During Toulouse's tenure as graduate dean, almost every graduate program currently authorized at UNT was established. His leadership role in establishing these programs helped to make UNT the most comprehensive graduate institution in the North Texas region and one of the three largest graduate institutions in the state.
In addition, graduate student enrollment grew from approximately 300 students to more than 5,500, which then represented almost a third of UNT's total enrollment. Toulouse also provided the leadership in establishing the Federation of North Texas Area Universities in 1968.
Toulouse's efforts also had an extraordinary effect on the development of research at the university. As dean, he pursued a goal of enhancing research across the entire campus, involving as many professors as possible to build a strong base for attracting external funding. His insight and good judgment in managing the university's limited resources for research led to major increases in the quality and impact of research at UNT. In this, he laid the foundation for the explosive increase in external research funding of the 1980s.
In 1987, the Select Committee on Higher Education designated UNT as one of five comprehensive research and graduate institutions in Texas. Since 1976, UNT has been classified by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Doctoral I University.
Since its founding in 1890, North Texas has awarded more than 143,000 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. It has offered master's degrees since 1935 and doctoral degrees since 1950. UNT has more than 69,000 active alumni in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and another 35,000 active alumni reside elsewhere.
UNT is located in the city of Denton, easily accessible via interstate highway from Dallas (37 miles) and Fort Worth (35 miles). The university campus is composed of 121 structures on 456 acres.
The university:
Graduate work at the master's level was first offered at the University of North Texas in 1935 in response to an increasing demand from Texas school systems for teachers with more than four years of college-level education. A Graduate Division and a Graduate Council were formed to make policy. Master's degrees were first offered in art, biology, chemistry, economics, education, English, physical and health education, and Spanish, with the first master's degrees conferred in 1936.
Beginning in 1946, master's programs were added in other departments and by 1950 the master's degree was available in almost every area in which the institution offered the bachelor's degree.
The Graduate School was established in 1946 as part of a major reorganization of the institution. The Board of Regents approved the first doctoral programs - an EdD in education and a PhD in music - in 1950. Today, doctoral programs are offered in all schools and colleges except the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management. Throughout the development of the graduate program, the pattern has been to build master's programs on the base of well-established undergraduate programs and to build doctoral programs on the base of well-established master's programs.
In 1961 the Texas Legislature approved the designation of North Texas State University in recognition of the institution's widening scope in higher education. The university was designated in 1964 by the Governor's Committee on Education Beyond the High School as one of the five major state-supported universities in Texas. In 1968, the Texas College and University System Coordinating Board confirmed the university's mission to offer "top-quality doctoral programs ... in the basic arts and sciences, teacher education, business administration and the fine arts" as well as "cooperative doctoral programs in other fields." In further recognition of its doctoral programs and scholarly research, the university has been classified since 1976 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as a Doctoral I University. On May 15, 1988, NTSU became the University of North Texas.
Master's and doctoral degree programs have been developed that permit students at one of the three participating institutions to complete a portion of their graduate work at either or both of the other two, although a single institution grants the degree. The University of North Texas grants eight master's and seven doctoral degrees that are part of the federation consortium. In addition, 16 program committees have been formed to encourage cooperative activities between the participating universities.
The center, begun in 1970 as the privately funded Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine (TCOM), became state-assisted and affiliated with the University of North Texas by action of the Texas State Legislature in 1975. The Health Science Center is governed by the University of North Texas Board of Regents. Currently, the Health Science Center's two components are TCOM and the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
The graduate school offers master's and doctoral degrees in the biomedical sciences with specializations in anatomy and cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, microbiology and immunology, pharmacology, and physiology.
Medical students enrolled at TCOM also may acquire research training through enrolling in a joint DO/MS or DO/PhD program in biomedical sciences. Graduate students at UNT or the UNT Health Science Center may enroll at either campus through special arrangements of the respective graduate schools. Joint research and service activities are underway in such areas as aging, health promotion and public health.
At the undergraduate level, UNT and the UNT Health Science Center's Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine offer a joint program in which selected premedical students complete three years on the UNT campus in Denton, then transfer to the medical school in Fort Worth to begin the four-year medical curriculum. The basic science courses taken in the first year of the medical curriculum serve to complete a BA in biological sciences or chemistry or the BA or BS in biochemistry at UNT. Students in this program thus save a year in their medical training, reducing the usual eight-year program to seven.
The Health Science Center campus is a 15-acre, $71 million medical-care complex in the heart of Fort Worth's cultural district. It is home to the Gibson D. Lewis Health Science Library, where virtually all the world's medical knowledge may be accessed by students, faculty, and the public through sophisticated medical information systems.
Faculty expertise has fostered the development of five institutes at the UNT Health Science Center: the Texas Institute for Research and Education on Aging, the Substance Abuse Institute of North Texas, the North Texas Eye Research Institute, the Wound Care Institute and the Institute for Forensic Medicine.
Students interested in a graduate program in biomedical sciences at the Health Science Center should contact the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UNT Health Science Center, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort Worth, TX 76107, or call (817) 735-2560.
External research funding reached $23,764,318 in the 1995 fiscal year. Of this total, 68.6 percent was for research, 14.4 percent was for instructional projects, 5.0 percent supported public service efforts and 12.0 percent supported student services and other projects. Federal government agencies provided 43.3 percent of the funds, state agency funds amounted to 8.5 percent and private sources (including business and industry) provided 48.2 percent. Specific areas of research are described in the catalog section devoted to each academic unit.
External funding is an essential feature of university research. Many graduate faculty members receive grants and contracts from private foundations and corporations and from federal, state and municipal agencies. These funds are used in support of all forms of research activity, including employment of graduate research assistants. Fellowships are sometimes available in departments that have received federal training grants.
Research is integral to graduate education. It provides the opportunity for a student to demonstrate creative and problem-solving talents in a unique way that is wholly different from the organized classroom experience. Research activity by graduate students, under faculty supervision, is at the heart of the graduate teaching/learning experience. Inquiries about financial support should be made directly to the academic unit in which the student intends to enroll.
During the last few years, UNT has made a consistent commitment to expanding and improving the space and equipment available for research. The opening of the 60,000 square-foot Science Research Building in 1985 brought state-of-the-art facilities for research in the departments of biological sciences, chemistry and physics, the biochemistry program and the Institute of Applied Sciences. Together with other specialized laboratories spread throughout the campus, UNT provides high-quality space and equipment to support its teaching, research and service missions.
In addition to funds granted by external sources to support research, funds appropriated by the Texas Legislature in support of research by faculty members of the university are allocated through a peer-review process by a faculty committee of eight members appointed by the Faculty Senate. The committee is chaired by the associate vice president for research and dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. The associate vice president for academic affairs is an ex-officio member. Faculty research grants are administered through the Office of Sponsored Research Administration.
Faculty research funds provide equipment, material and part-time support of graduate students and faculty members. For example, a graduate student may be employed as a research assistant in one of the many research projects underway on the campus, generally in the department in which the student is studying for an advanced degree. As part of a research assistantship, students often are able to undertake projects that contribute to completion of their thesis or dissertation requirement.
Results of faculty research include articles in professional and technical journals, published books and the development of new areas of research that may attract funding from sources outside the university.
The Willis Library houses the general collection, with particular strengths in art, business, education and legal studies. Special collections are housed in this facility and include the Music Library, University Archives, Rare Books and Texana, and Government Documents.
The Music Library is nationally and internationally acclaimed as one of the outstanding music collections in the United States. These holdings, which are particularly strong in jazz with the private collections of Stan Kenton, Don Gillis, Whit Ozier and Leon Breeden, provide an especially rewarding research environment for 20th-century music study.
Other unique collections include the Sarah T. Hughes archives; the private library of Anson Jones, president of the Republic of Texas; Texas county histories; miniatures; and important examples of printing and binding styles from the early days of printing. The library is a depository for both federal and state documents. Extensive holdings of newspapers on microfilm include complete holdings of The London Times, the New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and the Los Angeles Times, as well as substantial runs of other significant national and international papers.
The libraries have available a large number of electronic databases including such networked CD-ROM products as MLA Bibliography, ABI/INFORM, DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS, ERIC, and PSYCLIT.
The Science and Technology Library is housed in the Information Sciences Building. Holdings emphasize physics, chemistry, biology, computer sciences and library science, and include an outstanding collection in mathematics.
The Media Library, housed in Chilton Hall, provides audio-visual materials, software and equipment for accessing the materials. The Gerontological Film Collection, a part of this library, is well-known throughout the state.
The Willis and Science and Technology libraries are open over 100 hours per week with reference service available continuously to provide users with assistance in locating information and resources. Subject librarians in major disciplines provide specialized reference and research assistance, lecture regularly to classes, conduct searches of computerized information files, and develop the libraries' collections in their subject areas in consultation with department faculty. Introductory tours are offered each semester and printed guides are available to assist patrons in use of the libraries.
Other user services available include electronic access, both on and off-campus, to the holdings of the UNT libraries, the collections of the other major research libraries in the Metroplex and state, and, through the Internet, the resources of thousands of libraries throughout the world. As a member of the Alliance for Higher Education, the libraries provide reciprocal loan arrangements with over twenty academic libraries in the Dallas-Fort Worth region. The UNT libraries also hold membership in the Center for Research Libraries, whose collections of over 3.5 million volumes are available for long-term loan to graduate students.
In addition to the services directly supported by Academic Computing Services, additional computer services also are available from the University Libraries as well as many college, school and departmental computer support centers. Examples include the libraries' on-line card catalog and CD-ROM databases; general access as well as instructional microcomputer labs in the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business Administration, School of Community Service, Department of Computer Sciences, College of Education, School of Library and Information Sciences, School of Visual Arts, and numerous other departments; and UNIX-based minicomputers in the Department of Computer Sciences. Computer networks also are installed in most academic departments, providing connectivity with a variety of general-purpose and specialized computing equipment as well as to the Internet.
Access to these and other computers is gained through an extensive fiber optic and cable television-based local area network (LAN) on campus. In addition, off-campus access is provided through dial-up lines that support standard asynchronous as well as PPP protocols, with telephone service points in the Denton, Dallas and Fort Worth areas that are free of long-distance charges.
Fourteen general access microcomputer laboratories, strategically housed in ten buildings across campus, are available for general use by all students for access to the mainframe, UNIX systems, and for general use of microcomputer software. Both IBM and Macintosh computers are available, with draft and laser-quality printers in most labs.
Academic Computing Services provides support for a variety of microcomputer-based software applications. Site licenses are maintained for microcomputer versions of SPSS and SAS, both of which provide statistical analysis capabilities. The general access microcomputer labs are open to all students and offer a wide variety of microcomputer applications accessible over a high-speed LAN.
Students wishing to participate in computer-based conferences on a wide variety of computer-related and non-computer-related subjects can take advantage of USENET news bulletin board system.
Finally, BENCHMARKS, the Computing Center's newsletter, is published on a regular basis and serves as an excellent resource for current information on computing systems at UNT.
Note: Consult the dean of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies for program opportunities and requirements and see "Toulouse School of Graduate Studies" in the University section of this catalog describing the program.
The university's cooperative degree programs are administered through the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies. As a member of the federation, UNT offers interinstitutional graduate programs in a number of disciplines. Each cooperative degree program is coordinated by a federation committee for that discipline.
Enrollment of UNT students at TWU and ETSU under the cross-registration arrangement is contingent upon their meeting any prerequisites for admission to the class or classes in which they wish to be enrolled, and upon the availability of space in the class.
UNT is approved to award the following degrees through programs offered by the federation.
Residents of these states who are accepted for admission into selected out-of-state programs may enroll on an in-state tuition basis. To qualify, an applicant must (1) be accepted into a program to which his or her state has made arrangements to send its students, and (2) submit proof to the university of legal residence in the home state. Residents of the Southern states should contact the Texas state coordinator for the Academic Common Market, in care of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, P.O. Box 12788, Capitol Station, Austin, Texas 78711, or contact the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies at UNT for more information.
A list of certain graduate degree programs offered by UNT that are currently accepted by various states that are members of the Common Market may be obtained from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board or the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies at UNT.