Greetings New Faculty,

We are excited that you have chosen to join our Mean Green family!  Your UNT Story will officially begin on Wednesday and Thursday, August 12 and 13, 2020 at New Faculty Orientation.  Our Mean Green Faculty Cohort 2020-21 will meet virtually on both days beginning at 8:45 AM CST. On Wednesday, August 12 you will have an opportunity to hear from President Smatresk, Provost Cowley and a host of your academic peers about our students, our colleges and schools, and our work here at UNT.  We are planning interactive sessions that will allow you to meet one another and get a sense of our caring community that defines UNT.  The session on Thursday, August 13 will be conducted by our Human Resources staff. Plan to be with us until 4:00 PM on August 12.

In addition to the initial two days of orientation, we will provide critical information though Bridge, our professional development learning portal.  There are several short sessions of trainings related to operations at UNT that have been prepared for your information.  You may review them at your leisure before the end of the fall semester.

Registration for our opening two-day session will begin next week.  You will receive an email letting you know how to register and request for information that will allow us to personalize your new faculty orientation experience.

Below are a few information items for new faculty.  Some of the items are new and others are reminders of information shared by Provost Cowley in a message sent to new faculty in May.

1. Provost Cowley is hosting a training session for faculty teaching face-to-face in the fall on Tuesday, July 28, 2:00-3:30.  The purpose of the training is to provide guidance on teaching face-to-face with issues related to COVID-19.  You are free to attend.   Highlights of the meeting will be discussed at New Faculty Orientation. We will also record the session.  The Zoom Link:  Meeting ID: 99825736946 Password: 991166.
2. All faculty scheduled to teach this fall will be provided with a Remote Teaching Training Course, available in Canvas, which will take between three and six hours to complete. Faculty who complete this course will be provided with a $500 one-time task payment, on a first come first serve basis until funds are exhausted, if completed by August 1, 2020. With this you’ll receive prepopulated course shells in Canvas that you can use to prepare your courses. Once you have your UNT login and password you’ll be able to access Canvas and you should find your fall courses and the training course waiting for you (there may be some delay due to timing of your onboarding and when class schedules are updated in Canvas). If you have any challenges, please reach out to your department chair who can help you.
3. For tenure-track faculty, we know for some, your research progress may have been disrupted. UNT’s Stop the Clock is available for incoming faculty, should you believe you need it.  
4. We are asking faculty to please arrive in our region and not to plan to travel for the two weeks before to the start of school.
5. We know you may have many questions about our plans for the fall, we are regularly updating our websites. To learn more about our plans visit: Return to Learn,  Research Reopening, and Health Alerts.