Karen Cogan, left, assistant professor of psychology, is headed for her third Olympics to support U.S. athletes.

As a sport psychologist with U.S. Olympic Tae kwon do Team, Cogan hopes to provide a listening ear and helpful advice to team members when they compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, in August.

She already traveled with team members and their coaches to Beijing for an Olympic test event after attending a qualifying event to select the team members last year.

Cogan witnessed sport history made at two Winter Olympics — Salt Lake City in 2002 and Torino, Italy, in 2006. As a sport psychologist with the U.S. Freestyle Mogul Team, she helped to provide support to the coaches and athletes — including silver medalists Travis Mayer and Shannon Bahrke in 2002 and bronze medalist Toby Dawson in 2006.

“One of the administrators with the mogul team is now an administrator with the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and he recommended me to the team because I had done good work with the mogul team,” Cogan says, adding that she accepted the job as sport psychologist even though she knew nothing about tae kwon do, a Korean martial art and combat sport.

The City of Denton is now at a Risk Level 4 for its Public Health Warning Response of the Mosquito Surveillance and Response Plan.

Risk Level 4 was triggered due to the discovery of a potential human West Nile virus case in Denton.

“Unfortunately, the patient’s travel history makes it impossible to determine if the virus was contracted locally or abroad,” says Ken Banks, Environmental Quality Manager for the City of Denton Water. “Even though we are unsure of the source of the virus, we are taking the most cautious approach possible by enacting Risk Level to 4.”

Under the Mosquito Surveillance and Response Plan, Risk Level 4 indicates that the probability of a person contracting a mosquito-borne disease like West Nile virus is moderate to high.

Although West Nile virus infections are rare in humans, personal protection is crucial at this Risk Level, especially for the elderly and children.

•Stay indoors at dawn, dusk and in the early evening.
•Wear long sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors.
•Spray clothing with repellents containing permethrin or DEET.
•Please follow manufacturer’s instructions on the label. Repair or replace all screens in your home that have tears   or holes.
•Citizens should make special efforts to reduce potential mosquito breeding areas within their yards and within their neighborhoods.
•Eliminate any standing water that collects on your property. For example, tires, cans, flowerpot saucers, or anything else that holds water.
•Make sure gutters drain properly and clean gutters regularly.
•Change the water in birdbaths at least once a week.
•Use BTI briquettes in standing water.

BTI is a biological control agent that is very specific for killing mosquito larvae. To help citizens, the City of Denton Water Utilities Department will have a limited supply of Bti briquettes that residents can pick up in limited quantities (two per resident) while the supply lasts. Residents will be required to show their driver's license or a current City of Denton utility bill to prove Denton residency.

City BTI distribution locations:

Water Administration located at 901 A Texas Street in the Utility Service Center, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

City of Denton Composting Operations located at the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Facility at 1100 Mayhill Road, Wednesdays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For information on the City of Denton Mosquito Surveillance and Response Plan, call the Water Utilities Department at 940-349-7150.

The Fulbright Scholar Program is offering lecturing, research or combination lecturing/research awards in over 130 countries for the 2009-2010 academic year. The competition opens March 1.

Opportunities are available not only for college and university faculty and administrators but also for professionals from business and government, as well as artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, independent scholars and many others. There are awards in 45 different fields or disciplines, and a variety of subdisciplines and interdisciplinary fields.

Traditional Fulbright Scholar awards are available from two months to an academic year or longer. A short-term grants program-the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program — offers two-to six-week grants in a variety of disciplines and fields.

While foreign language skills are needed in some countries, most Fulbright Scholar lecturing assignments are in English. Nearly 70 percent of the awards include a lecturing component.

Application deadlines for 2009-2010 awards are:
August 1, 2008 for Fulbright traditional lecturing and research grants or for Fulbright Distinguished Chair awards worldwide
November 1, 2008 for the summer German Studies Seminar and for spring/summer seminars in Korea and Japan for academic and international education administrators
February 1, 2009 for the U.S.-Germany International Education Administrators Program
Rolling deadline for the Fulbright Senior Specialists Program

Suzanne Sears, right,  head of the Government Documents Department, is one of five new members appointed to the Depository Library Council by Robert C. Tapella, public printer of the U.S. Government Printing Office.

The council – composed of 15 members, each of whom serves three-year terms – advises the public printer on policy matters relating to the Federal Depository Library Program.

“I have a passion for connecting individuals to government information and I am very excited about this opportunity,” Sears says.

The FDLP, which traces its roots to 1813, provides nationwide access to the published information of all three branches of the U.S. Government through partnerships with more than 1,250 libraries ranging from public libraries to research universities.

Sears is the seventh person from a Texas institution to be on the council since its establishment in 1973. Cathy N. Hartman, assistant dean for Digital and Information Technologies, served on the council from 2000-2003.

Melody Kelly, left, alumna and associate dean of libraries, accepted the position of president of the Texas Library Association for 2008-2009. As the association’s president, Kelly will be the chief elected officer for the largest state library organization in the United States. Through the association, she will work to support library funding throughout the state for school, public, special and academic libraries.

“It will be my task to encourage the identification and the development of implementation strategies that will carry forward the TL A’s vision for transforming Texas libraries,” says Kelly. “This process will only just begin during my presidential term, and it will be up to the next president and the membership to keep the transformation process going so that Texas libraries working together are able to serve any Texan any time and any place through their local library facility or via the internet – bricks or clicks.”

In addition to working with the TLA to prepare for the upcoming legislative session, she will be responsible for appointing more than 100 people to the various standing committees and task forces of the TLA. She will also chair the association’s executive board and its governing body, the TLA Council. For more information about the association, contact Patricia Smith at (512) 328-1518 or pats@txla.org.

“Libraries are instruments for innovation, success and self-fulfillment,” says Kelly. “Our purpose is simple but profoundly important to our state and country: help individuals and society advance. Libraries are molded by the ideal that, in a true democracy, society must maintain open and public structure [systems] to inform and empower a free thinking populace for the betterment of all.” She adds that adequate funding for all types of libraries is essential to strong library services.

Annette Lawrence, professor, drawing and painting, College of Visual Arts and Design will give a book presentation, Fall 2008, of The Known World by Edward P. Jones at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Xiaohui “Nick” Yuan, below, assistant professor for the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, has been named a recipient of the 2008 Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from Oak Ridge Associated Universities. He is one of only 30 faculty members nationwide to receive the grant.

Yuan received a $5,000 research grant. UNT will match Yuan’s award with an additional $5,000. The combined total of $10,000 will be used to support graduate students in the university’s Computer Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory and for travel to Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

His research in assessing flood risks will help emergency management officials to plan evacuation routes, predict the extent of flooding and identify survivable regions on land faster than is currently achievable.

According to Yuan, the research will produce more accurate elevation maps, which are important in assessing flood risks and determining flood insurance rates. His research will also increase the ability to predict asset losses, given specific flooding events.

 
“The results will provide state and federal agencies computational tools for quantifying floodplain analysis and provide urban planners inexpensive means for economic analysis and disaster damage assessment,” says Yuan, who has been with UNT since the fall of 2006.

UNT has been named among the top 50 colleges and universities in the U.S. based on the number of degrees conferred to minority students by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Magazine.

The number of minority students earning degrees in the 2006-2007 academic year increased by 19 percent over the previous year, elevating the university to 46th on the Diverse list. The magazine has produced the list annually for the past 15 years utilizing U.S. Department of Education statistics.

“These results demonstrate our commitment to student success and diversity. We focus our efforts on creating a student-centered and inclusive learning environment. The increase in the graduation rates of minority students provides evidence of our effective efforts,” says Gilda Garcia, left, vice president for Institutional Diversity and Equity. “We have been successful in attracting minority students, and more importantly, we are graduating minority students. Obviously we need to do more, and we will. We look forward to even greater increases in the coming years.”

“It is our responsibility to prepare students for their next step – working in a diverse, global economy. A college experience rich in diversity will go a long way toward preparing each of our graduates for success. At the same time, ensuring that we attract and graduate minority students will provide new avenues of success for all of us in terms of a robust, growing economy fueled by new ideas and new ways of working,” Garcia says.

 
For the 2006-2007 academic year, 1,117 American Indian, black and Hispanic students received degrees, which represented approximately 27 percent of the graduating class.

Hispanic and black student enrollment has increased dramatically since 2000, with Hispanic enrollment up 81 percent compared to the state average among colleges and universities of 45 percent. Black student enrollment has climbed 72 percent compared to the state average of 40 percent over the same period. Today, almost 25 percent of the 28,000 undergraduates are Hispanic or black.

Purchasing and Payment Services has established the deadlines for submission of fiscal year 2008 funded ePro requisitions. The requisitions must be approved by the DeptID/ProjID holder by the established deadlines. 

July 3 – Deadline for ePro requisitions in the amount of $25,000.00 and above that require formal bids. 

Aug. 22 – Deadline for ePro requisitions that include any type of agreement or contract requiring approval and signature. 

Aug. 26 – Final deadline for ePro requisitions that do not require formal bids or involve an agreement or contract.

Requisitions for fiscal year 2008 will not be processed after these dates.

For more information, contact Purchasing and Payment Services at 940-565-3200.

Pamela Padilla, left, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences,  exposes students to medical research. In addition to her contribution to education,  Padilla plays tennis in her free time, runs three or four days a week and would like to run a half marathon in the fall.

Why did you choose a career in academia?
I considered engineering, medicine and veterinary medicine but in the end I was most intellectually satisfied with academia. It is an environment that fosters creativity.

What is your area of expertise?
I am a biologist with training in genetics and cell biology. I am interested in research that contributes to human health issues.

Why did you choose that area?
I enjoy thinking about how living systems function. I knew I would never be bored with this career. Understanding at the organismal/cellular/molecular level of how organisms develop, grow and respond to changes in their environment, is a complex question that you can spend a lifetime exploring.

What do you want students to learn from your from your classes?                                                                 
I would like for students to learn how to think independently, logically and creatively and to clearly communicate complex scientific ideas and concepts. I would also like students to understand that the information they learn about in the science textbooks come from the hard work of many scientists.

What are you currently working on?
My main focus is to identify molecular changes that allow an organism to survive extreme oxygen deprivation. We use genetics and study the cellular changes in both embryos and developed adult animal systems to understand this problem. Imagine how useful it would be to reduce cellular or tissue death after exposure to traumatic stresses like oxygen deprivation!

What animals have you studied?
In the laboratory I primarily use and study genetic model systems. I study oxygen deprivation in the soil nematode C. elegans. I have also studied zebrafish embryos and I am interested in expanding my research to use killifish.

You recently won an award from the national Science Foundation; how has that affected you?
I am very grateful to the support I have received from both the National Science foundation and the National institutes of Health. The support allows me to further investigate the complex interaction between genetics and the environment. This grant also allows me to mentor students and provide resources and educational tools, so that students can grow and develop as scientists.

What do you hope will come from your research?
I hope many students are positively impacted. In my lab they will have resources to conduct research. Students in my genetics class will have new tools available to them for the laboratory portion of the class and I will also develop new lesson plans to share with my colleagues.

Have you noticed students becoming more interested in signing up for your classes or to work with you? I receive many requests by TAMS, undergraduate and graduate students to enter my research laboratory. Lately, I have had several doctoral students requesting postdoctoral positions. I am excited about mentoring students at different levels of their careers.

What plans do you have for the future at UNT?
My plan is to help UNT become more nationally recognized for the exciting work and scientific progress in the Department of Biological Sciences. I would like to find ways to recruit some of the brightest minds to our doctoral program. My main focus is to conduct scientific research and mentor students in my lab. Science is pure joy to me!

UNT welcomed students from 22 area high schools to the UNT Coliseum for their walk across the stage. While students accepted their high school diplomas and waved goodbye to old friends, some also were experiencing their first introduction to a college campus.

 
How many high school students graduated at UNT’s Coliseum this year?

A. 866
B. 2,215
C. 9,127
D. 15,127

The correct answer is C. There were 9, 127 high school students who came to the UNT Coliseum for their campus graduations.

To win a free UNT T-shirt gift pack, send an e-mail with the word "Graduate" in the subject line to InHouse@unt.edu by 5 p.m. on June 27. The winner will be selected at random from all e-mails received.

Hosting the graduation ceremonies provides UNT with an excellent opportunity to introduce high school graduates to our university campus.

The UNT Coliseum saw students from 22 high schools from across North Texas walk across its stage in May and June, says Connie Verdin, associate director of the Coliseum.

“Our first graduation was May 29,” Verdin says.

The spring ceremonies began with Sanger High School. On average, the graduation ceremonies lasted two hours with minimal traffic complications.

“There are always traffic issues,” but we work with the police department and coordinate with them to help the traffic flow,” Verdin says.

While the graduation ceremonies do create temporary traffic back-ups, the campus exposure to thousands of prospective students helps further UNT’s academic reputation.

Ponder High School was the smallest graduating class this year with 64 graduates. Allen High School, however, had 1,185 graduates, the largest graduating high school class for the Coliseum this year.

“They‘re [Allen High School] really good -- they’re very organized -- I guess they‘ve done it for so long,” Verdin says. “It took their students six minutes to march in and be seated -- it was very impressive.“

The Coliseum wrapped up its high school graduations with Northwest High School June 11.

Employees are reminded that this year's floating holiday is only available until Aug. 31, 2008. Unused hours will not be carried forward into the next fiscal year. The hours can be used even if a new employee is within their probationary period. For more information, visit the HR web site http://www.hr.unt.edu/main/.

UNT employees have 14 holidays, including the floating day, each fiscal year. The floating holiday was created to allow faculty and staff one day of holiday paid time off on a date of their choosing with supervisor approval. The floating holiday was approved by the UNT System Board of Regents along with changes in how the university observes spring break week.

The Career Center, in conjunction with NT Exes, is offering new additional services to alumni. Whether graduates are employed near or far away from UNT, the Career Center is designed to help them achieve success in their professional lives.

All services are free to alumni (except for the scoring of psychometric-measurement instruments). For more information or to register for or participate in an event or service,call the Career Center at 940-565-2105 or contact Daniel Pascoe Aguilar, above, at daniel.pascoeaguilar@unt.edu.

“We believe that alumni are indispensable stakeholders of our system,” says Daniel Pascoe Aguilar, associate director of employer relations and alumni services for the Career Center and director of alumni career services for NT Exes. “We hope to collaborate with them by providing them with life-long services and eliciting their participation in our educational and recruiting programming.”

In addition to upgrading its alumni services, the Career Center has also updated the Eagle Network. The improved services offered through the network allow for increased functionality of the interface between potential employers, students and alumni. New features will include customized profiles, access, mentoring opportunities, appointment scheduling, and alumni-service case management capabilities. 

Visit the Career Center’s web site at http://careercenter.unt.edu/index.html to access the Eagle Network. Alumni who currently are not registered with the network must contact the Career Center at 940-565-2105 or careercenter@unt.edu to request an Eagle Network token.

J. Kent Calder, right, director of Arizona State University’s Scholarly Publishing Program, was named the executive director of the Texas State Historical Association, which will be housed at UNT beginning this fall. Calder, who was selected after a national search, will begin his full-time position July 1.

As executive director, he will be responsible for representing the association at public and governmental functions, managing its personnel, leading strategic planning and other initiatives of the Board of Directors and developing and implementing the association’s annual budget and fund raising activities.

Founded on March 2, 1897, on the 61st anniversary of the Texas Declaration of Independence, TSHA is considered in academic circles as one of the nation’s most dynamic regional history organizations, with a mission of furthering the appreciation, understanding and teaching of the unique history of Texas.

In January, the TSHA announced that it had chosen UNT as its new home, based on the UNT Department of History’s commitment to teaching and research of Texas history and on UNT’s extensive library holdings. The TSHA Press, which is the state’s oldest publisher, will seek opportunities to collaborate with the UNT Press, which has Texas history as one of its core thematic areas.

Calder, a Fort Worth native, was the TSHA’s director of publications from 2003 to 2006 before being hired by ASU. He says he is honored to be chosen by the Board of Directors to lead the TSHA as it moves to UNT.

The Frank W. Mayborn Graduate School of Journalism awarded $110,000 in scholarships to students for the 2008-09 academic year. Eleven students, earning master’s degrees, will each receive a $10,000 scholarship.

The school is named for longtime newspaper publisher and civic leader Frank W. Mayborn, who owned the Temple Daily Telegram, Killeen Daily Herald and KCEN-TV/Channel 6, Temple’s NBC affiliate, before his death in 1987. His wife, Sue Mayborn, continues to own and operate these media businesses.

The journalism graduate program was named in 1999 after it received a gift from the Frank & Sue Mayborn Foundation Advise and Consult Fund at Communities Foundation of Texas. Through this gift, the program is able to offer scholarships. The scholarships are for one academic year and may be renewed for an additional year. For the second year in a row, Candace Bagwell, Lowell Brown, Daniel Ryan Daugherty, Valerie Gordon and Nancy Prodnuk have received the award.

This year’s scholarship winners are:

• Candace Bagwell from San Antonio.
• Elise Brooking from Brownsboro.
• Lowell Brown from Fort Worth.
• Daniel Ryan Daugherty from Shelby, N.C.
• Lena Dirbashi from Richardson.
• Valerie Gordon from Fort Worth.
• Rebecca Hoeffner from Watauga.
• Sarah Perry from Olive Hill, Ky.
• Nancy Prodnuk from Granby, Colo.
• Daniel Rodrigue from the Colony.
• Dianna Wray from Houston.

June 12, 2008

Dear UNT community,

I am very pleased to announce that  Dr. Jerry R. Thomas, professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology at Iowa State University, has accepted my offer to serve as dean of the College of Education, beginning Aug. 1. In addition to serving as dean, Thomas will be appointed professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion, and Recreation. Please join me in welcoming dean-designate Thomas to UNT.

Please also join me in thanking the Search Committee for oversight of a careful and very thorough process. The members of the Committee worked well together, over many long months, on behalf of all the faculty and staff in the College of Education. A special thanks is due, also, to Dean Robert Milnes for his service as search committee chair.

I anticipate an exciting next few years for the College of Education at UNT.

Sincerely,

Wendy K. Wilkins
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

See the Extended Entry to learn more about Thomas or see his CV.

If you commute regularly, Transportation Service at UNT has a user-friendly rideshare program that is customized for the UNT Community. You can view available rides or post your own message. Ridesharing is fast becoming the immediate way to conserve fuel across the nation. Go to the Transportation Services web site at www.unt.edu/transit  and click on “share a ride.” 

Bicycle riding is another transportation option gaining in popularity as well. UNT is a bike friendly campus with convenient parking and pathways. Join thousands of Americans who are getting back on two wheels to save fuel and stay healthy. UNT has added 1,000 additional bike rack spaces this past academic year.

Anyone with a valid UNT ID can ride the Denton County Transportation Authority buses. This includes the UNT Shuttle, Connect, the local service and the Commuter Express which offers service between Denton and Dallas. UNT accounts for more than 1.5 million rides per year.

So take the time to check out some of the transportation opportunities available to the UNT community

Also don’t forget to walk to UNT service providers (or ride the shuttle) to run errands when possible.

Use the U.S. Post Office sub-station and ATM machines in the University Union and you can even pick up several convenience store type items in the UNT Bookstore.

Eat lunch on campus with a friend. Bruce Hall cafeteria and Avesta are open for summer from June 2 through Aug. 8. Check menus online and learn about summer prices. Several summer food service options are also available in the University Union. Check for hours of operation at untretail.com as service hours change in conjunction with summer class sessions.

If you have to drive, here are some tips to save gas from Miguel Garcia-Rubio, associate dean of the College of Engineering.

1. Plan ahead and combine as many errands into one trip as possible.
"For example, instead of going to the store and back home, to the library and back home, to the gym and back home, try doing the three of them in one longer trip," he suggests. "It will save about half the gas."

2. Inflate your tires to the proper setting.
"Compared to under inflated tires, proper tire inflation can reduce fuel consumption by up to 7 percent," Garcia-Rubio explains.

3. Don't speed, and avoid quick acceleration.
"The faster you go the higher the wind resistance is on your car," he says. "Speeding and quick accelerations reduce efficiency up to 35%. Keep the car windows closed when driving at speeds faster than 40 miles per hour."

4. Avoid excessive idling.
"Idling wastes a lot of fuel," Garcia-Rubio says. "If you need to warm up your vehicle, drive it slowly until it reaches proper operating temperature."

5. Change air and fuel filters periodically.
"Dirty filters reduce fuel economy by up to 10 percent," he says.

6. Buy your gas during the coolest part of the day.
"Gas gets denser as it becomes cooler, and not all gas station pumps provide temperature correction when dispensing fuel. There could be a Volume Correction Factor of up to 3 percent in gas pumped in the early morning over that at 1 or 2 p.m.," he explains.

7. Tune up your engine.
"A well-tuned engine works closer to its design specifications and can really improve fuel efficiency," Garcia-Rubio says.

8. Use the right engine oil.
"Using the recommended motor oil for your vehicle will save you 2 percent to 3 percent in fuel consumption," he says. 

Call 940-565-3014 or visit the Transportation service web site www.unt.edu/transit  .

The grand finale concert of Bass Camp will be at 7:30 p.m. June 13 in the Concert Hall of the Music Building. About 80 bass players from across the country and as far as Korea will share the stage in the annual bass concert.

“It’s not often that you get to see a stage filled with nothing but bass players,” says Jeff Bradetich, Regents Professor of music who has organized the Bass Camp for 21 years — seven of those years at Northwestern University and the last 14 at UNT. “It’s quite a sound and quite a sight.”

Long overlooked as a virtuosic instrument, the double bass (the largest of the orchestral string instruments) gets its time in the spotlight every year as students spend up to a week at the UNT Bass Camp. Dress rehearsal is at 3:30 p.m. June 13.

Contact www.music.unt.edu/workshops or http://www.bradetichfoundation.org/ for more information.

Meghan Vittrup, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism, has been appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to serve as the student member of the UNT System Board of Regents.

Vittrup, the daughter of USAF Ret. Maj. J. Brad and Deanna Vittrup, says she is "honored to be appointed as the third UNT System student regent, and I am excited to have the opportunity to serve students as well as gain experience helping govern such a large university system.

 
“My goal is first and foremost to represent the thoughts and needs of the many different students in the University of North Texas System,” Vittrup added. “I will let other regents know how students on our campuses feel about issues and give them an active voice on the board.”

Authorized by the Texas Legislature in 2005, the student regent holds a one-year term and is charged with representing the interests of students as well as the interests of the State of Texas and the university system.

“I congratulate Meghan Vittrup upon her appointment as student regent,” UNT System Chancellor Lee F. Jackson says. “This is the most important responsibility a student in Texas public higher education can hold. She will be representing all UNT System students in Board of Regent discussions and will have the opportunity to provide valuable insight on decisions that affect all of our students.”

 
While technically not a member of the nine-member UNT System Board of Regents, Vittrup will serve on various committees and attend meetings of the board of regents and other higher education meetings in the state. "She will have the same duties as a regent with the exception of voting, making or seconding motions and being counted to determine a quorum," Jackson says.

The new UNT System student regent is working this summer at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. as an intern writer for American Forces Press Service (AFPS), under the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense. AFPS provides the news content for the official Department of Defense web site.

Vittrup is pursuing a degree in journalism, with a double minor in political science and Spanish. She has been director of internal operations for the Student Government Association and vice president of Eagle Angels.

The One O’Clock Lab Band will tour major European jazz festivals in July as longtime band director Neil Slater, left, conducts his final concerts before retirement.

Slater will retire from UNT in August after 27 years leading the One O’Clock Lab Band and the jazz studies program as the third director in the program’s 61-year history.

The Grammy-nominated band’s European tour includes the prominent Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland and other prestigious festivals.

“I have been amazed and pleased at the band’s consistency from year to year,” Slater says. “They play at an amazing level, and that speaks to the high level of musicianship of the students, and of course, the outstanding faculty I’ve worked with over the years.”

The One O’Clock Lab Band’s European tour schedule includes performances at:
• Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, July 5 and 6
• Vienne Festival, France, July 7
• Concert in Lyon, France, July 8
• Brienz Jazz Festival, Switzerland, July 9
• Concert in the wine village of Rüdesheim, Germany, July 10
• North Sea Jazz Festival, The Netherlands, July 11 and 13
• Tuscany Jazz Festival, Italy, July 16
• Umbria Jazz Festival, Perugia, July 17-19
• Final performances, Antibes and Nice, France, July 20-22

About UNT One O’Clock Lab Band
The One O’Clock Lab Band - the premiere ensemble of UNT’s jazz studies program in the College of Music - has earned four Grammy nominations. The band has performed and toured throughout the world, including Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and The Netherlands. UNT offered the nation's first bachelor's degree program in jazz studies in 1947, and the university’s graduate jazz studies program is consistently rated among the nation’s best.  Above, Slater and the band perform in November 2007 in the Murchison Performing Arts Center.

About Neil Slater
Slater joined the College of Music in 1981, making him the third director of the One O’Clock Lab Band in the jazz program’s 61-year history. As professor of music and chair of the jazz studies division, he 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 each year since 1987. A pianist and former member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra-In-Residence program, he has recorded and performed with such artists as Frank Strozier, Dave Weckl, Mel Lewis, Lew Anderson, Sal Salvadore 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.

(Editor's note: Graduation ceremonies will every day, all day from June 6 through June 11. See schedule below and drive carefully.)

What do you get when you combine more than 54,000 people, the throwing of 9,000 caps, 12 years of studying and two weeks of coordination?

High school graduation ceremonies.

And lots of traffic, too, with all those proud family members and friends driving around the Coliseum and the UNT campus. See suggestions from Police and Parking Services about how to avoid traffic congestion on North Texas Boulevard and around the Coliseum from May 29 to June 11, when 22 high schools will hold graduation events.   

“Schools choose UNT’s Coliseum for their commencement ceremonies because we offer a great value for their money,” says Connie Verdin, associate director of the Coliseum and Gateway Center. “Our venue is large enough to hold all the graduates and their guests and provide a comfortable atmosphere without having to worry about the weather.”

Verdin adds that this is one of the most challenging times of year for the Coliseum’s staff. “Because of the new extended school year for Texas schools, we have about a two and a half week gap before our first high school commencement.” The additional time makes it easier to coordinate the events and allows the facility workers extra time to clean after the UNT commencement ceremonies.

“Our staff puts in many hours during that two-week period in order to have 22 successful events,” says Verdin. “The most time-consuming preparation involved, besides actually working the ceremonies, is scheduling all the workers necessary for each graduation.” Staff scheduled includes cleaning crews, facility technicians, restroom attendants, ushers, nurses and police and parking personnel.

The largest ceremony will be Allen High School with approximately 1,200 students graduating; the smallest is Ponder High School with approximately 60 students graduating. 

The following high schools will hold graduation ceremonies at UNT's Coliseum from June 6-11:

• Denton High School - 1 p.m. June 6
• John H. Guyer High School - 4:30 p.m. June 6
• Billy Ryan High School - 8 p.m. June 6
• Creekview High School - 10 a.m. June 7
• Newman Smith High School - 2 p.m. June 7
• R.L. Turner High School - 6 p.m. June 7
• Lewisville High School - 10 a.m. June 8
• The Colony High School- 2 p.m. June 8
• Hebron High School - 6 p.m. June 8
• Flower Mound High School - 4 p.m. June 9
• Marcus High School - 8 p.m. June 9
• Coppell High School - 4 p.m. June 10
• Northwest High School - 4 p.m. June 11

Marie-Christine Koop, left with medal, chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, has been named an Officer in the Order of Academic Palms by the French Ministry of Education. Created in 1808 by then-emperor Napoléon I, the order originally honored eminent members of the University of Paris.

The award now honors contributions to French national education and culture. Koop received the award June 4 during a campus ceremony conducted by Kareen Rispal, cultural counselor of the French Embassy in the United States, and attended by Dominique Chastres, cultural attaché from the French Consulate in Houston.

Koop is president of the American Association of Teachers of French and received the association’s first National Award for Excellence in Teaching at the post-secondary level. She was also honored with the Nelson Brooks Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Culture, given by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language, and UNT’s J.H. Shelton Award for Excellence in Teaching. She has also been listed in three editions of “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.”

Small focus group meetings of 400 randomly-selected UNT Denton, UNT Dallas and UNT System employees are scheduled the week of June 16 as the next step in the staff classification and compensation study. Meetings also are scheduled for department heads and senior administrators.

A classification and compensation study is a management tool used by organizations of all types to maintain externally competitive and internally equitable levels of compensation.

Employees selected for focus groups will receive a notification inviting them to a specific meeting date, time and location. See frequently asked questions about the groups. 

Participating employees will be selected from all departments and job areas, and will be invited to attend a focus group scheduled the week of June 16-20. Focus groups will be asked to discuss their perceptions, and concerns regarding the current compensation program. The focus groups will be moderated by representatives of Management Advisory Group, or MAG, the consultant managing the study.

The groups will help MAG representatives gather multiple perspectives concerning the existing compensation program and solicit feedback about any improvements needed or required. “We want these groups to move beyond discussions about just salary,” says Donna Keener, right, assistant vice president for Human Resources. “It is important to hear from employees how they perceive the overall job classification and performance review process as well.”

Meetings also are scheduled with department heads and senior administrators. These meetings will be discussions about attracting qualified employees, satisfying and retaining employees, salaries and job classifications within a department or unit.

Information from all meetings will be collected and reviewed by MAG. Recommendations, based on UNT response and best practices, will be presented to President Gretchen M. Bataille for review during Fiscal Year 2009.

The study began in March 2008 when employees at UNT Denton, UNT System and UNT Dallas were asked to complete an online job analysis questionnaire. More than 90 percent of employees completed the survey, which is an unusually high organizational response rate, say MAG representatives.

The job analysis questionnaire provided information about day-to-day tasks, skills needed to complete those tasks, supervisory responsibilities, education and training. This information is used to compare the university positions internally to one another and externally to the marketplace.

The classification and compensation study will help UNT develop a new compensation program and philosophy, revise job descriptions and prepare a new performance evaluation process to ensure that the university will use a “best practices” approach. No salaries will be reduced and no positions eliminated as a result of the study.

For more information about the study, go to http://www.hr.unt.edu/main/ViewPage.php?cid=316. You’ll need an EUID and password

Alan B. Albarran, right, professor of radio, television and film and director of the Center for Spanish Language Media, received the Journal of Media Economics’ Award of Honor. The award, was presented at the 8th World Media Economics Conference in Lisbon; it is a lifetime achievement award, recognizing “numerous scholarly contribution and inspiration to the field of media economics.”  Albarran is the eighth recipient of the award, the first from Texas and the third from the United States.

Albarran is the author of seven books related to media management and economics, with several texts translated in to multiple languages. A former Fulbright senior scholar, he has given workshops and lectures in 14 different countries and served as an editor of two scholarly journals.

The center has a three-fold mission of preparing undergraduate students for careers in Spanish language media, conducting and disseminating research, and offering professional development opportunities to existing Spanish language media practitioners.

Albarran joined UNT in August 2000. He served seven years as chair of the Department of Radio, Television and Film before becoming director of the Center for Spanish Language Media in 2006. He previously taught at Southern Methodist University and Sam Houston State University. Albarran holds a doctoral degree from The Ohio State University and both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Marshall University.

Sunlight on curling paint. The civil rights movement of the 1960s. Technology. Poetry. And then there’s problem solving.

David Schwarz, left, recently named special assistant to the provost, has an esoteric list of encounters and experiences that have influenced his worldview. Schwarz’s two-year appointment was effective June 1.

“Perhaps my candidacy was appealing because I have degrees/certificates in different subjects,” he says. “I’ve always loved music and language, so I’ve studied music for a while, then poetry.” Schwarz’s eclectic curriculum vita includes a bachelor’s degree in English, master’s degree in comparative literature, foreign language certificate in German and a doctorate in music theory. In 2001, he earned a master’s degree in interactive telecommunications from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. The program, the first graduate education program in alternative media, focuses on the use of technology and interactivity  and “challenges students to apply their creativity and imagination to the latest digital tools and techniques.”

Schwarz joined UNT in 2002 and was awarded tenure as an associate professor of music theory in 2007. As a member of the music faculty, he added hands-on problem solving to his academic repertoire.

“I had an opportunity to serve on committees in the College of Music,” says Schwarz. “I got a taste of problem solving and found that I really enjoyed working with different interests and dealing with curricular pressures. It was extremely gratifying to be a problem solver.”

The special assistant to the Provost  position is a two-year appointment available to full-time, tenured faculty. The position provides an internship for a faculty member with interest in academic administration and in special projects or initiatives in Academic Affairs. Faculty members were invited to apply in February.

Celia Williamson, right, now deputy provost and dean of undergraduate studies, previously held the position. Williamson primarily was involved with formulating the university’s Academic Plan, and has spent the past year working with faculty to reinvigorate the core curriculum. The Texas Legislature mandated changes in public university core curriculum, and UNT has used the opportunity to enhance its undergraduate experience.     

Schwarz will work with Williamson, Provost Wendy Wilkins, left, and faculty to develop long range ways to improve education, he says. Some programs, such as freshman seminars and related capstone classes, have been discussed, but the creative thinking is just beginning.

“I find negotiating a terrain without a roadmap to be exciting,” says Schwarz. Fortunately, he has experience in a vast terrain, since he teaches “across the spectrum of music theory,” both doctoral seminars and the undergraduate music theory classes that many students choose to fulfill the core curriculum arts requirement.

Schwarz will spend summers as a full-time administrator, and then will be in the classroom half time during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 academic years. 

 “I have seen how a few changes can make a difference, so I’m looking forward to this,” he says. “It’s quite an honor to be learning from Dr. Williamson, Dr. Wilkins, and Dr. Bataille,” says Schwarz. “This administration is very dynamic.”

So what about the curling paint and civil rights?

“My father was a painter and a university professor who taught me a lot about art, perhaps without realizing it,” says Schwarz. “I remember being in his studio, the paint and the smell of turpentine … and the forms of sunlight on curling paint. Those were experiences I appreciated.”

His mother “comes from a long line of academics and educators,” and was one of the first women to attend the University of Georgia law school. “She and my grandfather were active in civil rights in the deep South,” says Schwarz. “My grandfather marched with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma, and I’m very proud of that heritage.”

Learn more about Schwarz’s classes and see his curriculum vita.