brint Ryan Professor of Behavioral Accounting
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UNT is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Chad A. Proell as the college’s inaugural G. Brint Ryan Professor of Behavioral Accounting.
“Without exception, every UNT person I have met has had a positive ‘can do, get it done’ attitude that makes me very excited to join UNT. I expect that my research and teaching experiences and perspectives will complement the already tremendously talented accounting department faculty and help continue to build the accounting department’s local, national, and international reputation,” said Proell.
Proell obtained his PhD, MS, and MBA from Cornell University and his BA from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He previously held faculty and post-doctoral positions at TCU, San Diego State University, UW-Madison, and Cornell University, teaching a wide span of undergraduate and graduate courses in both traditional and online formats, winning numerous teaching awards.
Proell’s research is published in journals across both management and accounting including the Journal of Applied Psychology, The Leadership Quarterly, Human Resource Management, The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Accounting Horizons, Journal of Business Ethics, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Journal of Management Accounting Research, and Accounting, Organizations and Society. His current research is primarily focused on how social psychological factors affect audit quality via their influence on audit team upward communication, turnover, and decision making.
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UNT senior beats out competition from elite HR programs across the country
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One UNT student stood out in a recent competition of teams from top HR programs across the country.
Ezra Poch, senior organizational behavior and human resource management major, was among a team of five UNT students who competed in the 2022 Purdue HR Case Competition, proposing solutions to workforce retention challenges in the PepsiCo workforce.
Upon completion of the presentations, which included teams from schools such as Cornell, Penn State, Purdue, Indiana, and Brigham Young, Poch was named “Best Question & Answer Responder” for the undergraduate division.
“No one knows what the questions will be when preparing for the competition,” explained Poch. “It requires us to think on the spot—using our experiences, perspectives, and what we've learned in our human resources courses and UNT Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) student chapter.”
Despite spending weeks researching solutions for the competition, answering the judges’ questions required quick thinking and well-thought out responses. In the end, all four judges agreed that Poch was the clear winner among nearly 40 other students.
In addition to bringing home $250 and recognition on the Purdue website, Poch also gained valuable knowledge and connections.
“I built relationships with my team members, gained knowledge to take to UNT SHRM, and learned more about attraction and retention and how it relates to what I've already learned in my HR courses,” said Poch.
Last month, Poch was awarded a Roger P. Lette scholarship from the North Texas SHRM Chapter (for the second year in a row), and in 2021, placed second at the Texas SHRM Case Study Competition.
Poch attributes much of their success and growth to two individuals at UNT.
“Professor Erin Welch and Dr. Mariya Gavrilova-Aguilar serve as co-advisors for UNT SHRM and professors in some of my Human Resources courses. They are both very involved advisors, well-educated professors and thoughtful, inclusive people. I am privileged to have the opportunity to learn from them and grow as an HR professional with their guidance and expertise.”
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Season of giving takes on personal note for social entrepreneurship students raising funds for nonprofits
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Social entrepreneurship students at the University of North Texas, inspired by their own experiences, are helping others by creating crowdfunding campaigns to support causes including cancer research, disabled military veterans, public school teachers, women’s shelters and more.
Each semester, Jeremy Short, G. Brint Ryan Chair in Entrepreneurship in the Ryan College of Business, leads his class in creating curated campaigns on crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and DonorsChoose to raise funds for nonprofits the students choose.
For some students, the project was more than just a class assignment.
Seniors Jill Hackett and Jeremiah Pletan teamed up to support the Children’s Cancer Fund (CFC), a North Texas based organization striving to fight cancer through research and providing special care for the children and families currently battling cancer. Pletan’s brother was previously a recipient of the CCF’s help.
In late August of this year, Hackett, who is working toward a psychology degree, was diagnosed with rectal cancer for the second time. Despite facing so many obstacles, she has found a way to help others conquer their own challenges.
“Going through my own experience, I know the money could really help the families,” Hackett said.
The CCF’s mission is to prioritize care methods for North Texas children fighting cancer and improve the quality of the children’s lives, bringing families who are going through treatments together, through various fun and social events throughout the year.
Hackett hopes their campaign will be a source of light for families during a dark time.
Similarly, junior Nicole Schroeder and seniors Erin Jeffery and Ron Christensen chose to campaign for Patriot Paws, an organization that focuses on training service dogs for disabled military veterans, a cause Christensen holds near to his heart as a disabled veteran.
“Students often feel college classes are disconnected from the realities of the business world,” Short said. “This project creates social entrepreneurs making real change financially for causes where they can express their passions.”
As part of the class, students organized and hosted a “Greensgiving” event in the UNT Union on Nov. 17. The event featured a live DJ, silent auction, cash bar, snacks and individualized campaign promotions.
In total, the class raised more than $10,000 for 18 campaigns.
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Published by UNT News, 2022
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North Texas team tests emerging Advanced Air Mobility technology
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This past fall, researchers and a nationwide partnership of companies and government agencies took a giant step toward next generation air travel with a successful live flight test of emerging Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) technologies, including future airspace system automation, advanced communications infrastructure, a surrogate electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft and a simulated air route between Hillwood’s AllianceTexas Flight Test Center in Justin and the University of North Texas’ Discovery Park.
This flight not only simulated a potential high-demand route for unmanned, autonomous cargo and passenger-carrying air transports, it also provided vital data for industry standards in airspace management, vehicle-to-infrastructure communications and autonomous flight operations. The North Texas Cohort team, organized by National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) AAM National Campaign Project, was able to expand on earlier NASA-led research to include the integration of live weather data from UMASS’s network of weather radars, the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere's (CASA) CityWarn system, and dynamic capacity balancing into a complex hardware/software solution needed to realize the next generation of airborne travel.
“The dream of Jetsons air taxis — which was set in 2062 — has remained just a dream to date, but advances in battery technology, robotics, aerodynamics and communication systems are bringing that Jetsons dream closer day-by-day,” says Keven Gambold, CEO of Unmanned Experts Inc. “The North Texas Cohort is focused on getting these revolutionary aircraft to help with everyday life, from safely delivering locally sourced food from farms to metro centers quickly, to taking families to the airport a mere 10 minutes before boarding — faster, safer, cleaner, and more advanced than any other transportation system in the world.”
For the high demand routes to work, eVTOLs would need to be in constant contact with a traffic management system. This is not only to organize air traffic, but also to ensure the safety and security of the vehicles and people and property below. The North Texas Cohort research team, a group of 15 entities, including representatives from UNT, Bell Textron, Unmanned Experts Inc., and AAMTEX worked with NASA, Hillwood and the Federal Aviation Administration as they monitored the next generation aircraft through two ‘laps’ of a test route from AllianceTexas in Fort Worth to UNT’s Discovery Park in Denton, trialing novel communication and safety technologies.
UNT’s portion of the research is part of UNT’s Center for Integrated Intelligent Mobility Systems (CIIMS). CIIMS was established in 2020 to bring together expertise across disciplines, including engineering and business, around intelligent mobility, which includes autonomous flight, ground vehicles, and the systems that will enable their deployment. The business team, led by Dr. Terry Pohlen, includes faculty from the Department of Logistics and Operations Management
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Published by UNT Research and Innovation, 2022
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PHILANTHROPIC OPPORTUNITIES AT THE RYAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
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THE WILSON JONES ENDOWMENT FOR RYAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS CAREER SUPPORT SERVICES
Alumnus Wilson Jones (’85) and his wife, Jane, donated $5 million to the college in 2022 to create a new career center in the G. Brint Ryan College of Business. This generous gift will not only go towards the build out of a space that will serve to better prepare students for successful careers, but it will also fund the hiring of new staff and resources to support the college's growing student body. Working in conjunction with this gift, the Wilson Jones Endowment for Ryan College of Business Career Support Services will provide additional assistance to reach these goals and support services that promote career readiness.
G. BRINT RYAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS DEAN'S EXCELLENCE FUND
The Dean’s Excellence Fund also provides immediate, essential support to our students. This fund serves as a vital resource to help our students and campus respond to opportunities and challenges as they occur. When you support the Dean’s Excellence Fund, you support the strategic vision of the college by allowing the Dean to have flexibility in directing the use of resources to the priorities of the college during this difficult time.
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G. BRINT RYAN COLLEGE OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT FUND
Frank Dudowicz was an ardent supporter of the G. Brint Ryan College of Business. Before he passed away on May 1, 2022, one of his final requests was to have memorials be made to the Ryan College of Business Communications Support Fund, a testament to his ongoing efforts to be a positive force in the UNT community. Donations made to the Communications Support Fund aid Dudowicz’s most recent board efforts to increase brand awareness for the Ryan College of Business. Click here to honor Frank's memory with a gift. |
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PLP "25 IN A QUARTER" CAMPAIGN
UNT Professional Leadership Program (PLP) members, former members, and corporate partners and friends are invited to help develop the program's future leaders and their skills in servant leadership, stewardship, diversity and inclusion, ethical practice, problem solving, communications and teamwork.
As part of the inaugural "25 In a Quarter" Campaign, PLP will be setting out to raise $25,000 each fiscal quarter. To help kick off the campaign the PLP Board of Directors has pledged a generous “Leadership Gift” in the amount of $10,000. Now is your opportunity to support the PLP program and make an impact on the future of servant leadership. Click here to give today.
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