You likely have seen reports in the media about the recall of Nestle Toll House cookie dough products. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, now has confirmed that E. coli has been found in samples of Nestle Toll House cookie dough that were tested. If you have any product, please return it to the store you purchased it from or dispose of it.

Since June 19, Nestle has voluntarily recalled close to 300,000 cases of its refrigerated cookie dough products made at their Danville, Va., plant. Health officials are still searching for how the cookie dough became infected with the bacteria. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states, “As of Thursday, June 25, 2009, 69 persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular DNA fingerprint have been reported from 29 states.”

The Food and Drug Administration is advising consumers to discard any prepackaged, refrigerated Nestle Toll House cookie dough products, adding that cooking the dough is not recommended because of the chance consumers might transfer the bacteria from their hands to other cooking surfaces.

Nestle issued the following statement: “Nestle USA’s Baking Division has been informed by the Food and Drug Administration  that it has found E. coli 0157:H7 in Nestlé Toll House refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough. The product has a day code of 9041 and a "Best before 10 JUN 2009" notation.”

A detailed list of the recalled products can be found on the company’s website (www.nestleusa.com). Consumers also may contact Nestle Consumer Services at 800-559-5025.

Human Resources will host a series of employee education sessions about the new compensation program July 13-24. The series will focus on how the new compensation structure will be grounded in competencies required to successfully perform and develop as a UNT employee. A previous session discussed job titles and career bands.

Staff employees are encouraged to attend and supervisors should ensure that their employees are able to attend one of the scheduled sessions.

Managers, supervisors and any other administrators who supervise regular staff (part-time and full-time) will be required to attend one of the sessions. Supervisory roles are those that have official, formal management responsibility of other staff positions (hiring, performance reviews, salary decisions, etc.). They do not include positions that oversee students, hourly positions, or serve in a lead worker or back-up capacity.

The Staff Classification and Compensation project webpage will be updated with FAQs resulting from these educational sessions. Additionally, there is a link on this webpage to submit questions regarding the compensation program. 

Here is a schedule for the July 13-24 sessions. Employees only need to attend one. Online registration is required through the Human Resources website. (Continue to the page, despite the disclaimer.)
Employees without access to online registration may call 940-565-4246 or 940-565-3885 to register.

• July 13 - Videoconference: Chilton 245, Dallas Campus 222, Health Science Center LIB 3-104; 9-10am
• July 14 - Eagle Student Services Center 255, 10-11 a.m.
• July 15 - Eagle Student Services Center 255, 11-12 p.m.
• July 16 - Eagle Student Services Center 255, 2-3 p.m.
• July 17 - Eagle Student Services Center 255, 3-4 p.m.
• July 20 - Eagle Student Services Center 255, 9-10 a.m.
• July 21 - Discovery Park B185, 10-11 a.m.
• July 22 - Eagle Student Services Center 255, 11-12 p.m.
• July 23 - Eagle Student Services Center 255, 2-3 p.m.
• July 24 - Marquis 118, 3-4 p.m.

UNT is proud to recognize employees who reached a milestone in July. To learn more about the service recognition program, contact Beth Bates-Verges in Human Resources, 940-565-4817.

35 years of service
Juanda G. Fischer, left, executive administrative assistant, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

25 years of service
Philip C. Baczewski, director of academic compliance and user services, Computing and Information Technology Center
Eugene R. Forst, accounting clerk, Libraries
Randall Scott Groves, press assistant, Printing Services
Darla Zo Mayes, administrative assistant, College of Music, Department of Jazz Studies

20 years of service
Barbara Dee Bradford, director of learning center, Student Development
Yolanda Kaye Flowers, cook, Kerr Hall Dining Services

15 years of service
Daniel Pando Dominguez, facilities technician, Facilities and Construction
Randall Stephen Guttery, academic associate dean, College Of Business
Edward Thomas Hoyenski, library assistant, Libraries
Thomas Floyd Lilly, facilities technician, Kinesiology/Health Promotion and Recreation
David Lynn Meek, computer systems manager, Registrar
Kerry Sue Smith, administrative assistant, Army ROTC

10 years of service
Clyde M. Chandler, custodian, Housing Maintenance
Joseph E. Cranmore, communications manager, Computing and Information Technology Center
Joan Lou Donnelly, accountant, Financial Reporting
Betty Jane Dorau, clerical assistant, Dining Services Administration
Edward Michael Dzialowski, associate professor, Biology
Shane Ray Jester, computer systems manager, Computing and Information Technology Center
Chang E. Koh, associate professor, Information Technology and Decision Sciences
David A. McEntire, academic associate dean, College of Public Affairs and Community Service
Craig Allen Simons, police officer, Police, Parking and Transportation
Bredger Dee Thomason, police corporal, Police, Parking and Transportation
Jaime L. Thomson, program/project specialist, Chancellor
Ed L. Turney, associate director of financial aid, Financial Aid
La Nita F. Valade, ESSC service coordinator, Registrar

Five years of service
Avonna Ruth Davis, administrative assistant, Advancement
Travis J. Davis, child development lab master teacher, Child Development Lab
Delfina Espinoza, custodian, Facilities and Construction
Scott Elliott Kangas, associate director of parking services, Police, Parking and Transportation
Griselda Margarita Montemayor-Rivera, custodian, Facilities and Construction
Guadalupe Valdes, facilities technician, Housing Maintenance

It’s summer in Texas, when temperatures climb and we naturally think about lovely beaches. A cooling swim. Or football. (It's Texas; we always think about football.)  How can you enjoy water, sand and football together?

A. Buy a raffle ticket.
B. Visit Padre Island.
C. Watch ESPN Classics.
D. Play beach volleyball.

The correct answer is A. Buy a $25 raffle ticket from the Mean Green Club. You could forget the heat while you think about spending a week in Kona, on the Big Island of Hawaii, where the average temperature is about 80 degrees and Pacific Ocean breezes waft through palm trees. But even if you don’t win, you’ll be supporting student-athletes, since proceeds from the raffle go to scholarships.

The Mean Green Club, which raises funds to support scholarships and facilities, is raffling two airplane tickets and a week-long hotel stay to be used by Feb. 28, 2010. Buy a raffle ticket (if you are age 21 or older), then plan to attend the Oct. 17 Homecoming football game when the trip winner will be announced at halftime. You don’t have to be present to win the raffle, but InHouse knows you’ll be there to cheer the Mean Green to a victory versus Florida Atlantic University.

• Buy a raffle ticket to support scholarships.
• Buy Mean Green football tickets.
• Learn about Mean Green athletes and sports.

Enter to win a UNT T-shirt gift pack by sending an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu with "Kona" in the subject line by 5 p.m. July 10. Winners will be selected at random from all responses.

(Photo, Kona beach, courtesy of Hawaii Hotels.)

Congratulations to this week’s randomly selected winners who responded to the June 17 InHouse prize giveaways.

• Jan Banks, administrative services officer, Department of Radio, Television and Film
• Ellie O'Neill, secretary, Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion & Recreation
• Beth Terry, accountant, Purchasing and Payment Services
• Julie Howell, secretarial assistant, College of Business
• Shannon Lehmer, student assistant, Chestnut Hall
• Jessica Phillips, preservation librarian, UNT Libraries

Within 30 seconds of sending the e-mail newsletter, more than 100 people respond to opportunities to win prizes. Additional entries arrive throughout the week. We’re glad you are reading.

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 e-mailed 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.

The summer publishing schedule is July 1, 15 and 29. Weekly publishing resumes Aug. 12. 

Geoffrey Wawro, holds the Major General Olinto Mark Barsanti Chair in Military History and is director of the Military History Center. He has opinions about United States military efforts in the Middle East, spends time with his two sons and roots for the New England Patriots.

What is your title and department?
Major General Olinto Mark Barsanti Chair in Military History and director of the Military History Center.

How long have you worked at UNT?
Since Fall 2005.

What is your educational background and past experiences?
I received my master of arts, master of philosophy and doctorate in modern European history at Yale University. I earned my bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Brown University. I was a Fulbright Scholar in Austria from 1989-91, and was visiting professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College from 1996-98. Before joining the Naval War College's Center for Naval Warfare Studies in 2000, I was assistant and associate professor of history at Oakland University in Michigan. I am the author of four books, and speak German, French, Spanish and Italian. I have hosted many History Channel programs including Hardcover History, History's Business, History versus Hollywood, Global View, History in Focus and Hard Target. Photo, Wawro on the set of the History Channel.

What are your thoughts on President Obama’s timetable for leaving Iraq in 2010 or 2011?
It’s time to leave Iraq. It can only be hoped that the Iraqis can forge a cohesive state in the absence of Saddam and his sons.

What are your thoughts on sending more troops to Afghanistan?
It’s an understandable impulse, but hard to see what the desired end state is. It appears that we have given up on Bush’s naïve “Freedom Agenda,” but it seems equally naïve to negotiate with the Taliban. Obama is not naïve, so he must be counting on splitting the Taliban and its allies apart. He is also obviously trying to talk the Pakistanis into closer cooperation with us. Even if he succeeds, Pakistan will remain a simmering volcano and Afghanistan will continue as a terrorist haven with high corruption, smuggling and drug running. We should focus on locating and killing terrorists, and drying up their funds and networks. Bush’s credulous nation building has been an almighty flop that has weakened our military and driven us deeper into debt.

Construction and UNT officials toured the Life Sciences building adjacent to the Biology building. The facility, which will include expanded research and classroom space, is scheduled to open for the fall semester 2010. Below, from left, Project manager Rick Yoder of Byrne construction; Warren Burggren, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; President Gretchen M. Bataille; Robert Sweeney, Perkins+Will design firm; and Lilia Gonzales, project architect, UNT System. (Photos by Jonathan Reynolds)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The third annual Texas Governor's School brought more than 100 academically gifted students to campus June 7-27 to study science and technology. Left, Guido Verbeck, assistant professor of chemistry. The free school is for students who have completed 11th grade and is funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and Exxon Mobil. (Photos by Jonathan Reynolds)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Temperatures in North Texas are expected to reach 100 degrees this week, reaching that mark a few days earlier than usual. Weather service records show that the first 100 degree day of summer usually dawns on July 1. Texas’s earliest first triple digit day was March 9, 1911.

The hot temperatures can put people and pets at risk of heat-related illness, says Luis Tapia, emergency management planning coordinator. Heat-related illnesses, usually known as heat stroke, occur when the human body is unable to cool itself to a normal body temperature. Sweating usually keeps us cool, but sweating may not be enough, particularly when temperatures are above 100 degrees.

• Find tips for managing heat and health from the Centers for Disease Control. 
• Find a forecast for North Texas from the National Weather Service. 
 
 Here are ways to keep cool and avoid heat-related danger:

• Stay indoors in an air-conditioned location.
• Drink water and drinks with a low sugar content, even if you do not feel thirsty. If you have medical restrictions regarding fluids, ask your doctor for guidance. Avoid alcoholic beverages and caffeine which cause the body to lose more water.
• Do not leave children or pets in a closed, parked vehicle.
• Wear light, loose-fitting clothes.
• Do not bundle babies in blankets or heavy clothing.
• Regularly check on the elderly or the ill.
• Move your exercise regime indoors or skip it until the temperature drops.
• Take frequent breaks when working outside, or avoid outdoor activity.
• Eat frequent, light meals.
• Protect yourself from the sun by using sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher.
• Wear a hat or use an umbrella when outdoors.

Dear UNT community members,

Now that the 81st Legislative session has ended, I want to update you on its important outcomes so you have a clear picture of our future.

As you likely know, we started the session with cautious optimism, knowing we had positioned ourselves to gain ground and to get ahead, but mindful of the economic realities facing our state and nation.

I’m pleased to tell you that, given the economic uncertainty, UNT fared well during this session and we are poised for continued progress. Overall, UNT should receive a $3.16 million increase in state funding for each of the next two years as well as one-time incentive funds that will help us continue enhancing our programs and progressing in research, scholarship and creativity.

We also are poised to receive enough funds to allow for faculty and staff merit raises in 2009-10. We are keeping this a priority even as we exercise fiscal caution during these constrained times because we know it’s important to reward our employees for their excellence and hard work.

With our additional state funds and projected increases through enrollment growth, we also will be able to fund more scholarships; carve out more dollars in both need-based and merit-based student aid; increase graduate student support; foster more research and creative endeavors for our faculty; and hire additional faculty and staff to accommodate our expanding needs as a modern institution.

I am particularly encouraged by the Texas Legislature’s foresight in establishing a pathway for emerging research universities like UNT to enter the top echelon. During this session, legislators approved a bill creating a program that provides a framework for establishing more national research universities. The program creates incentives by matching the funds we raise to support research. You may know that I worked with my peers at UTD and UTA to champion this cause and I am excited to see that because of this new program, UNT will be rewarded for progress as we continue our march toward top-tier status. Right, Gov. Rick Perry signed HB51, which established competitive funding for research efforts.

Michael Monticino, left, has been named dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies effective July 1. Monticino had been serving as interim dean since Jan. 1.

“Graduate studies at UNT continue to expand and Dr. Monticino has done an outstanding job leading that growth,” says Wendy K. Wilkins, provost and vice president for academic affairs, in announcing the appointment. “UNT’s increasing focus on the goals and range of its graduate research programs will benefit greatly from Dr. Monticino’s expertise in both the academic and the corporate world.”

“UNT is an emerging national research university and the graduate school has an important leadership role in helping the university achieve its goals. It is exciting to be at UNT at this time in its history,” says Monticino.

Prior to leading the Toulouse School, Monticino was associate dean for administrative affairs in the College of Arts and Sciences and professor in the Department of Mathematics and the Institute for Applied Science. He joined the UNT faculty in 1990, and he was appointed associate dean in 2004. He also is an adjunct professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth.

UNT Mail Services, a unit of the Division of University Relations, Communications and Marketing, will begin delivery of USPS mail to university departments beginning July 1. This service will be provided to departments at no charge.

Departmental mail received by the University Union’s Eagle Express Mail Center, left, will be sorted into departmental mail boxes and then collected by UNT Mail Services for delivery to university departments. All university departments must continue to maintain their mail boxes in the University Union. This service is made possible though a collaboration of UNT Mail Services and Eagle Express Mail Center.

All USPS mail received on campus by 1 p.m. on weekdays will be delivered to the departments by 5 p.m. the same day. This service includes delivery of all mail typically available for pickup from boxes in the University Union (First Class, periodicals, etc.), including notifications of accountable mail requiring signatures (certified, express, priority, and insured mail, and FedEx, UPS, etc.). Mail requiring a signature, will have to be picked up by a departmental representative at the Eagle Express Mail Center, as usual. UNT Mail Services is unable to pick up and deliver personal mail.

UNT Mail Services will continue to pick up and deliver intercampus mail to university departments two times per day – morning and mid-afternoon. In an improvement of intercampus mail services, departments located at Discovery Park and Mean Green Village will begin receiving intercampus mail twice daily on July 1.

Contact Glenda Riley at 940-565-2286 with questions.

A new high-powered computing facility will provide a 10-fold increase in the university’s computational power and will be among the premier facilities of its kind in the country. Once built, the new $2.2 million centralized high-performance facility will provide scientists and researchers with tools to perform invaluable research in fields ranging from aeronautics to carbon sequestration.

“This is a huge step forward for the university,” says Vish Prasad, right, vice president for research and economic development. “This facility will position UNT to compete for the biggest and most competitive grants. Only a handful of universities nationwide have this sort of computational power.”

The computing facility is being purchased mostly with state incentive funds for UNT’s success with the Closing the Gaps initiative and some internal funds. It will be installed this summer and should be operational during the fall semester, says Maurice Leatherbury, associate vice president for computing and chief technology officer.

UNT purchased the computing facility from Dell.

The new facility will not only support the endeavors of current faculty, but also serve as a recruitment tool as UNT hires recognized experts in fields ranging from plant science to nanotechnology as part of the $25 million commitment it made last year to collaborative research.

“I can’t even begin to describe how exciting this is,” says Angela Wilson, left, professor of chemistry who served on a committee that evaluated computing needs on campus. “UNT will become an even bigger player in the university research scene. This opens up so many doors for our faculty and researchers.”

Work across campus will benefit from the upgrade.
• Researchers in the Institute for Science and Engineering Simulation use computers to model what causes jet engine failure and to evaluate materials at the molecular level to design more robust airplane parts for the U.S. Air Force.
• Researchers in the Center for Computational Epidemiology and Response Analysis use computers to predict how infectious diseases, such as influenza and Tuberculosis, spread across a given population on a given day.
• Faculty in the Center for Advanced Scientific and Computational Modeling (CASCaM) simulate what happens when carbon dioxide is injected underground to determine if storing greenhouse gases in the Earth is a safe and viable solution to fight global warming.
• Faculty in the Texas Center for Digital Knowledge rely on computational power to enhance the creation, storage, organization, retrieval, use and evaluation of information in a variety of digital formats from social media to historical newspapers.

Starting this fall, UNT will replace Sodexho, the on-campus retail food service provider, with a new, self-operated model for food service. Sodexho has managed the retail dining services for the university since May of 2004. In fall of 2008, consultants recommended that the university move to single, integrated management in the food service program.

Tom Rufer, director of the University Union, is negotiating the transfer of licenses of national brands, such as Chick-fil-a, from Sodexho to the university. “This move is not brought about due to our dissatisfaction with Sodexo. We have been very happy with them as a partner and provider,” says Rufer. Vendors such as Jazzman’s, a Sodexo proprietary brand, now will be managed by university operations. “In most cases the food offerings will be basically the same,” Rufer says. “But, there will be a new name and look to those operations.”

Bill McNeace, right, a 25-year veteran of the food service industry, has been named executive director of university dining services. McNeace, who joined UNT on June 1, will be responsible for leadership and operational management for the five university cafeterias and various other retail dining outlets on campus as well as extensive campus-wide catering.

The main goals of the management change are to increase efficiency, as well as flexibility in food service delivery, and the ability to support more meal plan options. Rufer says, “Under university management, we will be able to better utilize our resources and eliminate any duplication of efforts. We will be more aligned with our institutional mission and priorities.”

Congratulations to the randomly selected winners who responded to the June 3 InHouse prize giveaways.

• Mark Coomes, Facilities 
• Patricia Strader, secretarial assistant, University Union, Administration
• Hanish Sharma, programmer/analyst, Computing Information and Technology Center

Within 30 seconds of sending the e-mail newsletter, more than 100 people respond to opportunities to win prizes. Additional entries arrive throughout the week. We’re glad you are reading.

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 e-mailed 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.

The summer publishing schedule is June 17, July 1, 15 and 29. Weekly publishing begins Aug. 12. InHouse is published every other week during summer.

For the second consecutive year the Mean Green has been crowned national champions of the annual Gender Equity Scorecard released by Penn State York.

The Gender Equity Scorecard is an evaluation of 115 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) colleges on their commitment to gender equity in intercollegiate athletics for the academic-athletic year of 2006-2007. The colleges were scored, graded and ranked according to the criteria of participation, scholarships, operating expenses, recruitment budgets and coaches’ salaries.

This is also the third straight year UNT has topped the Sun Belt Conference on the scorecard. UNT is the only school in the league to receive an A+.

The second highest ranked Texas school was Texas A&M which finished in 13th place. Second place in the Sun Belt was Florida Atlantic at 11th

Over the past five years, UNT has added new facilities to accommodate soccer, volleyball, softball, tennis, golf, and swimming and diving. Volleyball action, left, from 2007. 

Certain explosive devices can cut through armor used by the U.S. military, leaving soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan vulnerable.

Jeff Helstad, left, a senior engineering student, hopes to dedicate his career to developing protective materials that could prevent Explosively Formed Projectiles, or EFPs in military speak, from penetrating armor. He recently won a prestigious scholarship from the Department of Defense that will pay for his studies and provide a job at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Helstad has a vested interest in finding alternative materials. After graduation, he will head to Iraq or Afghanistan as a member of the National Guard.

The Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation scholarship comes with a $25,000 stipend per year for two years. The scholarship is provided by the Naval Postgraduate School and the American Society of Engineering Education.

Helstad will work with UNT’s Institute for Science and Engineering Simulation, or ISES, which works with the U.S. Air Force to extend the life of its aging aircraft fleet and to develop better materials for the next generation of aircraft.

A team of UNT athletes finished second in recent national competition. The duo used brains, brawn, patience and knowledge of the natural world in a hard fought match in Lewisville. What is their sport?

A. Hang gliding
B. Bass fishing
C. Canoeing
D. Archery

The correct answer is B: Bass fishing. Brandon Dickenson, left,  and Austin Hollowell finished second to a team from Kentucky’s Murray State University in the Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship at Lake Lewisville May 29-30. The UNT students caught a two-day total of 35.36 pounds of the game fish. Murray State’s total was 36.16 pounds.

The fishing competition was sponsored by BoatU.S. boating and marine sports organization, the Collegiate Bass Anglers Association and numerous sponsors. Seventy teams from 140 colleges participated.

Enter to win a UNT T-shirt gift pack by sending an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu with “Fish” in the subject line by 5 p.m. June 19. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mail responses.

Hollowell, a marketing major from Joshua, and Dickenson, a Flower Mound resident who received a bachelor’s degree in business in May, are members of the UNT bass fishing club. The group was formed last year and has about 20 members who regularly fish for feisty bass, earn points and enter tournaments. Tournaments usually begin at dawn; participants fish for a pre-determined length of time, then weigh their five largest catches.

The team received prizes of fishing gear, promotional items and some scholarship funds.

Everything about bass fishing is challenging, say the UNT anglers, who have been fishing since childhood. Bass are picky eaters, until a skilled angler uses live bait or those attractive, feathery lures. Right, large mouth bass, or Micropterus salmoides.

• Find news reports from NBCi and WFAA.
• Find a list of tournament participants.

(Photos courtesy of the Association of Collegiate Anglers and the University of Michigan.)

Jack Sprague, professor in the College of Visual Arts and Design, recently retired after almost 20 years at UNT. Sprague’s May 16 retirement party included a silent auction to establish the Jack Sprague Communication Design Scholarship Fund. He'll continue his career at  his New Mexico creative think tank, Smart Center Santa Fe.

What is your title and department?
I am a professor of communication design in the College of Visual Arts and Design.

How long have you worked at UNT?
I have been teaching at UNT since the fall semester 1989 and was the coordinator of the communication design program until 2006.

What is your educational background and past experience?
My master’s degree from Florida State University is in communication design and design education. I came to Dallas in 1979 to become the communication design director of the Art Institute of Dallas where I worked until 1987. I went back into the advertising and design industry, worked as an art director and creative director and have my own freelance design and consulting firm in Dallas. In 1989 while living in Berlin Germany, I was contacted about applying for a tenure track position in UNT’s communication design program and began in 1989-90.

Describe your areas of research and/or study.
My primary area of research and focus is the design process which deals with discovering and developing unique, innovative methodologies for solving creative visual and verbal communications problems for clients from corporations to organizations to individuals. A great deal of my work and focus in teaching is developing an understanding of how the meanings of signs, symbols and words can be used effectively in visual communications.

An exhibit of early Texas art, selections from the collection of A.C. Cook, a former airline pilot and pawn shop operator, are on display at the Art Building, Art Gallery through June 20. Cook discussed his collection, which hangs in his store, The Bull Ring, an ice cream and beer parlor in the Fort Worth Stockyards. (Photos by Jonathan Reynolds)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Editor's Note: President Gretchen M. Bataille sent this message of condolence to Jay Allison, chair of the Department of Communication Studies. John S. Gossett, associate professor of communications studies, died June 7. A memorial service will be at 6:30 p.m. June 15  at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Denton.)

On behalf of the UNT community, I extend our condolences on the loss of Dr. John S. Gossett, a valued member of the UNT family and longtime associate professor of your department. Please know that you and each member of the department have our deepest sympathy and please extend my condolences to the Communication Studies family.

Dr. Gossett will always be remembered as Mr. North Texas. His dedication to the faculty, staff, and students during his nearly 30-year tenure with UNT is inspiring. Dr. Gossett wore many hats in addition to professor, including serving as the longtime chair of the communication studies department and most recently serving as undergraduate advisor. But his love for teaching and for his students remained his ultimate passion. Students rewarded him for that dedication by presenting him with the ‘Fessor Graham award and naming him as the first recipient of the Joe G. Stewart Distinguished Service to Students award.

Dr. Gossett will perhaps be best remembered for his love of debate, which first brought him to UNT in 1981 as director of debate and which brought him and the debate teams many distinctions.

Dr. Gossett’s devotion to students, combined with his ability to imbue learning with hands-on experience, made him a much-loved and much-admired professor. He will be remembered fondly by his entire UNT family.

Please share my condolences with your department family and be assured that your department and faculty members will remain in our thoughts.

Respectfully,
Gretchen M. Bataille
President

June 9, 2009

I regret to inform you that this morning, Aaron Wuensch, 25, a graduate student in economics, died at Denton Presbyterian Hospital after suffering cardiac arrest while working out in the Norval F. Pohl Recreation Center.

Rec Center staff members, who are CPR and first-aid certified, responded to Aaron’s aid immediately and called 911. Denton Fire and EMT personnel responded and immediately transported Aaron to the hospital.

When facing such tragedies, it is important to know that help is available. The university offers free, confidential counseling services for students, faculty and staff. In addition, Goolsby Chapel is open for quiet reflection. Please make use of these services. Members of the university community must support one another in times of need.

In sorrow,
Wendy K. Wilkins,
Provost and vice president for academic affairs

For your information:
Counseling for students is available through our Counseling and Testing Center, located in Chestnut Hall, 940-565-2741.

Counseling for faculty and staff is available through the Employee Assistance Program, 800-343-3822.

The Goolsby Chapel, located in Crumley Park, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through this week and by appointment beyond those times.

Bioactive glasses can help restore and repair bones, act as coatings for knee and hip replacements and assist in drug delivery. But researchers still don’t know much about the complex structure of the materials, which limits their potential.

Jincheng Du, left, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, will conduct a three-year project to further our understanding of bioactive glasses, which is a group of biocompatible, surface reactive glass-ceramics developed in the late 1960s. The research is funded by a $220,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.

The work could help scientists develop better designs of the glasses, discover new applications and improve the quality of life for millions of people. Bioactive glasses are able to bond to bone and soft tissue, which makes them invaluable to bone growth and development.

“We have an aging population and increasing number of patients that need bone restoration and treatment due to disease or trauma,” Du says. “Success of the project will lead to a more rational design of bioactive glasses for various applications.” 

Du will use computational simulations combined with neutron and X-ray diffraction to characterize the structure of glasses. He also will study how bioactive glasses dissolve in fluids, which could help scientists know how to best use them in gradual drug delivery.

Du will synthesize and characterize the materials using facilities at UNT’s Center for Advanced Research and Technology, a federally funded collection of high-powered microscopes and other imaging equipment used for characterizing materials.

Neutron and high energy X-ray diffraction studies for the project will be carried out at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.

Graduate and undergraduate students will work with Du on the project, which begins this summer.

The United States burns more than a billion tons of coal each year, with each person in the U.S. consuming an average of 20 pounds of coal every day to keep electricity flowing. But U.S. dependence on coal, which generates far more energy than any other source, has led to environmental problems.

One Book, One Community, a reading and discussion program, begins Aug. 26 with faculty members leading discussion groups about Jeff Goodell’s Big Coal: The Dirty Secret behind America’s Energy Future, the selected book for 2009-10. Freshmen will receive copies at summer orientation. Goodell will speak on campus Oct. 6.

The One Book, One Community Steering Committee encourages administrators, faculty and staff members from academic units to plan lectures, projects, films and other activities that focus on energy and the environment as part of One Book, One Community, says David Holdeman, left, committee chair and chair of the Department of English.

Holdeman says the intent of encouraging freshmen to read and discuss Big Coal is to launch larger discussions and study about environmental issues.“We don’t want discussion to be limited to the sciences. There are cultural ramifications and political, philosophical and economic implications associated with energy,” he says.

Holdeman says administrators, faculty and staff members who need assistance planning programs may contact him at holdeman@unt.edu or at 565-2050, or David Schwarz, associate professor of music and special assistant to the provost, at dschwarz@unt.edu or 369-7299.

• Find a readers’ guide.
• Find a PBS Frontline interview.
• Volunteer to lead a discussion group.

Bernardo Illari, associate professor of music, left, and Malena Kuss, right, emeritus professor of music, have been named two of the most important musicologists of the 1999-2008 decade by the Konex Foundation, which recognizes the work of Argentines in culture and the arts.

Illari and Kuss are two of six Argentine musicologists who will receive this award, which is being granted in the classical music category. The awards will be presented at a Sept. 10 ceremony in Buenos Aires.

The Konex Awards, instituted in 1980, are awarded annually to recognize distinguished persons and institutions in the various fields, including classical music.