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Faculty Success Newsletter

October 2025

Message from the Vice Provost for Faculty Success

What do you get when 70+ faculty meet up for candid conversations about succeeding in academia? You get an incredible speed mentoring event! We were thrilled with the discussions, connections and networking that took place during our annual Speed Mentoring Luncheon. A big thank you to our participants and table moderators!

We also recently enjoyed facilitating another successful Crucial Conversations workshop, this time hosted at UNT at Frisco. Registration is open for the spring Denton campus workshop and seats are filling fast!

Be sure to mark your calendar for President Keller’s State of the University address on Wednesday, Nov. 5, during which he will share UNT’s new five-year strategic plan. There will be remarks, music, UNT’s fantastic food and lots to celebrate.

The deadline for the Office of the Provost’s Salute to Faculty Excellence awards has been extended to Wednesday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m. Applications and detailed instructions for each award can be found on the Faculty Success InfoReady portal. There is still time to submit to one or more of these prestigious awards! Please also consider nominating a colleague for the Outstanding Library Faculty Award by Friday, Oct. 17, to recognize their exceptional service, librarianship or scholarly-creative activities.

Finally, be sure to check out our upcoming Faculty Success events and enjoy the fun things happening around town during the 31 Days of Denton Halloween. After all, this is the Halloween Capital of Texas!

Talons Up!

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

Vice Provost, Faculty Success

On the Calendar

Oct. 14

Stress Management and Burnout Recovery

Counseling and Testing Services

Oct. 15

Global Funding Awards for Faculty Application Deadline

International Affairs

Activate your NCFDD membership to access a wide range of professional development resources for careers in academia.

Oct. 21

Virtual Writing Session

Oct. 30

Building Strong Peer Communities: A Resource for Leadership and Advancement

Oct. 30

Research BREAKS: Understanding Research Securit y

Research and Innovation

Nov. 4

Early Career Faculty Learning Community Monthly Meeting

Topic: Navigating the Research Journey

Nov. 6

Promotion and Tenure Workshop

Faculty Success

Nov. 11

2026 AAC&U Transforming STEM Higher Education Conference Call for Proposals Closes

Faculty Spotlights

Professor Tao Zhang of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation has been selected to present the SHAPE America Raymond A. Weiss Lecture — one of the organization's highest research honors — at the 2026 SHAPE America National Convention. The lecture supports a scholarly presentation by an outstanding leader in the arts and sciences who has made an important contribution to his or her field, and who has ties to one or more of the fields of health, physical education, recreation and dance.

2025-26 Faculty Success Mentoring Grants

Congratulations to this year's recipients of the Faculty Success Mentoring Grants!

Learn more about their individual and team projects on our website.

Individual Mentoring Grants:

David Rex Galindo, Assistant Professor, History
"Indigenous Labor and Coercion on the Edges of the Hispanic World"

NaYeon Yang, Assistant Professor, Psychology
"Integrating AI to Enrich Research and Mentorship in Counseling Psychology"

Adam Manfredi, Assistant Professor, World Languages, Literatures and Cultures
"Memory, Fiction, and Protest: Archival Research and Mentorship Toward Book Publication"

Yixun Xing, Clinical Assistant Professor, Data Analytics and Statistics
"Mentored Design of a Preschool Healthy-Weight Promotion Study Using the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST)"

Team Mentoring Grants:

Team: Coby Condrey, Kimi King, Sophie Morton, Julie Leuzinger and Sharon Rae Jenkins
"Faculty Advocacy Network Mentoring and Training"

Team: Amy Petros, Carrie Allen, Molly Atkinson, Rose Baker, Alena Moon and Rebekah Purvis
"Interdisciplinary STEM Learning Research and Practice Collaborative"

Team: Sanjukta Pookulangara, Kiseol Yang and Malini Ratman
"Mentoring for the Future: Building Faculty Expertise and Student Readiness Through Salesforce Integration"

Team: Stephanie Russell and Sharon Bjorndal Lavery
"Mentoring Residency for Preparation of a World Premiere Performance of THAT HELLBOUND TRAIN on UNT Campus"

Team: Andrew Colombo-Dougovito and Yolanda Mitchell
"Reimagining Public Scholarship: Strengthening Faculty Competence as Community-Engaged Educators and Translational Thinkers"

Thank a Faculty Member

A few kind words can go a long way, especially as we reach the midpoint of the semester. Take a moment to thank a colleague or mentor who's made a difference in your life, and we’ll send them a token of appreciation. You can choose to share your message publicly with the UNT community or keep it private and anonymous.

Campus News

Early Career Faculty Research Funding Series

October 2025 through April 2026

Join Research and Innovation for a monthly workshop series to help faculty in their first three years at UNT strengthen their skills in funding strategies, proposal development, budgeting and research resources.

The series kicks off Tuesday, Oct. 14, with Resources for Research Success — an introduction to the program and opportunity to network with other attendees.

Holiday Blues: Holding Space for Grief During the Holidays

Monday, Nov. 17 | 1 to 2 p.m.

The holiday season can be a difficult time for those grieving a loss. Hosted by Marilyn Parrish of Counseling and Testing Services, this Zoom session for faculty and staff will provide understanding and practical tips for navigating the holidays while accepting and coping with the grief that may show up to the party.

Updated Faculty Search Committee Training

Faculty Success partnered with Academic Resources to revise the Faculty Search Committee Training, a two-part program that prepares search committee members to recruit, select and hire outstanding faculty. All search committee members (including the search committee chair) must complete the training before participating in a search committee.

If you have any questions, please contact Patricia Rodriguez, director of Academic Personnel in the Office of the Provost.

Stay Connected

We want to hear from you!

If you have suggestions or items you'd like to see in our newsletter, please email faculty.success@unt.edu.

Find us on X at @UNTFacSuccess and on Instagram at @unt.faculty.success.

facultysuccess.unt.edu

940-565-3987

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