Greetings Colleagues, 

Welcome to another exciting fall semester! The beginning of a new academic year is always a time of change, and that’s especially true for our UNT community this fall. On Aug. 1, we welcomed our new president, Dr. Harrison Keller, and I am excited to see our university continue to thrive under his leadership. I am heartened by his commitment to student success and his vision for growing UNT’s national profile as a leader in innovation and educational excellence.

Leadership Transitions
In addition to welcoming Dr. Keller as UNT’s 17th president, I am excited to tell you about some other new leaders on campus. Amy Shenberger assumed her new role as interim dean and vice provost for international affairs Aug. 3, and I know that she will continue to strengthen UNT’s global initiatives and elevate UNT's international reputation. Dr. James Mueller and Dr. Rudi Thompson will continue their service as interim deans of the Mayborn School of Journalism and the College of Education, respectively. A number of departments also are welcoming new chairs this fall. I congratulate you all on your new appointments and appreciate the insightful leadership you will bring to your areas. 

Finally, it is my pleasure to welcome UNT's new Faculty Senate executive officers: Chair Coby Condrey, associate librarian, Research Support Services; Vice Chair William Joyner, associate professor, Vocal Studies; and Secretary Sarah Evans, assistant professor, Information Science. I look forward to partnering with the Senate in our mission of shared governance. 

Budget
As you know, during the past several years, we have enjoyed remarkable enrollment growth. This was fortunate from a budgetary perspective. During a period in which expenses of all sorts soared, enrollment growth was how our revenues kept up. This is the seventh consecutive year in which tuition will not be raised, and with some limited exceptions, appropriations from the state have not increased. Unfortunately, enrollment this fall has dipped. We are a bit down in undergraduate enrollment, but down markedly in our graduate numbers. There are reasons to believe that this is temporary (the difficulties in implementing changes to FAFSA, delayed issuance of visas for some international applicants, etc.), but it means that our revenues will be short of our increased expenses in the coming year. Academic Affairs has been asked to reduce our budget by 3% on what we hope will be a temporary basis. To reduce the burden on colleges, my office will take the largest reduction — about 45% of the reduction for the division. The remainder will come from reductions to college budgets. I recognize this is unwelcome news — there are many initiatives we must undertake, and these will require more resources rather than fewer. We will all do what we can to contain costs and boost revenues, and I look forward to improving budgetary news soon. 

Student Success
Retention rates have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. We don’t yet know how many freshmen who began last fall will return this fall, but last year’s retention rate was 75% — that is, one in four first-time-in-college students who started in Fall 2022 did not return for the 2023-24 academic year. The reasons students choose to stop out are many and varied, and some are beyond our ability to control. But we do have the ability to help some students who are struggling. It is a moral imperative that we do all we can, but it is also true that improving retention is a way that we can ameliorate some of the budget challenges noted previously.  

As we navigate the changes happening in our domain, it’s important to remember that students also are facing the many unknowns that come with a new school year. For some, this is their first extended period away from home; others may be returning to student life after a long hiatus or finding their place in our community as a transfer student. UNT offers numerous resources that can help faculty and staff support students both in and outside the classroom. 

• Mantra Health. UNT has partnered with Mantra Health to provide a 24/7 free guidance line for faculty and staff to call to get strategies and resources to best assist any student. If you are worried about a student’s mental health and are unsure of how to help, this resource can empower you to guide struggling students toward the help they need.
• Early Grade in Canvas. Letting students know if they are meeting expectations early in the term is an easy and effective way to foster belonging in the learning environment. We strongly encourage faculty to include opportunities for graded assignments by week four in the fall term and to submit these grades through Canvas. Of course, many departments are already doing excellent work in this area, with most faculty submitting at least one meaningful grade within the first four weeks. If your unit is one of these, I would love to know about it. Please send me a paragraph describing how you and your colleagues have managed to make such progress. I’d like to celebrate your accomplishment and collect best practices to share with departments that are not quite as far along on this journey.
• Navigate. In addition, I want to remind you of a resource for faculty called Navigate, which allows you to see many details about students, including assignment grades in Canvas for all current and recent courses. This repository of student data allows instructors and advisors to have a comprehensive understanding of their students’ academic progress. Go to the Navigate Portal to access this detailed information. If you haven’t yet accessed this resource, you can sign up for Navigate Training in Bridge. 

Artificial Intelligence
As a university that values creativity and empowering students to thrive in a rapidly changing world, we do not wish to limit creativity and academic freedom by establishing a one-size-fits-all approach for the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) across all UNT learning experiences. We encourage faculty to actively model thriving in a rapidly changing world by explicitly addressing AI in their learning experiences and class policies. 

• All course syllabi should include clear guidance as to permissible use of AI.
• Due to the rapidly evolving nature of AI technologies and the inadequacy of detection tools, a detection report alone (such as Turnitin) is not sufficient evidence for a violation of the university’s academic integrity policy. 

In the coming days we will work with faculty and other stakeholders to develop policies and guidelines on the use of AI. 

Research Update
In June, we officially broke ground for UNT’s new Science and Technology Building, which will provide 111,000 square feet of collaborative research space and state-of-the-art equipment to support interdisciplinary research and experiential learning. Designed with student success in mind, the new building epitomizes UNT’s investment in providing a modern research environment where faculty mentorship, training programs, and hands-on learning can flourish. Renovations to the Science Research Building are expected to be completed later this fall. 

Following a record number of awards in FY23, UNT’s academic community continues to submit a large number of proposals — on track for being one of the highest numbers to date. These activities translated to FY24 to being a record number of total and sponsored project expenditures. Last year’s record research numbers set a benchmark for UNT, but this year is shaping up to be another strong one. This year’s research expenditures are 45% higher than last year. 

These and other investments in UNT’s research enterprise are driving our success as a Tier One research institution, but it’s important to remember that our rise to R1 was made possible by our deep roots in the social sciences, humanities, and visual and performing arts. Faculty and students are making breakthroughs in our labs every day, but UNT’s unique R1 spirit drives the work being done in every discipline and every college, from creative projects exploring culture and the human experience to socially engaged research that has the potential to save lives and change the world. 

We have much to be proud of heading into the new school year, and I am grateful for everything you do to support our students and move our university forward. 

Sincerely, 

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