Gretchen M. Bataille is the 14th president in the 116-year history of the University of North Texas. Before joining UNT in August, Bataille served as the senior vice president for academic affairs at the 16-campus University of North Carolina System.

At the University of North Texas, our faculty and students are engaged in innovative research and creative activities that consistently break new ground and lead to people living better lives. Through our engagement of undergraduate and graduate students in the research process, we are developing tomorrow's leaders by providing hands-on training that enables them to become lifelong learners and critical thinkers.

Scholarship at our campus is broad based and far reaching, incorporating research in the humanities, social sciences and the arts, as well as what most of us think of as laboratory research in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics.

We are conducting exciting, groundbreaking work on our campus. UNT is home to the world's leading graduate program in environmental ethics. More than 20 years ago, the university began a military history seminar that today is recognized nationwide as the pre-eminent gathering of top scholars in the field. This fall, our School of Visual Arts hosted the prestigious Arts of Fashion 2006, allowing our students to learn from internationally renowned fashion experts from Paris and beyond during a week of master classes and seminars.

Our institution also has a combination of high-powered microscopes not available at any other public university in the nation. The three instruments can be used separately or together by engineers creating stronger materials, smaller devices and personalized medical applications. Within this magazine, you will learn about many other important contributions to the advancement of knowledge and the improvement of society made by UNT scholars.

UNT is solidifying its reputation as a student-centered public research university with a national and international presence. Our momentum is carrying us toward a bright future.

Gretchen M. Bataille
President