Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security modified its regulations for online courses permitted under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). These changes affect our international students with F-1 visas who plan to continue their studies or begin their studies this fall at UNT. We are a caring community and UNT is committed to do everything we can to ensure that each student makes academic progress and is able to graduate from UNT. We will work with our international... Read more
I am writing today to provide an update on the progress on our Return to Learn restart initiative. I encourage you to attend tomorrow’s Academic Affairs Restart Town Hall, June 23 from 2 to 4 p.m., to learn more about the preparations and progress for the fall semester. June marked Phase 2 of our reopening plans allowing for the limited use of approved academic facilities to support individualized learning, along with Phase 2 of our Research Reopen Plan. Phase 3 of our reopening begins on... Read more
I am writing today to provide an update on the progress on our Return to Learn restart initiative. As a reminder, we began our return to campus with the restarting of research facilities, guided by our Research Reopen Plan. We now are beginning our next phase of academic restart, which is the limited use of approved academic facilities to support individualized learning, such as MFA student access to art studio space. For the month of June, we will continue with limited academic use of our... Read more
Over the past week, I have struggled to find the right words to express the sorrow and grief that captures what is happening in America right now. I have spent this time listening to my friends and colleagues share their own frustrations with the world they experience every day, many of whom are struggling to understand why this particular incident of violence, against George Floyd, is such a pivotal moment for our country. We are a country that continues grappling with racial division. This... Read more
I am writing to you today to announce a Voluntary Separation Program (“Program”) for eligible tenured faculty members. This program seeks to financially reward the long-standing contributions of tenured faculty, while also opening resources for reallocation in support of the university’s strategic goals and support budgetary relief as a result of COVID-19. This program offers eligible faculty members a lump sum payment equal to one (1) year’s annual base pay as stated in their UNT faculty... Read more
Like every other R1 university, we are grappling with challenges of advancing our mission in these extraordinary times. Today, I am outlining a transparent academic plan for how we seek to mitigate known and anticipated impacts of COVID-19. This plan is built by starting with the question of “How Can We.” How can we operate to maximally advance the intellectual development of our students and support their success? How can we operate in ways that support our goal of advancing as a research... Read more
We have fantastic examples across our campus of faculty helping others. Dr. Lee Hughes from Biological Sciences has developed a YouTube series on Teaching in the Time of Coronavirus. This 17-episode series highlights tips and helpful mindsets that can help emotionally prepare teachers for both the expected and unanticipated aspects of online teaching during this time. I’m so proud of the work you all are doing in keeping our students’ needs top of mind. “Have you registered for summer and... Read more
I know that these are difficult times. As a faculty member who is preparing to teach a course this summer, we want to provide you with resources to help support the development of your course(s). To aid you in preparing for teaching this summer. We are providing you with the following resources, which you will find in Canvas. A self-paced course titled Summer 2020 Remote Delivery Training, which you can expect will take 3-6 hours to complete. The training outlines a variety of best... Read more
Thanks to Dr. Craig Neumann, Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology, who participated in the UNT OLLI recording on How to Use Mindfulness To Be More Resilient during this global health crisis – a skill we can all benefit from in these difficult times. A Pass/No Pass option will be available to undergraduate students for the Spring 2020 semester. Students will have the option of electing to receive a letter grade OR Pass/No Pass after viewing their grade at the end of the semester... Read more
March 27, 2020—It has been quite a week. Thank you for your extraordinary patience as we work as a community to address this fast-moving and complex public health crisis. I understand this has been a difficult period as each of us tries our best to manage our obligations to our students, as well as our care for others, technology challenges and responding to this rapidly changing situation. Know that your efforts are appreciated by myself, the entire university leadership team and most... Read more