UNT announces the launch of a $2.4 million grant-funded program that will increase the number of undergraduate math, science and computer science majors obtaining teaching certification. The program also will enhance efforts to address a national shortage of teachers qualified to teach those subjects.

Teach North Texas, a collaborative effort between the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Education, builds on UNT’s already strong support of secondary education in the North Texas region through a partnership with the Fort Worth Independent School District.

“Our nation faces a shortage of talented math and science teachers who are dedicated to preparing our young students for educational success and preparing educators to do this is a critical need. Already, UNT produces nearly 1,200 certified teachers, counselors and school leaders each year. But this powerful new partnership will allow us to do more than ever before to supply our schools with highly qualified math and science teachers,” President Gretchen M. Bataille says. “I appreciate the support of our generous donors and am proud of what this new partnership will do to positively impact our schools, and particularly those in the Fort Worth ISD.”

One of the features of Teach North Texas, which is modeled after the innovative UTeach program at the University of Texas at Austin, is the opportunity for students to explore the teaching profession in two free one-hour courses that can be taken as early as their freshman year. Students will take courses in the professional development sequences that emphasize field experiences related to the subjects students will teach.

Teach North Texas, or TNT, will be directed by John Quintanilla of the Department of Mathematics, which is in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Mary Harris, Meadows Chair for Excellence in Education in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration, part of the College of Education.

UNT joins other universities
UNT is one of 13 universities nationwide selected to receive a UTeach replication grant by the UTeach Institute and the National Mathematics and Science Initiative of NMSI. The Greater Texas Foundation contributed $1.4 million to the four-year grant, and an additional amount of up to $1 million will come from NMSI if UNT meets certain fund-raising goals. Sponsors include ExxonMobil and the Texas High School Project.

The three national television channels in Colombia are increasingly losing adolescent viewers who prefer international channels such as MTV, The Disney Channel and ESPN. 

Germán Arángo Forero, professor of informative television and media economics at La Sabana University in Chia, Colombia, will discuss this and other trends in Colombian media at a free lecture March 6 sponsored by the Center for Spanish Language Media.

The lecture, "Media Issues in Colombia," begins at 4:30 p.m. in the Radio, Television, Film and Performing Arts Building, Room 184 .Arángo is the first guest speaker as part of a grant program devoted to the topic of media issues in Latin America.

The Center for Spanish Language Media was established during the fall 2006 semester as one of the first comprehensive training and research programs to meet the growing demand for Spanish-speaking media professionals throughout Texas and the United States. The center's mission includes preparing undergraduate students for careers in Spanish language media; conducting and disseminating research on Spanish language media trends, companies and audiences; and providing professional development opportunities to Spanish language media practitioners and their employers.

UNT and the Department of Foreign Languages invite students, faculty and staff who would like to remember Ashley Parra to visit the Goolsby Chapel from noon to 3 p.m Feb. 29 for individual meditation and observance.  Visitors may sign a card and leave memories for her family. 

Parra, a junior, was killed in an accident Feb. 27 when a truck tumbled off a Dallas freeway ramp and crushed a car passing underneath, according to the Dallas Morning News. 

The 18th annual African Heritage Banquet on Feb. 26 ended activities during February's Black History Month. The event featured, student dancers, traditional African attire and a talk by alumnus and Radio One account executive Eric Baker. (Photos by Mike Woodruff)

The UNT Clay Guild will present the Ron Meyers Exhibition, work by faculty, graduate students and other artists and academics.

The exhibition will be March 4-9. An opening reception will be from 7 to 9 p.m. March 7 at the Cora Stafford Gallery in Oak Street Hall, 1120 W. Oak St. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday - Thursday, noon to 9 p.m. Friday, noon to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.

Meyers, emeritus professor at the University of Georgia, has worked with clay, left, for more than 30 years. Meyers has a master’s degree in art education from the Rochester Institute of Technology for American Craftsmen and has exhibited work in solo and group shows. 

Work by three UNT faculty and graduate students also will be displayed. Faculty artists are Elmer Taylor, Regents Professor of art; Jerry Austin, chair, studio art; and Brenda Lichman-Barber, ceramic lab technician. Graduate students are Hyrum Benson, H.P. Bloomer, Kasey Bullerman, Nina Dyer, Karen Hamilton, Susan Kennedy, Carrie Kersey, Jodi Rubbelke, Lauren Smith and Niko Weissenberger.   

Other artists whose work will be exhibited include Meyers’ students, plus Chuck Hindes, emeritus professor of ceramics at the University of Iowa School of Art, and Dan Murphy, an assistant professor and ceramics area coordinator at Utah State University.

Meyers will present a lecture at 7 p.m. March 8 in the Art Building, Room 223, followed by a dance at Dan’s Silverleaf, 103 Industrial St. All events are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Lichman-Barber, 940-369-6509 or lichman@unt.edu.

N. Scott Momaday, left, the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize, headlines the 4th annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest July 18-20.

"Momaday is a master in the great oral tradition of storytelling," says George Getschow, conference writer-in-residence. Celebrated for his poetry, fiction and non-fiction, Momaday "brought Native American literature into the mainstream," Getschow says.

The conference, presented by the Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism, will be at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine. Conference seating is limited.

Fees are reduced for pre-March 15 registration:
• Public - $275, before March 15; $295 after
• Students - $200 before March 15; $225 after
• Educators - $250 before March 15; $270 afterward.

The conference also offers these prizes; entry deadline is June 13:
• $3,000, first prize winner in the manuscript competition, along with a publishing option with UNT Press.
• $6,000, best research- and reporting-based narratives
• $6,000, 10 best essays. The 10 best nonfiction narratives and essays selected by jurists will be published in the second edition of Ten Spurs, the Mayborn’s literary journal jointly published by Hearst Newspapers and the Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism. 

Writers of the top 20 manuscripts and the top 50 articles and essays will be selected to participate in writing workshops with some of the nation’s top writers. In addition to the workshop sessions, the conference features lectures, readings and roundtable discussions.

Conference participants submitting an article or essay in the writing contest will pay an additional $30 fee. Conference participants in the manuscript contest pay an additional $60 fee. Conference attendees can also sign up for 15-minute private consultations with literary agents during "Close Encounters of the Literary Kind." The cost is $50.

To register, visit www.TheMayborn.unt.edu. For more information, call 940-565-4564.

"UNT’s Mayborn Conference, which has a growing national reputation and quickly is becoming one of the best conferences for writers of literary nonfiction, is a shining example of UNT’s dedication to providing relevant educational opportunities to our broader community and to our students," President Gretchen M. Bataille says.

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus will be on campus Feb. 26-March 1 in conjunction with the North Texas Battle of the Bands. Jazz band Snarky Puppy, pictured, produced a music video on Feb. 26, which premiered at 7 p.m. in the Union Syndicate. See the video and more photos. Take a tour and get free promotional items. Learn more. (Photos by Li Fan)

UNT is proud to recognize the following individuals for their years of service. Beginning in 2008, employees will be honored each month. Award packets should be arriving soon to each recipient’s department.

For more information about the service recognition program, contact Kristina Randolph, administrative services officer, Human Resources, 940-565-4363. Here are employees who reached an employment milestone in February:

35 years of service
Melody Specht Kelly, associate dean, University Libraries, left
James Lawrence Marshall, professor of chemistry, right
Lawrence J. Schneider, associate dean,Toulouse School of Graduate Studies, far right

All are pictured circa 1970s, when they joined UNT. Photos courtesy of UNT Archives.

30 years of service
Walter A. Bowen III, associate director, Systems Admissions
Susan B. Eve, associate dean, Honors College
C.R. Ferring, professor of geography
Donna Hughes, director, graduate services, Graduate Admissions
Donna E. Ledgerwood, associate professor of management, College of Business Administration
Sander Martin, associate professor, Educational Psychology

25 years of service
Jean R. Bush, assistant vice president and chief budget officer, Finance,/Administration
Janet Ellis, professor, Behavior Analysis
Robert W. Killam, administrative services officer, Biology
Tamara L. Taylor, ESL instructor, International Programs and Studies
Ellen Truax, librarian, University Libraries

See the Extended Entry for employes with 20, 15, 10 and five years of service.

Flash back to the far-out fashions of the 1960s and 1970s with caftans and a paper dress in Minis, Maxis and Mods, an exhibition presented by the Texas Fashion Collection at the College of Visual Arts and Design. What phrase was commonly used to describe clothing, music and life in general during that time?

A. Cool and groovy
B. The cat’s pajamas
C. It’s fly
D. It’s psychedizzle

The correct answer is A: Cool and groovy. Yes, people really used that phrase back in the 1960s. In fact, “Feeling Groovy,” was a Billboard magazine top 10 hit for Simon and Garfunkel. Now that you’ve read this, you’ll have that tune stuck in your head for the rest of the day, won’t you? Go ahead, sing along at http://www.geocities.com/bjaes.geo/lyrics/groovy.htm

Then go see an exhibit at Fashion on Main at Universities Center at Dallas, 1901 Main St. Fashions, created from 1965 to 1975, are examined in the context of social history, art and design. The exhibit continues through May 16. Admission is free.

 “There was an incredible synergy between art, music and fashion," says Myra Walker, director and curator of the Texas Fashion Collection. "The youth movement was its own driving force and inspiration when it came to wearing clothes. Color, patterns and fantasy were the visual language of the times. The design market of today continues to incorporate the energy and vibrant aesthetic from this time period." (Right: A groovy caftan by designer John Amey.)

To win a UNT T-shirt gift pack, send an e-mail to  inhouse@unt.edu with “Groovy” in the subject line by 5 p.m. Feb. 29. The winner will be selected at random from all e-mails received. Our T-shirts are an eye-catching UNT green,  no tie-dyes or psychedelic patterns. But they’re definitely cool and groovy.

(Editor’s note: Here is an updated schedule for The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus:

Know an aspiring rock star? Tell him/her about the North Texas Battle of the Bands, sponsored by UNT, the Denton Record-Chronicle, the Texas Music Project and Lone Star Attitude, Inc.

The winning band will win a daylong professional recording session to make an audio recording and a music video aboard the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a nonprofit mobile recording studio. “This is a wonderful opportunity for the winning band to obtain a professionally produced music video and to gain valuable exposure,” said Darhyl Ramsey, professor of music.

The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus is a nonprofit mobile recording studio outfitted with traditional instruments and advanced technological recording equipment, allowing students to play music, write songs, engineer recording sessions and produce music videos. The bus will be in Denton Feb. 26 through March 1. 

Band members can submit the best MP3 recordings of their band’s performance through Feb. 19 at www.dentonrc.com. There is no fee for submission. Click on the Battle of the Bands logo for complete rules, entry forms and details. Bands must consist of between three and eight members, and all members must be between ages 13 to 20. At least 75 percent of the band members must be enrolled in high school.

(Editor's note: These bands were announced Feb. 25 to compete in the North Texas Battle of the Bands:
• The September Days www.ourstage.com/fanclub/theseptemberdays
• The J Walkers - http://www.ourstage.com/profile/thejwalkers
• Scenes and Sirens - http://www.ourstage.com/fanclub/scenesandsirens
• Stalled - http://www.ourstage.com/fanclub/stalled
• The Remedy Project - http://www.ourstage.com/fanclub/theremedyproject
• Dawn Patrol - http://www.ourstage.com/fanclub/dawnpatrol )

The finalists will perform at 7 p.m. Feb. 29 at the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets for audience members are $10 and can be purchased through the Murchison box office at 940-369-7802 or www.thempac.com.

The annual National TRIO Day Celebration and the Communities in Schools College Visit will be Feb. 23 at the UNT Auditorium.

Approximately 450 people are expected to attend the National TRIO Day Celebration at UNT, including students and staff from area middle schools, high schools and colleges who participate in the TRIO programs; former students; counselors; teachers and university administrators. About 800 people will attend the CIS College Visit event.

The TRIO programs, established in 1964, are designed to help individuals overcome class, social and cultural barriers in order to obtain a college education. UNT offers these TRIO programs:

• Talent Search
• Upward Bound
• Upward Bound Math and Science
• Student Support Services
• Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Program.

For more information, contact Rodney Mitchell, Upward Bound director and TRIO Day representative, at 940-565-4182; Patrick J. Vasquez, director of the Center for Outreach and Community Involvement, 940-369-7391.

See Extended Entry for program details.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali, named by Time magazine as of of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, discussed Muslim women's rights and women's issues Feb. 20 at the first Encounters presentation. The Encounters program brings international speakers to campus, and is sponsored by the Department of International Education.

Hirsi Ali is a former member of the Dutch parliament who has written two books and co-produced a controversial film about the role of women in Islamic society. She is a Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. She regularly speaks about women's rights and Islamic culture. 

The lecture was presented by UNT Distinguished Lecture Series and the World Affairs Council

Congratulations to these randomly-selected winners in last week’s Fun Fact and InHouse random drawings.  

• Miriam Sheehan, administrative assistant, Texas Municipal Clerks – a pair of tickets to the Chamber Orchestra concert
• Catherine Sassen, principal cataloger, UNT Libraries – a pair of tickets to the Baroque ensemble Trio Amsterdam concert
• Addie Bade, service coordinator, scheduling, Office of the Registrar – a UNT T-shirt gift pack
• Jennifer McDonald, EESSC representative, Undergraduate Admissions – a pair of tickets to Betty Buckley in Concert 

 Win free stuff: 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 continuously postings. 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.

(Editor's Note: Jazz guitarist John Abercrombie will replace previously scheduled guitarist Jim Hall, who will be unable to appear.)

Jazz guitarist Jim Abercrombie, left, will perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 28 in the Glenn E. Gomez Concert Artist Series. The concert also features the One O'Clock Lab Band, below, under the direction of Neil Slater, and faculty artists.

The concert will be in the Winspear Performance Hall at the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets cost $12 for adults and $7 for seniors, students, UNT faculty and staff and groups of 10 or more. Call 940-369-7802 or http://www.thempac.com .

To win a free pair of tickets to the performance, send an e-mail to  inhouse@unt.edu by 5 p.m. Feb. 22 with “Master of Jazz Guitar” in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mails received.

Featured performers are College of Music faculty Stefan Karlsson, associate professor of music, Lynn Seaton, associate professor of music, and Ed Soph, professor of music.

Pre-orders for the One O'Clock Lab Band's latest CD/DVD will be accepted at the concert. The Live from Thailand CD/DVD set features the live performance of the band's 2004 concert in Bangkok, originally broadcast throughout Asia. Last year, the band released its first-ever CD/DVD set, Lab 2007.

The Glenn E. Gomez Endowment allows the College of Music to invite internationally acclaimed jazz artists to the university. Gomez, a graduate of the College of Business Administration, has been a lifelong jazz fan.

UNT offered the nation's first bachelor's degree program in jazz studies in 1947. In 1967, the One O'Clock Lab Band began releasing an annual recording, a tradition that has continued for 40 years. The One O'Clock Lab Band has earned four Grammy nominations and has performed around the world.

Riley Dodge was one of 26 high school football players who recently signed NCAA letters of agreement to attend UNT in 2008-09. He is one of the few athletes to play for his father, Head Coach Todd Dodge, left, in a Division-1 football program. Including Dodge, how many UNT football coaches have had their offspring don a Mean Green jersey?

A. 1
B. 3
C. 4
D. 27

The answer is B: Coaches Hayden Fry and Dennis Parker, along with Dodge, had children who played for the Mean Green.

Parker was coach from 1991-93, and his son Sam played tight end in 2000 and 2001. Sam Parker suffered a knee injury that limited playing time.

Fry had three sons - Randy, Zach, and Kelly - who played in the 1970s. Kelly was a three-year letter winner as a defensive back in 1975-77, Randy played defensive back in 1975-76 and Zach played running back in 1973-74. As a freshman, Zach lead the team in rushing with 208 yards, and most Mean Green fans remember him for a spectacular touchdown reception made during a 31-21 win against West Texas State on Nov. 10, 1973, Fry’s first year has head coach.

After accumulating and astonishing 79-1 record and four Texas state championships with Southlake Carroll High School, Dodge made the jump to collegiate coaching at UNT in December 2006. Two of those state titles were won with Riley playing quarterback.

Of the 26 players signed to play football as freshman next year, Riley is considered the most celebrated. In 2007, he passed for 3,445 yards and 39 touchdowns and also carried the ball 131 times for 772 yards (a 5.5 yard average) and 13 touchdowns. Riley was selected to the EA Sports first-team All-America Multi-Purpose squad for 2007. He decommitted from the University of Texas at Austin to play for his father.

To win a UNT T-shirt gift pack, send an e-mail to  inhouse@unt.edu by 5 p.m. Feb. 22 with “Family Affair” in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mails received.

See http://www.meangreensports.com to keep up with all Mean Green sports, including swimming, golf, softball,  tennis, men’s and women’s basketball, and spring football practice.

Faculty, staff and students are invited to add their comments about revisions to the core curriculum to an online forum, the Faculty Senate Core Task Force Wiki. A wiki is an online resource that lets users edit, add and comment about the wiki’s contents.

The core curriculum wiki is located at: http://untcoretaskforce.pbwiki.com/ . Go to the page and follow instructions explaining how to review, add and comment on material.

Much of the posted content is based on previous discussions and two January campus-wide forums which solicited ideas about the UNT core curriculum revitalization. The forums and the wiki are designed to let the campus community, especially faculty, become more engaged in the preparation of core curriculum, says Celia Williamson, deputy provost and dean of undergraduate studies. "Faculty ownership of curriculum is at the heart of this process,” says Williamson. “We’re dependent on them for the quality of the outcome.”

Here is a timeline of activities:

• February - Wiki-generated feedback will be used to prepare a draft of the core curriculum mission and key elements.
• March - draft mission and key concepts available for online comments.
• April - Faculty Senate committees will review comments, revise mission as needed.
• April - mission presented to Faculty Senate for review.

See previous information at: http://www.inhouse.unt.edu/index.cfm?commentID=2410.

See a timeline chart at: http://inhouse.unt.edu/pdfcontent/CoreFlowChart2.pdf

A teacher certification program offered by the College of Education is designed to help address the shortage of bilingual teachers in Texas. Individuals interested in bilingual teaching - and who want to take advantage of a critical need for teachers who speak both English and Spanish - may enroll in a program that will allow them to earn a probationary Texas teaching certificate and a job.

The bilingual education certificate program is targeted at career changers who are proficient in both Spanish and English, but with degrees in disciplines other than education. The program requires a total of 24 credit hours, including student teaching or practicum, and allows enrollees to attend night classes. UNT’s program also offers students graduate credit hours that can be applied toward master’s or doctoral degrees in education.

Students who complete 12 hours of post-baccalaureate coursework and obtain passing scores on the state certification exam can secure a teaching position with a salary comparable to that of a beginning teacher. Under state policy, these students can teach with a probationary certificate while completing requirements for state certification.

The need for certified bilingual teachers is so great that many North Texas school districts are paying signing bonuses and stipends between $3,000 and $5,000 for bilingual teachers, says Rossana Ramirez-Boyd, lecturer and director of the Bilingual/ESL Certification Program.

Moderate growth projections by the Texas State Data Center indicate that the state’s Hispanic population, which was 6.7 million in 2000, is projected to increase to 9.1 million by 2010 and to almost 19 million by 2040. The same trend is occurring at the county level in Denton, Dallas and Tarrant.

Early enrollment for the program’s summer semester is March 31-April 28. Individuals interested in becoming a bilingual or an ESL teacher may go to http://www.coe.unt.edu/tea/graduate/bilingual/ or call 940-565-2931.

“We don’t have enough teachers,” Ramirez-Boyd says. “This need is so severe that school districts such as Dallas ISD and Houston ISD have had to go internationally to recruit bilingual teachers and still they are not able to meet the need.”

Two music scholars are scheduled to lecture and perform at the College of Music in March.

• Anne W. Robertson, Claire Dux Swift Distinguished Service professor of music at the University of Chicago, will meet with graduate students and lecture, The Seven Deadly Sins in Medieval Music, at 4 p.m. March 3 in Music Building, Room 321. Free.

• William Kinderman, a professor of musicology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, will give a public lecture, Schumann, Beethoven and the Distant Beloved, at 4 p.m. March 12 in the Music Building, Concert Hall. Kinderman also will give a lecture-recital about Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations at 4 p.m. March 13 in the Music Building, Recital Hall. Free.

Robertson, a music historian, is an internationally renowned specialist in French medieval music and has studied the music of Guillaume de Machaut in connection with mysticism and religious symbolism. A long-standing officer of the American Musicological Society and a former deputy provost at the University of Chicago, she is one of the best known and most highly respected musicologists in the United States.

Kinderman, whose research is centered on 18th- to early 20th-century music, has written approximately 50 articles and chapters for various scholarly publications. Kinderman is considered one of the world’s leading Beethoven scholars, says James Scott, dean. “He is one of the few musicologists of his stature who has maintained a performing career, and his recordings of the late works of Beethoven have been widely celebrated as among the best.” 

For more information visit the Division of Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology at http://web3.unt.edu/the, or call 940-565-2791.

Three women involved in photography and technology in South America are featured in the 2008 Women Art Technology lecture series. Lectures, free and open to the public, will be from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Art Building, Room 223. Funding for the series is provided by the Hispanic and Global Studies Initiative Funds.

The lectures and dates are as follows:

• March 27 - Graphic Memory of the Andean Region: Recuperation of the
Photographic Archives and the Digitizing Process by Adelma Benavente Garcia; Benavente is co-founder of the Photographic Archive Project, which digitizes photographic archives in Peru and Bolivia.
• April 3 - Women and Digital Photography in Latin America by Elda Harrington; Harrington is the director of Encuentros Abiertos, an international photography festival based in Buenos Aires.
• April 24 - The Digitalization of the Body: From the Robot to Genetic Code by Paula Sibilia; Sibilia is a professor in the Department of Cultural and Media Studies and at the Graduate Program on Communications, both at the Institute of Arts and Communications of the Universidad Federal Fluminense, Brazil.

See the Extended Entry for more information about each artist.

The UNT System Board of Regents approved UNT's Fiscal Year 2009 Spending Plan and tuition increases for FY2009 and FY2010 at its quarterly meeting last week at the UNT Dallas Campus.

The UNT spending plan, which serves as a planning tool that helps ensure the university achieves its strategic goals of providing a top quality education as a student-centered public research university, will be the basis on which UNT develops its FY2009 budget.

"While I am proud that we consistently keep in mind that affording a college education is a very real challenge for most students and their families, this tuition increase is necessary if we are to maintain the high quality of our programs while striving to achieve even greater successes for our students," President Gretchen M. Bataille says. "During my time here, it has become apparent to me that our consistency in keeping costs low may soon threaten the quality education we’re also very proud of, and which our students deserve."

The tuition increase will raise the cost of a 15-hour class load by $247.30 a semester beginning in Fall 2008 (that’s equivalent to a 7.9 percent increase, or $16.42 per credit hour). The request also includes a 7.9 percent increase in tuition and fee costs for Fiscal Year 2010, which begins with Fall 2009, so that the university and students can plan for the future.

In addition, the spending plan identifies significant reallocations of funds within and among vice presidential or deans’ areas that will cause no net increase from the current budget, but it will allow the university to significantly address its strategic goals in FY2009.

The proposed budget adds significant money to areas critical to student success.

"We need to hire additional faculty, and not just at the rate equal to our growth, but at an accelerated rate," she says. "We must return our student-faculty ratio to at least 19.5:1 and ensure that students have access to the best professors possible. We also must provide more readily available, better advising to all of students and to improve the quality of our classroom experiences."

See the Extended Entry for more spending plan information.

Message from the President 

To: UNT community

Our hearts go out to our colleagues on the Northern Illinois University campus as they seek to console the families and victims of the random shooting that unfolded yesterday (Feb. 14) afternoon.

Troubling events like this naturally lead us to question our own safety, and I want to assure you that UNT has taken many steps to maintain a safe and secure campus environment for our community each and every day.

This fall we launched Eagle Alert, a new messaging system that allows UNT administrators to quickly contact the campus community by phone about emergency situations affecting the safety and well being of people on and around the UNT campus.

I urge each of you to login to my.unt.edu and click on the Eagle Alert icon so you can verify that your contact information is up to date. The system sends voice messages to the phones, including cell phones, of everyone with an EUID account in UNT's EIS system. The system also can send text messages to cell phones if you grant permission in advance.

I am sure each of you joins me in keeping our NIU colleagues in our hearts.

Please recall there are many resources on campus available to you.

Students may speak with a counselor through the Counseling and Testing Center , which is located in Chestnut Hall , Suite 311. This service is free. The center is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and may be reached by calling 940-565-2741. Learn more at http://www.unt.edu/cat/.

• Faculty and staff may call the Employee Assistance Program at 800-343-3822 to schedule free counseling. Learn more at http://www.hr.unt.edu/main/ViewPage.php?cid=89.

• The Goolsby Chapel is open and available for reflection and prayer from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Learn more at www.unt.edu/chapel.

Beginning at 9 a.m. Feb. 18, sympathy cards will be available on the University Union, First Level, for our community members to sign. The cards will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Feb. 21. The university will mail the cards Feb. 22 to our colleagues.

Gretchen M. Bataille
President
 

Celebrated writer Hampton Sides, right, who will be featured on a Feb.18 episode of PBS TV’s American Experience, will offer insights and observations about his popular nonfiction works during An Evening with Hampton Sides, a fund-raising dinner benefiting the student scholarship program at the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest.

The dinner will be 7 p.m. March 16 at Brookhaven Country Club, Dallas. For information, call 940-565-4564.

Sides’ expertise on Carson will be featured on Kit Carson, an episode of PBS TV’s American Experience that will air at 9 p.m. Feb. 18 on KERA (Ch. 13). 

“He’s one of the finest literary craftsmen around,” George Getschow, the Mayborn Conference’s writer-in-residence says of Sides. “Hampton is able to evoke the voice of his characters in a way I’ve never seen other writers do.”

The dinner will also celebrate the Texas State Historical Association's relocation to UNT’s Denton campus. Founded in 1897, TSHA is considered in academic circles as the nation’s most dynamic regional history organization as well as Texas’ oldest such organization. Its office was previously located at the University of Texas at Austin.

Sides, who was a keynote speaker at the Mayborn Conference in 2006, has drawn acclaim for his latest work, Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West. The 2007 Doubleday release chronicles Kit Carson, a 19th century fur trapper and soldier who led a brutal campaign against the Navajos and played a key role in shaping the West.

To: UNT Community
From: Herschel Voorhees, D.O., Director of Clinical Services, UNT Student Health and Wellness Center

A member of the UNT community has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and is currently undergoing treatment. The individual is no longer on campus and does not pose a continuing threat to the UNT community.

However, tuberculosis, or TB, is a potentially severe and contagious disease considered to be a public health threat even though individuals rarely develop the disease from limited exposure to TB bacteria. Therefore, UNT is working closely with the Denton County Health Department to investigate and monitor this incidence of TB.

The risk of exposure and infection to the general campus population is extremely low, though everyone needs to be aware of this incidence.

Individuals who are likely to be more at risk because they could have been in contact with the infected individual for a prolonged time or in a confined space have been informed about their higher potential risk.

What is TB?
Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a slow-growing bacterium that thrives in areas of the body that are rich in blood and oxygen, such as the lungs. TB in the lungs is spread to other people through the air when an infected individual coughs, laughs, speaks, sings or sneezes. The bacteria may remain airborne for several hours in some cases. For infection to occur, the bacteria must be inhaled and must reach the alveoli of the lung.

Tuberculosis is either latent (dormant) or active. Latent TB occurs when a person has the TB-causing bacteria in his/her body, but cannot spread the disease to others. However, a person with latent TB can still develop active TB. Active TB occurs when the infection is spreading in the body; if the lungs are infected, the disease can be spread to others.

Active TB
An individual with latent TB will have no symptoms unless the disease becomes active. Symptoms of active TB may include:
• ongoing cough that brings up thick, cloudy, and sometimes bloody mucus from the lungs (sputum);
• fatigue and weight loss;
• night sweats and fever;
• rapid heartbeat;
• swelling in the neck (when lymph nodes in the neck are infected); or
• shortness of breath and chest pain (in rare cases).

When a person first develops active TB, the symptoms of the disease may be so mild the person may be unaware he/she has been infected. This also is true for people with latent TB because they have no symptoms.

Latent TB
Latent TB is usually found through a tuberculin skin test (also called a TB skin test, PPD test or Mantoux test) or a blood test. Active TB is diagnosed by finding the TB-causing bacteria in fluid from the lungs (sputum) or in samples from other parts of the body. Doctors sometimes use a chest X-ray to help diagnose active TB. A person infected with TB may not test positive for two to 10 weeks after infection. A positive skin test does not mean active TB is present.

To learn more
If you experience any of the symptoms listed above, please see your personal doctor or a physician at the UNT Health Center. If you have any questions, please call 940-369-8181. You also may learn more at the Centers for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov/tb/faqs.

The U.S. Army has established a Reserve Officer Training Corps office at UNT. Previously, the program was offered to UNT students through a cross-enrollment agreement with the University of Texas at Arlington.

"We established the program here due to student demand and retention,” Maj. Herman Troy, left, professor of military science, says. “We had interested students who didn’t want to make the 80 mile round-trip to Arlington." Students at Texas Woman's University can enroll in UNT's Army ROTC program, and it may be expanded to Collin College and North Central Texas College.

In addition to the on-campus program, Troy says the Mean Green Battalion offers training opportunities throughout the world. "Cadets can travel to Japan, Germany, England, Korea, and across the U.S. to receive hands-on training with a variety of active duty units," he says.

Army ROTC offers full undergraduate and graduate scholarships. To qualify, students must have at least a 2.5 grade point average. Incoming freshmen must have a minimum 950 on the SAT or 20 on the ACT. Scholarship students must agree to serve in the Army after graduation. Non-scholarship students can participate in Army ROTC programs during their freshmen and sophomore years without agreeing to a military commitment. Classes include military communication and time management, a weekly leadership lab on drills and ceremony, and physical training.

Maj. Troy joined UNT's Army ROTC program after serving a year as executive officer of TCU's Army ROTC program. For more information, contact the Army ROTC office, 940-369-8011, or armyrotc@unt.edu.

Seven works by UNT dance faculty - “Terror, Trauma, Triumph: The Faculty Dance Concert, Dance for Peace” - will be presented at 8 p.m. Feb. 15-16 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 17 at the Radio, Television, Film and Performing Arts Building, University Theatre.

Admission is $7.50 for UNT students, faculty/staff and senior citizens; $10, public. For information: Mary Lynn Babcock, artistic director, 940-565-4057 or mlbabcock@unt.edu.

Faculty choreographers include Robin Lakes, Shelley Cushman and Babcock, associate professors of dance; Kenneth Verdugo, assistant professor of dance; Ellie Leonhardt, Hazel Sabas-Gower and Teresa Cooper, lecturers; Jentry Pritt, senior dance major from Wichita Falls; and Christopher Deane, associate professor of percussion.

See the Extended Entry for more information about the variety of works.

Official Message from the President

Dear UNT community,

As you know, our campus underwent a Peer Review process that resulted in a number of suggestions and recommendations to help us build a stronger UNT. Today, I would like to update you on some of the decisions that were made about these recommendations.

I encourage you to read my full letter online at http://web3.unt.edu/peerteamreport/peerupdateletter.cfm to learn more about the important work that is happening at our university.

I am excited about the progress we are making, and I know our future is bright.

With green pride,
Gretchen M. Bataille
President

The Lupe Murchison Foundation has granted $500,000 for the Anshel Brusilow Chair in Orchestral Studies.

The gift will go towards a $1 million endowment to honor Brusilow, conductor of the UNT Symphony Orchestra and Regents professor, who is retiring at the end of the 2007-08 school year. Proceeds of the endowment primarily will fund scholarships for orchestral students.

Brusilow, left, whose UNT career spans 35 years, will conduct his second-to-last concert with the UNT Symphony Orchestra Feb. 13 before his retirement. The concert  will be at 8 p.m. in Winspear Performance Hall of the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for non-UNT students and senior citizens and UNT faculty and staff; and free for UNT students with ID. For tickets, contact the Murchison box office at 940-369-7802 or http://www.music.unt.edu/mpac/

A champagne reception, open to the public, will be in the lobby immediately following the performance. 

The Lupe Murchison Foundation is a Dallas-based charitable organization of the estate of Lucille G. Murchison. Grants are made to organizations that provide student scholarships, educational and medical benefits, and the Southwestern Medical Foundation.

Application deadline is March 12 for the spring 2008 NTDC scholarship program, a semester of study and work in Washington, D.C. An information session will be at 5 p.m. March 4 in the University Union, Ponder Room.

The program provides students with insight into public life and the policy-making process by working in governmental and private sector internships in Washington D.C.

Students are selected based upon an application and interview process. Students in any major or degree program are eligible if they meet the following requirements:

• Undergraduate students: Must have completed a minimum of 60 semester credit hours with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0.
• Graduate students: Must have completed a minimum of 15 semester hours with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.25.
• Applications are available online at http://www.unt.edu/ntdc or in University Union, Suite 319. 

UNT participants have worked in the offices of Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn, U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess and several other governmental offices.

The College of Engineering is marking National Engineers Week, Feb. 18-22 with a career fair, student contests and speeches from executives from Texas Instruments and Siemens PLM software. All events will be at Discovery Park, 3940 N. Elm St.

National Engineers Week is an observance by a coalition of more than 75 engineering, professional, and technical societies and more than 50 corporations and government agencies. It was founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers. The program is dedicated to ensuring a diverse and well-educated future engineering workforce by increasing understanding of and interest in engineering and technology careers among young students and by promoting pre-college literacy in math and science.

For information: Mary Pastorius, director, Center for Student Development at Discovery Park, 940-565-3807. Events include:

Feb. 18
Mix and mingle at the Discovery Park commons; activities sponsored by student organizations

Feb. 19 
• 11 a.m. - Kent Novak, vice president and general manager of Texas Instruments' medical and high-resolution business unit, will discuss new areas of engineering at Texas Instruments.
• 12:30 p.m. - Craig Berry, senior vice president and chief information officer for Siemens PLM software, will discuss professions in information technology. Following Berry's remarks, students may attend an informational session to discuss the new bachelor of arts degree in information technology that will be offered beginning this fall.
• 12:30 to 1:30 pm in Discovery Park, Room B155 and teleconferenced to UNT Dallas Campus, Room 222 – Berry, David Keathly, lecturer and undergraduate advisor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, and Ryan Garlick, visiting assistant professor of computer science and engineering, will discuss the new degree.

"Our new degree program will give students a stronger technical foundation within an IT overview. This is especially appealing to just about any company with an IT department, but particularly for companies like defense contractors where the IT department directly serves technical customers," says Keathly, left.

Keathly predicts between 40 and 60 students will enroll in the new information technology program this fall.

The Emerald Ball, the March 1 fund-raising fete for the Emerald Eagle Scholars program, features a silent auction of sculpture, prints, carvings, books and Justin boots decorated by such celebrities as Gov. Rick Perry, UNT alumnus and actor Peter Weller and football and rodeo star Walt Garrison.

One day, perhaps, an Eagle Emerald Scholar alumnus will be a featured artist or celebrity. How many of the about 400 Emerald Eagle Scholars are majoring in art or related areas?

A. 110
B. 15
C. 41
D. 72

The correct answer is C. About 41 Emerald Eagle Scholars have found their academic muse in the world of art, music, fashion and graphic design.

These 2007-08 scholars are the first class in UNT’s program, which began with more than $350,000 raised during the April 2007 inauguration celebration (and first Emerald Ball) for President Gretchen M. Bataille. Emerald Eagle Scholars is designed to help Texas' academically talented undergraduates with high financial need get the best chance at achieving their goal of a college education. Emerald Eagle Scholars is one of about 30 such programs in the nation and is a leading program in Texas.

The second Emerald Ball will be March 1 in the University Union and features Grammy-winning western swing band Asleep at the Wheel. For more information, contact Karan Huggins in the Division of Advancement, 940- 565-3687 or go to: http://www.unt.edu/emeraldball.

The silent auction begins at 6:30 p.m. and continues until 11 p.m. Auction items, right, include decorated Justin boots, print by Cowgirl Hall of Fame member Donna Howell-Sickels, sculpture by Gainesville-based artist Marrita McMillan, autographed copies of Leaving Cheyenne and Lonseome Dove, both by UNT alumnus Larry McMurtry, and other photography, art and art services.

To win a free UNT T-shirt gift pack, send an e-mail with the words “Emerald Ball” in the subject line to inhouse@unt.edu   by 5 p.m. Feb. 15. The winner will be selected at random from all e-mails received. Sorry, you can't wear your T-shirt to the Emerald Ball, but black tie and boots are acceptable.

The UNT Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Clay Coutouriaux, right, assistant director of orchestras, will present works of Franz Schubert, Franz Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn, featuring performances by College of Music faculty.

The concert begins at 8 p.m. Feb. 20 in the Winspear Performance Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for non-UNT students, senior citizens and UNT faculty and staff; and free for UNT students with ID.

InHouse will give away a pair of tickets to the performance. To enter, send an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu  by 5 p.m. Feb 15 with “Chamber Orchestra” in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mails.

Performing faculty members are: Igor Borodin, associate professor of music (violin); Eugene Osadchy, associate professor of music (cello); Charles Veazey, Regents Professor of music (oboe); and Kathleen Reynolds, associate professor of music (bassoon).

The program includes:
• Overture in D Major, “In the Italian Style,” D. 590, Schubert
• Sinfonia concertante, Opus 84, Haydn
• Symphony No. 4 in A Majo, “Italian,” Opus 90, Mendelssohn

Anshel Brusilow, Regents Professor of music, organized the Chamber Orchestra in 1973 during his first tenure at UNT. Couturiaux earned a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from UNT as a student of Brusilow, graduating in 2000.

The second President’s Staff Sack Lunch of the 2007-08 academic year will be noon-1 p.m. March 6 in the University Union, Silver Eagle Suites.

President Gretchen M. Bataille will be available to respond to questions about university issues. Questions may be asked anonymously. A limited number of questions are answered during the luncheon, while the remaining inquiries are answered in the next issue of HR Connections, the Human Resources newsletter, and on the Human Resources web site. See responses to questions asked at the Oct. 16 and past lunches.

The event is held three times each year to honor Steve Miller Outstanding Employees and Outstanding Departments and to recognize Soaring Eagle award winners, Star Performer Award recipients and Eagle Partners. See awards presented at the Oct. 16 President’s Staff Sack Lunch. 

Staff attending should bring lunch. Iced tea, water, coffee and dessert are provided. Attendees also are eligible to win door prizes donated by various UNT departments and organizations, and Denton businesses. 

The Meadows Center for Health Resources will offer students and others a chance to test a drunken driving simulator on Feb. 12. The simulator, part of the Save A Life tour, will be on campus from noon to 6 p.m. in the University Union, Silver Eagle Suite.

The Save A Life tour is a national alcohol awareness program that includes a state-of-the-art interactive drunk driving simulator.

The simulator duplicates the effects of impaired driving. Each session ends with an accident scene and a virtual citation issued to the driver. Large projection screens and monitors allow onlookers to witness what the driver is seeing.

"We are very excited about bringing this event to UNT. If this program makes a difference in one person’s life, it will be a success," said Peggy Fogle, director of the Meadows Center.

Representatives from the Meadows Center, UNT's ONE Peer Education Network and other campus departments and organizations will host additional games and events designed to promote alcohol awareness. The UNT Police will demonstrate field sobriety tests, and beer goggles will be incorporated into popular video games such as Guitar Hero. Local radio stations KHKS 106.1 FM and KDGE 102.1 FM will be on site; door prizes will be awarded. Admission is free.

The UNT community is invited to send good wishes to students, faculty and staff at Union University, Jackson, Tenn. and at Louisiana Technical College, Baton Rouge, La. 

The Tennessee school was damaged by tornadoes that struck the mid-South on Feb.4. More than 50 people were killed during the violent weather; none at Union University. A Feb. 8 shooting left three dead at the Louisiana school.

About 4,000 students attend Union University located near Memphis. Officials estimate that 80 percent of Union’s dorms were destroyed (think: eight or more of UNT’s 11 residence halls) and that damage totals $40 million. The Louisiana campus is part of a state-wide community and technical college system with a mission to prepare students for the workforce. 

A banner will be in the University Union, 3rd Level Lyceum Lounge Feb. 11 through noon Feb 15 for well-wishers to sign and write messages of support for Union University. A similar banner will be available for those who wish to send condolences to the Louisiana Technical College campus in the aftermath of the unexplained shooting.

The Volunteer Center also encourages members of the UNT community to support the relief agencies involved in providing humanitarian aid as they work to deliver clean water and food, and provide medicine, clothing, and shelter for the Union University community. 

For more information: Mary Pastorius, director of student life, 940-565-3807 (Union University)  or mpastorius@unt.edu or Ken Ballom, dean of students, 940-565-2648 (Louisiana Technical College).

Deborah Reeve, left, executive director of the National Art Education Association, will give the inaugural endowed lecture honoring D. Jack Davis, former dean of the College of Visual Arts and Design (then known as School of Visual Arts).

The D. Jack Davis Endowed Lecture in Art Education, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 5:30 p.m. March 12 in the Gateway Center, Ballroom Suite 34. Free parking is available after 5  p.m. across the street in Fouts Field, Lot 20.

Davis, right, retired from the deanship in August 2004. The school's Advisory Board, under the leadership of then-chairman the late Dallas arts patron Raymond Nasher, established an endowed lecture series in art education in recognition of Davis' contributions to the arts and his many years of administrative service at UNT.

Reeve, who has worked with the White House and U.S. Department of Education, is an association management professional, former art educator and practicing artist. Her paintings are exhibited at Gallery West in Alexandria, Va., where she is a member artist, and at Cranbury Gallery in Princeton, N.J. Prior to assuming the position of executive director of the NAEA, she was deputy executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

Reeve holds a degree in art education, has taught art at the pre-K-12 levels, and has held an adjunct faculty position in the graduate school at Lesley College in Cambridge, Mass. She has been a consultant to state, national and international educational organizations and has worked at other agencies in the federal government.

For more information: 940-565-4777.

Two UNT alumni – Norah Jones and Don Henley - were among winners at the 50th annual Grammy Awards presented Feb. 10.

Jazz vocalist Jones appears on River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. The album, produced by jazz pioneer Herbie Hancock, was named album of the year. Other artists performing on the album include Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Corinne Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza and Tina Turner.

The Eagles, including Henley, left, received a Grammy for How Long, a winner in Category 38, best country performance by a duo or group with vocals.

Both Jones, right, and Henley have a successful track record at the annual Recording Academy awards presentation.

Jones was named best new artist in 2002, and her album Come Away With Me was named album of the year in 2002. Jones and Ray Charles received a Grammy for best new record of the year in 2004 for Here We Go Again.

Henley and the Eagles earned Grammys in 1975, 1977 and 1979, including record of the year for Hotel California in 1977. Henely won Grammys for best rock vocal in 1985 and 1989.  

Read about other UNT alumni who were nominated for Grammy awards this year.

Musical events in the month of February continue with the Wind Symphony and the Symphony Orchestra in concert.

• 7:30 p.m., Feb. 12 - Symphonic Band, conducted by Dennis Fisher.
• 8 p.m. Feb. 13 - Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Anshel Brusilow; program includes Mozart’ “Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K. 299; Strauss’ “Dance of the Seven Veils” from Salome, Op. 54; and, Strauss’ “Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59.

The orchestra concert is Brusilow's next-to-last, since he will retire at semester's end after 35 years at UNT. James Scott, flutist and dean of the College of Music, and Jaymee Haefner, harpist and lecturer, are featured during the suite from Der Rosenkavalier.

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children and UNT students with valid identification. Both concerts will be in the Murchison Performing Arts Center. For tickets, call (940) 369-7802 or visit www.thempac.com.

InHouse has one pair of tickets to give away for each concert. To win a pair of tickets to the concert of your choice, send an e-mail by 5 p.m. Feb. 8 to inhouse@unt.edu with “Wind Symphony” or “Symphony Orchestra” in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random from all email responses.

Brusilow, above, is an accomplished violinist who entered the Curtis Institute of Music at age 11. He served four years as associate concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra and seven years as concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Brusilow conducted the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 1970 to 1973 and led the orchestra's first tours of Central and South America.

In 1973, he began his first tenure at UNT until 1981, with his second tenure from 1989 to the present. In addition to serving as the UNT Symphony Orchestra conductor, Brusilow established the UNT Chamber Orchestra in 1973.

Under his tenure, the UNT Chamber Orchestra performed at the Mozart Bicentennial at Lincoln Center in March 1991. In 1992, the UNT Symphony Orchestra toured Spain and the Mediterranean (Balearic Islands and the Island of Ibiza), including a featured performance on U.S. National Day at Expo '92 in Seville. In October of that year, the UNT Symphony Orchestra performed Verdi's Requiem in Monterrey, Mexico, as part of the Festival Internacional Alfonso Reyes. In his retirement, he plans to continue conducting the Richardson Symphony Orchestra. 

The College of Music has launched a campaign to establish the Anshel Brusilow Chair in Orchestral Studies to honor the retiring conductor and provide a permanent legacy of scholarships for orchestral players.

Brusilow conducts his final concert with the UNT Symphony Orchestra on April 23 before retiring at the end of the 2007-2008 concert season. The April 23 program includes Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky (Op. 78), performed with the UNT Grand Chorus, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B minor, the "Pathetique." 

A video feature about the Grammy Award nominations of musicians Joseph Banowetz, Alton Chan and Steve Wiest may be viewed on theVideo/Slide Shows page of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram .

Go to: http://www.star-telegram.com/. Scroll down the page to "Video/Slide Shows" headline. Link to "Features" on the left side of the window. Go to "Going to the Grammys."

Learn more about these and other Grammy nominees affiliated with UNT.

Steve Wiest, right, alumnus and assistant professor of jazz studies, and Joseph Banowetz, left, professor of music, earned Grammy nominations this year. Nominees of the 50th Annual Grammy Awards were announced Dec. 6, and winners will be announced at the Feb. 10 awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

Wiest received a nomination in the Best Instrumental Arrangement category for his arrangement of "Besame Mucho" from the CD "The One and Only Maynard Ferguson."
Banowetz, along with pianist and UNT alumnus Alton Chung Ming Chan, received the nomination for Best Chamber Music Performance for "30 Songs of the Russian People" on the album "Balakirev and Russian Folksong."  In addition, two of the album's producers, Marina A. and Victor Ledin, earned a nomination for Classical Producer of the Year.

Several more of this year's Grammy nominees have UNT ties:
• The Eagles (with UNT alumnus Don Henley) for Best Country Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals
• Brave Combo - which includes several UNT alumni, including founder Carl Finch – for Best Polka Album for “Polka's Revenge.”
• Bubba Hernandez, a UNT alumnus and former member of Brave Combo, and Alex Meixner, for best Polka Album, “Polka Freak.”
• Alumna Norah Jones performed on “River: The Joni Letters,” for Album of the Year.

Baroque ensemble Trio Amsterdam will perform at 8 p.m.  Feb. 26 at the Winspear Performance Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center. The Trio Amsterdam, based in the Netherlands, is composed of three specialists who perform Baroque music on period instruments.

UNT has one of the largest early music programs in the nation with more than 70 students participating in early music ensembles every semester. Trio Amsterdam will also participate in a Feb. 26-28 workshop, "Amsterdam Meets Texas," at the College of Music.

Trio Amsterdam members include:

• Mimi Mitchell, Baroque violinist and a Texas native, holder of the coveted Erwin Bodky prize with the Locke Consort.
• Englishman Richard Egarr, a famed performer on all keyboards, especially harpsichord and fortepiano, has recently been named director of the Academy of Ancient Music that will perform Feb. 18 at the First Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth
• Jed Wentz, an American who has become one of the world's experts in Baroque flute and is in demand as a soloist and conductor in Europe and North America. 
 
The trio will be joined by guest artists and/or College of Music faculty:
• Mary Springfels, viola de gamba, musician-in-residence, Newberry Library in Chicago, and founder, Newberry Consort
• Jennifer Lane, associate professor of music, mezzo-sporano
• Keith Collins, Baroque bassoon.
• Lyle Nordstrom, professor of music history, and director of UNT’s Early Music program, therobo
• Lenora McCroskey, professor of music, harpsichord
• Gyöngy Erödi, Baroque cello

To win a free pair of tickets to the Feb. 26 concert, send an e-mail inhouse@unt.edu  with “Amsterdam Trio” in the subject line by 5 p.m. Feb. 15. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mail responses. Tickets are $10 for adults; $7 for senior citizens, non-UNT students, UNT faculty and staff, groups of 10 or more; and free to UNT students.

Ian Parberry, professor of computer science and engineering, has been named a Most Valuable Professional, MVP, by Microsoft for the fifth consecutive year. Parberry was recognized for his work in game development.

 "This citation shows that they appreciate the work we are doing here at UNT," Parberry says. "It puts a stamp of approval on our undergraduate and graduate game development classes."

"One of the benefits is MVPs consult with Microsoft’s technical staff on a variety of new products. For example, I first saw the Microsoft Vista operating system in 2003, four years before it was released to the public," Parberry says.

Parberry was first recognized as a Microsoft MVP in 2004. In addition to computer games, his research interests include experimental algorithmics, computational complexity theory and neural networks. Parberry is currently working to develop a system to incorporate real time video processing with gaming graphics.

Microsoft MVPs are an annually recognized select group of active and credible experts in online and offline technical communities that demonstrate a passion to share their expertise. The MVP Program recognizes these individuals for their participation in technical communities and their willingness to help others.

"Most Valuable Professionals embody the spirit of community and technology in this evolving Web 2.0 world," says Sean O'Driscoll, general manager of community support services at Microsoft. "They are independent experts, passionate about technology, and they thrive on providing feedback to other users."

"On behalf of Microsoft, I am pleased to recognize Ian Parberry as a member of this elite group. Ian joins individuals from more than 90 countries who share their technical expertise by helping individuals maximize their use of technology," O'Driscoll says.

MVPs actively participate in a variety of Microsoft technical communities through which a worldwide network of people communicate, support and provide feedback about Microsoft products, technologies and services with each other, as well as Microsoft. They include a diverse group of backgrounds and professions ranging from authors, artists and technology enthusiasts to professional developers and business managers working in small, medium-sized and enterprise businesses.

(Editor's Note: Graves was named dean of the the College of Business Administration by Provost Wendy K. Wilkins on March 19. )

O. Finley Graves is the interim dean of the College of Business Administration, a few jobs removed from his teenage work at a Tastee Freeze in rural Mississippi. He’s an avid traveler and a lover of seafood, who holds two doctorates.

What is your title and department?
Interim dean, College of Business Administration.

How long have you worked at UNT?
Five years and five months.

What is your academic background?
A doctorate in 1985 and a master's in accounting from the University of Alabama, a doctorate in Germanic languages and literatures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a master of arts degree in modern German literature from Rice University and a bachelor's degree in modern languages from the University of Mississippi.

How do you define success?
Solving problems so that everybody benefits.

How do you spend your free time? 
I like to travel - everywhere. We were in Japan over Thanksgiving and Argentina after Christmas. I also love to explore the area around me and learn about the place in which I live.

Who are your heroes?
My wife, Gail, because her forbearance is heroic.

What is something that no one knows about you?
I was a cheerleader for two years in high school.

What is your favorite season?
Summer, the hotter the better! Also, oyster season, even though they aren’t as safe as they used to be.

What is your favorite food?
Crab, any way you fix it.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Two very successful children, although most of the credit goes to my wife. My son just made partner as an intellectual property attorney in San Francisco and my daughter is chief health planner for Houston and Harris County.

What was your first job?
Professionally, it was teaching German language and literature at the University of Alabama. As a teenager, it was dispensing soft ice cream at a Tastee Freeze on Hwy. 51 in Mississippi.

What is your dream job?
Travel reporter, for the same reasons as my favorite free time activity.

Name one person you would like to meet.
Anyone with a sense of humor.

Do you have a pet peeve?
Hearing "I'm good" in response to "How are you?"

What was your first car?
A 1966 VW Beetle.

The College of Business Administration and the Office of Development have been selected to participate in the University Alliance Program with SAP, the world’s largest business software company.

The partnership will allow UNT professors and students to access SAP’s business solutions software for use in the classroom and in research. The program began this semester with faculty and students involved from the Departments of Marketing and Logistics, and Information Technology and Decision Sciences. Pictured at left, Craig Banaszewski of Siemens Building Technologies Inc., Finley Graves, interim dean of the College of Business Administration and Jay Elms of Siemens.

The project was made possible by a grant from Siemens Building Technologies, Inc., a division of Siemens USA, to the Center for Quality and Productivity. Siemens USA is a $107.4 billion electronics company with 480,000 employees worldwide.

“This SAP alliance provides a great opportunity for collaboration across departments and faculty that will benefit our students,” says Victor Prybutok, Regents Professor of decision sciences. “We have several talented faculty members such as Dr. Steve Swartz, assistant professor of marketing and logistics, who will be able to use the SAP platform for research in specific areas, such as for his supply chain research. In addition, he sees this as providing an opportunity for collaboration among our college’s research centers.” 

The alliance is a joint project among three centers in the College of Business Administration and has been coordinated by the center’s directors: Chang Koh, director of the Information Systems Research Center; Jerry Dake, managing director of the Center for Quality and Productivity; and Terry Pohlen, director of the Center for Logistics Education and Research. Students who will be directly impacted by the alliance are in the Logistics and Supply Chain Management program, Business Computer and Information Sciences program and Decision Sciences program. 

“Companies like Siemens view UNT graduates as critical assets for their continued growth in the challenging, global marketplace,” says John Krumrine, director of corporate relations in the Office of Development. “Students with SAP experience add significant value to global firms. This alliance allows us to make our graduates more valuable to industry.”

SAP, the third-largest independent software provider in terms of revenues, has products that focus on Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, which it helped to pioneer. The company’s main product, SAP ERP, is a platform used for managing activities across a multi-firm supply chain. The software provides for the coordination and synchronization of activities from purchasing, manufacturing, storing, shipping and selling products, in addition to budgeting, cost accounting and human resource management. More than 100,600 SAP installations serve more than 41,200 companies in more than 25 industries in more than 120 countries, according to SAP officials.

The UNT System Board of Regents is meeting today (Feb. 7) and Feb. 8 at the UNT Dallas Campus.

While conducting its quarterly meeting, the board is expected to consider a Fiscal Year 2009 Spending Plan for UNT, as well as for the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth and the UNT System.

The UNT spending plan is being submitted in conjunction with a proposal for tuition increases in FY2009 and FY2010. If approved, this spending plan will be the basis on which the university develops its FY2009 budget.

“The spending plan and proposed tuition increases are the result of budgeting exercises that allowed all of the vice presidents and deans to assess how to best use their current funding to help the university achieve its strategic goals of providing a top quality education as a student-centered public research university,” President Gretchen M. Bataille says. “It also includes an honest assessment of the level of new funding that’s required to ensure we make improvements in our student-faculty ratios, our student-advisor ratios and our support of student services and aid, while also pursuing our research mission and keeping in mind the need to provide affordable access to higher education.”

Read a guest column in the North Texas Daily by Bataille for more detail about why the university is proposing the tuition increase.

The proposed spending plan identifies significant reallocations of funds within and among vice presidential or dean’s areas that will cause no net increase from the current budget but will allow the university to significantly address its strategic goals in FY2009.

The reallocations and new funds generated from the proposed 7.9 percent tuition increase would allow the university to provide significant additional support to programs in four key areas aligned with the Strategic Plan:
• Student Success and Opportunity initiative
• Emerging Research initiative
• Image and Reputation initiative
• Improved Institutional Effectiveness: Efficiencies and Assessment.

UNT encourages all faculty and staff to verify and update your personal contact information so that you can receive Eagle Alert messages if there is an emergency or campus closing.

What's going on...
Two Beard Electrical contractors working to install a new pump, filtration and heating system for the Physical Education Building pool were taken to Presbyterian Hospital after suffering an electrical shock at about 1 p.m. this afternoon.

What you should know...
The incident happened while the workers were connecting wires on a de-energized circuit board and a wrench made contact with a board that was still powered. One of the injured contractors is being treated at Presbyterian. The other has been transported to Parkland Hospital.

The accident tripped the fuses to shut down the building’s electrical system. The building will remain without power until the fuses can be replaced, the system tested and the building declared safe.

Classes scheduled to be held today in the PEB are cancelled through 6 p.m. However, night classes in the PEB should be able to be held as scheduled. Students and faculty should check UNT’s web site for updates by 5 p.m.

In addition to restoring power to the building, the university’s facilities crews are cleaning up a flood in the building’s basement that occurred when the pumps for the pool went down. That work is expected to be completed this evening.

(Editor's Note: Wendy K. Wilkins, below left, provost and vice president for academic affairs, sent this official message to the UNT community today,  Feb. 5.)

The peer review processes, especially the reviews centered in the divisions of Academic Affairs and Student Development, resulted in a number of suggestions and recommendations aimed at improving student success.

Peer reviewers encouraged the university to leverage its resources through increased partnerships between those two vice presidential areas, recommending the designation of a vice provost focused on undergraduate education as a key catalyst for this collaboration. In response to this recommendation and to further our goal of increasing academic success for our students, Dr. Celia Williamson’s title has been changed from the more generic “Vice Provost” to “Deputy Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Studies,” providing a clearer delineation of her role within Academic Affairs.

As “Deputy Provost,” Dr. Williamson, right, will continue to function in direct support of the Provost in a number of key areas, and will serve as the line of first response in the Provost’s absence. The designation of “Dean of Undergraduate Studies” will enable Dr. Williamson to act as a more visible champion of the undergraduate experience at UNT, cultivating the creative exchange of ideas with internal and external partners and the alignment of university resources in support of student success.

Dr. Williamson currently serves as the Chair of the Faculty Senate’s Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and is in the second year of a three-year process that will revitalize the core curriculum at UNT. She chairs a task force focused on enhancing academic advising and will continue to work closely with Enrollment Management, International Education and Learning Enhancement. She will develop new synergies among the divisions of Academic Affairs, Student Development and Institutional Equity and Diversity to foster a continued culture of academic success.

If you know Dr. Williamson, then you’ve experienced her passion for the educational transformation that is at the very heart of the undergraduate experience. Please join me in congratulating her and let her know how you would like to lend your energies to strengthening the undergraduate experience at UNT.

Regards,
Wendy K. Wilkins

Seventeen students in the College of Education have received scholarships to help prepare them for careers in teaching science , math or foreign language in schools in high-need areas.

Last year, the Texas Center for Educational Technology in the College of Education was one of the recipients of a total $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. UNT is expected to receive about $1.3 million over three years for the project, called the Beginning Educators Gain Instructional Nurturance (BEGIN) project.

Each student will receive up to $2,500 per year for up to three years of full-time study, as well as technology tools, such as PDAs or laptops. Upon graduating, students must commit to teaching in a high-need school where at least 40 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch subsidies. Students will also teach subjects in need of more highly qualified instructors, such as science, mathematics or foreign language.  Recipients are:

• Maria Andrade of Fort Worth
• Alexis Ann Arnold of Garland
• Sarah Suzanne Baillio of Sherman
• Linda Diann Bianchi of Ponder
• Flor Maria Chavez of Dallas
• Rosa Elvia Damian of Dallas
• Shana Lee Irwin of Mabank
• Alexandra Michelle James of Kingwood
• Susan Kay Moore of Keller
• Angeles Munoz of Denton
• Paige Alyse Murry of Garland
• Chris Michael Northrup of Lake Dallas
• Heather Michelle Rooth of Shawnee, Okla.
• Siu Kiong Tang of Denton
• Alyson Bailey Temple of Denton
• Eloisa Vasquez-Vidal of Dallas

For more than five years, Cinnamon Sheffield has been in integral part of the academic side of a Mean Green Athletics department that graduates 69 percent of its student athletes, one of best graduation rates in NCAA Division i sports. Sheffield is an associate athletics director.

What is your title and department?
Associate athletic director – Student Services/ Senior Women’s Administrator, Athletics Department.

How long have you worked at UNT?
I began in Fall of 2001, so about six years.

What are your duties as associate athletics director?
I oversee Title IX compliance and academics for our student athletes. It’s my job to ensure that our students are on top of their tasks academically. If they are not eligible or in good standing; I’m the one in charge of facilitating their academic success.  (Title IX of the Education Act of 1972 is legislation that prevents discrimination in the delivery of any program, sport, class, or extracurricular activities at an institution which receives federal funding.)

What kind of help do student-athletes receive in the Mean Green Student Services Center?
They get tutoring, academic advising, and Champs/Life Skills training. CHAMPS is Challenging Athletes' Minds for Personal Success, and is an NCAA program designed to help athletes do well in school and in life. 

What do you like most about your job?
I think it’s watching the students grow. In most cases I meet them when they are freshman and seem them on a routine basis until the graduate.

Is there a particular student that you worked with that stands out the most?
There’s a football player from Fort Worth and at first he wasn’t on par academically He was put on probation at one point and came close to dropping out. After a while, we worked with him. We tutored him and after he got that first A or that first B on a test, he realized he was a better student than he thought he was. He’s a master’s student now and I remember being especially proud of him when he graduated.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Obtaining a career that I love and making a difference and being a positive influence in the lives young people.

How do you define success?
Being happy doing what you do.

Where is your favorite travel destination?
Destin, Florida, and Los Angeles, California.

Flash back to the far-out fashions of the 1960s and 1970s with groovy caftans and a psychedelic paper dress in Minis, Maxis and Mods, an exhibition presented by the Texas Fashion Collection at the College of Visual Arts and Design.

These fashions, created from 1965 to 1975, will be examined in the context of social history, art, and design.

An array of ready-to-wear and designer clothing will be displayed Feb. 21-May 16 at Fashion on Main at Universities Center at Dallas, 1901 Main St. in Dallas. Admission is free.

"There was an incredible synergy between art, music and fashion." says Myra Walker, director and curator of the Texas Fashion Collection. "The youth movement was its own driving force and inspiration when it came to wearing clothes. Color, patterns, and fantasy were the visual language of the times. The design market of today continues to incorporate the energy and vibrant aesthetic from this time period."

Highlights of the exhibition include:
• A velvet, cotton and wool dress worn by singer and movie actress Lena Horne, left. The patchwork print dress by American designer Giorgio di Sant'Angelo features a full-length flared skirt and bell sleeves.
• A multicolored print dress of rayon fiber paper in an A-line shape that can be cut into a minidress.
• A pink chiffon and velour dress with a paisley bodice and a knee-length flowered skirt by American designer Ron Amey.
• A man's suit of ivory elephant wale corduroy, psychedelic print shirt and purple silk tie by British designer John Stephen, right. The suit demonstrates a trend for brilliantly colored men's attire that became known as the peacock revolution. 

About Fashion on Main
UNT opened Fashion on Main at the Universities Center at Dallas in September 2006 as the first permanent exhibition space dedicated solely to the Texas Fashion Collection, considered one of the most important historic fashion collections in the nation. This will be the fourth exhibition at Fashion on Main.

About the Texas Fashion Collection
The collection began in 1938 when Stanley and Edward Marcus preserved examples of top designers' works in honor of their aunt Carrie Marcus Neiman, a co-founder of the Neiman Marcus store. The Carrie Marcus Neiman Foundation maintained the collection after her death in 1953, and the Dallas Fashion Group took over in the 1960s at the Apparel Mart. The collection, then known as the Dallas Museum of Fashion, came to the UNT campus in 1972 and was later renamed the Texas Fashion Collection. It has grown from 3,000 items to more than 15,000 historic items today.

Topics ranging from childhood nutrition and parent involvement in education to socializing children of immigrants will be addressed at the 16th annual UNT Conference on Parent Education. The conference for parents, policy makers, educators and students, is Feb. 14-15 in the University Union.

Froma Walsh, the Moose and Sylvia Firestone professor in the School of Social Service Administration and professor in the University of Chicago’s Department of Psychiatry will deliver the keynote address about building family resilience in times of crisis. Her address begins at 8:30 a.m. Feb 15. Walsh is also the co-director of the Center for Family Health, Chicago.

Conference presenters and events include:
• A Feb. 13 pre-conference session sponsored by the Texas Association for Infant Mental Health will address child-parent relationship training.
• “Meet the Scholars” best practice exhibit is scheduled 9:15 to 9:45 a.m. Feb. 14. The conference’s 2008 best practices winner is Lynn McDonald, developer of Families and Schools Together National Training and Evaluation Center, Madison, Wis.
• Rhonda Richardson and A. Margaret Pevec of Kent State University will discuss “Using Movies to Start Meaningful Conversations.”
• Char Wenc, professor at the Adler School of Professional Psychology and Loyola University in Chicago will discuss “I Love You and the Answer is NO.”
• Ruth Ann Ball, early childhood program development coordinator, University of Oklahoma and Arminta Jacobson, right, professor in the UNT College of Education will discuss “Supporting Immigrant Parents in Socializing their Children.”

The conference also includes sessions about developing early literacy skills, home-based instruction, mental health issues in children and parents, learning disabilities, adoptive parents, divorce and engaging fathers in education.

Jacobson began the Center for Parent Education at UNT in 1992 to provide networking and training opportunities for parents, schools and agencies. She started the conference as a one-day event attended by 100 people the first year. The conference now brings in 350 participants, as well as national and international speakers.

Co-sponsors of the conference are the College of Education and the Texas Association of Parent Educators. Cost is $115 for one day or $220 for two days. The pre-conference session is $90. Student rates are available.

To register, go to www.cpe.unt.edu. For more information, call 940-369-7246.

The Distinguished Lecture Series, sponsored by the College of Business Administration, features Albert C. Black Jr., president and CEO of Dallas-based On-Target Supplies & Logistics Ltd.,  at 10 a.m. Feb. 22 in the University Union, Golden Eagle Suite.

Black, left, co-founded On-Target Supplies & Logistics in 1982, guiding the company from a two-person startup to a growing operation with 190 employees. In 2007, the company was ranked 24th on the Dallas Business Journal list of the 100 fastest growing private companies in Dallas-Fort Worth.

On-Target has also expanded from a one-truck distributor to an outsource service provider of supply chain services to major corporations. Black’s accomplishments were featured on the PBS television program Small Business School.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

From bongos and tin cans to an unusual piece for string quartet, the 5th annual Richard and Candace Faulk Scholars Concert features works of four of UNT's music composition students.

The “Spectrum: 5th Annual Richard and Candace Faulk Scholars Concert” will feature the music of Nick Bober, Ethan Hayden, Mark Scott and Jing Wang at 8 p.m. Feb. 11 in the Music Building, Merrill Ellis Intermedia Theater. Admission is free.

The Faulk Scholars Concert is made possible by a five-year $50,000 commitment from environmental attorney Richard Faulk, left, with Candace, who earned a music degree in composition from UNT in 1974. Faulk's support provides scholarships for up to four music composition students a year. In addition, the scholarship allows for the production of an annual SPECTRUM concert featuring works composed by the Faulk scholars. SPECTRUM is a concert series featuring new solo and chamber works composed by students.

Bober's piece, Dilated Reconstitution for DVD stereo audio with diffusion and projector, is the second movement of what will be a three-movement video piece composed with Stephen Lucas. The piece combines real-world and electronically generated sounds and images.

Bober, a master's composition student, has composed for traditional ensembles and electro-acoustic mediums. In the spring of 2006, he was awarded the Outstanding Undergraduate Composition Student Award for the 2005-2006 school year at UNT.

Hayden's Clicks and Beeps - a piece for wood block, temple blocks, claves, bongos, timbales, tin cans, brake drum and marimba -- involves differing ostinato, or repeated, patterns. His piece "Anamnesis" - a Greek word meaning "loss of forgetfulness" - was composed in Fall 2007 for brass quintet. 

Hayden, a 2003 graduate of Pottsboro High School, plans to graduate with a bachelor of music degree in composition and theory in May.

A Houston native, Scott will graduate in May with dual degrees in composition and trombone performance. Scott was a winner of the 2006 UNT Concerto Competition as a composer and a finalist as a trombonist in 2007.

Wang, a composer who plays the erhu, a two-stringed bowed musical instrument sometimes known as the Chinese violin, is pursuing a doctoral degree in composition at after receiving a bachelor of music degree from China Central Conservatory of Music in 1996. Her compositions have been presented in China, Spain, France, Italy and the United States. They have been recognized by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers and Electro-acoustic Miniatures International Contest, Spain. She was the winner of the 2006 Pauline Oliveros Prize given by the International Alliance for Women in Music.

Faulk  received the 2007 Martha Turner Award of Distinction as outstanding Gulf Coast UNT alumnus. The award was established in 2004 to recognize Houston and Gulf Coast residents who have received acclaim in their profession and have been unusually supportive of their alma mater. Recipients are chosen by the North Texas Exes Gulf Coast board of directors. 

Graduate students from six area universities will display their work in an exhibition presented by the College of Visual Arts and Design in conjunction with the national College Art Association, or CAA, Annual Conference in Dallas.

The exhibition will be on display Feb. 18-23 at UNT's Cora Stafford Gallery at Oak Street Hall, Oak at Ponder Street in Denton. A reception will be from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23. Admission is free.

The exhibition highlights the work of candidates for master of fine arts degrees at UNT, Texas Woman's University, University of Dallas, Southern Methodist University, Texas Christian University and the University of Texas at Arlington.

Studio faculty members from the six universities selected the artwork, representing innovation in various media. The exhibition is organized by Annette Lawrence, associate professor of visual arts, and the UNT Art Gallery.

Exhibition hours are 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Feb. 18-Feb. 22 and noon to 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23.

Above, Night, oil on canvas, ©Sarah Williams, 2007