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| Denton Mayor Gerard Hudspeth, Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker, Abner Haynes, Joe Greene, Dr. Leon King, UNT President Neal Smatresk, and UNT System Board of Regents Chair Laura Wright celebrate the dedication of Unity Plaza. |
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| Straight from Smatresk |
Dear UNT supporter,
This past month has been a whirlwind of exciting activity on our campus, with many nice reminders of how our caring community helps our students excel and make tremendous impacts in our world.
One of my proudest moments came earlier this month while we were celebrating our "Destination North Texas"-themed Homecoming, and it reminded me just how caring our UNT community is – and always has been. One of the week's most special times for me was celebrating UNT's dedication of Unity Plaza, honoring two remarkable alumni — trailblazers Abner Haynes and Dr. Leon King. They were the first Black players to integrate major college football at a four-year institution in Texas, a decade before many other colleges integrated their athletics programs.
As reported in The Dallas Morning News, Dr. King and Mr. Haynes became members of the North Texas freshman football team in 1956 — a team that banded together and went undefeated while encountering prejudice and intolerance in its travels throughout the still segregated area. The two players broke barriers, served as inspiration for many who came after them, and played a significant role in opening the doors to diversity and inclusiveness at UNT, traits we still hold dear. Their pioneering efforts have affected the lives of countless others who have followed in their footsteps.
Dr. King and Mr. Haynes were not the only inspiring UNT alumni making headlines. Alumna Opal Lee, who was instrumental in getting Juneteenth declared a federal holiday after years of tireless efforts, was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her lifelong work. Read more about her story.
Today, UNT students benefit from a challenging education as well as a diverse and supportive community committed to their success. UNT is proud to be designated a Minority-Serving Institution and one of only 21 Carnegie Tier One research universities that are also designated Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Most recently, we earned recognition as one of 43 Hispanic-Serving Institutions nationwide to be named a Fulbright HSI Leader by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
We pride ourselves on being a university where people have different backgrounds, experiences, and interests, but everyone can find their place and feel at home. We are committed to continue working together and moving forward to make UNT the most caring and inclusive place to learn and work, where everyone can thrive.
UNT Proud,
Neal Smatresk
President
 @UNTPrez
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| UNT Libraries Joining ARL |
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Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, UNT Libraries will join the Association of Research Libraries, which is made up of leading academic libraries in the U.S. and Canada. Current ARL members voted to invite UNT into the association during their fall meeting, noting our designations as a Tier One research university and Hispanic-Serving Institution, as well as our commitment to expanding diversity, equity, inclusion, and access. Other ARL member organizations include Johns Hopkins, Harvard, Yale, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives and Records Administration.
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Read more about
UNT's recognition » |
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| CVAD Sculpture Unveiled |
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The College of Visual Arts and Design dedicated Matthew Ritchie's "Shadow Garden," a 7,000-pound Art in Public Places sculpture, Oct. 22 on the west side lawn of the Art Building. The public art piece was fabricated and installed by Desert Metal Works, Tucson, Ariz., and it is made of 3/8-inch powder-coated stainless-steel plated with TIGER Drylac® in three shades of gray metallic pigment. Quite impressive!
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Learn more about
the sculpture » |
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| Helping Others |
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As we celebrate Native American Heritage Month, we're spotlighting graduate student Deante' Moore. Among his many activities, he is vice president of the Native American Student Association, serves on the executive committee of the Coalition of Black Counselors — and found time to win the Frame Your Future scholarship prize. He says counseling sessions at UNT changed his life, and now he wants to be a counselor to help others.
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Read about
Deante's courage » |
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| Generations of Excellence |
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A love of music and of UNT runs deep in the Davidson family. It began with Sandra and Neil, who were music students at North Texas in the 1950s. Later following them to UNT were their three sons — who recorded three albums as the Davidson Brothers Trio — and two granddaughters. At the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Awards ceremony earlier this month, the family received the 2022 Generations of Excellence Alumni Award for extraordinary dedication to higher education and UNT through multiple generations.
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See the full list
of winners » |
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| Making Headlines |
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Our UNT faculty and students have been enjoying some recent spotlights on their incredible talent and important research. It's been gratifying to see so many of our faculty, students, and alumni featured in the media recently.
- TIME magazine is recognizing InspectIR's COVID-19 breathalyzer, which is FDA approved, as one of the 200 Best Inventions of 2022. The instrument was developed in the lab of UNT faculty researcher Guido Verbeck.
- Music alumnus Kevin Hawkins made it to the live voting rounds of NBC's The Voice this fall. He even found time to visit with College of Music students on campus last month. Read about him in the North Texan magazine — and notice his stylish Mean Green suit in the battle rounds.
- Dr. Gwen Nisbett, an associate professor of journalism whose research interests include pop culture, helped Newsweek explain the allure of starting Christmas early.
And Melanie Ecker, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is the latest faculty member to be featured in The Lab, a new UNT YouTube series in which researchers describe how their groundbreaking work will impact the lives of people, business or culture. She discusses her research on shape-memory polymers and how they might be used to seal organs after surgeries. Don't forget to subscribe to UNT's YouTube channel so you'll never miss an episode of The Lab.
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| The Eagle is Landing in Frisco! |
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As the new 135,000-square-foot, four-story Frisco Landing gets set to welcome students to UNT at Frisco in January, a tour offered a first look at the impressive facility this month. It's the first permanent building of the new campus at Preston Road and Panther Creek Parkway, designed with a focus on collaboration, engagement, and closing the gap between the corporate and educational worlds. Find more details and photos in The Dallas Morning News, Community Impact, the Frisco Enterprise, and the Denton Record-Chronicle.
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