Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025

Dear Colleagues,

Today we proudly announce the launch of UNT’s Learning Ecosystem for Empowering Futures (LEEF), a new model in higher education that places learning and innovation — and the individuals involved in this work — at the center of UNT’s student success mission. As part of our bold vision for our university’s future, LEEF will draw upon the creativity and expertise of our faculty and staff to advance and expand student success.

Our goal for LEEF is to empower our UNT innovators and support projects that have potential to change how we understand learning and teaching and the purpose of higher education, and to use this knowledge to reshape our curricula and pedagogies to advance student success, research excellence, and societal impact.

LEEF emerged from hundreds of conversations with UNT community members over the past several months and was designed by a team of nearly 50 educators. It features three distinct but interconnected units:

  • The Teaching Hub creates a supportive community of educators who come together to better understand pedagogical practices and develop new skills and structures that support student success at UNT. Amy Petros (Chemistry), Kathy Raign (English), and Yolanda Mitchell (faculty development director for the hub) lead this unit.
  • The Learning Institute is a research community dedicated to the discovery of knowledge about learning that can drive innovations supporting student success at UNT. This unit is led by Carrie Allen (Educational Psychology) and Yunjo An (Learning Technologies).
  • The Curriculum Connector brings together UNT educators and employers from across our region to design an integrated curriculum that supports our students along their educational journeys from high school through college and into their professional careers. Michael Monticino (Data Analytics and Statistics) and April Prince (Music History) are the leads here.

Each unit has a steering committee of faculty and staff with relevant expertise who will partner with other units across UNT to ensure our UNT learning ecosystem provides cohesive and integrated support for educators and their work.

You can read more about LEEF and the three units at their new website: learningecosystem.unt.edu. Emails in the coming weeks will provide more detailed information about events and opportunities to bring your ideas, questions, challenges, and expertise to this important work. You also can reach out to the learning ecosystem’s faculty directors or Heidi Elmendorf, deputy to the president for university initiatives, to learn more.

Respectfully,

Harrison Keller, Ph.D.
President

Michael A. McPherson, Ph.D.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs