Latest news with #UniversityofTexasPermianBasin
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dunn makes the switch from business to UTPB
May 2—Throughout his life, Rusty Dunn has given back to his community and now he's doing it from the higher education stage as University of Texas Permian Basin's Development Coordinator. A native of Odessa, Dunn lived in the Midland and Dallas areas before returning home. He owned a Chick-fil-A franchise for 20 years. Dunn said he had a "kind of semi-retirement" in August 2024. He decided to part ways because he and his wife were about to become empty nesters and he wanted to try something new. "This is very different than what I had done in the past and so just kind of looking for a new adventure," Dunn said. His job involves fundraising, but Dunn said there are a lot of things going on. "There's capital campaign projects. We work with scholarships and endowments and professorships. We work with the deans of the different colleges to make sure that all of the money that has been promised is brought in, given, given out to the student ... following it all the way through," Dunn said. He added that they have two staff members on the team who make sure they're in compliance. Although he hasn't been at UTPB very long, Dunn said he has absolutely loved it. "The amount of generosity in this community is unbelievable, and when you're working with people that are so anxious to, one, be generous for the good of the community. ... Not only does it help the students, it's helping the community overall. It's just a really neat thing," Dunn said. Proverbs 11:25 says, "Whoever brings blessings will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered." "I think that's something that you always should do is keep God's money in circulation. I'm not taking anything with me when I leave and so whatever I can do to help people ... I had the pastor of the church that I grew up in, he always said, You never see a hearse with a U-Haul behind it headed to the cemetery. ... My wife and I have always tried to be as generous as possible. The people that we're getting to work with and companies ... there's an enormous amount of generosity in this community," Dunn said. One of the big things he is working on with others are capital campaigns. Having been in business so long in Odessa, he's built relationships — whether with Chick-fil-A or his church, First Baptist — and that is helping with fundraising. He has known Vice President for External Relations Advancement Jacqui Gore for more than 25 years and knows her family. "She has always been somebody that I've admired ... This just kind of rolled into that," Dunn said. Asked how what he's doing now is different than Chick-fil-A, he said Chick-fil-A typically leads with food — providing lunches, for example. "That would be probably the biggest scenario just on a much smaller scale, dollar-wise, than what we're doing here. If we donated a meal ... and here we're dealing with thousands of dollars. ... One of the things that we try to do is have an impact on people, and that was the reason why I was at the ECISD thing was just an impact. How do you do that? So many of my team members from over there either they didn't have a great home life and so we were able to make an impact on them in a very positive way with what we were doing," Dunn said. That included the people he worked with and the people they served. Some people ate with them three to six times a week. "We get to know who they are. We get to know what their order is. That's John. That's a number one with no pickles and a large Dr Pepper. And, you know, so whenever you're able to have what we would call a relational scenario versus a transactional, it makes all the difference in the world," Dunn said. The other part, he said, is that everyone has a story of where they came from and their life experiences. "That was one of the things that we always try to share with with our team members. You never know what has just happened to that person before they came in, they may have gotten a phone call that somebody's died, or somebody's lost their job, or they're now getting a divorce, or their son is getting shipped off to war or you just never know. Those were the kind of things that we tried to teach our team members to be able to really reach in with folks," Dunn said. Dunn earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Texas Tech University. He got into restaurant work because he needed a job. "And according to John Maxwell, job stands for just over broke. I was actually one of five members of my family that worked for Chick-fil-A when we were in high school. I worked a year at Chick-fil-A in the mall in Midland, and then when we moved to Dallas, I went to work for another Chick-fil-A for five more years while I was in high school and college," Dunn said. He added that being a person of faith, it appealed to him that they were closed on Sunday. He and his wife Heather have two daughters. Gore is glad to have Dunn on board. "We're excited to have Rusty on the External Relations team. He brings 30 years of business experience and solid Permian Basin relationships to this role. Rusty loves people and that's what our work is all about," Gore said.
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Perry wins Olson Award at UTPB
Apr. 8—University of Texas Permian Basin biology lecturer Irene Perry has been recognized with the Olson Award. The laurel is given to a faculty member exemplifying the highest standards of teaching and service. According to the university website, Perry has been instrumental in mentoring students, coordinating research initiatives, and engaging with the STEM Academy. She is honored to receive an award named for James Olson, a founding faculty member of UTPB. Perry said he was the dean when she was hired full-time for the position she now holds. "I was surprised. I did not expect it when I went to the ceremony," Perry said. Perry works with a group of biology majors — Atlanta Williams, Laura Perez and Sui Tial-Khenglawt — on their undergraduate research. They are studying plants native to West Texas to see if they can protect red blood cells from breaking down. They came across three plants — one was on campus; one was in Perry's back yard and one was from Amazon, Williams said. The bacteria they used was Streptococcus pyogenes, which is most known for strep throat. "... The main thing we went with that is that a lot of people get strep. They can be carriers of strep throat, and when you're a child and you, like, get it back-to-back, usually they send you to ... get your tonsils removed. We think that if we can find a plant that can help with this bacteria, that can keep it from destroying red blood cells, possibly. That can be a new new option for people to take, instead of just going to get surgery, especially at a young age," Williams said. Perry said the idea is if you can find a plant to put in tea, or have in a tincture, that will be "less dramatic" than taking antibiotics, for example. Some people can become antibiotic resistant so they sometimes don't work or stop working. "Just one more tool in the toolbox," Perry said. The project will continue through April, she said. Undergraduate research day is all day April 25 in the library. Along with Williams, Perez and Tial-Khenglawt, will be presenting. Other students will also give presentations, Perry said. Tial-Khenglawt said the thing that's most interesting to her is how native plants can actually make a difference in health care. She added that she always thought that plants were very helpful when it came to medicine, but she didn't know they would find some here. Tial-Khenglawt is in her 11th year of living in West Texas, but has lived in Burma and Malaysia. Williams said she knew growing up that pants could have pharmaceutical properties. "... We live in close proximity with plants and we need plants to survive, so I wasn't surprised that we could find something in it, but just how quick it was and starting the research I didn't expect it" to have an effect, Williams said. Once she saw that it was protecting the red blood cells, she thought they just helped save the world. "That's how it starts," Perry said. Perry said they have presented their findings to the Texas Academy of Science meetings and their work will also be presented in the Undergraduate Research Journal at UTPB, which is online. Tial-Khenglawt and Williams were selected to represent UTPB at Undergraduate Research Day April 10 at the state Capitol, Perry said. She added that the students got money from UTPB to help them with research supplies. Perry said botanical pharmaceutical work is ongoing and many drugs have plant origins. "In general, the number's around 25 percent," she added. "There's a lot of things we don't know and there's a lot of things that we need to find out." Perez said Perry has been super helpful on the botanical project and always given her opportunities to learn beyond the project they are working. Tial-Khenglawt met Perry before she came to UTPB when she attended Falcon Day and got to talk to her. "She was always really nice ... She was also my advisor and she always helped me with everything," Tial-Khenglawt said. She gave Tial-Khenglawt a good recommendation letter and told her about scholarship opportunities. "She's always there to help anyone and is very deserving of the Olson Award," Tial-Khenglawt said. Williams said she has had Perry for a couple of classes. "Her teaching style has never changed. She's always passionate about what she does. She makes you love whatever you're doing and like Laura said you only hear good things about Miss Perry ... She's always bright and optimistic ... If you're having a rough day, you're probably going to leave smiling because she's going to probably tell a joke," Williams said.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
UTPB students experience Collegiate Band Directors National Association conference
Apr. 4—Three University of Texas Permian Basin musicians got a chance to show off their talent at the Collegiate Band Directors National Association conference in Fort Worth. UTPB Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music Bryan Braue took Kim Lopez (clarinet), Alex Lozano (bass trombone) and Steven Martin (French horn) to the conference in late March. Lopez and Lozano are seniors and Martin is a sophomore. All three are pursuing music education, Braue said. Three students went to the regional conference last year and that was the first time UTPB had been represented at the event. Students are selected by their band directors, in this case Braue. Band directors nominate three or four students. "Usually you choose your top kids and then the panel will select the students based off of the recommendations of the directors. That's how the three kids got in. ... Then they go through an audition placement, once they're accepted, to figure out what clarinet part they're going to play, or what trombone part they're going to play, or what horn part they're going to play," Braue said. He added that these are three of the top students in the music education program at UTPB. "They did a great job representing us. They were prepared musically before they went. ... They do about 15 hours of rehearsal over the course of three days. Their concert was on Saturday afternoon, and I know that they had a livestream, and a bunch of other students back home watch them," Braue said. "The audience is made up of band directors from around the country and, quite frankly, (they) could also be from around the world. It's a unique opportunity for them to to be listened to by the top ears in the country," he added. They recorded a concert in October and Braue submitted it to the Collegiate Band Directors National Association. "One of the pieces we performed, was selected to be juried by my peers. And when I say my peers, I'm talking about band directors from around the country. That was a pretty special moment of recognition for our growth and what we've established here as a music program at UTPB," Braue said. Braue is leaving UTPB for Middle Tennessee State University. "I won the job as Associate Director of Bands at MTSU, and my wife and I will be relocating to Murfreesboro in June. It is definitely bittersweet. It's been a great three years here at UTPB; very supportive administration. "(I've) developed some great relationships with my colleagues here ... It's been wonderful to get to meet the people of West Texas and the community and the area. (The) band directors have been so much fun to work with," Braue said. On a personal level, it gets them closer to family in Florida. His said his responsibilities will be working with the marching band, overseeing the basketball pep band, teaching courses in music education, conducting the Symphonic Band and other music ed courses as assigned by the director for the School of Music. The marching band there has about 270 students. "The President (of Middle Tennessee State) is very adamant about wanting to grow that program, much like Dr. Woodley was ... when I started here. We had about 45 and we hit 90 this year," Braue said. He added that the band has a lot of positive momentum. "I think the future is very bright for this program. I know that between myself and my colleagues, Lyndsay Eiben, Andrew Viet (and) Eric Baker, we have solidified the program," Braue said. He added that he's proud that the program is stronger than it was when he got to UTPB. "I feel very comfortable that it's going to continue to see successful growth long after my departure ... We've built good community relationships and partnerships. We are very fortunate to have great support from Dr. Raj Dakshinamurthy and Dr. Woodley. Without those two, it wouldn't be possible, and that's a pretty unique situation. Moving to a much larger institution, I don't know if I'll have the same relationship with the president that I have here," Braue said.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Landman' not exactly true to life
Mar. 25—In the heart of oil and gas country, the show "Landman" has gotten a lot of attention and sparked curiosity. Is being a landman really like it is on TV? "There are small pieces of it that are accurate," said Katharine Harrell, coordinator of the Energy Land Management program at the University of Texas Permian Basin. "They've sort of combined a lot of different jobs in the industry together to make it a little more dramatic for TV." Harrell said they have combined a bit of what a landman does and some of what a field foreman would be doing. "Basically anything where he's out there doing anything with the oil well, would not be what a landman does," she added. A landman is mostly found in the county clerk's office looking at records or looking for those records online. "It's probably one of those professions that is about as close as you can get to a lawyer without actually being a lawyer. There's actually an exemption in Texas so landmen aren't practicing law without a license, because there's a lot of contract review and things like that," Harrell said. "You're looking at a lot of documents." "It's a very specialized industry in Texas that has a really long history, and so it's protected in that way," she added. It can help if you are a lawyer, but there are many successful landmen who aren't attorneys, said Harrell, who is an attorney. Some of the show was filmed in Odessa and Midland, including a spring Permian High School football game at Ratliff Stadium. They also filmed Wadley Avenue in Midland and some of the interstate. However, a lot of it was filmed in Fort Worth. "It's very dramatized, which it would have to be to be on TV. It's interesting to see some of the local locations on television. When you see the hamburger place that's down the street from your house on TV, that's always kind of interesting," Harrell said. Harrell said the Energy Land Management program has seen increased enrollment, but that's more due to recruitment efforts than the TV show. This will be the first recruitment cycle with "Landman" on streaming services. She added that they are getting questions about whether being a landman is like the show. "Landmen are usually pretty gregarious and funny. ... There are some that are being funny and say, yeah, that's exactly what I do, just being funny. Of course, people are sometimes getting calls from their grandmother saying, are you really working with fire? And we're saying, no, I sit at a computer and read most of the day," Harrell said. The Energy Landman program started in 2021 and its accredited through the American Association of Professional Landmen. "We're one of just a handful of schools throughout the country that have that accreditation. AAPL does a lot with our students," Harrell said. Students have free memberships to AAPL that come along with networking opportunities and mentorship. "They can apply to receive a mentor through AAPL, which in this industry is huge. Networking is still a really big part of what we do, and so when they're assigned to a mentor, they have access to their mentor's network as well so it's helpful," Harrell said. There is a demand for land professionals that she said she thinks will continue. "A lot of times you'll hear about alternative energy sources, and there are still going to be landmen that are used with alternative energy as well. A degree in Energy Land Management applies to the entire energy mix. We call it the energy mix now, so it would apply to things like wind turbines. The skills that you pick up to be able to deal with oil and gas are transferable to other areas," Harrell said. AAPL is actively recruiting students because there is a talent gap with people in management that are going to be retiring in the next 10 years. "They're wanting to fill that talent pipeline, so they're actively reaching out to universities, trying to make those connections with students," Harrell said. Energy Land Management is a four-year degree within UTPB's College of Business. Starting out, a student would take their basics, and then business law either end of their sophomore/beginning of their junior year, which is required for all College of Business students. From there, they would move to their landman principles class. There is a real property law class and an energy law class taught by an adjunct who is a Midland oil and gas attorney. There is also a negotiation class, the petroleum technology class and some upper level geology that has to do with GIS mapping, which is relevant to the industry, she said. "You're basically getting a business degree with a concentration in Energy Land Management," Harrell said. She added that there are skills students pick up in the program that are useful and could apply to other fields like real estate, for example. Starting salary for those who go through the program is about $75,000 a year to start. "As of right now, I would say our placement rate is probably in the 90th percentile. We've placed about 90% of our students that have graduated within the industry," Harrell said. There is math involved, but it's not petroleum engineering-level math, she said. "We have a petroleum technology class that is on our degree plan, and I like to say that's just enough so that we know what's going on. ... It's definitely not engineering-type math, or anything like that. It's about the same amount of math you need to get a business degree," Harrell said. A lot of the resources landmen would need right now are online. "There are services that have scanned the records and put them online, like Texas File, and you can search for things that way. There are probably always going to be those smaller courthouses that have some of their records that aren't online so there may be the need occasionally to drive out to Mentone or somewhere else, to get something that you need, especially if it's a probate record or something like that. A lot of it can be done on the internet now, but you still have the opportunity to get out of the office occasionally, depending on what you're doing," Harrell said. Land professionals represent oil and gas companies. "Depending on what type of landman you are dictates what you do. If you are an independent or a field landman, you're probably going to be gathering those records either from the County Clerk's Office or online resources, maybe trying to find contact information for lessors, calling them and communicating with them about potentially signing an oil and gas lease. That's one aspect of it. "(You) can also be an in-house landman. In-house landmen, depending on what size company you're at, you may be more so dealing with landmen from other companies, acquiring leases ... putting leases together to be able to drill. There are a lot of different aspects to the industry. You can also be a landman and represent mineral owners ... There are a lot of different things that you can do within the industry," Harrell said.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Mending Mental Gaps' marks completion
Mar. 4—University of Texas Permian Basin will host a special event marking the completion of the first Odessa Cohort of the Mending Mental Gaps Discussion Groups at 8 p.m. March 17 at the Odessa VFW, 208 E. VFW Lane. Over the past seven weeks, local veterans have explored war-themed literature, connecting it to their own experiences. Now, they will share their reflections with family, friends, and the community, a news release said. This event is part of a two-year project led by the University of Texas Permian Basin, made possible by a prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant under the Dialogues on the Experience of War program. The program provides a space for veterans to connect, build relationships, and share their experiences. It also encourages dialogue between veterans and civilians, helping communities better understand how to support those who have served.
