Interview with Dr. Gerard Roland Vela, UNT Professor Emeritus of Microbiology. The interview includes Vela's personal experiences about childhood and education, serving in World War II-era U.S. Navy, having a fellowship at Harvard University, and joining the North Texas faculty in 1965. Additionally, Vela discusses his family history, his love of chemistry, genetics, and microbiology, the growing pains involved with transitioning North Texas into a research university, the construction of a research program, his relationship with students, and his service on the Denton City Council. Photographs are included throughout the interview.

Interview with Norman Mailer, novelist and Army veteran. The interview includes Mailer's personal experiences about World War II in the Philippines, Army life, jungle patrols, and the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. Mailer talks about the role of his wartime experiences in his novel, The Naked and the Dead.