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.

Herbert Holl, who has 27 years of experience in community arts organizations and higher education, has been named director of the Institute for the Advancement of the Arts and UNT on the Square.

Holl will oversee the IAA, which launched this fall to support faculty members and professionals in the creative and performing arts. In addition, he will coordinate activities at UNT on the Square — a 2,400-square-foot building on Denton’s historic courthouse square — which will be used as the institute’s home and as a gathering place and exhibition space for the arts.

Most recently, Holl served as coordinator for the arts for Texas Woman’s University. Before that, he was executive director of the Greater Denton Arts Council between 1987 and 2005. He has also served as executive director for the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa and the Cultural Council of Victoria in Victoria, Texas. Holl began his career at the Texas Commission on the Arts, a state agency.

Nov. 10, 2009

Dear UNT community,

Today I am proud to announce that Lisa Birley Baronio, right, vice president for development at the University of Connecticut Foundation, will join UNT as Vice President for Advancement and Director of Development of the UNT Foundation. She will join our campus Jan. 4.

The appointment is the result of a nationwide search that began in April. Provost Wendy Wilkins led the broad-based 16-member search committee that interviewed and considered a number of top-rated candidates.

With more than 16 years of experience in higher education fundraising, Baronio will bring to UNT a wealth of leadership experience and personal accomplishment that includes growing the level of giving to individual colleges as well as entire universities. At UConn, she successfully developed the framework for operations and focused the UConn Foundation staff of development officers to achieve campaign goals in constituent-based development, planned giving and the annual fund.

She also has served as associate vice president for development at Wichita State University in Kansas and at the University of Nebraska Foundation as director of corporate relations and foundation relations where she helped raise $220 million in corporate and foundation support for Campaign Nebraska. Baronio holds an Executive Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and a B.A. and B.B.A from the University of Iowa.

As head of UNT’s fundraising operations, Baronio will oversee the university’s division of advancement and work closely with the UNT Foundation and UNT Alumni Association. Her leadership experience and proven track record will be a great complement to our future as we continue to grow as a national research university that is committed to providing a campus dedicated to excellent academics, arts and athletics. She will help us build strong partnerships with our alumni, community, corporate and other partners so that our momentum will only accelerate.
With green pride,
Gretchen M. Bataille
President

Congratulations to this week’s randomly selected winners who responded to the Oct. 7 InHouse prize giveaways.

• Alan Thornton, athletic program assistant director, Advancement
• Jessica Phillips, librarian II, Libraries – Preservation Unit
• Cassandra Cervantes, gift and record specialist. Advancement
• Joel Gomez, academic advisor I, College of Business
• Shelly Beattie, administrative coordinator III, College of Business Computing Center
• Katy Comer, graduate assistant to the director of special projects and the university program council, Student Affairs
• Barry Ahlbrandt, building maintenance mechanic, Recreational Sports
• Jennifer Herman, computer support specialist IV, Financial Aide
• Peggy McFerrin, purchasing specialist, Purchasing and Payment Services

Winners are randomly chosen from all responses. Prizes include UNT T-shirt gift packs and free tickets to concerts, sports and other campus activities that are generously provided by event sponsors and departments.

InHouse is the electronic newsletter that is always online and is regularly updated with news about events and strategic activities at UNT. The formatted version is emailed to faculty and staff each week, usually on Wednesdays. Click on headlines, which link to continuously updated postings, to find the complete article and its links to related information.

October 7, 2009

Dear UNT community,

Today I am proud to announce that Rodney P. McClendon, right, acting vice president and chief executive officer for Texas A&M University at Galveston, will join UNT as Senior Associate Vice President for Administration. McClendon will join us Nov. 9.

The appointment is the result of a nationwide search which began in July. Ruthanne Thomas, associate vice president for research and professor of chemistry, led the broad-based 12-member search committee that interviewed and considered a number of top-rated candidates.

McClendon brings a wealth of executive leadership experience to the position with more than 18 years in higher education. He has served at TAMUG since March 2008 as executive associate vice president and chief operating officer prior to also taking on his current role in June 2009. From 2002 to 2008 he served as Chief of Staff to the President at Texas A&M after serving for three years as assistant provost. He also has served in the Department of Multicultural Services and holds an adjunct faculty appointment in Texas A&M’s College of Education and Human Resource Development.

Congratulations to this week’s randomly selected winners who responded to the Sept. 9  InHouse prize giveaways. 

• Cindy Trussell – Administrative Coordinator, College of Information
• Indra Bhagat – Academic Advisor II College of Business
• Juanda Fischer – Executive Administration Assistant to the Provost and VP for Academic Affairs
• Manjula Salimath – Assistant Professor
• Nithya Ramachandran – Grant and Contract Administrator
• Nancy Stockdale – Assistant Professor Department of History
• Tobye Nelson – Graduate Research Assistant
• David Keathly – Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Advisor Computer Science and Engineering
• Jana McCaslin – Administration Assistant/ Records
• Betty Webb – Student Accounting & Cashiering Services
• Susan Manuel – Administration Assistant
  

Winners are randomly chosen from all responses. Prizes include UNT T-shirt gift packs and free tickets to concerts, sports and other campus activities that are generously provided by event sponsors and departments.

InHouse is the electronic newsletter that is always online and is regularly updated with news about events and strategic activities at UNT. The formatted version is emailed to faculty and staff each week, usually on Wednesdays. Click on headlines, which link to continuously updated postings, to find the complete article and its links to related information.

Richard Croft, professor of music and an internationally renowned tenor, will perform at the reopening of the newly refurbished opera house in France's Chateau de Versailles Sept. 21.

Croft will sing Mozart arias at the 18th-century opera house, which was closed in 2007 for repairs and refurbishing. French president Nikolas Sarkozy and the French minister of culture Frederic Mitterand, nephew of former president Francois Mitterand, are scheduled to attend the concert.

The Chateau de Versailles, located in what is now suburban Paris, was the official residence of the kings of France. Construction began about 1664; the palace contains 700 rooms and more than 9,000 paintings,drawings and sculptures. The chateau's 652-seat opera house opened in 1770 to celebrate the wedding of the future king, Louis XVI, to Marie Antoinette.

Croft’s performance will precede rehearsals for Mozart’s Idomeneo at La Scala, the Milan opera house. Croft, left, performed at the Feb. 5 performance of Handel's oratorio Saul, which celebrated the 10th anniversary of Murchison Performing Arts Center.

In April 2008, Croft received rave reviews when he sang the lead role of Gandhi in the New York Metropolitan Opera premiere of Philip Glass’ 1980 opera Satyagraha in collaboration with the English National Opera. In 2007, he sang the lead role in the Salzburg Festival's production of Haydn's opera Armida to critical acclaim, including the praise from the publication Salzburger Nachrichte that he “again demonstrated that he is in a league of his own.”

Croft has performed major singing roles in the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Glyndebourne Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. A two-time Grammy nominee, Croft has been professor of voice at the College of Music since 2004.

(Editor's note, Oct. 13, 2009 --  We've tweaked and refined our statement to be: Expert rankings in U.S. News & World Report put UNT among the top national universities that are “leading the pack” in innovative changes in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity and facilities. UNT is one of Texas' largest universities, offering 97 bachelor's, 101 master's and 49 doctoral degree programs, many nationally and internationally recognized. A student-centered public research university, UNT is the flagship of the UNT System. Discover the power of ideas.)

Sign your e-mail with green pride! What are a few of UNT’s proud points that could be used as an e-mail signature?

A. UNT ranks ninth among public national universities worth watching because of its innovative progress according to U.S. News & World Report

B. UNT is one of Texas’ largest universities

C. UNT offers nearly 250 degree programs.

D. All of the above.

The correct answer is D. All of the points of pride above are a way to show your support of UNT's growth and achievement  in the e-mail signature that goes to others on campus, plus potential students and associates at other universities.

To win a free UNT T-shirt gift pack and a Mean Green megaphone, suitable for shouting about UNT, send an e-mail with the words “E-mail signature” in the subject line to inhouse@unt.edu by 5 p.m. Sept. 18. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mails received.  

Now, if you haven't added words of Green Pride to your e-mails, here's how:

• Open a new message.
• Go to the Signature icon on the command bar.
• Drop down to "Signatures ..."
• You'll see a box titled Signatures and Stationery.
• Add the UNT description in the field, below your name, title and department.

Here's the language:

Expert rankings in U.S. News & World Report ranked UNT ninth among public National Universities to watch for its innovative progress. UNT is one of Texas' largest universities, offering 97 bachelor's, 101 master's and 49 doctoral degree programs, many nationally and internationally recognized. A student-centered public research university, UNT is the flagship of the UNT System.
Discover the power of ideas. 
 

Jeffery Ou, Emerald Eagle Scholar, UNT piano performance major and America's Got Talent semi-finalist, competes tonight (Sept. 8) to advance to the variety show's next round.

The episode airs at 8 p.m. central time, on NBC. 

 (NBC Photo: Trae Patton)