Faculty Success Newsletter

December 2025

Message from the Vice Provost for Faculty Success

Greetings Mean Green Colleagues,

We are wrapping up another exciting semester. From our record-breaking football season and 2025 Isleta New Mexico Bowl invitation to our many faculty accolades and achievements, there is much to be grateful for as we approach a well-deserved time of respite.

Collectively, our Faculty Success team hosted 22 distinct events and awarded 26 grants this fall to our full-time faculty supporting their transformative research, teaching, mentoring, and leadership development. I look forward to welcoming new colleagues in January and deepening our commitment to helping faculty find community, advance their careers, scale their capabilities, and co-create a favorable climate that enables them to soar. Please visit our Events page for program details and registration.

I am also excited to work with faculty and academic leaders on the Broadening Faculty Recognition and Impacts initiative, one of President Keller’s strategic initiatives announced in Look North: UNT 2030. I encourage you to read or listen to the State of the University to learn more about how we are expanding the recognition of faculty to support our public mission.

Finally, we have been thoughtfully evaluating the external resources we offer to support our faculty’s growth and success. Effective this Friday, UNT will no longer be an institutional member of NCFDD. This was a difficult decision, as many of our faculty members have enjoyed NCFDD programming over the years. However, we are actively considering other options for holistic, meaningful, and accessible professional development, and I look forward to sharing an update with you in the spring term.

From our nest to yours — and with holiday cheer from UNT’s College of Music — we wish you a happy, relaxing, and safe winter break.

Talons Up!

Holly Hutchins, Ph.D. (she/her)

Vice Provost, Faculty Success

On the Calendar

Jan. 7

Counselor Consultation Hour for Faculty & Staff – Virtual

Counseling & Testing Services

Jan. 15

January Research BREAKS: Introduction to Research Analytics Dashboards

Research & Innovation

Jan. 22

Cancer Prevention & Research Institute Funding Opportunity Session

Research & Innovation

Feb. 4-5

Crucial Conversations

Faculty Success

Faculty Spotlights

Dr. Kim Keller, senior lecturer in the Mayborn School of Journalism and 2025 'Fessor Graham Award winner, received the Pegasus Award for Educator of the Year from the Dallas chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

The Dow Jones News Fund recognized Dr. Dorothy Bland, veteran journalist and longtime Mayborn professor, with its 2025 Richard J. Levine Journalism Champion Award, which celebrates an individual whose work supports the perpetuation of a strong and diverse free press.

Read about the Lab for Engaged, Applied and Public Humanities (LEAPH), a new center in CLASS designed to connect humanities scholars to the public to solve real-world problems. Directed by Dr. Jakob Burnham, clinical assistant professor of history, the lab is a research incubator and multimedia lab space where faculty and students will tackle societal challenges and create accessible scholarship.

Jennifer Wallach welcomes attendees to the LEAPH grand opening event

“We see this as a place to generate and uplift faculty research projects that have public-facing components," said Dr. Jennifer Wallach (pictured), CLASS divisional dean of humanities and professor of history. "The space is jointly owned by all of the humanities disciplines, and that’s powerful."

Dr. John G. Peters, University Distinguished Research Professor of English and 2018 recipient of the UNT Foundation Eminent Faculty Award, was selected by the South Atlantic Modern Language Association as their 2025 Honorary Member. The award recognizes lifetime achievement in the field of literary studies.

Faculty Mentoring Program

Conference Support Grants

Applications due Jan. 26, 2026

UNT’s Conference Support program provides full-time faculty members who are currently participating in the UNT Faculty Mentoring Program (and who have not received this award within the past four years) up to $1,000 in reimbursement for participation in a national or international conference, performance, development opportunity or showcase relevant to their discipline.

Priority consideration will be given to:

Assistant professors building networks to support tenure and promotion
Professional faculty in their first six years at UNT
Faculty without other funding sources for conference travel

Apply now via InfoReady

Call for Proposals:
2026 Student Portraits Data Symposium

UNT faculty, staff, and students are invited to submit proposals to present a poster or lead a learning session at the 2026 Student Portraits Data Symposium, scheduled for Thursday, April 30.

The 2026 theme, “Recognizing Every UNT Community Member as an Educator,” is inspired by Look North: UNT 2030 and its vision that every interaction with a student has transformative potential.

The committee invites proposals of student success efforts that leverage data to shape meaningful student experiences in the following areas:

Student-Centric Support, Processes, and Pathways
Facilitating Career Preparation Opportunities
Innovative and Engaging Learning Experiences
Promoting a Sense of Purpose, Belonging, and Student Wellbeing

Visit the Call for Proposals webpage to learn more and review proposal requirements, then submit your proposal using the Symposium Presentation Application.

Proposals are due by Feb. 13, 2026.

2026 Student Assessment Challenge

The Student Assessment Challenge is an opportunity for all UNT students — undergraduate and graduate — to use institutional data to uncover meaningful insights for a chance at a scholarship award.

Participants analyze survey datasets provided by the Division of Student Affairs, work with faculty and staff advisors, and receive FERPA training to prepare them for responsible data use. This experience is designed to help students sharpen their research and data analysis skills while also offering a platform to share findings that matter for student success at UNT.

Data charts and infographics with a light bulb

Please share this opportunity with your students and encourage them to complete the interest form by Feb. 1, 2026.

If you're interested in serving as a faculty advisor, contact the Division of Student Affairs Assessment team at Sheila.Bustillos@unt.edu, Samuel.Williamson@unt.edu, or Shafayat.Islam@unt.edu.

News from UNT Libraries

Click to Count

Help the UNT Libraries keep track of what resources are used

Each year, library staff review the online journals UNT subscribes to in order to assess which ones to retain and which can be canceled. Usage data plays heavily into those decisions, but that data is only captured when a user clicks on a link to a journal article (or e-book or streaming video, etc.). If you upload PDF copies of articles instead of providing direct links, the usage data is not captured.

To ensure every use of an online resource gets counted, please do not share copies of articles directly with students. Instead, provide a link to the article on the website of the publisher or database.

For help creating links for sharing, visit the Click to Count webpage.