Dear Colleagues,

As President Keller outlined in the Strategic Plan for UNT — Look North: UNT 2030 — the university is committed to broadening recognition of faculty excellence. The goal is to align faculty success metrics with UNT’s mission and to ensure that excellence reflects a broader, more meaningful definition of impact. As an R1 institution, we must continue to value excellent scholarship. As a broad-access institution committed to student success, we must also value excellent teaching. This new initiative invites us to expand our definition and measurement of impact to also value the translation of scholarly and teaching excellence through innovations, community engagement, and entrepreneurial endeavors that improve lives at UNT, in our community, and worldwide.

To support this goal, each academic unit (department, college) will review and update its promotion and tenure and annual review guidelines so that faculty contributions are more fully recognized for their excellence and impact across one or more of the following four areas: 1) interdisciplinary collaborations, 2) public and societal impact, 3) community and industry engagement, and 4) innovation and entrepreneurship.

This effort will ensure that the innovative work faculty members are doing to support student success and advance our university’s mission is recognized and counted within their annual review, promotion and tenure evaluations, and merit. The Faculty Success Office, in collaboration with the Teaching Hub, has provided unit leaders with resources to assist them in achieving this goal. Units will have until early September 2026 to complete this work.

I look forward to the many ways we will broaden recognition and support of our current and future outstanding faculty as we “Look North” together.

Sincerely,

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