DENTON, Texas-- Dr. Carroll B. Ellis, retired chair of the department of communication at Lipscomb University, has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of North Texas.
Ellis, of 3711 Rosemont Avenue in Green Hills, received UNT''s most prestigious alumni award during the Alumni Awards Dinner April 12. The award is presented to individuals who have achieved prominence in their professiona, reflecting a positive image of UNT, according to a UNT press release.
A Dallas native, Ellis earned his bachelor's degree in government from UNT in 1941. As a student, he was president of the freshman class and the senior class, president of Pi Phi Pi fraternity, and a debate team member.
After graduating from UNT, Ellis taught speech at Denton High School for three years before earning master's and doctoral degrees in speech from Louisiana State University. He briefly taught at LSU before becoming professor of speech communication at Lipscomb in 1949.
He was named department chair in 1954 and held that position until 1984. He directed the Lipscomb debate team, which won five Tennessee state championships in the 1960s and captured the Western Kentucky championship.
A member of Pi Kappa Delta, the national debate fraternity, Ellis was selected president of both the Tennessee Speech Association and the Southern Speech Association, now the Southern Speech Communication Association. He retired from Lipscomb in 1989, and the university honored him by naming him a "Lipscomb Legend."
Ellis has also had a long career as a minister in congregations of the churches of Christ, beginning in 1937 while a high school student in Dallas. He served as a senior minister for churches in Richardson and Justin, Texas; Baton Rouge, and Nashville. He was on the editorial staff of the Gospel Advocate, a national publication serving churches of Christ.