Faculty and staff filled up Campus Hall Friday morning for another Recognition Town Hall hosted by President Bob Mong. 

President Mong opened the breakfast gathering with a campus report, which included the news that spring enrollment is up 6% from a year ago. He also spoke about the university's strategic initiatives, centered around growth, student success and community connectedness, for FY 2020, as well as strategic goals. Those goals include: increase revenues, be a best place to work, take care of students, strengthen community partnerships and increase enrollment, retention and graduation.

The highlight of these Recognition Town Halls has become the portion in which community partners and alums are honored for their commitment to improving education in southern Dallas.

Community honorees included:

• Macario Hernandez -- Principal, Trinidad "Trini" Garza Early College High School at Mountain View College
• Stephanie McCloud -- Principal, Umphrey Lee Elementary
• Sandi Massey -- Principal, Thomas Jefferson High School
• Edwin Villatoro -- Started Thomas Jefferson Supply Drive
• Azhalia Leal -- Student, Aide at Representative Victoria Neave's office

Honorary alums included:

• Ever Amaya -- Council assistant to Councilman Jaime Resendez (also a UNT Dallas alum), formerly at Habitat for Humanity
• Gloria Lopez -- Consultant and community activist, formerly at Trinity River Mission
• Stephanie Sierra -- Marketing and events manager at Trinity River Mission, former SGA president
• Delia Phan Castro -- College of Law alum, Detective wit the Dallas Police Department
• Joe Carrington -- College of Law alum, Deputy Sheriff for Harris County, also served in U.S. Marine Corps

Other honorees included:

• Nyla Campbell -- Freshman Entrepreneur at Seagoville P-Tech
• Felicitas Cadena -- Community Empowerment Manager, Univision
• Eronia King -- UNT Dallas Experiential Learning Project Coordinator, completed Leadership Southwest
• Nakia Douglas -- UNT Dallas Executive Director, TRIO & Pre-Collegiate Programs, completed Leadership Dallas
• Deitre Greene -- UNT Dallas PD, promoted to Police Lieutenant
• Jakim Williams -- UNT Dallas PD, promoted to Police Lieutenant
• Haily Bradley -- UNT Dallas Property Control Manager, completed Space Audit
• Brody Du -- UNT Dallas Reporting Analyst/Adjunct Professor Business MGMT, completed Data Analytics project
• Dr. Ted Larson -- UNT Dallas Lecturer Computer Information Systems, completed Data Analytics project
• Frank Ricupati -- ECI Hospitality Debt Reduction Scholarship

Recipients of the Outstanding Trailblazer Award include:

• Dr. Deborah Cain-Ferguson
• Jeff Caplan
• Teresa Espino
• Marijke Gray
• Lt. Deitre Green
• Dr. William Ingram
• Dr. Noureen Khan
• Judith Nix 
• Dr. Corron Sanders
• Dr. Cathy Scott
• Tiffany Talamantes
• Ashleigh Tynes
• Dr. Nedra Washington