The University

The University of North Texas is a comprehensive, state-assisted, coeducational institution of higher education that offers a wide variety of undergraduate, master's and doctoral degree programs.

History of the University

The university was established in 1890 as a teacher education facility by Joshua C. Chilton, the school's first president, who leased facilities for the Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute above a hardware store on the town square.

The university has gone through six name changes since its founding: (1890) Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute, (1894) North Texas Normal College, (1901) North Texas State Normal College, (1923) North Texas State Teachers College, (1949) North Texas State College, (1961) North Texas State University, and (1988) University of North Texas. The university has been led by 12 presidents: Joshua C. Chilton (1890-93), John J. Crumley (1893-94), Menter B. Terrill (1894-1901), J.S. Kendall (1901-06), W.H. Bruce (1906-23), Robert L. Marquis (1923-34), W.J. McConnell (1934-51), J.C. Matthews (1951-67), John J. Kamerick (1968-70), John Carter (acting, 1970-71), C.C. Nolen (1971-79), John Carter (acting, 1979-80), Frank E. Vandiver (1980-81), Howard W. Smith Jr. (ad interim, 1981-82), and Alfred F. Hurley (1982-present). Since 1980 the president also has carried the responsibilities and title of Chancellor of the University and the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth.

UNT is recognized as a comprehensive, metropolitan research university and as a leader in the performance of many public services, assisting in the economic diversification of the Dallas­Fort Worth metropolitan area and the state of Texas. 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. In 1992, UNT was elected to full membership in the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

With an enrollment of approximately 25,500 in 1998-99 and a faculty of more than 1,000, UNT is one of Texas' "Big Five," the state's largest and most academically challenging universities. It serves students from every state in the nation and from approximately 100 foreign countries.

The university offers 127 undergraduate and graduate degree majors. Undergraduate students may choose from 91 bachelor's degrees. Since its founding, UNT has awarded more than 156,000 bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. It has offered master's degrees since 1935 and doctoral degrees since 1950. As of October 1998, there were more than 80,800 active alumni in the Dallas­Fort Worth Metroplex and another 50,300 active alumni residing elsewhere.

Location

The University of North Texas is in Denton, a friendly college town with a population of more than 70,000 located about 30 miles north of Dallas and Fort Worth. The university campus is composed of 138 structures on 500 acres.

Many business, industry, education, government and cultural activities that support university studies are based in the Dallas­Fort Worth Metroplex.

The University's Mission

The University of North Texas is the largest and most comprehensive research and doctoral degree-granting institution in North Texas. The university is committed to excellence in teaching and the discovery and application of knowledge through research and creative activities. As a metropolitan university, the institution is dedicated to continued growth as a leader in the Dallas­Fort Worth­Denton area; the Metroplex; and state, national and international education communities.

The university:

• conducts high-quality instruction, scholarship and service by:
  • fostering excellence and innovation in teaching and learning;
  • supporting research and creative activities that advance knowledge, strengthen undergraduate and graduate programs, and promote the application of knowledge for the benefit of society; and
  • accepting a primary leadership role in addressing community needs of the Metroplex region and the state;
• maintains a community founded on free and open inquiry, academic integrity and the examination of values;
• nurtures development of students by providing continuing opportunities for intellectual, physical, emotional, social and career growth;
• stresses understanding and appreciation of the historical, intellectual, technological, scientific and cultural nature of the search for knowledge;
• promotes the advancement of the arts; and
• supports a culturally diverse environment and advocates mutual respect for all members of the university community as they strive for excellence.

The university fosters its relationship with the University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth and cultivates partnerships with elementary and secondary schools, community colleges, other universities, businesses, government agencies and nonprofit organizations to improve the quality of education and community life.

Faculty

At the heart of the university's efforts to carry out its mission are the faculty. Individually, UNT faculty members have been singled out for contributions to their teaching and research fields through diverse national and international awards.

Collectively, the faculty have contributed significantly to research and scholarship within various fields through numerous publications, presentations at scholarly conferences, concerts, recitals, exhibitions and performances.

Faculty leadership in teaching, research, creative activities, performance and service activities has created national and international reputations for excellence for a number of academic programs within the university's nine schools and colleges.

Student Life

A wide array of clubs and organizations offer UNT students friendships with people of similar interests and avenues for organized and meaningful service. Included are national honor societies, national professional societies and departmental clubs, an active Greek system, and special focus groups with interests that encompass everything from residence hall improvement to recreational sports. For information, call (940) 565-3807.

University Libraries

Library facilities at the University of North Texas function as the nerve center for teaching and academic research. Four campus facilities house just under two million cataloged holdings, including books, periodicals, maps, documents, microforms, audiovisual materials, music scores and electronic media.

Library Collections

Willis Library holds one of the country's largest music libraries, extensive phonographic disc and tape collections, a broad humanities and social sciences collection, the University Archives, and the Rare Books and Texana collections. Other unique library collections include the private jazz collections of Stan Kenton, Don Gillis, Whit Ozier and Leon Breeden; the private library of Anson Jones, president of the Republic of Texas; Texas county histories; miniatures; and examples of important early publishing, printing and binding styles. The library is a depository for U.S. and Texas government documents and is the only Government Printing Office (GPO) ACCESS Web Gateway Library in Texas.

The Media Library in Chilton Hall houses a large collection of audiovisual materials, including motion pictures, tapes, recordings and videodiscs.

The Science and Technology Library, housed in the Information Sciences Building, emphasizes physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and library science and includes an outstanding collection in mathematics.

The Library Annex houses over 300,000 lesser used materials, sections of the University Archives, and the preservation and technical services departments of the University Libraries. Items located in the annex are so noted in the libraries' on-line catalog, and a reading room is available for users in the annex. The Library Annex, located just off Airport Road on Precision, is near the main campus.

Special Services of the Libraries

Through the university's membership in the Alliance for Higher Education (AHE), students with an AHE identification card may borrow materials at more than 20 academic libraries in the area. Contact library staff for details. Active participation in the AMIGOS Bibliographic Council provides access to a variety of computerized library services, including interlibrary loans, bibliographic database searching and shared cataloging. The libraries have a large number of electronic databases available for public use both on and off campus via computer linkage. The UNT Libraries hold a membership in the Center for Research Libraries. The center, which functions as an extension of the local collections, is dedicated to acquiring and lending materials that complement and supplement the collections of the major research libraries of North America. The University Library has been designated a major research library by the U.S. Department of Education.

Computer Services

Centralized computing services that support instruction and research are provided through Academic Computing Services, a division of the Computing Center, located in Room 119 of the Information Sciences Building. These services support a wide range of hardware and software resources as well as training, consulting and information services.

In addition to the services directly supported by Academic Computing Services, 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 laboratories in each college or school; and UNIX-based minicomputers in the Department of Computer Sciences. Computer networks are installed in all academic departments, providing connectivity with a variety of general-purpose and specialized computing equipment.

Hardware and Operating Systems

The primary central computing resources for academic computing at the University of North Texas consists of a modern IBM multiprocessor mainframe computer and several UNIX-based minicomputers.

The IBM mainframe supports two operating systems for instruction and research: VM/CMS and OS/MVS, as well as COMPLETE, a teleprocessing monitor. OS/MVS provides batch processing while CMS is used for interactive computing under VM. UNIX minicomputers run modern versions of the UNIX operating system.

Access to these and other computers is gained through an extensive fiber optic­based local area network (LAN) on campus or, from off campus, through telephone modems connected to the LAN. Thirteen general access microcomputer laboratories, housing approximately 650 computers, are available to all students for access to central computer systems and both IBM-compatible and Macintosh personal computers. Laser printers are provided in all labs. Approximately 30 additional special-purpose labs serve students in particular disciplines or students living in university residence halls.

Software

Academic Computing Services provides support for most major programming languages on the IBM and UNIX systems. Several statistical analysis packages are supported on the various host systems, including SAS, SPSS, and S-Plus. Electronic mail facilities are available for intra-campus communications as well as for communications through the Internet. In addition, access to other Internet services such as the World Wide Web and Telnet are provided from any of the computers on the campus LAN.

The Computing Center also serves as a repository for a substantial body of machine-readable data including the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) data archives, Standard and Poor's COMPUSTAT, and the Center for Research in Security Prices' CRSP data sets. The university libraries also maintain a number of databases and other research materials on CD-ROM servers that are accessible through the campus network.

Academic Computing Services provides support for a variety of microcomputer-based software applications. Site licenses are maintained for microcomputer versions of SPSS, SAS and S-Plus, which provide statistical analysis capabilities.

Consulting, Training and Information Services

Consulting and training services are provided by Academic Computing services to facilitate the use of both microcomputer and host computing facilities by students. A series of short courses is offered each semester to allow students to gain the expertise necessary to use campus computer systems effectively, and a number of computer-based training programs are accessible on host systems and from within student laboratories. Should problems arise, experienced consultants are available to assist students.

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 systems.

Finally, BENCHMARKS, the Computing Center's newsletter, is published on a regular basis and serves as an excellent resource for current information systems at UNT.

Accreditations

Addresses of accrediting organizations are printed

following the index.

Institutional Memberships

The University of North Texas holds the following memberships.

Alliance for Higher Education

American Association for Higher Education

American Association of State Colleges and
Universities

American Council on Education

Association of Texas Colleges and Universities

Association of Texas Graduate Schools

Conference of Southern Graduate Schools

Council of Graduate Schools

Federation of North Texas Area Universities

National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges

Oak Ridge Associated Universities

University Officers

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