UNT Insider: President's newsletter

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Neil Smatresk with Stefanie Wagoner, Ron Patterson and Lorie Medina

We started the month off with a bang Oct. 1 when UNT officially gained an additional 50,000 square feet in Frisco and took possession of the NTEC building from the Frisco Economic Development Corporation. I celebrated the occasion with friends from Frisco including Stefanie Wagoner, Frisco Economic Development Corporation director of business retention and expansion; Ron Patterson, FEDC president; and Lorie Medina, chief of staff for Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney.

Straight from Smatresk

Dear Alum,

It's Homecoming Week at UNT and campus is alive with spirit competitions and events. I look forward to this weekend's festivities, including the bonfire at 8 p.m. Friday, Homecoming parade at 10 a.m. Saturday, tailgating on The Hill and the Mean Green football game against Rice at 3 p.m. Saturday. Tickets for the game are still available from the Mean Green Ticket Office and I hope you'll join us to celebrate what makes you #UNTproud. Next month, the UNT Alumni Association has an alumni mixer planned Nov. 8 in Austin and will be hosting a tailgate at our football game against UTSA Nov. 24 in San Antonio. We hope to see you there!

The month of October started out on a high note when we expanded our footprint in Collin County through the acquisition of Inspire Park, a 50,000-square-foot building formerly known as the North Texas Enterprise Center. Inspire Park is located close to the 100 acres where UNT will build its Frisco campus and will allow us to continue creating vibrant connections between our Tier One research ecosystem and local industry and entrepreneurs. UNT continues to add course and degree program offerings in Frisco and currently is planning for a unique freshman cohort program where every course includes an interdisciplinary approach and offers hands-on learning.

We're also celebrating record-setting fundraising years for the Division of Advancement and Mean Green Athletics. University Advancement raised $36.6 million and Athletics received an increase of more than 50 percent in unrestricted giving in the last year. Athletics also was happy to report a record 6,792 season-ticket holders for the 2018 football season, in which we've recorded two record crowds of nearly 30,000.

Our administration is hard at work, continuing to seek ways to best serve our students, and we've added a three-week winter session that will enable them to stay on track to graduate and complete necessary credits before the spring semester. Also, we're conducting national searches for leaders of the divisions of research and innovation and university relations, communications and marketing.

In everything we do, UNT is working to become a stronger university and help our students soar higher.

UNT Proud,
Neal Smatresk
President
@UNTPrez

The Inside Scoop

Regents win
CEO awards

UNT System Board of Regents member Rusty Reid ('85) and board chairman G. Brint Ryan ('88, '88 M.S.) both earned spots on the Dallas Business Journal's inaugural list of Most Admired CEOs in North Texas. The list was selected from votes submitted by CEO nominations in multiple industries throughout the North Texas region. Rusty is president and CEO of Higginbotham, an insurance and financial services firm. Brint is chairman and CEO of Ryan, a leading global tax services and software provider. Congratulations to these accomplished alumni!

Read more about Regents
Reid and Ryan »

UNT Foundation gifts
scholarship funds

UNT Foundation Chair, Bob Sherman signs a contract after the UNT Foundation awarded a $30,000 endowment to each of the 13 colleges in UNT's Denton system

A generous gift from the UNT Foundation provided each of UNT's 13 degree-granting colleges with additional scholarship funding this fall. Each college received a $30,000 endowment and a $1,000 check structured to provide our deans with flexibility to meet the unique scholarship needs of their respective colleges. Bob Sherman, UNT Foundation chairman (pictured at left), signed the endowment agreements earlier this fall during a celebration that included our deans, administration and UNT System Chancellor Lesa Roe. I'm grateful for the Foundation's support of our shining stars — our students.

Learn more about the
UNT Foundation »

UNT Esports wins
big tourney

Congratulations to our UNT Esports Overwatch team for winning its first regional collegiate Overwatch tournament. UNT Esports joined 15 other collegiate teams from the South and Midwest to compete Sept. 22 in Irving. The tournament was powered by the Dallas Fuel, DFW's professional Overwatch team. UNT toppled the University of Oklahoma in a nail-biter finale, 3-2, taking home a private coaching session from Dallas Fuel head coach Aaron "Aero" Atkins for their efforts. The varsity team is now 7-1 and ranked 7th in the U.S. UNT Esports team member Zane Castillo was featured on NBC DFW discussing how the North Texas region is a mecca for players looking to parlay their esports experience into a career.

Learn more about
UNT Esports »

UNT Preview
set for Nov. 3

Are you or someone you know thinking about furthering your education — Mean Green style? Join us Nov. 3 for UNT Preview, an open-house showcase for prospective undergraduate and graduate students that includes information from academic departments, admissions, financial aid, scholarships, housing, student life and more! Our unique UNT Grad School Preview is an exclusive event for those interested in pursuing advanced degrees and offers great insight into UNT's Toulouse Graduate School. At UNT Preview, you'll learn what makes UNT stand apart from other universities and get the information you need to soar higher.

Spotlight on Excellence

National Merit students at an ice cream social held ay the Diamond Eagle Suite & Rooftop Patio

Brainpower boost as UNT attracts
more National Merit Finalists

UNT's student body is made up of 38,000 talented, diverse and motivated students who rely on UNT to help them pursue their dreams. Among them is a growing group of academic achievers designated as National Merit Finalists. Since my arrival in 2014, UNT has increased the number of top-tier students designated as National Merit Finalists from four to 76, something I'm very proud of. These elite students push class discussions to a higher, more valuable level while challenging their peers to think harder and our instructors to take the lesson one step further. Our National Merit Finalists represent 20 states and are studying in more than 40 majors. Learn more about these students and UNT's Texas-sized scholarship package in the fall issue of The North Texan.

UNT Athletics unveils
20-year strategic plan

Athletics are a key tenet of a comprehensive university and something that brings people together in a celebratory mode. UNT Athletics recently unveiled a bold, ambitious 20-year master plan that will spawn new game and practice venues, dramatically upgrade support for our student-athletes, and help the athletic program soar to new heights. Future projects include a new basketball arena, tailgate park, baseball stadium, softball stadium, indoor tennis facility and natatorium. This fall has been a busy and exciting one for Mean Green Sports, and I'm incredibly proud of our women's soccer team and coach John Hedlund for becoming ranked in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 Poll for the first time in program history. Basketball season tips off Nov. 3 for the women's team and Nov. 6 for the men's team, and I hope you'll join us at the Super Pit this winter to watch our teams perform on the court.

Dr. Hassan Takabi, Director of Information Security and Privacy: Interdisciplinary Research and Education (INSPIRE) Research Lab

Research discoveries and impacts

UNT assistant professor of computer science and engineering Hassan Takabi, pictured, recently received more than $1 million in grants from the National Science Foundation to develop a computer defense against malicious insiders who leverage basic computer access into unauthorized computer entry and to develop training that merges data science and cybersecurity.
UNT's Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation has collaborated with the Denton community to launch a new investment group — the Denton Angel Investment Group. The group intends to provide capital to high-growth early-stage startups, especially those in Denton.
UNT professor Sheldon Shi and associate professor Haifeng Zhang, both from the Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, have received a $482,905 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to develop a high-temperature sensor that will aid in biofuel research.
UNT researchers in the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes Institute and the BioDiscovery Institute are collaborating to determine if oil contained in the seeds of the Chinese violet cress would make a viable lubricant. The seed oil has a high viscosity beneficial for friction and wear reduction and stands up to the heat needed to be an industrial lubricant. But, unlike petroleum oil and synthetics, it is 100 percent renewable.

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Connect with UNT

Office of the President

University of North Texas
Hurley Administration Building, Room 201
Mailing Address:
1155 Union Circle #311425
Denton, Texas 76203-5017
940-565-2108

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