Dear Alum,

One of our biggest priorities right now is building up our research enterprise to raise our national profile and to cement our status as a Carnegie-ranked top-tier research university.

To do that, we're continuing to invest heavily in academics to ensure that we provide our students with the best education possible to help them secure important jobs and build strong careers. This includes helping more of our academic programs earn national recognition and distinctions. We have 62 academic programs ranked among the Top 100, and we are working to grow that number. While rankings aren't the only measure of quality, students and parents pay attention to them.

We've also renamed our research division the Office of Research and Innovation, which includes the new Office of Innovation and Commercialization. This signals a new emphasis to increase our patents and technology transfer efforts so that our research has a stronger impact and attracts more funding. We're also investing in hiring additional high-impact faculty in all areas where we can enhance our reputation, build our research profile and give our students world-class experiences.

Just as important is our commitment to invest in our facilities and equipment, including a $15 million renovation of our Science Research Building and another $2 million to purchase multi-user, university-managed equipment to expand our research capabilities. Read more about the exciting research being conducted by our faculty.

Everything we're doing is with an eye toward making us a stronger university and adding value to our students' education.

UNT Proud,
Neal Smatresk
President
@UNTPrez