Legacy
UNT Success Stories UNT has successful alumni working as leaders in their fields and all across the country and globe. They include award-winning musicians, authors, actors, CEOs, educators, researchers, inventors, engineers and athletes.
Some of UNT’s notable alumni include:
Alumna Norah Jones is a multiple Grammy Award-winning performer
Arts & Entertainment
- Shirin Askari, fashion design star of television show Project Runway
- Thomas Haden Church, Academy Award nominee for Sideways and Emmy winner for Broken Trail
- Michael Faircloth, fashion designer for former First Lady Laura Bush
- Don Henley, Grammy Award-winning singer and musician; member of The Eagles and solo artist; environmental activist
- Norah Jones, multiple Grammy Award winner
- T Lewis, illustrator of the nationally syndicated comic strip “Over the Hedge”
- “Blue” Lou Marini, saxophonist; original 10-year member of the Saturday Night Live band; backed John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd in the Blues Brothers and Blues Brothers 2000 movies; also played in the band for Night Line with David Brenner
- Lyle Mays, composer and keyboardist for the Pat Metheny Group; won seven Grammy Awards with the group; also nominated four times for his own work
- Jesús Moroles, sculptor who earned the National Medal of the Arts, the highest award given by the U.S. president
- Roy Orbison, singer and guitarist; songs included “Pretty Woman” and “Crying”
- Peter Weller, actor; starred in Robocop and Buckaroo Bonzai
Business
- Phyllis George, former Miss America, sports journalist and entrepreneur
- Dr. Phil McGraw, self-help guru
- Norm Miller, CEO and chair of Interstate Batteries
- Phil Sorgen, corporate vice president for Microsoft
- Ronald Waranch, California developer and Horatio Alger Award winner
Research & Science
- Terry Brewer, chemist and inventor; founder of Brewer Science Inc., an international micro- and optoelectronics company
- Hyun-Soon Chong, professor and cancer researcher at the Illinois Institute of Technology
- James Pawelczyk, astronaut and Penn State physiology and kinesiology researcher; flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia
Sports
- “Mean” Joe Greene, NFL Hall of Famer, defensive lineman for the five-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s
- Brian Waters, 2009 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year, philanthropist and offensive guard for the NFL’s New England Patriots
Writing & Journalism
- Larry McMurtry, Oscar-winning co-author of the screen adaptation for Brokeback Mountain and author of The Last Picture Show and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove
- Bill Moyers, television journalist; former chief correspondent for CBS Reports and senior news analyst for CBS News; former press secretary for President Lyndon Baines Johnson
For more alumni stories, visit northtexan.unt.edu.