Moody College of Communication honored some of its most revered community members at the 2025 Impact Celebration on Sept. 16, 2025.
The event brought together faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters to recognize accomplishments from the past year and to salute the people who make the college exceptional.
This year, the two awards were presented following introductions by Moody students Kylee Howard, the managing editor of The Daily Texan, and Lia Hoang, a journalism senior who took part in the UT in New York program this summer.
The power of Moody College lies in our collective community that seeks to do its best in educating tomorrow’s communications leaders and advancing the study and practice of communication. This year’s award winners personify this powerful community.
The Robert C. Jeffrey College Benefactor Award, which is named for the college’s third dean and goes to people who have given time or resources to the college, was given to Elizabeth “Elle” Moody.
This year’s Outstanding Alumni Award went to Bill Mintz, who earned his bachelor’s in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin in 2025, 50 years after first attending classes in the 1970s.
Learn more about the winners below:
Elle Moody
Robert C. Jeffrey College Benefactor Award
Elizabeth “Elle” Moody is the senior vice president of grants and chief communications officer at the Moody Foundation and was appointed to the foundation’s board of trustees in 2015. She was named the Foundation’s Senior Vice President of Grants and Chief Communications Officer in 2023.
Her name is well-known around Moody, as it was the Moody Foundation that provided the gift that gives the college its namesake.
In addition, she recently spearheaded a foundation grant of $100,000 to provide financial support to students participating in the UTNY program.
At the University of Texas at Austin, she serves on the Development Board, the Moody College dean’s advisory council and the National Leadership Board for the Blanton Museum of Art.
Elle is a graduate of Rice University, where she serves on the board of trustees and on the Advisory Board for the Moody Center for the Arts. She also holds a master’s degree in visual art administration from New York University.
Prior to the Moody Foundation, Elle was a Senior Account Director at the global communications firm Sutton, where she led international media strategies for a diverse roster of clients in the cultural and non-profit sectors.
Elle leverages her diverse background in arts and culture to guide the foundation’s investments across Texas.
She has advocated for projects ranging from the Chinati Foundation to the Galveston Arts Center and is on the board of trustees at Ballroom Marfa.
She is dedicated to encouraging the next generation to grow in their careers and further their education.
Bill Mintz
Outstanding Alumni Award
Bill Mintz enrolled at the University of Texas in 1969, started journalism classes in 1971 and started work at The Daily Texan in 1972
As a journalism student, he was quickly swept up in the fast-paced, boots-on-the-ground world of The Daily Texan.
It’s this experience that laid the foundation for what would become a long and successful career in journalism, writing for major outlets like The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News.
Despite the bylines, one thing lingered in the back of his mind for decades: he never officially earned his degree in those days.
Fast-forward to today, and that unfinished chapter has a new ending. In May, Bill crossed the stage at the 2025 graduation ceremony, more than 50 years after first enrolling at UT.
His return to the Forty Acres began with a gift: a $250,000 donation to the Texas Student Media Excellence Fund – the largest individual alumnus contribution in the organization’s history.
Bill’s generosity supports Texas Student Media in powerful ways, from boosting student wages and funding travel, to elevating broadcast quality with cutting-edge HDR cameras.
It’s this same generosity that led Bill to start his nonprofit, Freewheels Houston.
The organization gives bikes to refugees who have settled in Houston.
As a lifelong cyclist, Bill recognized not only the joy bikes can bring, but also how helpful they are as a valuable mode of transportation to the people who need them.
In 2015, Freewheels’ first year in operation, they donated 12 bikes. That number has since grown significantly, giving away over 700 bikes in 2024.
Learn more about the awards Moody College presents to our outstanding community members, faculty and staff, as well as past winners, on Moody website.
By Megan Radke, Moody Communications Manager
