Remarks by President Gretchen M. Bataille

Sept. 9, 2008
Fall 2008 Convocation

Fall 2008 Convocation

Well good morning again. Thank you again for being here for our annual Faculty and Staff Convocation. And a particular welcome to those who are joining us this morning from Discovery Park and the Dallas campus. In the interest of paying attention to the environment and saving some gas, we are actually delivering this to those places. We will also be recording it and it will be available online after this morning.

I hope you are all having a great start of the academic year. As you know, it is my third year with UNT and I expect it to just keep getting better and better. When people ask me, "Are you having fun?", I say, "Absolutely." And when I quit having fun, then it will be over. But right now, I'm having a ball.

Already, our drive to meet any challenge with excellence and pride has been clearly demonstrated this fall. I cannot tell you how proud I was of our students, our faculty and our staff who gave up a lot of time over the Labor Day weekend to respond to the needs of our neighbors in Louisiana whose homes were threatened by Hurricane Gustav. Our UNT family joined together to do what was necessary to provide a clean and comfortable and safe shelter space equipped with television and computer access so our guests could remain aware of what was happening in their home cities as the hurricane made landfall and moved across through the Gulf area. In fact, when the call went out for 20 student volunteers at 2 o'clock in the morning, 283 students showed up. That's one student per setting up one cot. Although the shelter was managed by the Red Cross, the shelter manager was Paula Iaeger, a graduate student who works in the Provost's Office and our man-on-the-ground was Luis Tapia, who has been here less than two months. Will all of you who assisted in this effort in any way - that's the police, the PR people, the volunteers - would you all stand so we can recognize you?

This united response illustrates what UNT is all about. We are committed to meeting needs - whether it's at the individual or the global level. UNT has always stepped forward to do whatever it takes, and we do so with the intent of finding innovative solutions to society's most complex and pressing challenges. We have done this from our very start as a teacher's training college, established to meet the educational needs of our region so Texas could advance as an educated state. Over the years, we have diversified into a complex university, and we are continually evolving to meet the challenges and needs of our students and greater society while remaining true to our excellence and traditions. Once a small college dedicated to graduating teachers, today our spirit of discovery and commitment to ideas has intensified.

For many years, we have been at the forefront of providing a rich environment that nurtures artistic expression, encourages community service and embraces the fundamental role of humanities and social sciences. And our faculty add to our nation's knowledge base through cutting-edge research that is leading to solutions for real-world issues.

Our research is as varied as the world's needs. From computational modeling to ceramic fuel cells to bringing attention the risk of hearing loss for student musicians, our faculty are responding. The arts continue to flourish - even in this room -demonstrated by the One O'Clock Lab Band's tour of Europe this past summer and the documentation of artwork missing and stolen from the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad.

It is because of work like this that we are taking our rightful place among universities recognized for excellence. Each of you, and many of our faculty and staff, exhibit a day-to-day dedication to serving our students, meeting their needs at every turn and ensuring that they are prepared to meet the expectations of a changing, global society.

Our momentum is growing. We are beginning this year with a stronger-than-ever administrative team. We concluded three national dean searches last year and now have in place leaders who join Provost Wendy Wilkins and our other deans in strengthening our overall academic quality.

Many of you likely already know our new business dean because our search led us right back to our own campus. Dr. Finley Graves started his tenure as dean of the College of Business Administration in April, although he had served as interim dean since August 2007. With Finley at the helm, the college will continue turning out some of the most promising business leaders and managers as it educates more than 5,000 students from around the world.

Likewise, our College of Education will reach new heights in its role among the state's top producers of teachers and other critical education professionals in Texas, under the guidance of Jerry R. Thomas. Jerry started as dean of the College of Education on August 1. With nearly 20 years spent chairing university departments, Jerry brings a wealth of leadership experience to our college, which has been a bedrock of academic excellence since the university's founding.

And finally, Costas Tsatsoulis also joined us August 1 to lead our still young College of Engineering. With his enthusiasm and strong vision, Costas has the wherewithal to grow UNT's College of Engineering into a research and academic powerhouse. During his time at the University of Kansas, Costas sought innovative ways to increase the engineering department's profile among its alumni and the industry, which led to more students, more dollars and stronger programs. We look forward to even greater success here.

Welcome to all three of them. Finley, I know is unable to be with us this morning, but Costas and Jerry would you stand so we could recognize you?

With outstanding faculty, UNT, like all great universities, provides a comprehensive experience. While our focus is on academics, the experiences we offer our students go beyond the learning in the classrooms and laboratories. Staff members interact with our students in offices, residence halls, the rec center and athletics, making a positive difference in their lives.

We are the university of choice for over 34,000 students who are seeking to create bright futures. While at UNT, they experience a community rich with diverse points of view and unique opportunities to explore. In the process, they become lifelong learners who thrive and excel.

Every step along the way, our students are supported by caring, committed staff and faculty. This year, all of our students will benefit from improvements we will make to our already strong programs that identify and help students who might be struggling in the classroom or in their personal lives. A $1.9 million Title III grant will help us improve student learning through the development of student support services and a comprehensive tracking program that will alert our counselors and faculty when a student is having difficulty with classes.

These programs, and many more, together with our existing strengths and new strategic initiatives, will strengthen our ability to provide our students with a campus dedicated to their development and discovery. This past summer, UNT was the first university in the DFW region to sign the College Board's commitment to low-income students. The CollegeKeys Compact validates what we are already doing-supporting first-generation students, students from underrepresented populations, and students from low-income families. UNT has already been recognized by the College Board as one of only 44 institutions nationally that have made a substantial commitment to low-income students because of our Emerald Eagle Scholars program and our TRIO programs.

I was also proud to be the first president from a large Texas university to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment. This reinforces our longstanding commitment to green living and green research. It also means our new buildings will be built to LEED-certification standards. You - I'm sure - have all noticed that our new 81,000-square-foot Life Sciences Complex is now under construction where Master's Hall once stood. When completed, it will provide our faculty with well-equipped new laboratory space while also ensuring our students are learning in an environment suited for teaching them how to meet the needs of the modern, scientific world. The same will be true for our new Business Leadership Building, which is expected to be under construction this year as well. Our new business facility will allow us to better collaborate and it will have space that supports the exchange of ideas among students, faculty, staff and business leaders.

We have been steadily improving our athletics facilities, and our student athletes have flourished in the classroom and on the fields of play. Our student athletes' current overall GPA is the highest in eight years and, recently, we've had more conference championships and postseason play across all sports, as well as six of the 10 largest crowds in UNT athletic history.

This past weekend we had a ceremonial burning of the note for the Athletic Center, and that facility now has no debt. We also launched a public phase of our campaign to build a new stadium. Providing our students and the entire community with facilities that meet today's needs and showcase UNT as a world-class institution is part of why we are seeking to build a new facility that will be more than a stadium. It will be a complete entertainment complex. This campaign will take commitment from our entire community - our alums, our students, our supporters and each of you - as we work to make this vision a reality.

What already is a reality are the achievements of our eager, bright and talented students. I'm sure none of you will be surprised to learn that, once again, UNT's new freshmen class have SAT and ACT scores that average higher than both the Texas and national averages. And I hope, like me, you're proud to know that our students come from every region in Texas, all 50 states and 128 countries.

Our new freshmen, of course, include our second class of Emerald Eagle Scholars. I had the pleasure of meeting them during our welcome reception last week. I am certain this group of scholars will perform as well - if not better - than our inaugural class. And I am proud that more than 80 percent of our first scholars are continuing in the program - that is higher than our usual freshman and sophomore retention rate. And this will keep them on track for successfully graduating on time. Thanks to all of you who have served as mentors and continue to ensure that these students have every opportunity of success.

I know that each of you works hard every day to make this university a great place of discovery. And I recognize that, particularly for many of our staff and faculty, you're doing it now during some times of hardship. Many Americans today are struggling to make ends meet as they seek to improve the quality of life for their families. The rising costs of gas and other necessities present challenges. I want to tell each of you, and all of our dedicated staff and faculty, that UNT is committed to helping you find solutions as well.

To help with the rising gas prices this past year, we enhanced our ride share program and promoted it to the campus. The number of individuals who have registered since July has nearly doubled. We also urged that the Board of Regents approve a new policy that would allow the campus to determine opportunities for flexible scheduling, and we are working - very quickly - on establishing such a policy.

Another initiative to assess all job classifications and our compensation philosophy continues to move on schedule. We anticipate we will receive recommendations from MAG by the end of the year, and for the past two years we have held back funds to address inequities that are discovered. It is important to note that no staff member's salary will be reduced and no staff will be terminated as a result of this study. During the time of this study, there have continued to be actions that have improved opportunities for staff advancement. Last year, 177 staff employees received job promotions within their own departments. A total of almost $1.5 million in promotional increases took place and 225 staff members were promoted within UNT-Denton into higher-paying positions.

Two new staff members were hired during the past year to help us address the work environment. Dr. Belinda Newman came to us from Collin County Community College to serve as ombuds for both faculty and staff. And joining us from UT Health Science Center in San Antonio last year was Steven Hill, our Director of Compliance. Would you both stand and be recognized? These are important people to know.

We continue to work on multiple fronts: programs to address the work environment for staff and faculty, academic support for students, research and teaching support for faculty, and public relations efforts to let the world know what's happening here in Denton. Our Strategic Plan guides us in a number of ways. Strategic plans, though, must be living documents, and during the past year we made some minor revisions to the plan that existed when I arrived. It is my aim to ensure that we fulfill our 2008-2013 Strategic Plan. Each of you should have found an abridged copy in your seat. You have access to the entire plan online.

Fulfilling this plan will move our university forward, improve our quality and help us earn the recognition we deserve. The decisions we make to fulfill this plan will be data-driven, and those decisions will be made to ensure that we are strategically using the resources we have to make the most difference possible. This year, Provost Wendy Wilkins will lead the process to review the strategic plan as well as the academic plan to be sure both are consistent with our goals for UNT.

You know, often institutions of higher education avoid making progress because they insist they must have new resources to fund new initiatives. Well, I don't believe it's about how much new money you have or don't have - although, we do like money. It's about how you use the resources you've already been given. That's why three years ago, we opened up our budgeting process and asked all campus units to review their budget and spending. Every year, we ask each unit to identify what they could stop doing or what they could do differently if they had to cut their budgets. We then we ask them to tell us what they believe they could do better or what new initiatives they could launch to improve our university if they had this new, reallocated money. Then, with this collective wisdom, we decide what makes sense for us to do within our existing resources.

This year, we are putting more money into hiring additional faculty. And we are adding positions in our advising offices across campus while also increasing the base salaries of advisors. We know that providing quality advising to students is the key to improved graduation rates. These investments will directly impact the quality of education and the support our students receive.

We also plan to aggressively reach out to the Legislature this year. With its budget surplus, Texas is in a unique and enviable position in the country and the upcoming legislative session provides an unprecedented opportunity for Texas to gain ground. I believe that our legislators need to look at investing in higher education in a way that will make a difference for the economy of Texas. I will spend as much time as is necessary in Austin to ensure that UNT is not overlooked during this year's legislative funding cycle.

We've already started to send the word to Austin. I'm proud to introduce you to Kimberly Reasoner, our new director of external and government relations. She will play a key role in our legislative success. After working as a key staff member for U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess, Kim brings a detailed knowledge of the legislative process that will help UNT raise its profile as an emerging research university with local, state and federal legislators and other leaders. Kim would you stand so you can be acknowledged?

It is really important for legislators and others to understand the extent of what UNT does to improve the quality of life in Texas while supporting economic development and keeping Texas competitive on a global level through research.

We are one of the top producers of doctoral graduates in Texas. The state must not overlook this because the economic and intellectual growth of Texas depends heavily on having a growing foundation of highly educated individuals who add to the base of knowledge. We play a critical role in keeping Texas' industries and knowledge production vibrant and competitive.

The fact that our university leads the state in developing new ways of teaching today's student so that they learn all they can while in our classrooms is just yet another example of how UNT is meeting needs. Our Next Generation course design program took on the unique challenge of improving student learning while helping to solve the funding and space challenges that growing college campuses face as they teach more students than ever before. These courses have been thoughtfully designed to best capitalize on technology and proven pedagogy so that our students learn more in their large courses.

We are also doing an excellent job of supporting the state's Closing the Gaps mandate, which is designed to ensure that more students succeed in higher education. This is important because as our state grows, so must our population of well-educated citizens. I'm proud that since the program's inception UNT has exceeded its projected goals each year. Since Closing the Gaps began in 2000 through the latest reporting cycle of 2007, UNT's enrollment growth ranks second in the state. What you may not know, and what you should be really proud of, is that over the same time period UNT ranks first in the state for increased number of degrees awarded. No other university ranks as high on both measures. And in the future, we will continue to meet this important need by recruiting new and talented undergraduate and graduate students, while working to be sure that those we choose to admit will have increasing rates of success.

These are messages that legislators and our peers need to hear, and we will make sure that our voice is heard. UNT is growing, but we will not sacrifice our high quality for increased quantity. We are not interested in the business of simply being big. We are committed to being among the best. Each year, both the quality and diversity of our campus continues to grow.

There is even more proof of that in the fact that we have over 90 new faculty members joining our robust group of excellent teachers and researchers who are already here. They bring with them nearly 250 degrees. Collectively, they have written nearly 60 books, 147 chapters. They have 11 patents, 139 film credits or exhibitions to their credit. And they bring with them about $28.9 million in grant funding.

Importantly, they are a diverse group of women and men who represent different ethnicities and points of view, as well as academic disciplines. They come from 39 states and 14 different countries. They are indeed enriching our collective knowledge base and our community. UNT also annually hosts about 200 visiting scholars from 50 countries, with more than 130 of these scholars conducting research and 50 of them teaching.

This group of faculty, like our group of new students, expands our intellectual discourse and broadens our awareness of different cultures, perspectives and issues. The same is true of our more than 2,400 international students. And by studying side-by-side with peers from around the world, our students are able to experience what their future work world will be.

By reaching out to build partnerships with universities across the globe, we do even more to offer our students the opportunity to experience our global society. This summer, I led a delegation that spent two weeks visiting several Chinese universities, including East China Normal and Fudan universities in Shanghai, Yunnan University in Kunming, and Beijing Normal University. We explored research and faculty exchange opportunities. And already, we have heard from a number of our hosts who are eager to partner with us. Collaborating with universities in China will help us increase our presence in Asia, where we already have established a strong partnership with the Rajabhat universities in Thailand to help them further educate their faculty. Likewise, our partnership with the Autonomous University of México in Toluca Mexico has been our key academic partner since 2002. And we continue to strengthen that partnership.

I am proud to report that we had 46 programs for students to learn in 22 different countries this past year. One of the outstanding programs took 16 Emerald Eagle Scholars and a number of faculty and staff to Thailand for three weeks. I recently had the opportunity to meet with these students and the overwhelming response was that this experience changed their lives.

Providing our students with a doorway to the world is critical. And ensuring that our university is inclusive is key to our continued success. Because to succeed as a global society, we all must understand that progress comes from open dialogue and cross-cultural understanding.

UNT remains committed to providing these opportunities for everyone. I am really proud that this year, we moved from the nation's top 100 to the top 50 universities for increasing the number of degrees awarded to minority students.

Texas, though, is dependent on its universities providing research-intensive communities that will attract the nation's brightest students and faculty as well as entice corporations eager to invest in the discovery of knowledge that will advance our society.

We are dedicated to meeting this need. Through the development of Discovery Park, which has 550,000 square feet of built space and plenty of room to grow on nearly 290 acres, we will bring industry and academe together. And we will work on finding solutions for some of society's most pressing concerns. Discovery Park will be a catalyst for economic development in the region and the state. To help lead our efforts to develop Discovery Park as a premier research park that will include incubator facilities and high-quality space for start-up companies, we recently hired Harold Strong, formerly the director of Texas A&M's research park. Harold would you please stand so we can recognize you?

We also now have an administrative team in place that is dedicated to developing the research capabilities of our faculty in all disciplines. Mr. Richard Nader, who left the National Science Foundation to join us last week as director of research development, will use his experience directing the NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering to help us advance faculty research, creativity and innovations, and secure research funding university-wide. Rick would you stand so we could recognize you?

You know, 95 percent of the universities that are members of the Association of American Universities and/or Carnegie Research Universities with very high research activity are comprehensive in nature, known for their excellence in the physical, mathematical and life sciences, and engineering, and equally for distinctions in the social and behavioral sciences, the humanities, and the visual and performing arts.

UNT has recognized excellence in all of those areas, and I am committed to growing this excellence as well as our recognition. Today, I am proud to officially and publicly announce a plan that many of you have been aware of, but it is a plan to invest at least $25 million to support multidisciplinary, collaborative research efforts.

Our plan is to recruit world-renowned faculty to expand our research contributions in fields in which we already have a proven nucleus of established excellence. Simultaneously, we will improve the infrastructure to support more cutting-edge research by developing our available space and providing the equipment needed for the research initiatives.

We will begin this year with the development of six research clusters that capitalize on the expertise and reputations of current UNT faculty members. By investing in known areas of excellence, we will use our strongest existing research efforts to stimulate growth in complementary areas. Our investment will expand the innovative research that our faculty members already are conducting.

The work of our clusters include the discovery of more effective ways to treat conditions such as autism, cancer and heart disease; the development of more durable jet engines and better materials for an array of uses; the investigation of molecular plant signals that could lead to innovations across the scientific spectrum; and the exploration of new ways to support sustainable environments.

UNT's first six clusters will align research efforts in several broad areas. These areas are:

• Bio/Nano-Photonics
• Computational Modeling and Simulation of Materials
• Developmental Physiology and Genetics
• Signaling Mechanisms in Plants
• Autism Spectrum Disorders
• Advanced Research in Technology and the Arts

By funding these areas of exploration as research clusters, our university is committed to supporting their development as they demonstrate success. A form of that support will be hiring new faculty who will work within the clusters' focus. Senior-level hiring in the cluster areas has the potential to augment our faculty with researchers who are already recognized nationally and internationally and who will provide strong leadership and scholarship, creativity and innovation, as well as bring in more extramural research funding. Doing so will grow our capabilities to make a difference and expand our national reputation, allowing us to take our place among the best universities.

What is most important about each of these clusters is that every single one of them will be inherently collaborative, crossing the boundaries of departments and disciplines and colleges - by getting out of those silos - and allowing faculty with varied backgrounds and expertise to synthesize their shared interests and explore and expand knowledge.

Our investment does not simply fund existing departments or research projects. Our investment intentionally targets collaboration because progress in research takes place at the interface of the disciplines. Research thrives when interests and efforts converge with knowledge. Discoveries are made when researchers cross boundaries to blend their expertise.

These six clusters will begin by building on the work of more than 70 faculty members in 30 departments and disciplines already here. I am confident that UNT, through the work of our faculty members, will emerge and grow as a national and international leader in these fields. Already, UNT's faculty working in these fields are recognized - many are among the nation's best in what they do. But through this investment, we will expand that recognition, and we will do even more to advance understanding and discovery.

In addition to supporting these six clusters, two other areas of collaborative study will receive seed funding to encourage further development. Those areas are:

• Human Health and Sustainable Environment, and
• Multi-Scale Damage, Lifetime Prediction, and Design of Materials.

Additionally, we expect to create a new center for immigrant studies, stimulated in part by the One Book, One Community reading of Barbara Kingsolver's The Bean Trees. I am so excited about these developments what they really will mean for our university.

I also am just as proud that these initiatives did not result from a top-down decision made by the administration. Rather, faculty members responded to a request for proposals and each proposal was given in-depth consideration by a peer-review committee. Faculty teams submitted 37 proposals and a committee of 11 faculty members and administrators reviewed these proposals and made the recommendations for which groups should receive support beginning this year.

I thank those individuals as well as our two associate vice presidents for research, Dr. Ruthanne Thomas and Dr. Kenneth Sewell and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs Donna Asher, for the work they have already done and the role they'll play in successfully implementing our plan. In addition, I would like to thank Provost Wilkins and Vice President Prasad for leading this effort. Let's recognize all of them! Would all of you stand?

While we are steadfastly working toward this goal, we must not overlook the recognition we already have earned for our excellence. It seems that almost every day, I find another notice of a student, a faculty member or a staff member who has earned an important award or is being asked to serve on an influential board and committee within their fields.

To spread our message to our alumni, future students and the public, this fall, we began a targeted advertising campaign to strengthen the UNT brand and improve awareness of our university. You may have seen the billboard along I-35 at Teasley in Denton - there are 15 of them in the region. Or you may have heard about us on the radio or seen our ad during the morning and evening newscasts on Channel 8. But in case you missed it, we're going show it here this morning. I encourage you to tell others to visit our web site and watch. What you will see is inspiring. And it's true. UNT is a great university. Each one of you contributes to our greatness every single day.

I thank you for your commitment. I look forward to continuing our work together to build our university stronger than ever before. We will have a commercial break and we will begin making some awards. Thank you.