More than 1,000 Mean Green
supporters were on
hand

Jordan Case (’81), chair of the volunteer committee raising private donations for the stadium; Dakota Carter, Student Government Association president; UNT President Gretchen M. Bataille and Athletic Director Rick Villarreal turn dirt at the stadium groundbreaking. See more photos at meangreensports.com.

Nov. 21 as UNT broke ground for its new stadium, set to open in 2011.

With Scrappy, cheerleaders and the pep band in full swing, proud Mean Green supporters like NFL Hall of Famer Joe Greene (’69) helped the university celebrate. And the ceremony emcee was George Dunham ('88), co-host
of a top-rated sports radio show on KTCK-AM — "The Ticket" — in Dallas and the play-by-play announcer for the Mean Green Radio Network.

“It’s a great day for UNT,” Athletic Director Rick Villarreal says. “This has been 9 years in the making. It is a great and historic moment for North Texas.”

The multi-purpose facility, which will be under construction beginning in January, will feature increased tailgating space, luxury suites, a club level, a Spirit Store and a Touchdown Terrace.

The stadium will be the centerpiece of UNT's Mean Green Village. In addition to hosting UNT events, it will serve the entire region as a venue for outdoor concerts, community events, high school games and band competitions.

Support from alumni and community members is vital to the future stadium.

“I've waited for years to build a new stadium for the Mean Green,” says Jordan Case (’81), chair of the volunteer committee raising private donations for the facility. “Thanks to the many donors who are making lead gifts and those who will join us in the coming months, our new stadium will be a spectacular demonstration of UNT’s commitment to first-rate athletics.”

UNT President Gretchen M. Bataille and Villarreal led the platform party in the ceremonial groundbreaking. Following the ceremony, the crowd joined fans at Fouts Field to watch the Mean Green take on Army. The victims of the shooting at Fort Hood also were remembered, and first-responders to the tragedy were honored at midfield during the playing of the national anthem.

To learn more about the stadium, visit www.unt.edu/stadium.

The retail industry has been hit hard by the global economic slowdown, and will be looking to the holiday season for a much needed boost.

Terry Clower, left, director of the Center for Economic Research and Development, says that retailers will be anxiously watching consumer behavior over the next few weeks for signs of willingness to spend during the holiday season.

Weighing on retailers’ minds are forecasts that predict Christmas shopping profits will be 3 percent lower than last year, poor consumer confidence because of high unemployment, and a continuing trend of households paying down debt instead of spending.

Retailers began earlier than usual to attract consumers. Holiday décor and sale items appeared on Halloween in many stores. And many have reached back to the 1950s and 1960s for promotions that attract cash-strapped shoppers. “Early promotions are now the norm,” says David Strutton, right, professor of marketing.

Sears, Kmart, T.J. Maxx and other retailers now offer layaway plans, which are being marketed as alternatives to credit cards. But Strutton called layaway plans promotional ploys “aimed at enticing generally less-well-off people to obtain ‘stuff’ they likely do not need at all, or, at best, need only marginally, by allowing them to postpone payment until later.”

“In fact, many such customers may postpone payment forever,” Strutton says. “Layaway policies prevailed in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but the cultural and societal norms of the time were able to accommodate these policies because in those times, consumers were far less willing to overextend themselves financially and far more predisposed to pay off debts. Today, these cultural norms no longer prevail to the degree they did then.”

“This holiday shopping season could shape up to be a game of ‘chicken’ between retailers and shoppers,” says Clower. “Shoppers are going to expect bigger discounts as the holidays get closer, but retailers are saying that there will not be huge discounts because they are carrying less inventory this year. It’s a matter of who will flinch first.”

Without some unexpectedly good news about jobs or income growth, Bah, humbug! may be retailers’ view of Christmas 2009, says Clower.

(Interviews by Alyssa Yancey, News Promotions, University Relations, Communications and Marketing. Photo, the ghost of Jacob Marley, right, visits Ebeneezer Scrooge, in Dickens' A Christmas Carol, courtesy of The Gutenberg Project.)

Peter Hu, left, a student at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, will compete for the top prize in the prestigious National Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology Dec. 3-7.

Hu, 18, of Denton, was awarded the top prize at the regional competition in Austin for his work developing a biocompatible material that can be used to deliver protein drugs. Hu will compete against five other regional winners.

The Siemens Competition is the nation’s leading original research competition in math, science and technology for high school students. In 2008, TAMS student Wen Chyan won the top national prize for his work engineering new polymer coatings for biomedical devices that could prevent common, and sometimes deadly, bacterial infections resulting from hospital stays. Each student selected for the national finals receives a $3,000 scholarship. The top individual and top group in the finals will receive a $100,000 scholarship. Runners-up receive scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.

Both of Hu’s parents are physicists, which he said spurred his interest in science at a young age. Hu’s father is Zhibing Hu, Regents Professor of physics.

A public groundbreaking ceremony for UNT’s new energy efficient football stadium complex, skydiving by the U.S. Military Academy’s Black Knights parachute team and Mean Green football versus Army are scheduled Nov. 21.  

Groundbreaking will be at 11 a.m. on the stadium site east of the Athletics Center, formerly the Eagle Point Golf Course.

The stadium, rendering, right, will be a multi-purpose facility with capacity for about 30,000 fans, and it will be a venue for concerts, community events, high school games and band competitions. The stadium likely will be the nation’s first college venue to be Gold LEED certified, one of the highest levels of sustainable achievement.

• Learn more about the new stadium.
• Learn more about the Black Knights and their Nov. 20 practice jumps.
• Buy tickets to the game, Mean Green versus Army, 3 p.m. at Fouts Field, the final home game of the season.

Code of Student Conduct revised
The Code of Student Conduct, effective this fall, was revised to be more student friendly, applicable to UNT and less legalistic. It was rewritten to contain less legal jargon and has a more positive educational focus. The code was separated from academic integrity and includes a definition section. The revised code does a better job of describing the allegations of misconduct, sanctions, processes and procedures for students.

“Universities and the professional association of ASCA (formerly ASJA) Association for Student Conduct Administration are moving away from the legal or judicial aspect of university discipline to address the conduct of students,” says Maureen McGuinness, left, assistant vice president for Student Development. “Our focus is to be educational, not punitive.”

The new code of conduct was written by a committee, chaired by Renee Hebert, director of the Professional Leadership Program, representing many different areas of the university including: academics; information technology; student development; general counsel; university police; student government; and student representatives. The Model Code of Student Conduct by Edward Stoner was used by the committee to understand how a Code of Conduct needs to be written when addressing issues involving college students.

McGuinness says, “Our new conduct process will hopefully help alleviate some of the anxiety a student may experience and help them understand the university has a responsibility to address student behavior, but the ultimate goal is to educate our students.”

The Code of Student Conduct is upheld by the Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities. Faculty and staff can help inform students of the code by including the CSRR web site in their syllabi or referring students to the CSRR when appropriate.

New Academic Integrity policy
A new Student Standards of Academic Integrity policy was written to update and replace the previous academic dishonesty provisions of the Student Code of Conduct. Two overarching goals of the policy are to emphasize the importance of academic integrity among students and to place oversight responsibilities for student academic integrity issues in the academic branch of the university.

Issues of academic importance should be decided by faculty and the university’s academic authorities. The policy places responsibility over academic integrity on the shoulders of the faculty, department chairs, deans and the chief academic officer.

"Faculty should know their responsibilities under the new policy, including the responsibility to allow alleged policy offenders to remain in class until their cases are adjudicated and all appeal rights exhausted," says Bill McKee, right, academic integrity officer.

It was a collaborative effort of the Faculty Senate and the Provost’s Office. The Faculty Senate convened an ad hoc committee consisting of faculty, students and staff. The committee looked at numerous policies at universities across the country in an attempt to identify best practices that made sense for UNT.

There is an increased emphasis on academic integrity that will be promoted through training and other means for students and faculty. Under the policy, the faculty has primary authority over grades, with appeals of grade penalties going to the heads of academic departments. For major violations of the policy, the academic integrity officer has the authority to place students on probation, suspension and expulsion with appeals to the Academic Integrity Panel.

Academic honesty at UNT is taken seriously. An Academic Integrity Database was established that contains disciplinary outcomes and related records of students found in violation of the Student Standards of Academic Integrity, plus a history of involvement in training. Repeat offenders are handled accordingly.