University of North Texas 
TFC Staff
Annette Becker
Texas Fashion Collection Director and Curator
Annette.Becker@unt.edu | 940-565-2732
Welch Street Complex #1, Room 103
Areas of Expertise: 19th- and 20th-century fashion and material culture, museology.
About
As the director and curator of the Texas Fashion Collection, Annette Becker focuses
on external-facing projects related to collection research, access and advocacy, ensuring
engagement with TFC holdings.
To improve accessibility to TFC artifacts, Becker leads academic programming that
connects diverse audiences with the collection. This initiative serves 4,500 learners
annually, from university classes augmenting their curriculum to industry leaders
conducting research to individuals enhancing their creative projects. Becker also
lectures broadly, speaking to community and professional groups at venues such as
the Dallas Museum of Art, Denton Maker Center in Texas, the Bruce Center for Design
and Material Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Lyndon B. Johnson National
Historical Park in Stonewall, Texas, and the National Arts Club in New York City.
These education-oriented efforts have provided impactful access to TFC holdings, sparking
new ways for people to understand design, culture and history.
Becker augments educational programming with curatorial projects that showcase the
TFC’s research and thought leadership in venues ranging from art museums to shopping
centers. Her curatorial practice bridges contemporary topics and trends with historic
artifacts, connecting popular and academic understandings of fashion history. Recent
projects include “Labor of Luxury: Embroidery from India to the World” at NorthPark
Center in Dallas and the UNT CVAD Galleries in Denton; “Tongue in Chic: The Humor
and High Fashion of Todd Oldham” at the Tyler Museum of Art in Tyler, Texas; “Endless
Summer: Florals in Fashion” at the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden; and “Fashion
Forward” at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas.
Becker first served as a graduate student volunteer and area assistant from 2013 to
2015 before returning in 2016 to serve as director. Her work is informed by professional
experience in cultural institutions nationwide, including the Spencer Museum of Art
at the University of Kansas; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Speed Art Museum, Louisville,
Kentucky; Kentucky Shakespeare, Lousville, Kentucky; Historic Deerfield, Deerfield,
Massachusetts; and Mid-America Arts Alliance, Kansas City, Missouri. She holds an
M.A. in art history with a minor in Art Education from UNT and anticipates completing
a Ph.D. in history in fall 2025.
Image: Annette Becker, photo by Elizabeth Lanvin, D Magazine
Ailie Pankonien
Collection Manager
940-565-4962
Ailie.Pankonien@unt.edu
405 S. Welch St., WSCI, Room 102
Denton, TX 76201
About
As collection manager, Ailie Pankonien focuses on internal-facing projects that closely relate to collection care and stewardship, ensuring the longevity and accessibility of TFC holdings.
To improve accessibility to the TFC artifacts, Pankonien leads an ongoing digitization project. This large-scale initiative requires weekly preparation of artifacts for digitization, training and collaborating with students who mount and photograph artifacts, managing media files, and partnering with the UNT Digital Libraries to make images and metadata findable. This initiative has provided impactful professional development for student staff and interns, and it has also garnered the financial support of individual donors and grant funding through the Heart of Neiman Marcus Foundation.
To ensure the TFC’s artifacts are handled and documented appropriately, Pankonien meticulously maintains best practices established by museums and archives. She executes regular collection care activities, such as conducting condition reports, preparing objects for loans, creating and administering internal object records, and finding storage solutions for all artifacts. She is committed to ongoing research dedicated to improving the collection's accessibility through methods of organization, description and care.
Pankonien joined the TFC staff in 2022. Her multidisciplinary background informs her varied work at the TFC. Her intellectual engagement with the TFC’s holdings is informed by her art historical training, first through a B.A. in Art History from UNT and later an M.A. in Library Science from the University of Colorado Boulder. Following this education, Pankonien gained hands-on experience at the Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; the Colorado University Boulder Art Museum; the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas. Pankonien’s deep knowledge of collections-based practices is shaped by graduate training in library science at UNT; through that program, Pankonien was first introduced to the TFC, completed a graduate practicum and graduate area assistantship at the TFC, and also worked at the UNT Digital Project Lab, part of the UNT Digital Libraries.
To browse the TFC’s holdings on the UNT Digital Library, visit the Explore Collections web page.
To see behind-the-scenes images of TFC collection digitization, visit the UNT Digital Library.