University Alumni Honored for Distinguished Accomplishments
Date Published: Monday, Feb. 19, 2018
The University of Dallas has announced the recipients of the 2018 Distinguished Alumni
Award - the highest honor the university can bestow on its alumni. They include Patrick Daly, BA '76 MBA '82, James Fougerousse, BA '67, Timothy Gehan, BA '82, Sister Theresa Khirallah, S.S.N.D., BA '70, Merrilee Salata Kralik, MPM '02, and Father Peter Verhalen, O. Cist, BA '77 MA '81. The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have
demonstrated sustained and distinguished accomplishments and contributions to any
field of human endeavor.
Award recipients will be honored during a reception and dinner Saturday, April 14, 2018, at the Omni Dallas Hotel. Ticket and table sponsorship details can be found at udallas.edu/DAA.
A beloved member of the UD community, Daly led many initiatives directed at improving
the campus experience for students, including the pathway to the university's DART
station; the renovation of Haggar University Center to improve the student dining
experience; the improvement to the quality and safety of student housing through the
construction of Clark Hall and renovation of Tower Village; the upgrading of academic
facilities by the construction of SB Hall and Cardinal Farrell Hall; and the installation
of campus gateways that welcome students, faculty and staff to the university.
Daly is especially known for his establishment of the campus' Cappuccino (Cap) Bar
in 1981 with the assistance of Professor Emeritus of Art Lyle Novinski. Daly passed
away on March 6, 2017, after a brief illness.
In 1970, UD asked Fougerousse to fly to Rome to investigate the possibility of using
the Generalate House of the School Sisters of Notre Dame to accommodate students during
their Rome semester. The trip was a success, and the now-famous Rome Program was born.
Fougerousse served many other roles at the university, including assistant to the
president, dean of students, adjunct professor of language and literature, and eventually
the chairman of foreign languages and literature. In 1981, he became the director
of the Rome Program, a role in which he served for eight years.
After leaving the university, Fougerousse became the dean and director of studies
at the International Academy of Philosophy in the principality of Liechtenstein. While
in that role, Fougerousse also found time to continue assisting the UD Rome Program
and eventually helped secure the land on which the Eugene Constantin Campus now resides,
in the locality of Due Santi, near the cities of Marino and Frattocchie.
Gehan is the founder and former CEO of Gehan Homes. Under his leadership, Gehan Homes
grew to be one of the top 25 homebuilding companies in the U.S. and was closing an
average of more than 1,400 homes per year. In addition, in his 25 years at Gehan Homes,
he expanded the business from Dallas into several markets, including Houston, Austin,
San Antonio and Phoenix, as well as managing $500 million in revenue per year.
After selling Gehan Homes in 2016, Gehan founded JTG Holdings. In his current position
as president of JTG Holdings, Gehan focuses on residential and commercial real estate
investments throughout North America. In addition to his bachelor's degree in economics
from UD, he also has a law degree from Texas Tech University.
Sister Khirallah is currently the director of ministries for the Catholic Diocese
of Dallas, where she oversees and collaborates with the diocesan ministry directors
to provide support services to the parishes in all areas of ministry. Khirallah also
works closely with the Dallas Diocesan Council of Catholic Women as their spiritual
moderator. As a retreat and formation speaker, Khirallah works with various groups
in the Diocese of Dallas for their events. She also works with the university's Ann & Joe O. Neuhoff School of Ministry to host the annual Dallas Ministry Conference. Most recently, Khirallah worked with Ted Whapham, Ph.D., dean of the Neuhoff School
of Ministry, to begin a certificate program in pastoral ministry in cooperation with
the Diocese of Dallas.
Khirallah's accomplishments also include founding the parish of Good Shepherd in Colleyville.
Kralik is a board-certified Catholic chaplain, the highest level of professional chaplaincy
for laywomen acknowledged by the Roman Catholic Church. Now retired, she has served
as staff chaplain at the University of Texas Southwestern/St. Paul Hospital and as
on-call chaplain at Zale-Lipshy University Hospital, Presbyterian Hospital of Plano
and Parkland Memorial Hospital. Kralik also spent 16 years as the lead facilitator
for the Pastoral Care Training Series (formerly Ministry of Consolation) for the Diocese
of Dallas. In that role, the team provided enhanced attentive listening skills training
for professionals, parish staff, lay ministers and the ordained whose work and ministry
involves meeting with people suffering grief, loss and bereavement.
Father Verhalen is the abbot of the Cistercian Monastery, Our Lady of Dallas, in Irving,
a role to which he was originally elected in 2012 and re-elected for another six-year
term in 2018. His election made him the first American to serve as abbot of Our Lady
of Dallas. Ordained to the priesthood in 1981, Verhalen was headmaster of Cistercian
Preparatory School from 1996 to 2012, where he also taught English, Latin and theology,
and was form master for the classes of 1989, 1997 and 2003.
Discover more at udallas.edu/DAA.