Ring Ceremony Deepens Student, Alumni Connections

There was no mistaking the resemblance between two individuals who crossed the stage of the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Lecture Hall during the UT Dallas Ring Ceremony on Dec. 8. Jessica Loucks and her mother, Dana Loucks BS’96, both accepted University of Texas at Dallas rings in a memorable ceremony open to students who meet specific criteria as well as the University’s more than 127,000 alumni.

Many University alumni may not realize that any graduate can buy a UT Dallas ring and participate in the ceremonies held each fall and spring. Dana Loucks graduated in 1996 with a degree in accounting, but at the time, buying a class ring was not something she thought much about.

“When I graduated, I was married, working full time and going to school at night,” she said. “A ring just wasn’t on my mind. But then my daughter was getting ready to graduate and she’s like, ‘Mom, you never got a UTD ring?’”

Jessica Loucks, who’s graduating this fall with a degree in biology and a minor in public health and who has been accepted into medical school, told her mom that alumni can buy a ring and go through ring ceremony any time. The mother-daughter duo decided to take part in the University tradition together.

“Getting the rings together and walking across the stage was very full circle,” Jessica Loucks said. “I just feel more connected to the University, especially doing the ceremony with my mom.”

For Liana Al-Natour, a Palestinian who grew up in Saudi Arabia, receiving a University ring before graduating this semester with a mechanical engineering degree was important for her to mark the positive changes she experienced coming to UT Dallas.

“I had a very bumpy ride when I got to UTD, but being here really helped me clean up my act,” Al-Natour said. “It helped to have good people around me and having professors who genuinely cared about me. I decided having a ring represents that change in myself that I experienced here.”

Students, family members and guests were welcomed to the ceremony by University alumnus Kyle Edgington PhD’13, vice president for development and alumni relations, who described his own deep academic and professional connections with the University and his respect for the traditions and history represented by the UT Dallas ring.

“The UT Dallas ring has a special history tied to the founding spirit of our University,” Edgington said. “When you put on your rings and dunk them in the reflecting pools outside later tonight, you will become a part of that history.”

Roger Davis-Jahnel said participating in the ring ceremony created an unexpected connection for him with the University’s past.

“I enjoyed hearing about the history of UT Dallas and some of the influential alumni,” said Davis-Jahnel, who is graduating with a degree in political science and hopes to attend law school. “And realizing that connection with alumni who came before us and who dunked their rings into the same fountain – now we’re a part of that.”

Following the ring presentations and the traditional dunking of rings in the reflecting pools on the Margaret McDermott Mall, participants and family attended a reception at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center.

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