Message from the Vice Provost for Faculty Success

Greetings Mean Green Colleagues,

Welcome to the Fall 2023 semester! The campus is bustling with students, faculty, and staff excited for another great year.

Join us Sept. 13 for our Welcome Back Faculty Reception in the Faculty Lounge (Union 249). We’ll have snacks and drinks, and Faculty Senate and Faculty Success leaders will be there to greet you.

As we welcome more than 130 new faculty members (look for them in their unique Where Faculty Soar green shirts!), your Faculty Success team is looking forward to programming that underscores our three focus areas: developing a caring and diverse community, enriching your professional capabilities, and advancing your career through recognition and support. Please check out the Faculty Success calendar for our fall events.

An obvious omission this year is that Faculty Success will no longer offer our popular Anti-Bias and Cultural Awareness (ABCA) program. Faculty Success will continue to offer programming that helps our faculty and staff serve the needs of our diverse communities while also complying with state legislation. Our commitment to this mission aligns with UNT’s Values of “Better Together,” “We Care,” and “Be Curious.”

The nomination period for our Salute to Faculty Excellence awards is well underway, with a deadline of Monday, Oct. 9. These important distinctions recognize the many ways our faculty excel in mentoring, research, leadership, service, teaching, and community engagement. 

Finally, we have moved! Our new nest is Hurley Administration Building 121. Please come by and visit us anytime. On behalf of YOUR Faculty Success team, have a wonderful start to the fall term!

Talons up!

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

Vice Provost, Faculty Success

Early Canvas Grades for Student Success 

A sense of academic belonging is essential to the success of our students here at UNT. As faculty, we can easily begin to cultivate that sense of belonging in the first few weeks of the semester by providing feedback and submitting grades in Canvas.

Faculty can also access Navigate, UNT's centralized student support platform, for a wealth of information about our students, including their complete academic history, current Canvas course grades, and more. By utilizing Canvas and Navigate early and often, faculty, advisors, and success staff can work together to provide holistic care for students. For an introduction to the Navigate platform and its features, check out Navigate Training for Faculty.

Faculty Information System 

FIS is a dynamic and robust system that can be used to capture the unique scholarly activities and needs of faculty members across varying disciplines.

• The FIS Public Website displays basic information such as your CV, scheduled teaching, syllabi, SPOT scores, contact information, and more.
• The FIS Data Entry portal serves as your centralized access point for internal and external reporting and personnel action processes. It is NOT viewable to the public and is tailored to an internal audience (you, your department chair, and the FIS team).
• Workflow is an automated personnel action router used to facilitate tenure and promotion and annual review.

Streamline Your Research with an ORCID

Have you registered for your ORCID yet? This free persistent unique identifier makes it easier to document your research, publications, and grants, identify variations on your name for proper attribution, improve the visibility and impact of your work, and apply for funding opportunities. Learn more about the benefits of having an ORCID and how to register.

Take Location-Based Attendance and Check Comprehension with iClicker

Sept. 21 | Noon to 1 p.m. | Virtual

Register now

Want to expedite grading, get real-time feedback, and actively engage students with course content — even in large enrollment classes? iClicker can help!

Make Course Content More Inclusive with Accessible PDFs and SensusAccess

Sept. 22 | Noon to 1 p.m. | SSB 102

Register now

Explore best practices for course documents with a focus on how to edit PDF files for accessibility and how to convert PowerPoint presentations into PDFs. Lunch provided.

Better Writing and Less Time Grading with Packback Discussions 

Oct. 4 | Noon to 1 p.m. | SSB 102

Register now

Packback will have you rethinking how discussion boards can be used in your courses. In addition to greatly reducing grading time, Packback uses AI to guide students toward deeper discussion posts based on inquiry and critical thinking. Bring your laptop! Lunch provided.

Contact International Affairs to learn more about the many ways they can help you secure funding for campus internationalization initiatives.

Dr. Hassan Qandil, Clinical Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, received the TIEF Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Grant. He will use the funding to develop a program that allows undergraduate engineering students from UNT, Ajman University in the United Arab Emirates, and Al Hussein Technical University in Jordan to virtually collaborate on engineering design projects that address real-world global problems.

Dr. Pia Wood, Vice Provost and Dean of International Affairs, in collaboration with the College of Health and Public Service, received the TIEF Study Abroad Program Development Grant. Through the grant, Drs. Jessica Craig and Haley Zettler (Criminal Justice) will conduct a site visit to the Netherlands to develop a faculty-led study abroad program focused on international crime and justice in the Netherlands. 

The UNT Libraries has a number of resources for faculty, including library instruction services, copyright advisory services, and even faculty delivery so you can get materials delivered to you. You may also want to bring your class to visit the Libraries' Special Collections.  

You can find research materials for your courses and research. For online courses, please ensure you are linking to articles so the Libraries can accurately track usage. You also can put materials on reserve for your students. If you can’t find what you want, consider suggesting a purchase.  

Please reach out to your subject librarian if you have any questions or stop by one of UNT's amazing library locations for any help you might need.

Fulbright Opportunities for Faculty

Interested in applying for a Fulbright program? Attend a Fulbright faculty workshop or contact UNT’s Fulbright Scholar Liaison at Fulbright@unt.edu for more information and application assistance!

Upcoming Fulbright Application Deadlines

Fulbright Scholar Program

• Sept. 15, 2023

Fulbright Specialist Program

• Sept. 6, 2023
• Nov. 3, 2023
• Jan. 5, 2024

Registering International Travel

The UNT System prioritizes the safety and wellbeing of its faculty, staff, and students, especially when they're away from the nest. Please remember that all university-related international travel must be approved at least three weeks in advance.

Visit the UNT System website to learn more and find resources to help you prepare for international travel.

UNT Trust Line

As part of the UNT Family, we share the responsibility of ensuring that UNT conducts all business in an ethical and honest manner. As highlighted in UNT’s ethics policy, we are committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards in all we do. To support this commitment, the UNT Trust Line, a telephone and web-based reporting system, continues to provide a way to report concerns of unethical or illegal misconduct.

The UNT Trust Line is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, through an independent third-party vendor, and all reports can be made anonymously. Also, guidance for ethical decision-making can be found in UNT’s online course on Ethics and Standards of Conduct, which must be completed annually. 

To our faculty partners, welcome back! As another year is upon us, our officers are gearing up for another busy season of connecting with our community.