Advertising, Marketing & Public Relations Balcom Agency promoted account service team members Jennifer Haynes, Eric Shulman – — and Audrey Stewart to new positions within the company. Previously an account coordinator and public relations assistant, Haynes is now writer and social media specialist for the agency. Having worked for Balcom since 2008, Haynes will focus her writing and social media talents on several accounts as well as continue her role as copy editor. Shulman, a former account coordinator since 2012, is now an account executive and media specialist. He will oversee projects and manage media for clients, including Ben Hogan Foundation and Southwest Bank. Also with the agency since 2012, Stewart has been promoted from account executive to account manager. Since joining the B team, she has helped to execute campaigns on the national and regional scale for clients such as PCCA, Petroleum Club of Fort Worth, Clark Laboratories and the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce.
Education Patricia Gwirtz, a professor of integrative physiology and anatomy at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, has been named associate dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Gwirtz, who marks 32 years at UNTHSC, has been serving as assistant dean for the Specialized Masters Programs for Medical Science and Clinical Research Management. “I am committed to mentoring students and junior faculty and to finding innovative ways to incorporate active learning methods in the classroom,” she said. Her research in cardiovascular physiology led to her election as a Fellow in the American College of Cardiology. Her research has included the beneficial effects of endurance exercise training on the heart and coronary circulation. Gwirtz received her doctorate in physiology from Thomas Jefferson University and her bachelor’s degree in nutrition science from Drexel University.
Honors & Awards The Volunteer Center of North Texas will honor Donna Arp Weitzman, the Junior League of Fort Worth and the Texas Jewish Post with the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s inaugural Big Hearts of Fort Worth Awards Breakfast, Oct. 8 at the Omni Fort Worth Hotel. The award is given to those who are committed to volunteering and strengthening the community through the arts, human service, education and health. Ann Cavallo, University of Texas at Arlington professor of curriculum and instruction and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Education and co-director of UTeach Arlington, has been awarded an $800,000 Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program grant from the National Science Foundation. The award will be used to provide one- to two-year scholarships worth $10,000 a year to selected undergraduates who are pursuing teacher certification in high school mathematics, physical science or chemistry. A one-year stipend will support post-baccalaureate students who want to switch careers to become secondary school math or science teachers. The grant also provides internship opportunities, enrichment activities, learning seminars and mentoring. In exchange for the support, the newly certified math and science teachers will pledge to work at least two years at a school in an economically disadvantaged community. If the teachers receive two years of scholarship support, they will teach at the school for four years. The majority of the UT Arlington graduates work for the Arlington, Fort Worth, Mansfield, Hurst-Euless-Bedford and Dallas school districts. Cavallo, who joined UT Arlington in 2008, is the principal investigator for the Noyce grant, and is collaborating with three UT Arlington colleagues: Greg Hale, assistant dean of the UT Arlington College of Science; physics professor Ramon Lopez; and James Epperson, associate professor of mathematics. All were co-investigators on a previous NSF grant. The League of American Bicyclists recognized Fort Worth Bike Sharing with a Silver Bicycle Friendly Business award, joining the city of Fort Worth and becoming the second Fort Worth business to receive the designation. Fort Worth Bike Sharing is the fifth North Texas and 21st Texas business to be recognized. Fort Worth is listed as an Honorable Mention Bike Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists.
Law Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP welcomes three new associates to the firm. Samantha A. Fant joins the corporate and securities practice group. Prior to joining Kelly Hart, Fant was a legal extern for Hanover Commonwealth’s attorney’s office in 2013, and interned for Judge Sharen Wilson, Criminal District Court No. 1. James “Drew” Neill also joins the corporate and security practice group. A graduate of Texas Tech University School of Law, Neill served as a member of Texas Tech Law Review. Kate L. Young splits her time between intellectual property and the real estate practice groups. Prior to Kelly Hart, Young was a judicial clerk for the Hon. William C. Sowder in the 99th District Court.
Real Estate Prudential Lou Hillman Realtors has joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, part of the HSF Affiliates LLC family of real estate brokerage franchise networks, and is now operating as Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Lou Hillman Realtors. Lou Hillman Realtors is the oldest real estate firm founded in the Grapevine-Colleyville-Flower Mound-Southlake area. Hillman founded the business in 1972 and joined the Prudential Real Estate network in 1988.
Send newsmakers to Betty Dillard at bdillard@bizpress.net
Health care administrator named MHA Community Partner of the Year Winjie Tang Miao, president of Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Alliance, has been named by UNTHSC’s School of Public Health as the 2014 Master of Health Administration Community Partner of the Year, in recognition of her outstanding service to students through teaching and mentoring. “As adjunct instructor for the MHA Capstone Course, the culminating experience before graduation, Winjie recognizes the significance of this final step in helping students get ready for the real world,” said Dr. Nuha Lackan, director of the MHA program and associate professor of health management and policy. “Not only is she willing to share honestly the lessons she’s learned along the way in her own career – both the ups and downs – she relates well to our students because she’s closer to their age than most administrators, having moved up quickly through the Texas Health system since she first started as an administrative resident with Presbyterian Hospital Dallas back in 2000,” Lackan said.