UNT is one of only seven universities in the nation to receive a research grant to explore student access to higher education, and ways universities help students to be more successful in college. The grant is from the University of Southern California's Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice, which serves as the nation's hub for enrollment management issues and research.

Troy Johnson, left, associate vice president for enrollment management, says when it comes to student access and success strategies, most people have clear opinions. This study will look for clearer evidence of what works, what matters and what doesn't.

"This research will study three similar types of low-income student academic success programs at three major universities: University of Florida, University of North Carolina and UNT. The focus will be on factors that contribute to understanding timely graduation of low-income students," Johnson says.

Sarah Collins, associate director of enrollment management, says, "The Carolina Covenant at UNC-Chapel Hill, Florida Opportunity Scholars Program at University of Florida and the Emerald Eagle Scholars Program at UNT are three robust institutional programs providing access and support to students from low-income backgrounds.”

UNT began the Emerald Eagle Scholar program for academically talented students with high financial need in Fall 2007. New freshmen receive tuition and fees for eight semesters as long as they enroll for 15 hours per semester and maintain a certain grade point average. About 400 students joined the inaugural class of Emerald Eagle Scholars.

"It is important for major universities like UNT to study these issues because the success and timely graduation of low-income students is tied to our future success of higher education," Johnson says.

Among the other institutions receiving grants are UCLA, the University of Michigan, and the University of Georgia.

 The UNT community honored students, faculty, staff and alumni who passed away in the past year at the annual Flight Memorial ceremony April 23 at Shrader Pavilion. The McConnell Tower bell tolled four times in remembrance of about 500 students, faculty, staff and alumni. From left: Air Force ROTC color guard, President Gretchen M. Bataille and friends and family at the ceremony. (Photos by Li Fan)

On May 4, 2007, the small town of Greensburg, Kan., was devastated by a powerful tornado, which produced wind speeds of more than 200 miles per hour. The tornado, estimated to be 1.7 miles in width, destroyed 95 percent of the city and killed 11 people.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A group of current and former computer science and engineering students will be in Budapest May 2 as the only United States team to qualify for the "Challenge 24" programming competition.

The "Texas Codeboys" - current students John Rizzo and Michael Mohler and alumnus Jack Lindamood - first qualified for the 2006 competition, and finished 14th out of the top 30 teams. Last year, the team finished 19th.

In the qualification round, the Codeboys finished fourth, behind two teams from Poland and one from the Netherlands. The next American team to compete, from Johns Hopkins University, finished 123rd and did not qualify for further competition.

As in 2006 and 2007, the "Codeboys" are the only American team competing in the "Challenge 24" contest. In fact, they are the only team from the United States to ever qualify for the contest in its eight-year history.

The Codeboys are preparing for this years competition with assistance from their coach and mentor David Keathly, a lecturer in the Computer Science and Engineering Department, and Ryan Garlick, visiting assistant professor of computer science and engineering.

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

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

The National Science Foundation has awarded CAREER awards - its most prestigious awards for young investigators - to Pamela Padilla, right, assistant professor of biology, and Rada Mihalcea, left, assistant professor of computer science and engineering. Padilla's award is for about $639,000 and Mihalcea's award is about $500,000; both are for five years.

The CAREER award program supports early career development activities of teacher-scholars who effectively integrate research and education within the context of the mission of their organization.

Padilla's research looks at genetic modifications that occur in the soil nematode C. elegans. The millimeter-long roundworm has served as a genetic model system for humans since the 1970's and was the first multicellular organism with a genome that was completely sequenced. Padilla was one of the first researchers to use C. elegans as a model system to understand severe oxygen deprivation.

Mihalcea's NSF CAREER award will support research in the semantic interpretation of text for language-processing applications. The applications use dictionaries or thesauruses to understand the meanings of words, but distinctions in those meanings can differ from one resource to another.

Padilla and Mihalcea join Angela Wilson and Mohammad Omary, associate professors of chemistry, as winners of the NSF CAREER awards. Padilla also is the first UNT faculty member to simultaneously hold a National Institutes of Health R01 grant and an NSF grant.

See the Extended Entry to learn more about Padilla’s and Mihalcea’s work.

Commemorative stamps, the first to be priced at 42 cents, debuted April 22. The stamps feature five American journalists. One of the five was not famous as a war correspondent and one was born in Fort Worth. Who are they?

A. John Hersey
B. Martha Gellhorn
C. Ruben Salazar
D. George Polk
E. Eric Sevareid

The correct answer is C and D. Ruben Salazar worked as a reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times from 1959 to 1970. He was also news director for Spanish language television in Los Angeles. George Polk grew up in Fort Worth and was killed covering civil war in 1948 in Greece.

The other four featured journalists made a name for themselves as war correspondents, primarily during World War II.

To win a UNT T-shirt gift pack, send an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu with "Stamps" in the subject line by 5 p.m. May 9. The winner will be randomly selected from all e-mail responses. And, don't forget: postage rates will increase as of May 12. You'll need a journalist stamp - or a combination of stamps worth 42 cents - to send a first class letter.

Salazar was killed by an officer of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department on April 29, 1970 during the National Chicano Moratorium March organized to protest the disproportionate number of Chicanos killed in the Vietnam War. At the end of the march, the sheriff’s department used tear gas to break up a rally. During the resulting riot, Salazar was shot in the head at close range with a tear gas projectile. The coroner ruled the shooting a homicide, but no one was prosecuted.

Many believed Salazar's death was intended to silence a vocal member of the Los Angeles Chicano community. His death became a national controversy with the April 29, 1971 publication of  "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson in Rolling Stone magazine (Vol. 81) .

The site of the 1970 rally, Laguna Park, was renamed Salazar Park; buildings at Sonoma State and California State universities are named for him and he was posthumously awarded a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award.

Polk, born in 1913 in Fort Worth, was a CBS journalist who disappeared in Greece and was found dead May 16, 1948, shot at point-blank range in the back of the head and with hands and feet tied. Polk was covering the civil war in Greece and his reporting had been critical of both the Greek government and Communist insurgents.

After Polk's death, colleagues established the George Polk Awards, which honor outstanding reporting and are administered by Long Island University. Leila Fadel, Baghdad bureau chief for McClatchy Newspapers, owner of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, received this year's George Polk Award for Foreign Reporting.

(Stamps courtesy of USPS. Ruben Salazar image from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429), Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.)

Thirteen alumni and supporters of the university were honored at the 2008 Annual Alumni Awards Dinner, a tradition that recognizes the outstanding achievement, service and support of UNT’s alumni and friends. Recipients are:

Distinguished Alumnus/Alumna Award: Bill A. Nugent, James A. Pawelczyk, Mary K. Suhm. This is UNT’s most prestigious alumni award and is given to individuals who have achieved prominence in their profession.

• Nugent received a doctoral degree in musicology in 1970 and is former chancellor of the University of Arkansas. He has also been a guest conductor for numerous symphony orchestras, including the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.
• Pawelczyk, physiologist at the Noll Physiological Research Center of Pennsylvania State University, received a doctorate in biology in 1989. He was named by NASA as one of two payload specialists to fly aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1998.
• Suhm earned master’s degrees in library science and business administration. She is now city manager of Dallas and was named Woman of the Year by the Women’s Council of Dallas County in 2006.

Green Glory Award: Joyce E. Duesman. This is presented to individuals (not necessarily alumni) whose assistance has enabled the university to provide a margin of excellence.

• Duesman graduated magna cum laude in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in food science. She is senior manager of industry relations at PepsiCo, Inc. and has been chair of the Board of Governors of the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management. 

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

• Carol Lu – Payroll - a UNT T-shirt gift pack
• Gail Marsden, administrative assistanat, Printing Services – a UNT T-shirt gift pack
• Christina Herrera, clerical assistant, Crumley Hall - a pair of tickets to the Symphonic Band concert

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

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

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

The Division of Finance and Administration will host a Town Hall meeting for staff to ask questions and discuss current initiatives in Human Resources and the Center for Information Technology and Computing.

Representatives from each department will present information and answer questions. Meetings will be scheduled quarterly; the first meeting will be:

• 8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m.
• April 24
• University Union, Silver Eagle Suite A

Continental breakfast will be available. No RSVP is required.

The goals of the this first forum are to:
• provide an overview of Human Resources initiatives - 30 minutes
• provide an overview of major CITC projects for the upcoming year - 30 minutes
• allow questions and obtain feedback about how Finance and Administration can improve services.

“We want staff to ask about any activity involving these important areas,” says Andrew Harris, left, vice president for finance and administration. “UNT is a large and changing organization with lots of new initiatives in the works. We want to be sure our staff has an opportunity to learn about what is planned and why things are done.”

Future quarterly Town Hall sessions will include the following departments:
• University Police and Facilities
• Purchasing and Payment, Payroll and Budget
• Risk Management, Internal Audit and Treasury

The next Town Hall will be scheduled in summer.

UNT Printing Services recently earned three gold awards from the national In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association.

The awards are for work completed in 2007, says Jimmy Friend, director of UNT printing and mailing services. The department also received three gold awards for work in 2006. Awards are based on design and quality of production.

Awards were:

• Gold: Mean Green stationary for Athletics; note cards for Mean Green basketball note card), and labels for College of Education North Texas Early College High School Initiative
• Silver: Poster for recruiting resident assistants and ambassadors for Housing, Call Numbers newsletter for the School of Library and Information Services
• Bronze: College of Arts and Sciences The 3 Penny Opera Invitation.

All were produced using digital technology; non-offset; with the exception of Call Numbers Newsletter, which was a combination of digital and off-set, says Friend.

The University of Oklahoma was the top winner, earning 11 gold awards.

The IPMA is an organization for university and corporate publishing and distribution services. The association provides services to in-house professionals and staff that provide graphic design, page layout, copy, print, mail and distribution services to organizations. 

Kuntal Cholera, a senior economics major from Clear Lake, placed 12th in the top 20 speakers,  chosen from 148 students, at this year's National Debate Tournament. Cholera was the highest ranked student from a Texas college or university.

"His speaker award means that he will always be remembered as we have known him at North Texas - among the best debaters in the nation," says Brian Lain, left, assistant professor of communications studies and debate coach.

Founded in 1947 as a national championship tournament for college debate, the National Debate Tournament is open to 74 two-student teams. This year's National Debate Tournament was held at California State University in Fullerton.

Cholera and his debate partner John Elson, a sophomore political science major from Round Rock, qualified for the National Debate Tournament last month after they finished third at the District III Qualifying Tournament. District III includes debate programs at colleges in universities in Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas.

Cholera and Elson achieved four wins at the National Debate Tournament, which was won by a team from Wake Forest University. It was their second consecutive year competing at the tournament as partners. Cholera also qualified for 2006 National Debate Tournament with another partner.

Kyle Holmes, left, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science class of 1995 and an estimating manager for Brandt Engineering Co., will receive the academy’s first Distinguished Alumnus Award at May 9 commencement.

As a result of graduating from TAMS, Holmes received a full scholarship to attend Oklahoma State University’s College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology. In 2002 — seven years after graduating from TAMS — he was overseeing the installation of air conditioning and heating units and plumbing at the Pohl Recreation Center.

Holmes, 31, will receive the program’s first Distinguished Alumni Award from TAMS during the academy’s annual commencement ceremony at 7 p.m. May 9 in the Auditorium Building. Contact TAMS dean’s office at 940-565-3606.

Before his 30th birthday, Holmes had directed the installation of plumbing, piping and mechanical systems on six construction projects costing a total of almost $200 million — including the recreation center

Holmes attended Coppell High School before entering the academy in August 1993. He says the science courses he took at TAMS and his work in a chemistry laboratory with a UNT professor helped him decide on a career in engineering.

“The most valuable thing I learned was that I’m too animated for laboratory work,” he says. “I think it’s great if you’re 16 years old and know exactly what you want to do when you graduate from college, but I also think it’s great that TAMS gives you two years to explore.”

After earning a degree in chemical engineering from OSU, Holmes worked briefly for TPA Inc., in Dallas, designing and developing specialty plants for the petrochemical industry. He joined Brandt in 1999 as a project engineer and project manager.

Holmes is on the TAMS Admissions Selection Committee, and also assists the academy by speaking.

The speakers for this year’s commencement ceremony are two graduating students: Mason Fitch of Beeville and Amina Igeh of Flower Mound.

Visitors from around the world attend the April 26-28 biennial Misiones de Chiquitos festival in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. UNT has a special connection to the 2008 event, which celebrates the arrival of and work by Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s. What UNT organization will travel to Bolivia?

A. The women’s soccer team
B. The Baroque Ensemble
C. A delegation from the Department of Philosophy and Religion
D. A group of Emerald Eagle scholars

The correct answer is B: The UNT Baroque Ensemble will perform at the April 26-28 biennial international Misiones de Chiquitos festival as the only student-based group from the United States to appear since the festival began in 1996.

In years past, only four other U.S. groups have performed at the prestigious festival held in historic Jesuit missions in Bolivia. The UNT representatives will join one group and one soloist from the United States and other performers from around the world. UNT musicians also will perform at the Instituto Peruano Norteamericano May 2 in Cusco, Peru, where much of the music to be performed was composed in the 17th and 18th centuries.

"You have to submit a CD and be chosen to perform at this festival, and being the only student-oriented group from the U.S. to be chosen is quite an honor," says Lyle Nordstrom, left, professor of music and director of the early music program. "Attending this festival tells us that the early music program at UNT has risen to national and even international prominence." With more than 70 people performing in its early music program every semester, UNT is one of the largest North American programs for training Baroque musicians.

The festival honors the musical heritage of several churches founded in the 17th century by the Jesuits. A body of music was discovered during the restoration of these churches, now designated as official UNESCO world heritage sites by the United Nations.

At the festival, the singers and instrumentalists of the UNT Baroque Ensemble will perform music found in the lands of the Incas, now modern-day Peru and Bolivia, particularly the music heard in the churches and cathedral in Cusco. Bernardo Illari, right, a UNT musicologist and an expert in early Latin American music, has newly edited colonial music for the concert.

The 18-member UNT contingent includes College of Music faculty C. Keith Collins, Jennifer Lane, Lyle Nordstrom, Patricia Nordstrom and Cynthia Roberts. Instruments include the orbo, a lute-like string instrument; dulcian, an early bassoon; sackbut, an early trombone; Spanish cross-strung harp; viola da gamba; cornetto; recorder; harpsichord; baroque violins; and baroque cello.

Armonia Extravagante, an ensemble spotlighting UNT early music faculty members, will perform at the festival April 26. The ensemble will also perform May 2 in Cusco.

To win a CD of the UNT Baroque Ensemble, send an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu  with “Baroque” in the subject line. Winners are randomly selected from all e-mail respondents. 

On Feb. 8, 2008, the UNT System Board of Regents approved the university’s spending plan for Fiscal Year 2009 (Sept. 1, 2008 - Aug. 31, 2009), which included a 4 percent merit pool for eligible faculty and staff members. This information addresses merit raises for staff members only. The provost will issue separate information about faculty merit raises.

As we began to review how best to allocate the funds available for pay increases to staff, we focused on acknowledging that we are at the beginning of a Staff Classification and Compensation Study that will yield a program for future implementation and use. With the study just underway, we will focus on a way to ensure that classified staff receive an across the board salary increase in addition to being able to receive merit pay. All classified staff positions (salary grades C16 to C70) will automatically receive a 1 percent cost-of-living increase effective Sept. 1, 2008.

Following the cost-of-living increases for classified staff positions, an estimated $2.7 million will be available for staff merit raises. While this amount reflects an average of about 3.2 percent of existing salaries, each vice president will determine the amount available for distribution within individual departments. Individual merit increases may be greater or lesser than 3.2 percent. This pool of funds is for performance-based merit increases only and will not be used for promotion, market adjustment and/or job reclassification purposes. Merit raises awarded will be effective Sept. 1, 2008.

UNT’s revised budget calendar sets July 2008 for supervisors to make formal merit recommendations so that the full impact of each employee’s accomplishments and contributions in support of departmental and university goals may be taken into account in determining merit awards. A detailed calendar prescribing specific deadlines will be distributed along with merit provisions and forms.

Andrew Harris
Vice President for Finance and Administration

A life-size, bronze statue in honor of J. K.G. Silvey, left and below, professor from 1935 to 1977 and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences from 1952 to 1973, will be dedicated at 4 p.m. April 25 in front of the Environmental Education, Science and Technology building. Gayle Strange, chair of the UNT System Board of Regents and a former student of Silvey's, and members of the Silvey family are expected to be at the ceremony. A fish fry and tribute to Silvey will be held after the dedication ceremony.

David Iles, an alumnus who sculpted a series of Texas wildlife that decorate the grounds of the building area, sculpted the Silvey statue. It features the professor examining the contents of a beaker surrounded by a tackle box and microscope, water sampler and fishing net containing a large-mouth bass.

The Department of Biological Sciences, the Institute of Applied Science and the J. K.G. Silvey Society raised $40,000 to fund the statue. Contact Nissa Wilkins at 940-565-2048.

Silvey joined what was then known as North Texas State Teachers College as an assistant professor with a specialty in limnology, the study of freshwater conditions. His reddish hair and bow tie made him instantly recognizable. Silvey retired in 1977 as a distinguished professor emeritus. He died in December 1989.

In addition to his service to UNT, Silvey served as associate dean of basic sciences for what was then known as Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine from 1971 to 1975. He played a key role in the college becoming the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth, and received its Founders Award in 1989.

"'Doc' Silvey, as he was known, excelled as a teacher, researcher, administrator, motivator, mentor and friend. He was incomparable as an educator, did research for practically every water utility in this part of Texas, and helped to mentor scores of today’s medical professionals and environmental researchers," says Ken Dickson, retired biology faculty.

Silvey's accomplishments during his 42-year career include: 
 • Establishing a nationally and internationally recognized water research program;
• Founding the Center for Environmental Studies in 1970, which became the Institute of Applied Sciences in 1973;
• Serving as chair of the university’s pre-medical and pre-dental advisory committee, writing recommendations that led hundreds of alumni to gain entrance into medical and dental schools; and
• Becoming the holder of two patents for processes to improve the palatability of water.

Dickson said the biggest joy of Silvey's life was mentoring thousands of students, encouraging them with "wise counsel and kindness," to pursue careers in medicine, dentistry, biology, environmental science and teaching. Former students and colleagues established the J. K. G. Silvey Society in 1965 to recognize his exceptional contributions to their lives.

Dickson says, "'Doc' would often have fish fries when he took students into the field to do research, and this will be a fitting way to honor his legacy."

Silvey earned a bachelor's degree from Southern Methodist University, and both a master's degree and doctorate from the University of Michigan.

The experiences of a young woman who moves from rural Kentucky to a new life in Arizona will bring together students, staff and faculty members and Denton residents to discuss American identity and immigration during UNT’s inaugural One Book, One Community reading program.

One Book, One Community, co-sponsored by the city of Denton, is an annual year-long reading and discussion program focusing on a chosen theme and a book that reflects that theme. The 2008-09 program has a theme of American Identity in an Age of Immigration: Beyond the Melting Pot.

All incoming UNT freshmen will receive free copies of Barbara Kingsolver’s The Bean Trees at summer orientation. Kingsolver’s first novel focuses on community, economic injustice and cultural differences by relating the main character’s friendship with a family of Guatemalan immigrants and her care of a 3-year Cherokee child.

Discussion groups begin Aug. 20
Incoming freshmen will be encouraged to read the book during summer, then will discuss the book and issues surrounding American identity in small groups beginning Aug. 20, the week before the fall semester begins. The Bean Trees also will be a required textbook in freshman composition courses, says David Holdeman, chair of the One Book, One Community committee and chair of the Department of English.

“We’re hoping the book and discussion groups, and other activities with the theme of American identity, will give freshmen a more coherent and vibrant experience during their first year at UNT,” Holdeman says. “This is their first chance in college to pay sustained attention to an issue, and to learn how those in different disciplines approach an issue. We’re also hoping they will connect to each other and the faculty by reading the same book.”

He says the theme, which ties into the current debate on immigration reform in the United States, was chosen “in keeping with the ideas of diversity and international education that UNT wants to promote.” “The intent is to use the book as a springboard for larger discussion and study,” he says.

Although the book discussion groups are open only to freshmen, all UNT students, staff and faculty members and Denton citizens will be encouraged to read The Bean Trees before attending related events, Holdeman says. The UNT Bookstore will stock the book.

Faculty who want to lead discussion groups should contact Margaret Vestal, administrative services officer, Provost's Office. Discussion groups will include all types of readers: first year, students, staff, faculty, city leaders and community book clubs.

Departments, events to follow book’s theme
Campus events, which will be scheduled throughout the 2008-09 academic year, may include a political debate on immigration, film screenings, art exhibits and lectures. The College of Public Affairs and Community Service’s annual forum in September will have lectures with the theme, and the Department of English’s annual Visiting Writers Series also will bring writers who are immigrants or who write about immigrants, Holdeman says. 

UNT is the first large public university in Texas to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, a growing nationwide initiative of college and university presidents and chancellors dedicated to counteracting climate change by taking steps to make their campuses climate neutral.

By signing the agreement, President Gretchen M. Bataille is committing the university to completing an emissions inventory, setting a target date and interim milestones for becoming climate neutral, taking immediate steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by choosing from a list of short-term actions, integrating sustainability into the curriculum and making it part of the educational experience, and making the action plan, inventory and progress reports publicly available.

“Signing this commitment further demonstrates the University of North Texas’ focus on being a green campus - something that has long been part of the UNT tradition. It also supports the array of sustainability efforts we already are undertaking and provides a path for our future green commitment plans,” Bataille says. “And of course, being green is just natural at the home of the Mean Green.”

Other participating universities in the region include:
• University of Arkansas
• University of Oklahoma
• Trinity University in San Antonio
• University of Houston Victoria
• Houston Community College

Other member institutions nationwide include Arizona State University, Cornell University, the University of Washington and the University of Colorado at Boulder. The top administrators at more than 500 universities and colleges nationwide already have signed the agreement.

A university that has long been associated with environmental consciousness, UNT recently convened a sustainability council appointed by Bataille. The group, which comprises faculty, staff and students from a variety of disciplines and departments, will undertake the tasks of assessing what sustainability efforts are being done on campus; identifying what other initiatives can and should be undertaken to promote sustainability; and determining how to implement the objectives promoted in the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment.

See the Extended Entry for information about other environmental programs at UNT.

UNT celebrated International Week April 7-14 with a parade across campus. The annual week inclues displays, entertainment, food and a reminder that we live in a global society. Representatives of Saudi Arabia, left, Taiwan and Sweden, below,  and Africa enjoyed the day. (Photos by Jonathan Reynolds)

The annual International Education Awards Banquet April 14 featured guest speaker James C. Oberwetter, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The week’s activities also include ethnic food, live entertainment, awards, badminton and kite flying. From left, Earl Gibbons, associate vice president for international education; Anita and James Oberwetter; President Gretchen M. Bataille. (Photo by Jonathan Reynolds)

 

Faculty, staff and students celebrated UNT’s 47th anniversary as a university on April 4. Food, speeches and music on Library Mall commemorated the day in 1961, when North Texas State College became North Texas State University.   (Photos by Jonathan Reynolds)

About 140 people, including nature and wildlife writers, photographers and editors from Texas university presses attended Writing a Wide Land: A Conference on Texas Nature Writing April 11. David Taylor, instructor in English, says the goal of the annual conference is to create more connections between writers and others who are interested in environmental issues, particularly in Texas. Taylor is editor of Pride of Place: A Contemporary Anthology of Texas Nature Writing, published by UNT Press. Above right: attendees browse displays; left, Shannon Davies of Texas A&M Press, which is affiliated witn UNT Press, and President Gretchen M. Bataille. (Photos by Jonathan Reynolds) 

A crowd of more than 3,000 enjoyed a sunny afternoon April 12 at the annual Green-White spring football scrimmage. The Mean Green and Head Coach Todd Dodge open the 2008 season on Aug. 30 with a game at Kansas State University. The opening home game is Sept. 6 versus the University of Tulsa. Learn more about all Mean Green sports. (Photos by Li Fan)

Congratulations to these randomly-selected winners in last week’s Fun Fact and InHouse random drawings:
• Kayren Daniels, accounting clerk, Student Accounting – a pair of tickets to conductor Anshel Brusilow’s farewell Symphony Orchestra concert
• Pam Flint, counseling psychologist, Student Counseling Center and Brandon Robertson, accountant, Payroll - commemorative T-shirt for conductor Anshel Brusilow’s farewell concert
• Philippe Becerra, academic advisor, College of Education – a pair of tickets to the Jazz Singers concert
• Gwendolyn Carter, secretarial assistant, Dean’s Office, College of Arts and Sciences - a UNT T-shirt gift pack
• Lora Connaughton, customer service estimator, Printing Services – a pair of tickets to the Lab Band Madness concert
• Jessica Phillip, preservation librarian - a pair of passes to the Texas History Symposium
• Cheryl Allison, mail clerk, Mail Services - a CD produced by the UNT Jazz Singers
• Shelley Hinojosa, accountant, Financial Reporting - a pair of tickets to the Concerto Competition concert
• Linda Valasquez, chief accountant - a pair of tickets to the Men’s and Women’s Chorus concert

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

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

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

A dance choreographed by Shelley Cushman, professor of dance, has been selected to be performed at the National College Dance Festival in June in New York City. Cushman's En I Me, about war, was one of three selected from 52 works at regional competition.

The Department of Dance and Theatre is hosting a benefit performance and reception at 2:30 p.m. May 3 to raise money to send 12 UNT students to New York to perform the work. The benefit will be in the Radio, Television, Film and Performing Arts Building, University Theater. Cushman's En I Me, left, and student-choreographed dances will be performed, and dance alumni will present another work by Cushman in a reception after the performance.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. Call the box office at 940-565-2428 or Metro 817-267-3731, ext. 2428. The box office is open 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and one hour before the performance.

The National College Dance Festival, a biennial event, features works from about 30 colleges and universities across the country in three gala performances. The festival, presented by the American College Dance Festival Association, will be held June 4-6 at Miller Theatre in New York.

"This is like a Grammy or an Oscar for our profession," Cushman says. "It's a wonderful honor to share my work with a national audience, bring visibility to our department and showcase the university's mission of having our students involved in faculty research."

Barbara Cox, associate professor of theatre, created the costumes.

UNT Moot Court Squad teams are ranked first and second in the state by the Texas Undergraduate Moot Court Association. 

Nate Gies, a UNT senior political science and philosophy major from Spokane, Wash., and Emily Ownby, a senior political science major from Plano, won the competition by defeating teammates Jesus Gonzalez, senior international studies and Spanish major from Diboll and Shanna Valentine, senior political science and criminal justice major from Beaumont. Graham Rainer, junior political science major from Carrollton, was named the tournament's top speaker

The UNT tournament was one of several organized each year by the association, which was founded to advance the skills of undergraduates who plan to attend law school. During a moot court, a simulation of an appellate court's proceedings, teams of two students examine a legal problem and present arguments for both sides to a group of appellate judges. The judges review the arguments and quiz participants. All first- and second-year law students at American colleges and universities must participate in a moot court activity.

UNT is the only university with a pre-law program, but without a current law school, that has been chosen by TUMCA to host a statewide tournament during the last two years.

Kimi King, left, assistant professor of political science and Moot Court Squad coach, said the eight year-end speaker awards are the most the squad has won since it began in 2000.

"Once again, UNT dominates Texas and the Southwest region, but we're still looking for a national title," she said. "Across the country, other schools give scholarships and require courses for their team members, so we're starting to think about how we can be more competitive. In our opinion, if you want to go to law school, UNT is the only place to be in the Southwest region."

Gies and Ownby argued both sides of a fictional court case that is similar to a real Supreme Court case. They defeated another team of UNT students in the finals Gonzalez and Valentine. A third UNT team of Allie Hallmark, senior political science major from Midland, and Francisco Gonzalez, senior psychology major from Robstown, reached the quarterfinals of the tournament before being eliminated by a team from Stephen F. Austin University that Gonzalez and Valentine defeated in the semifinals.

Teams in TUMCA tournaments this year argued the fictional case involving gun rights.

UNT is taking a major step to deepen and invigorate the university's commitment to creating and sustaining an inclusive campus community. It is forming the UNT IDEA Team, a diversity council whose acronym is fashioned after the UNT motto Discovering the Power of Ideas. The first meeting of the IDEA team will be held in May.

"The IDEA team represents the four pillars of the initiative: Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access," says Gilda Garcia, left, vice president for institutional equity and diversity. "It will serve in an advisory capacity to the UNT leadership and community on the development and implementation of the IDEA initiative, as well as monitor its progress and success." Garcia says the IDEA team will prepare an annual report about the university progress towards diversity goals.

Initially, Garcia will serve as chair of the IDEA team. Thereafter, the group will elect a chair and officers, as necessary. It will be made up of three groups:

• permanent members from UNT offices directly related to inclusion and diversity
• two members each from student, faculty and staff IDEA working groups
• four members appointed at-large on a rotating basis.

Garcia says the student IDEA working group will be made up of the presidents or their representatives of university-sanctioned student groups. The faculty IDEA working group will be comprised of representatives from the Faculty Senate voting groups and the staff IDEA working group will be made up of representatives from each of the equal employment opportunity categories.

Members of the university community are encouraged to join the IDEA working groups. Those interested should have strong support for the values of diversity at UNT, a commitment to participating within a team structure with shared responsibilities, and a willingness to consider ideas different from one's own.

Contact the Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity, 940-565-2711.

A one-day conference, Undocumented Hispanic Immigrants in the United States: Problems, Benefits and Prospects, will be 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 8 in the University Union, Silver Eagle Suite. The conference, organized by Richard Fossey, professor of teacher education and administration and senior policy researcher for Center for the Study of Education Reform, will examine the policy issues surrounding the national debate about undocumented immigrants.

To win free admission to the conference, send an e-mail to InHouse, inhouse@unt.edu, with “Immigrant” in the subject line by 5 p.m. April 18. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mail responses.

Norma Cantú, above, visiting professor of law and education at the University of Texas at Austin, will be the conference luncheon speaker. Cantú served in the U.S. Department of Education during the Clinton administration for eight years. As the longest-serving assistant secretary for civil rights, she implemented governmental policy for civil rights in American education. She previously worked as regional counsel and education director of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

In 2007, more than 1,400 bills concerning immigration were introduced in state legislatures. State and local laws have forced some undocumented immigrants and their families to flee their communities disrupting the schooling of the children in those families. Educators say that a 1982 Supreme Court decision gives children of undocumented immigrants a constitutional right to attend public school.

Fossey hopes that information presented at the conference will dispel misconceptions about undocumented immigrants and inspire discussion of some local ordinances which grew out of fear and not correct facts.

Go to www.coe.unt.edu/cser//CSER/Index.htm or contact Fossey at http://richard.fossey@unt.edu.

Fees are $95 for the general public, $53.50 for faculty and staff, and $20 for UNT students. To register, go to www.coe.unt.edu/cser. Deadline is May 1.

See Extended Entry for more information on conference speakers.

UNT hosted a reception April 5 to honor Rob Erdle, watercolorist and Regents Professor of art, in the Gateway Center. Many of Erdle’s works decorate public areas in the building, which houses the North Texas Alumni Association, administrative offices, fundraising offices and The Club at Gateway Center restaurant. From left. President Gretchen M. Bataille, Greg McQueen, senior vice president for advancement, and Mille Giles, Erdle’s widow. (Photo by Jonathan Reynolds)

Do you have a clarinet or trumpet gathering dust in the closet?

Start Up the Band is accepting donations of band instruments for the program, which provides musical instruments and instruction to fifth-grade students with high financial need. Donated instruments will be refurbished by students in instrument repair classes. Most traditional band instruments can be donated and claimed as a charitable donation on tax returns. To make a donation, contact Michelle Hurt at mhurt@unt.edu or 940- 565-4090.

“The students in this program might otherwise not have had the opportunity to play in band because of the expense of renting or buying an instrument,” says Darhyl Ramsey, professor of music. “We’re providing them with an instrument and instruction to instill a love of music and give them a head start in sixth-grade band so they have the confidence to be role models for other students.”

The Start Up the Band program was restored this year with the help of a $10,000 donation from Lone Star Attitude, Inc. and the Texas Music Project. The $10,000 donation will help pay for three teachers - a lead teacher and two additional music education majors. Music and Arts, a retail music center, is providing instruments rent-free, and UNT is accepting additional instrument donations.

Fifth-graders from Evers Park, Newton Razor, Barman, Rivera and Lee elementary schools in the Denton school district will get a chance to participate. Classes began in April and will continue throughout May. 

See more photos on the InHouse Photo page.

Employees are asked to complete the online Staff Classification and Compensation Study this week. All surveys – known as Job Analysis Questionnaires – should be finished by April 11.

To access the study, go to Human Resources at http://www.hr.unt.edu/main/ViewPage.php?cid=316. An employee ID (EUID) and password is required to access information.

The survey began March 28 after three days of orientation sessions to explain the survey’s purpose and methodology. All UNT, UNT System and UNT Dallas staff employees are expected to participate.

A classification and compensation study is a management tool used by organizations of all types to identify best practices and market trends in hiring and retention. The study will allow UNT to review employee job classification descriptions and salary range structures.

The study will also help UNT administrators develop a new compensation program and philosophy, revised job descriptions and a new performance evaluation process. No salaries will be reduced and no positions eliminated as a result of the study.

The Job Analysis Questionnaire, to be completed online by each employee, will ask about day-to-day tasks, skills needed to complete those tasks, supervisory responsibilities, education and training.

Study results are expected in Fiscal Year 2009 when findings will be reviewed by President Gretchen M. Bataille, her Cabinet and Advisory Committee members. 

Management Advisory Group (www.maginc.org), a consulting firm, is supervising survey administration. 

A question and answer session with Provost Wendy K. Wilkins, left, presentation of teaching awards and a reprise of the Fall Regents Lecture by music professor Steven Friedson are scheduled at the April 30 Spring Faculty Meeting.

The meeting will be from 3:30 p.m. to 6 pm. in the University Union, Lyceum. Refreshments will be available.

Wilkins previously has asked faculty to submit questions to facultyqs@unt.edu , faculty may continue to do so and questions may be asked at the meeting.

The question-and-answer session is part of Wilkins’ continuing communications activities with faculty. Since joining UNT in August 2007, Wilkins has met with deans and administrators in every college and most departments. She instituted First Tuesdays, a casual gathering on the first Tuesday of each month, to allow informal conversations with faculty.

“We want to continue to solicit ideas and opinions from faculty members,” says Wilkins. “As we continue to position UNT as a student-centered and emerging research university, we’ll want continued two-way communications and interaction with faculty.”

Teaching and service awards include:
• President’s Council Teaching Awards – Two awards to recognize full-time, tenure-track faculty for outstanding teaching over a five year period. Nominations are made by faculty; winners are selected by the Faculty Senate Awards Committee.
• President’s Council Service Awards - One award to recognize full-time, tenure-track faculty for service to UNT over a five year period. Nominations are made by faculty. winners are selected by the Faculty Senate Awards Committee.
• J.H. Shelton Excellence in Teaching Award - Named for alumnus Joe Houston Shelton, and originally funded by a gift from his family, this award recipient is to recognize outstanding teaching performance and scholarly pursuit. Winners are selected by the Faculty Senate Awards Committee.
• Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation Award – Anyone may nominate a faculty member for this state-wide teaching award. The Faculty Awards Committee selects a nominee and forwards their nomination to the foundation. Fifteen college and university instructors are selected from Texas. The award recognizes teaching excellence.

Friedson, right, professor of music, was selected to deliver the annual Regents Faculty Lecture in Fall 2007. Friedson will discuss how music saturates the health care system of the Tumbuka people of Malawi in his lecture, Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Tumbuka Healing.

Friedson began researching music and healing of the Tumbuka while on a Fulbright research fellowship in Africa in 1987. He has continued with more research in Ghana.

The UNT System Board of Regents established the Regents Faculty Lecture Series in 1983 to celebrate human striving and intellectual achievement. Faculty members chosen have strong scholarly or artistic achievements that have brought credit to UNT and their fields of study. 
 

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

• Food Fest meal coupons: Joanie Smith, administrative assistant, and Emily Tynes, student assistant, College of Public Affairs and Community Service Advising Office
• Concert Band tickets: Anna Johnson, budget analyst, Budget Office

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

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

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

Robert A.Caro, who moved from his native New York City to the Texas Hill Country to research a biography of President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Jan Jarboe Russell, author of "Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson,” are featured speakers at the 2008 Texas History Symposium.

The symposium, "Lyndon Baines Johnson - A Texas President," is April 18-19. To win free admission to the seminar, send an e-mail to InHouse,  inhouse@unt.edu  with “LBJ” in the subject line by 5 p.m. April 11. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mail responses.

Caro is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and author of the series "The Years of Lyndon Johnson" He spent years examining documents at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin and interviewing men and women connected with Johnson's life. Johnson died at age 64 in 1974.

Russell, a writer for Texas Monthly, first met Claudia Alta "Lady Bird" Taylor Johnson in November 1994. A biography, "Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson" was published in 1999, partly in response to "The Years of Lyndon Johnson" as Russell attempted to move her subject out from under her husband's shadow. Mrs. Johnson died in 2007 at age 94.

Symposium events include:

• April 18 - Caro, author of the three-book series "The Years of Lyndon Johnson," will give a free lecture April 18 from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Eagle Student Services Center, Room 255.
• April 19 - Presentations by Caro and Russell; Caro will speak from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., with Russell ending the symposium from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., both in Wooten Hall.

Registration is required for April 19 events which begin at 8:30 a.m. and include continental breakfast and barbecue lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m.

Registration fees are $25 until April 14. Registration will be available after April 14 and on the day of the symposium for $35, but participants will not be guaranteed meals. To register, go to http://www.hist.unt.edu/events/ths/ths08_color.pdf.  Contact: the Department of History at 940-565-2288 or history@unt.edu.

See the Extended Entry for more information about the Johnsons and their biographers. (Photo of President and Mrs. Johnson, 1967, courtesy of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum.)

Thanks to a $10,000 donation from Lone Star Attitude Inc. and the Texas Music Project, the College of Music has launched the Start Up the Band program, which provides musical instruments and instruction to Denton Independent School District fifth-grade students with high financial need. Start Up the Band began with 25 fifth-graders from five Denton elementary schools who will learn the basics of music from music education majors. Music and Arts, a retail music center, is providing instruments. Darhyl Ramsey, professor of music, is organizer of Start Up the Band. Most traditional band instruments can be donated and claimed as a charitable donation on tax returns. To make a donation, contact Michelle Hurt at 940- 565-4090 or mhurt@music.unt.edu. (Photos by Jonathan Reynolds)

Maestro Anshel Brusilow, left, who will retire from UNT after a career spanning 35 years, will conduct his final concert with the UNT Symphony Orchestra April 23. The UNT Grand Chorus also will perform.

The concert “celebrates a great career of immeasurable accomplishments,” says James Scott, dean of the College of Music. “After knowing of the artistic stature of Anshel Brusilow for over 40 years and considering him a part of the very definition of music at UNT, this capstone concert has profound meaning for me personally, as I know it does for generations of faculty, students, and patrons,” Scott says. See Portrait Gallery for more about Brusilow.

The concert will be at 8 p.m. in Winspear Performance Hall of the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $15 for adults; $10 for senior citizens, non-UNT students, children, UNT faculty and staff and groups of 10 or more; free to UNT students with ID. Contact: 940-369-7802 or www.thempac.com.

To win a pair of tickets to the concert, send an e-mail to InHouse, inhouse@unt.edu  with “Farewell Concert” in the subject line by 5 p.m. April 11. To win a special concert T-shirt, send an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu with “Farewell T-shirt” in the subject line, by 5 p.m. April 11. Winners will be selected at random from all e-mail entries.

Former UNT music professor Sue Bancroft and her husband, Christopher, an alumnus, are leading a campaign to create the Anshel Brusilow Chair in Orchestral Studies. The Lupe Murchison Foundation recently gave $500,000 to support a $1 million endowment. Proceeds primarily will fund scholarships for orchestral students.

The UNT Jazz Singers will perform April 18 with guest artist Kevin Mahogany, left, a jazz vocalist who has been acclaimed by Newsweek magazine as "the standout jazz vocalist of his generation."

The concert will be at 8 p.m. April 18 in Winspear Performance Hall of the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $7 for the general public and $5 for non-UNT students and seniors. Contact 940-369-7802 or www.thempac.com.

The Jazz Singers 13th CD, "In Case You Missed It," was released in November and will be for sale at the concert.

To win a free pair of tickets to the concert or a free CD, send an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu with “Jazz Singers” or "Jazz CD” in the subject line or by 5 p.m. April 11.

Mahogany is a graduate of Baker University who has led "Mahogany," a group that is a cross between contemporary R&B and jazz, and "The Apollos," a 1960s R&B dance band. He has recorded 11 CDs as a leader and several more as an accompanying artist. See his biography. 
 
Paris Rutherford, right, Regents professor of music, is director the UNT Jazz Singers. The group consists of 12 singers and a five-piece band.The group has been named "Best College Jazz Choir" numerous times by Down Beat magazine and has performed at state and national conferences, including the International Association for Jazz Education, the American Choral Directors Association and the Texas Music Educators Association, and at colleges and high schools.

Two longtime jazz professors - Neil Slater, left, and Jim Riggs - will conduct their final spring concerts April 15 before retiring from UNT in August. 

 The concert will be at 7 p.m. in  Winspear Performance Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for senior citizens, UNT and other students, UNT faculty and staff and groups of 10 or more. For tickets, call 940-369-7802 or www.thempac.com.

To win a free pair of tickets to the Lab Band Madness concert, send an e-mail with “Lab Band” in the subject line to inhouse@unt.edu by 5 p.m. April 11. Winners will be selected at random from all responses.

Slater began conducting the world-famous One O'Clock Lab Band in 1981 as the third director in the band's history. Riggs first conducted the Two O'Clock Lab Band as a graduate student in 1971.

Slater, professor of music and chair of the jazz studies division, has created compositions for jazz ensembles, symphony, mixed chamber groups, a cappella chorus and theater.

Slater, a Grammy nominee, has been recognized by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) each year since 1987. A pianist and former member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra-In-Residence program, Slater has recorded and performed with such artists as Buddy DeFranco, Dave Weckl, Mel Lewis and Joe Morello. Before joining UNT, Slater founded the jazz studies program and established master's and bachelor's degree programs in jazz at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut.

Slater is the third director of the premiere jazz ensemble at UNT, which offered the nation's first bachelor's degree program in jazz studies in 1947. The UNT One O'Clock Lab Band has earned four Grammy nominations and has performed and toured throughout the world.

Riggs, right, Regents Professor of music, has taught many award-winning saxophonists, including first place winners and finalists in the North American Saxophone Alliance Young Artist Competition, finalists in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Saxophone Competition and winners in Down Beat magazine's Student Music Awards in both solo and ensemble categories.

Riggs' ensemble, the Two O'Clock Lab Band, has made 10 recordings. Riggs has performed regularly with the Dallas and Fort Worth symphony orchestras and recorded with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as a jazz soloist with the United States Navy Commodores in Washington, D.C., and will UNT College of Music orchestras and bands. Riggs is the leader and founder of the Official Texas Jazz Orchestra, a large jazz ensemble made up of musicians from the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

As a freelance artist, he has performed with Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Nancy Wilson, Henry Mancini, Nelson Riddle and others.

Maestro Anshel Brusilow, Regents Professor of music, will conduct his final concert with the UNT Symphony Orchestra on April 23 before retiring after a UNT career spanning 35 years. His childhood loves were baseball and football, but an arm injury returned his focus to the violin and the concert hall. 

What is your title and department?
Regents Professor of music in the UNT College of Music

How long have you worked at UNT?
From 1973 to 1981 and 1989 to the present.

What is your favorite memory from your time at UNT?
There were so many outstanding moments. The first one was my very first year when I came here as a visiting professor. I loved the atmosphere, and I loved the students that I was working with. I can still remember talking to my good friend, Kenneth Cuthbert, the dean, and he asked if I would be interested in coming back and becoming a full professor. That was a turning point of my whole career, and I’ll never forget it.

Who is one of your favorite composers?
My favorite composer is the one I happen to be doing at the moment. As a violinist, I love the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, but as a conductor, the repertoire is so vast and large, it’s hard to single out individual compositions or composers, for that matter.

My last concert on April 23 has to do somewhat with the work that I have wanted to do for a long time, the cantata Alexander Nevsky by Prokofiev. Plus, people want to know why I have chosen to do Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony. It’s the last thing he ever wrote. I just wanted to do this work before I left because I thought the students should have a chance to play this particular symphony and to learn it with me. These pieces are special for me, and I hope they will be special for the students.

What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the growth of the Symphony Orchestra at UNT. It has progressed to the point it is one of the finest orchestras in the country at its level. I don’t know of one you would consider better. I didn’t do it alone, but I felt I was an important part of it. I’m also proud of the fact I could be a part of the new concert hall - the Murchison. It changed the stature of the university’s College of Music completely.

What do you want students to learn from your classes and your instruction?
How to make music, how to interpret music and how to understand where music plays a vital role in your life. It’s something they have that no one can take away from them, and I just want them to continue with their instrument no matter what the future holds.

What do you plan to do in retirement?
I will never leave music completely. I plan to take a year to write my book, which already has a title: “Shoot the Conductor.” It comes from my dealings with so many different conductors, some of which should never have been on the podium, and some things that happened in my career as concertmaster, violinist and conductor.

When did you decide on a career in music?
I think when I truly knew that that was going to be my profession was when I was 13 years of age, and I wanted to be a baseball player. But then my dear friend asked me to come and play football. I was one of the larger kids. I was asked to play fullback and given a football to run with. I was hit from the side, landed on my right arm and thought I broke it. When I got home, my father took me to the doctor to have X-rays. It proved to be just a bad bruise, but scared me enough to know if something terrible had happened, I wouldn’t be able to play the violin. It took a fall as a football player to show me what I really wanted to do.

Nature and wildlife writers, photographers and editors from Texas university presses will be featured speakers at “Writing a Wide Land: A Conference on Texas Nature Writing” from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. April 11.

The conference will be in the Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building, Room 130. The conference is free and is open to 150 participants with 50 reserved for UNT faculty, staff and students.

Conference participants must register by April 4 by contacting Jenna Ledford at jdl0126@unt.edu. Registered participants must pick up a ticket and conference materials at the registration booth April 11. For information: David Taylor, lecturer in the Department of English and conference director, jdtaylor@unt.edu or http://www.efec.unt.edu/David%20Taylor . Taylor, above, contemplates the Brazos River in 2007.

Taylor says the goal of the conference is to create more connections between writers and others who are interested in environmental issues, particularly in Texas. Taylor is editor of “Pride of Place: A Contemporary Anthology of Texas Nature Writing,” published by the UNT Press.

Keynote speaker will be Robert Michael Pyle, author of “The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies” and several other guides to butterfly and moth species will be the conference’s keynote speaker at 6 p.m.

See Extended Entry for more about speakers and sponsors.

 To: UNT Community members

Please make plans to join me for a free picnic lunch at our annual University Day celebration, which will take place between 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Friday, April 4, at the Library Mall.

This year's event, which marks the 47th anniversary of the day we became a university, combines our tradition of recognizing the hard work of our dedicated staff and faculty with a free annual picnic lunch so we can celebrate our history and our commitment to the future together.

The celebration also will mark 20 years of being UNT and will feature the traditional activity booths presented by student organizations, entertainment and a program to showcase the accomplishments and traditions of UNT as well as boxed lunches, which are available to every member of the UNT community. 

I hope to see you there.

With green pride,
Gretchen M. Bataille
President

(Editor's note: In case of rain, University Day will be celebrated in the University Union, One O'Clock Lounge.)

Two students have been named 2008 Barry M. Goldwater Scholars, while a third student received honorable mention status in this year’s scholarship competition.

For the third consecutive year, more UNT students were named Goldwater Scholars and honorable mentions than students at any Texas college or university.

This year’s scholars are Vinay Ramasesh, far left, and Samuel Mark Thompson, near left. Honorable mention scholar is Korok Chatterjee, right. All are students at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, a two-year residential program at UNT that allows talented students to complete freshman and sophomore years of college while earning their high school diplomas.

The Goldwater scholarships are considered to be among the country’s most prestigious, awarded to students planning careers in mathematics, science and engineering. All college sophomores and juniors are eligible to compete for the scholarships, which provide a maximum of $7,500 each year for one or two years for tuition, fees, books and room and board.

The Goldwater Foundation, a federally endowed agency established in 1986 to honor former Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, awarded 321 scholarships this year. Another 156 students were named honorable mention.

UNT has had 39 Goldwater Scholars since 1996. Other Texas universities with Goldwater Scholars and honorable mentions this year include Baylor University (1), Rice University (2), Texas A&M University (1), Texas Tech University (2), University of Texas at Austin (2), University of Texas at Dallas (1) and University of Texas at San Antonio (1).

Serving on the UNT Faculty Goldwater Nominating and Mentoring Committee were Elizabeth Bator, associate professor of mathematics; James Duban, director of UNT’s Office for Nationally Competitive Scholarships and chairman of the university’s Barry M. Goldwater Faculty Nominating and Mentoring Committee; Jannon Fuchs, professor of biological sciences; Shushama Dandekar, lecturer of chemistry; and Samuel Matteson, professor of physics. Richard Sinclair is dean of TAMS.

Ramashesh’s research was with Angela Wilson, associate professor of chemistry; Thompson’s with Zhibing Hu, Regents Professor of physics, and Chatterjee worked with Murali R. Varanasi, chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering.

See the Extended Entry to learn more about each scholar. 

Jillianne Olivia Allen is the student winner of a laptop computer in a random drawing of UNT students who updated Eagle Alert information between Nov. 5 and March 15.

Dell Inc. donated the laptop valued at $1,500.

Allen, a freshman political science major from Cypress, says her large family - which includes six sisters, grandmother and uncle - regularly keeps in touch, and made sure that she signed up for Eagle Alert.

Eagle Alert is UNT’s automatic messaging system that tells students, faculty and staff when a dangerous or threatening situation exists on campus or in the area.

Eagle Alert began Nov. 5 and has been used to tell the community about a major traffic accident Nov. 15 and about the snow-caused campus closure March 6.

Learn more about Eagle Alert and include your preferred phone is included in the Eagle Alert data base. 

 

A panel discussion, “The Next 200 Years Starts Now: Getting Beyond the Race Card Rhetoric” will be from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. April 8 at the University Union. It is free and open to the public. The discussion is sponsored by the Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity.

The event is a follow-up to the “200 Years of Race Relations” program on Oct. 25.

The event begins with a display of international art and a welcome from President Gretchen M. Bataille. Mary Lynn Babcock, associate professor of dance and theatre, will perform with a colleague an original dance related to racial healing.

Speakers include:

• Jonathan Hook, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and director of the Office of Environmental Justice and Tribal Affairs for the EPA, Dallas
• Geronimo Rodriguez, vice president for diversity and community outreach for the Seton family of hospitals in central Texas
• Bob Lydia, first vice president of the Texas NAACP

Small group dialogues will follow each speaker.

“We want to engage the UNT community in the issues related to race, and distinguish us as a leader in diversity and inclusion issues by integrating different perspectives on race,” says Gilda Garcia, left, vice president for institutional equity and diversity. “This event will gather people to share their perspective on what it will take for this country to move forward beyond the race card rhetoric.”

Contact: Division of Institutional Equity and Diversity, 940-565-2711. 

Three College of Visual Arts and Design faculty members and four students have been selected as finalists for the Hunting Art Prize, a statewide competition that offers $50,000 to the first-prize winner.

Finalists for $50,000 first prize, considered one of the most generous in North America:
• Amie Adelman, associate professorsof visual arts
• Susan Cheal,  associate professors of visual arts ("Memo," oil on canvas, left.)
• Robert Jessup, associate professor of visual arts
• Mariko Frost, master’s degree student
• Carita Huckaby, master’s degree student
• Michael Bales, undergraduate
• Arthur Pena, undergraduate

The competition, sponsored by the international oil services company Hunting PLC, is open to established artists, newcomers and amateurs. Each of the 128 finalists will display work in the May 3 gala at the Decorative Center in Houston, where the winner will be announced.

Adelman, a fibers faculty member, has earned several grants to research textiles in Ghana, South Africa, Uganda, Guatemala, Norway and Scotland. She has exhibited her artwork at the U.S. Embassy in Almaty Kazakhstan and had a solo exhibition at Risør Kunstforening gallery in Norway.

Cheal, a drawing and painting faculty member since 2000, has exhibited her paintings and multimedia installations throughout the United States since 1990, including Texas Rising, a survey exhibition of sculptors at San Antonio venues in 2007. 

Jessup, a faculty member since 1991, has works in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Dallas Museum of Art, among other private, public and corporate collections. 

International Week’s Food Fest will be from 11a.m. to 1 p.m. April 8. The meal will be at the Baptist Student Union and will feature which of these international delicacies?

A. Huhu grubs from New Zealand
B. Durian, a pungent fruit from Southeast Asia
C. Hamburgers garnished with pickled beets, standard in Australia
D. Octopus with pepper paste from South Korea

The correct answer is … well, none of these, so far as InHouse knows. But we thought you would enjoy this list of exotic (to most of us) foods that are eaten in other parts of the world. See a list of interesting foods and learn more about the culture of food.

One way we learn about other people around the world is by sharing traditional foods, eating together on holidays or for special events. Food represents tradition, culture, civilizations … to quote Jean Brillat-Savarin, whose 1825 book "The Physiology of Taste” launched the science and art of gastronomy: Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are … which is thought to have morphed into You are what you eat ... once a hippie mantra and now associated with nutrition and health.

Take a break from what you usually eat and enjoy the International Week Food Festival. Buy food coupons for 25 cents and chow down on food from India, Palestine, Turkey, Romania, Germany, France, Japan, Nigeria, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korean, Egypt, the Vatican and the Caribbean.
To win $10 in food coupons, send an e-mail to inhouse@unt.edu  with “Food Fest” in the subject line by 5 p.m. April 4. The winner will be selected at random from all e-mail responses.

See a schedule of other International Week activities.

(Photos from International Week Food Fest 2006)

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

• UNT T-shirt prize pack: Laura Elston, accounting clerk, Purchasing and Payment Services
• Wind Symphony tickets: Nancy Flowers, secretarial assistant, North Texas Community College Consortium

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

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

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