The Department of English’s master’s degree programs in technical writing, English as a Second Language and linguistics will be moved to the Department of Linguistics and Technical Communication. The new department will also administer the undergraduate certificate in technical writing, the undergraduate minor in technical writing and the graduate certificate program in teaching English to speakers of other languages.

The Department of English will continue to administer bachelor’s degrees in English with concentrations in linguistics and technical writing in cooperation with the Department of Linguistics and Technical Communication. It will also continue to offer master’s and doctoral degrees in English and a master’s degree in creative writing, and the bachelor’s degree in English with concentrations in composition, creative writing, language arts and literature.

Sims and David Holdeman, chair of the Department of English, jointly worked on the proposal to create the new department, which they say will bring more visibility for the linguistics and technical writing programs while allowing the English department to better cultivate the strengths of its literature, creative writing and composition programs.
According to the proposal, the linguistics and technical writing programs serve an average of 1,600 undergraduate students each semester. During the fall 2006 semester, a total of 45 students were enrolled in the master’s degree programs in linguistics, English as a Second Language and technical writing, while more than 50 were in the graduate ESL certificate program.

Sims points out that the technical writing program is the second-most prominent program in Texas behind Texas Tech’s, which has a doctoral program in the subject.

“Our students are very much in demand by employers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In one week, I received queries from eight companies who wanted interns,” she says.

Sims says placing technical communication and linguistics programs in the same academic department will result in students graduating with highly marketable skills that will address the needs of global businesses. While technical writers know the content and purpose of technical communication and what makes it effective, linguists who study the teaching of English to speakers of other languages or the structure of human languages pinpoint areas where communication could misfire, she says.

“Many companies are now writing software and hardware documentation for users across the globe - not just in the United States,” Sims says. “To best meet the different needs of each of these groups of users, writers should have training in linguistics — not just in technical communication. We see very exciting opportunities for students to study both how people acquire language and how we understand language in a business setting.”

She adds that the methods for research in technical writing and linguistics are similar, with faculty members in both areas seeing funding from the National Science Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities and other organizations as integral to creating nationally prominent academic programs.

Holdeman adds that in universities of UNT’s size, “it’s typical for linguistics to be its own department or to be a program jointly administered by several departments.”

“It’s not typical to have a large linguistics program within a Department of English,” he says.

Warren Burggren, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, calls the creation of the Department of Linguistics and Technical Communication “one of the more exciting organizational developments” of the college in the last decade, “along with a reinvigorated and more focused English department.”

“It is an organizational change that speaks to the strengths of both departments, and allows each to showcase the talents of their students and faculty,” he says. “The excitement of the faculty in the new Department of Linguistics and Technical Communications is palpable, and rightly so, for it represents a futuristic departmental organization that will promote wonderful interdisciplinary opportunities for both student learning and faculty research.”

UNT’s Department of English has been the largest department in the College of Arts and Sciences in terms of the number of faculty, with 58 at the rank of lecturer or above. Moving the technical writing and linguistics programs into their own department, Holdeman says, will allow the English department to become more efficient and focused to cultivate strengths in its literature, creative writing and composition programs. He notes that all UNT freshmen must take composition courses in the department as part of core curriculum requirements.

“A smaller, more focused department is in a better position to deal with additional growth of the university,” he says.

Thirteen current faculty members will be moved from the Department of English into the Department of Linguistics and Technical Communication, and two faculty members will be hired for the new department this summer. The departments are planning a joint event for the fall semester that will celebrate the creation of the new department.

See Extended Entry for a complete list of the proposed FY 2009 holidays and more Regents' business.

UNT’s Jack Rozdilsky, assistant professor of public administration, will study their efforts. His work was reported by Associated Press, and was included in 52 media reports noting the first anniversary of the storm.

• Morris Daily Herald (Morris, Ill.)
• Galveston Daily News
• MSNBC.com
• Aol.com
• KansasCity.com (web site of The Kansas City Star)
• Casper Star-Tribune.net (web site of Casper Star-Tribune in Casper, Wyoming)
• Macon (Ga.) Telegraph
• Reflector.com (web site of The Daily Reflector, Greenville, NC)
• Auburnpub.com (web site of Lee Publications in Syracuse, NY)
• The Dispatch (Lexington, N.C.)
• Merced Sun-Star.com (web site of Merced Sun-Star, Merced, Calif.)
• WRAL.com (web site of WRAL-TV and WRAL-FM, Raleigh, N.C.)
• Chron.com (web site of Houston Chronicle)
• Yahoo! Canada
• Boston Globe

Wilkins also responded to questions about faculty workloads and promotion and tenure policies. Revised policies for both are scheduled for review at the May 14 Faculty Senate meeting, she says. 

About 200 attended the meeting, which also featured Steven Friedson, associate professor of music, who reprised the 2007-08 Regents Faculty Lecture about music and healing in an African tribal society.

Wilkins presented these awards:

J.H. Shelton Excellence in Teaching Award - $1,500
• Karen Weiller-Abels, associate professor, Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation

The award is named for UNT alumnus Joe Houston Shelton. Faculty may be nominated by students or faculty members. The recipient is selected by the Faculty Senate Awards Committee. The winner is an outstanding teacher who has made contributions to the university and its students to create an effective and stimulating learning environment.

The President’s Council Teaching Award - $3,000 each
• Bert Hayslip, Jr., left, Regents Professor, Department of Psychology
• Yvonne Chandler, right with Wilkins,associate professor , School of Library and Information Sciences

This award recognizes a full-time, tenure-track faculty member for outstanding teaching over at least a five-year period. Faculty may be nominated by either the Personnel Affairs Committee of a department, division, school or college, or any self-appointed committee of three or more tenure-track faculty members.

The President’s Council University Service Award - $3,000
• Richard Wells, left, professor, Department of Journalism

This award recognizes a full-time, tenure-track faculty member for outstanding university service over at least a five-year period. Faculty may be nominated by either the Personnel Affairs Committee of a department, division, school or college; or any self-appointed committee of three or more tenure-track faculty members.

Toulouse Scholar Award - $2,000 endowment
• Samuel F. Atkinson, right, professor, Department of Biological Sciences, and director, Institute for Applied Sciences

This award is designed to recognize the outstanding teaching and scholarly or creative achievements of faculty members and thereby honor the distinguished contributions of long time administrator and graduate school dean Robert B. Toulouse to the university. Full-time, tenured, Category III graduate faculty who are not previous recipients of this award are eligible. The Graduate Council selects the recipient.

International Education Award- $3,000
• Delores (Dee) K. Knight, left, associate professor, School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management

This award recognizes any person within the university community who has performed or achieved an extraordinary record of outstanding, distinguished, meritorious and longstanding service to international education at UNT. The International Education Committee makes the final selection.

Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Nomination

• Pamela Harrell, associate professor, Department of Teacher Education and Administration

The Faculty Senate’s Awards Committee nominates one faculty member from UNT for the Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation annual teaching awards. Fifteen faculty are selected from Texas colleges and universities by the Piper Professor Selection Committee for outstanding academic, scientific and scholarly achievement, and for dedication to the teaching profession. Any UNT faculty or student may nominate a full-time instructor.

Provost’s Award for Extraordinary Professional Service to the University of North Texas

University Tenure Committee, which includes these members:
• Chair: Michael Nieswiadomy, left with Wilkins, professor, Department of Economics
• Michael Gibson, associate professor, Department of Design
• Jack Peters, associate professor, Department of English
• Martin Schwartz, Regents Professor, Department of Chemistry
• Gus Seligmann, associate professor, Department of History
• Steve Cole, professor, Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, and Law
• Frances van Tassell, associate professor, Department of Teacher Education and Administration
• Robert Pirtle, professor, Department of Biological Sciences
• Deanna Bush, associate professor, Division of Music History, Theory, and Ethnomusicology
• Steve Forde, professor, Department of Political Science
• Chang Koh, associate professor, Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences 

Among the special collections to be transferred and made available online include John Gilliland's "Pop Chronicles" radio series, recordings and sheet music from band leaders Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington, left, with President Nixon at a White House concert in a National Archives photo. Also, radio broadcasts about NBC Symphony Orchestra conductor Arturo Toscanini entitled "The Man Behind the Legend," and sheet music collections from radio stations WBAP in Fort Worth and WFAA in Dallas.

"We have so much content that the challenge is deciding where to start," says Andrew Justice, music librarian for audio and digital services. "This makes our work really enjoyable, because there is always something exciting to do."

With approximately 85,000 donated items per year, the Music Library boasts one of the largest academic music collections in the United States. In addition to its print collection of more than 250,000 volumes, it holds around 900,000 sound recordings in various formats including Edison cylinders, gramophone records, reel-to-reel tapes, compact discs and digital tape recordings. Playback equipment for every format is available in the Music Library’s audio center. Its sound preservation studio enables conservation of decaying audio formats. By transferring recordings to digital formats, the library's goal is to serve the digital needs of online users while documenting the activities of the university and preserving content for future generations.

45 years of service

5 years of service
Micheal Wayne Fitzgerald, facilities technician, Facilities and Construction
Rebeca Galindo, administrative services officer, College of Music
Lyle David Howard, Eagle Student Services service representative, Enrollment Management
Irma Mireles, custodian, Housing Maintenance
Stephen Michael Radcliff, computer support specialist, College of Visual Arts and Design
Bruce W. Thomson, facilities technician, Facilities and Construction

Toulouse joined what was then North Texas State College in 1948 as a professor in the College of Education. He served as graduate dean from 1954 to 1982 and was provost and vice president of academic affairs from 1982 to 1985. Toulouse also served as interim provost and vice president of academic affairs during the 1989-1990 academic year and is now provost emeritus.

During Toulouse's tenure as graduate dean, he helped establish most of the graduate programs currently authorized at UNT. His leadership helped make UNT one of the three largest graduate institutions in the state, and his efforts to enhance research across the entire campus led to major increases in the quality and impact of research at UNT. Right, Toulouse in 1985.

The Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies was named in his honor in 1990, and he received the UNT President's Award in 1982 and 1990.

As provost, Toulouse raised undergraduate and graduate admission and degree program requirements, developed policy for the administration of university research programs and established the Toulouse Scholars Program Fund.

Bataille launched a series of receptions to connect with alumni in 2006, shortly after her appointment as president. Receptions allow Bataille to provide alumni with information about UNT's growth, success and goals as a student-centered public research university.

UNT alumni Bill Worrell and Jesús Moroles will participate in Meet the Artist receptions May 16-17.

• Worrell will be featured in a Meet the Artist reception, open to the public, from 2 to 4 p.m. May 16 at the Frank Howell Gallery.
• Moroles will be available for a Meet the Artist reception, also open to the public, from 1 to 3 p.m. May 17 at the Tony Altermann Gallery. The artist will conduct a walking tour of the Altermann Sculpture Garden, which features his works.

Worrell, a sculptor and painter, has works in fine art galleries and collections across the country and in private and corporate collections around the world. Moroles, a granite sculptor, has works in the collections of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Osaka, Japan, and the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C. 

Although the devastation of the town was as complete as Ground Zero in Manhattan and parts of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Greensburg's plan to rebuild as a green town may result in it becoming a model for other communities recovering from disasters, says Jack Rozdilsky, left, assistant professor of public administration.

Rozdilsky, who teaches in the Department of Public Administration's undergraduate and graduate degree programs in emergency administration and planning, recently began a long-term study of Greensburg, interviewing city government officials and others about the town's plans for recovery. Rozdilsky has visited the town with students from the doctoral degree program in public administration, and he plans to return this summer.

After the tornado, Greensburg's city council passed a resolution stating that all city buildings would be built to platinum standards set by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program of the U.S. Green Building Council. A nonprofit organization, Greensburg GreenTown, was created to help the city's residents learn about and implement the green living initiative.

"It was a very large step for the town's leaders and citizens to decide that the town needed to survive, because there was nothing left after the tornado, and the town had existing economic problems before it hit," he says. "But very few cities engage in some form of long-term community betterment after a disaster, and by recreating a town or place with green technology, you can create new economic development opportunities out of the tragedy of the disaster."

LEED standards
LEED platinum buildings cost about 5 percent more to build than conventional buildings, but because green buildings generally save 30 percent to 50 percent on energy bills, the increase in cost can be recouped in one to two years.

Future LEED platinum city building projects include Greensburg City Hall and a gift shop and tourism center for the Big Well - the world's largest hand-dug well and the attraction that Greensburg was known for before the tornado, according to the Greensburg web site.

Greensburg will be the subject of a 13-part series beginning this June on the new cable channel Discovery Planet Green. The Greensburg Project, which will have actor Leonardo DiCaprio as an executive producer, will be the flagship program for the channel, Rozdilsky says. "The momentum for recovery for Greensburg is enhanced because the Discovery Channel is involved. Right now, the residents are seeing it as a win-win situation," he says.

See the Extended Entry to learn about LEED, and learn about UNT's green efforts as the first large public university in Texas to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

See aerial photos of Greensburg's destruction, and see news reports of the storm and its aftermath on Wichita's KWCH.

• Michelle Farley, instructional designer, Center for Distributed Learning – pair of tickets to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra with percussion soloist Dame Evelyn Glennie
• Brian Salmans, doctoral student, Information and Technology Center – a CD of the UNT Baroque Ensemble
• Andrea Garner, administrative services officer, Office of Admissions - CD recording of the UNT Baroque Ensemble
• Pat Graham, administrative assistant, Police, Parking, and Transportation - CD recording of the UNT Baroque Ensemble

You can’t win free stuff if you don’t read InHouse, the electronic newsletter that is always online and is regularly updated with news about events and strategic activities at UNT. The formatted version is e-mailed to faculty and staff each week, usually on Wednesdays. Mailing may be delayed a day or two to include significant news.

Be sure to set your GroupWise browser on HTML (top bar>View>HTML) to see the newsletter’s color and photos, then click on headlines, which link to continuous postings. (You also should be able to see the graphics if you are already an Outlook user.)

You’ll find opportunities to win a UNT T-shirt gift pack, free tickets to concerts, sports and other campus activities. Tickets and prizes are generously provided by event sponsors and departments. Winners are randomly selected from all e-mail respondents.

Rizzo and Mohler are also members of the "Knapsackers @UNT," a computer programming team that last month won the second annual IEEExtreme 2008 24-hour Programming Challenge. The Knapsackers beat 129 other teams from 33 countries.

Rizzo was also part of a team that competed earlier this month in the world finals of the Association for Computing Machinery programming contest in Canada after placing first in the regional competition last fall. He was also part of a UNT team that finished in the top 50 schools competing in the William Lowell Putnam Competition, a mathematics contest sponsored by the Mathematical Association of America.