Outreach
UNT’s Mean Green Chemistry Demo Team performs chemical demonstration shows for thousands of school teachers and children each year, as well as at professional conferences and public displays. The team has presented more than 30 shows since it was first organized in 2002. UNT’s chemistry education program prepares future educators at all levels and is one of the few in the nation to have linked bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs to provide the secondary education system with scientists who can effectively teach science.
As a public university, the University of North Texas bears a special responsibility to advance and improve society. Its faculty, staff and students take seriously this obligation to do more to make a difference.
8th
More transfer students enroll at UNT than any other Texas institution, and U.S. News and World Report ranks UNT No. 8 for transfer enrollment.
To address state and national needs for more qualified teachers and more college graduates, UNT earned significant financial support in 2007 for programs that prepare school-age students for success in college. Grants for 2008 already are in place. In its service to the people of Texas, the nation and the globe, the University seeks to build meaningful educational experiences that will lead to a brighter tomorrow for all.
College Bound
UNT’s G-Force program supports Texas’ Closing the Gaps initiative by staffing Go Centers in high schools, where students can get information from current college students about college life and the details of how to secure financial aid, apply for admission and ensure acceptance. In return, UNT’s students are able to give back in a meaningful way while earning financial aid. The UNT program earned statewide recognition in 2007 and more than $100,000 to expand its outreach to additional school districts in the North Texas region. An additional $200,000 grant for 2008 will support further expansion. One of the goals of the state’s Closing the Gaps initiative is to enroll 630,000 new higher education students across Texas by 2015.
Robotics Camps
UNT offers a number of science and engineering programs to middle and high school students. Among the most popular are a series of robotics camps that were developed after faculty served as judges at the DC BEST robotics competition, which is hosted on campus each year. In 2008, UNT also will host the regional competition. The competition and the camps help keep young students, and especially girls, interested in engineering, math and science. The camps, funded by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the Texas Engineering and Technology Consortium, the Texas Workforce Commission, the National Science Foundation and the Motorola Foundation, will be expanded during the next two summers with new grant money that also will support a new mobile unit to take the camps to area schools.
Living laboratory
As a partner in the Lewisville Lake Environmental Learning Area consortium, UNT is dedicated to managing, preserving and restoring for educational and research purposes the native habitat and biodiversity of a 2,000-acre ecological site. The federally owned land on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in Denton County includes a unique mix of eastern cross timbers, tall-grass prairie, bottomland forest and wetland ecosystems that are home to a profusion of wildlife. LLELA serves as a living laboratory for ecological research and outdoor education for students of all ages. Each weekend the area is open to the public for recreational activities.
Astronomy Center
UNT’s Rafes Urban Astronomy Center provides telescopes for public viewing during its monthly open houses. It also hosts private star parties for area schools, scouts and community groups. The center, officially dedicated in April 2007, serves as the site for UNT’s astronomy laboratories. Former administrator Richard Rafes and his wife, Tommye, donated the land for the center.
Transfer Students
UNT’s partnerships with Texas’ community colleges expand educational opportunities for Texas students. UNT was Texas’ first university to implement an electronic Course Applicability System that students and advisors use to search course equivalency information and produce planning guides to stay on track for earning a degree. UNT also has sought innovative ways to support access for students, and this year an additional $125,000 in scholarships is available to transfer students. A recent partnership with the Grapevine Rotary Club provides scholarships for those who start at Tarrant County College and go on to earn a degree from UNT. In addition, UNT’s Institute for the Study of Transfer Students attracts national participation and funds research exploring the needs of transfer students.
Preparing Teachers
Numerous UNT programs address national shortages of teachers in high-need areas such as science, math, technology, bilingual education and English as a second language. Faculty from biology, chemistry, physics and teacher education collaborate on these important initiatives, which garnered more than $6 million in the past three years to assist in developing certified teachers in these high-need areas. Nearly 200 new teachers have been certified during that period as a result. Support includes National Science Foundation Noyce grants as well as funds from the U.S. Department of Education.
Instruction for Parents
UNT’s commitment to educational preparedness begins at early childhood. The University’s Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters teaches parents how to prepare their 3-, 4- and 5-year-old children for success in school and beyond. The Texas HIPPY Center at UNT provides training and technical assistance to HIPPY sites across the state and works with communities to implement the program. More than 1,700 parents participate with their children in 10 communities across Texas.
Frisco M.B.A.
UNT is committed to finding innovative ways to educate students beyond the boundaries of its campus in Denton. In fall 2007, to meet the demands of working professionals, UNT began offering M.B.A. classes in a new education facility in the thriving Frisco community. Next fall the M.B.A. program will offer a flex option to allow students to customize their degree.
Texas Governor’s School
UNT welcomed about 150 high school students from throughout Texas to its first Texas Governor’s School in summer 2007. The school enrolled selected students in a free three-week course examining “The Future of Science and Technology in Our World.” Students, who were supported by funds from the Texas Legislature, developed their abilities in science and technology and explored the impact of these fields on past, current and future societies. UNT is applying to offer the school again this summer.
Early College High Schools
The UNT Early College High School Consortium manages a $1.8 million grant from the Communities Foundation of Texas/Texas High School Project to develop and support three schools located on Dallas County Community College District campuses in partnership with the Dallas and Carrollton Farmers Branch ISDs. The schools allow students who are primarily first-generation, economically disadvantaged and from groups under-represented in higher education to complete within five years a high school diploma and an associate’s degree or 60 hours of college credit to transfer toward a bachelor’s degree.