About Us

Helping Faculty Soar to Success

Quality faculty members are the hallmarks of a great university. Their impact on student development and the research enterprise makes faculty one of the most valuable resources on our campus.

Our Mission
We support faculty in developing their professional community, capabilities, career, and climate through holistic learning and development programs, prestigious recognitions, equitable policy development, inclusive networking and mentoring, and transparent communication.

Our Vision
Faculty Success will be a center of excellence for developing, supporting, and advancing a diverse and thriving faculty.

Guided by UNT's core values, we strive to be:

Equitable and Inclusive: We commit to equitable and inclusive programming, policy review, and support for our faculty and our FS team.

Data-driven: We assess our initiatives, our team experiences, and our engagement with faculty and academic leaders to make sure we are meeting their needs. We use data to guide our program development and apply ongoing formative and summative assessments to understand impact.

Collaborative and Community-oriented: We engage input to understand faculty needs and support initiatives that develop their sense of belonging.

Developmental and Forward-looking: We promote innovative opportunities for faculty to develop new capabilities and to apply their learning.

We encourage you to explore the Faculty Success website for additional information on specific programming or contact our office directly to learn more about the numerous opportunities available to UNT faculty. We are here to foster your success.

Meet the Faculty Success Team

Holly Hutchins, Ph.D.

Vice Provost for Faculty Success
Professor, Counseling and Higher Education

As Vice Provost for Faculty Success, Dr. Holly Hutchins provides strategic leadership to ensure transparent and equitable faulty-related academic policies, effective communication processes, inclusive learning and development opportunities, and prestigious faculty awards and recognition events. Vice Provost Hutchins supports UNT's faculty resource groups, oversees faculty mentoring and developmental grants and initiatives, and leadership development programs within academic affairs. She coordinates with other academic affairs units to address faculty personnel issues and provides counsel on developing healthy, just, and sustainable workplace climates. Vice Provost Hutchins' academic background is in human resource development where her focus has been in training transfer and faculty talent development. Before coming to UNT, she was professor and department chair at the University of Houston. In her career, Vice Provost Hutchins garnered $4M in funded grants, published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in national and international journals, and has been featured in global media outlets such as NPR, the BBC, Psychology Today, and The Guardian for her work on imposter phenomenon among higher education faculty. Vice Provost Hutchins supports UNT's HSI and MSI mission by leading and supporting efforts to attract, retain, and advance a thriving and supportive faculty community.

Gabe Ignatow, Ph.D.

Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Success
Professor, Sociology

Jeannette L. Ginther, Ed.D.

Faculty Development Specialist
Principal Lecturer, Teacher Education, Literacy Studies and Curriculum & Instruction

An intensely passionate lifelong educator, Dr. Jeannette L. Ginther brings 28 years of experience in both K-12 public schools and higher education to her role as Faculty Development Specialist. She earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership from Dallas Baptist University in 2017, her master's in Literacy Education from the State University of New York at Cortland in 2002, and her bachelor's in Elementary Education (with Human Development and Math concentrations) from the State University of New York at Geneseo in 1999. After a decade of classroom teaching in both New York and Texas, Dr. Ginther served as a K-12 public school Campus Reading Instructional Specialist, District Student Achievement Specialist, District Professional Learning Coordinator, Presenter/Educational Consultant, Field Supervisor for clinical intern teachers, and an Adjunct Lecturer here at UNT before officially joining the Department of Teacher Education and Administration as full-time faculty in 2017. While her area of expertise is Literacy Studies, Dr. Ginther has an extensive background in designing and facilitating evidence-based professional development and mentorship experiences for in-service teachers of all subject areas.

Over her 10 years of teaching at UNT, hundreds of Dr. Ginther's students have credited her with transforming their lives professionally and personally with her genuine vulnerability, openness, exceptional expertise, persistent encouragement, sense of humor, and candid, honest discussions about life and the realities of becoming a public educator. She was both humbled and honored to receive the 2019 UNT Student Government Association's 'Fessor Graham Award for Outstanding Service to Students, the June 2019 UNT Teaching Excellence Spotlight Award, and the 2022 UNT College of Education Award for Most Outstanding Lecturer.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Ginther has served in every possible capacity that a faculty member could serve within a department including program leadership/coordination, committee leadership, evaluation/assessment of programming, faculty mentorship, and student advising. At the university level, she has been a vocal advocate for Professional Track faculty throughout her time as a twice-elected Faculty Senator and member of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. Dr. Ginther has also participated in university level faculty mentorship programming, strategic plan initiatives, administrator search committees, professional development workshops, and faculty advisory committees. She maintains an unwavering commitment to the greater good and is so very excited to be a part of a team that is dedicated to cultivating and sustaining faculty excellence.

Jessica Hulett

Executive Assistant to the Vice Provost for Faculty Success

Crucial Conversations

The Crucial Conversations Mastering Dialogue Workshop is an experiential course that teaches skills for creating alignment and agreement by fostering open dialogue around high-stakes, emotional or risky topics — at all levels of the organization.

Sanjukta Pookulangara, Ph.D.

Faculty Associate, Crucial Conversations
Professor, Merchandising and Digital Retailing

Cassidy Baker, Ph.D.

Faculty Associate, Crucial Conversations
Clinical Associate Professor, Social Work

Fulbright Programs

UNT's Fulbright Program Advisor and Scholar Liaison and UNT's Faculty Associate for Fulbright Programs support UNT students and alumni applying to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program and faculty applying to the Fulbright Scholar or Specialist Programs.