UNT Hurley Administration Building tower behind trees in the late afternoon
Message from the Office for Faculty Success
Greetings Colleagues,

As we head into the Thanksgiving holiday, please know that your work and your efforts to create a “pandemic normal” for our students are appreciated. I understand the challenges that may arise as one manages their professional career and their family and community life. I want to remind you of our UNT Employee Assistance Program which offers a host of supports that can be accessed 24 hours a day online or by phone (1.800.343.3822). To access benefits online, log in here: https://www.awpnow.com.

One of our own, Dr. Rachita Sharma (HPS), was recently featured in the Dallas Morning News offering suggestions for coping with the uncertainty of our times and ways we might focus on enjoying today. Another timely resource I encountered recently came from Inside Higher Education. Rebecca Pops-Ruark encourages faculty to rearticulate our purpose, practice compassion, seek out connection, strive for balance, and finally to do the best we can with each moment.

When we return in the spring the Office for Faculty Success will be collaborating with Tamara Knapp-Grosz, Senior Director of Counseling and Testing Services; Melissa McKenna, Assistant Director of Faculty and Staff Training; and UNT System HR to assist faculty in supporting our students and ourselves through self-care. Please stay tuned to learn more about our efforts.

Best,
Bertina Combes
Vice Provost for Faculty Success
Upcoming Events in Faculty Success
Click on an event below to learn more and register. Be sure to check the
Office for Faculty Success calendar to see what else is coming up this semester.
Going Remote This Semester
All classes go remote after Thanksgiving – Are you ready?
After the Thanksgiving holiday, students do not return to campus. Are you prepared for remote learning for the rest of the semester?

The following resources will help you get ready to go remote. We encourage you to reference them as needed:

Teach Anywhere:

Remote Teaching Kits:

Zoom Tips:

Learn Anywhere (in support of your students):

For assistance, please feel free to reach out to the Division of Digital Strategy and Innovation (DSI).
Call for Input- Send us your Photos
Catching up with you
Faculty Success is looking for photos of Faculty engaged in their work this semester. If you have pictures of you conducting your research, teaching or service during a pandemic, please send them to us at faculty.success@unt.edu
Anti-Bias and Cultural Awareness Program
The Anti-Bias and Cultural Awareness Program launched in October and so far 1,700 faculty and staff have participated and engaged!

THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS WORK! Please remember the three-hour required engagement is due by December 31.

You can load your certificates to the Anti-Bias and Cultural Awareness Program in BRIDGE. Two of our three guest speaker event for the fall 2020 semester have occurred, but there is still time to engage with Dr. Jasmine Lee on December 11 from 10 a.m. to noon.

Dr. Lee's research focuses broadly on Black college student experiences, social justice, intercultural dialogue, and theory-to-practice methods for higher education professionals. She currently serves as the Director of Inclusive Excellence and Initiatives for Identity, Inclusion & Belonging at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Steven Friedson
The Yale Institute for Sacred Music has appointed Dr. Steven Friedson, University Distinguished Research Professor of Music and Anthropology, to its new Black Sacred Arts Steering Committee to design and implement a series of international conferences and related publications over the next four years. This initiative will make a substantial contribution to an underrepresented field of study and to the diversification of sacred music studies.

Learn more:
Dr. V. Barbara Bush
Dr. Bush was recently awarded the Faculty Leadership Award at the 2020 Salute to Faculty Excellence. She joined the faculty of the UNT Higher Education Program in 2002.She has a distinguished record of service in her department, the College of Education and the Faculty Senate. Dr. Bush has has chaired and was a member of several Faculty Senate committees. She is co-chair of the Faculty Senate Policy Oversight Committee now.

Dr. Bush also served a three-year term as the vice chair of a council of her national professional organization, the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE). She served in other leadership capacities within ASHE for several years.
Dr. Haifeng Zhang
Haifeng Zhang, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, is a co-principal investigator in a new $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

He, along with researchers at Penn State University, will develop and fabricate an in-situ sensor that will be used to assess the quality of the part and material properties of a microstructure during the additive manufacturing process.
Affinity Group Focus
LGBT Faculty Network
The UNT LGBT Faculty Network is a UNT-supported group seeking additional members. The group aims to provide mentoring opportunities for faculty and to support the creation of a welcoming environment for LGBTQ+ people. The group invites faculty of all persuasions to join our mailing list, attend events, foster mentoring efforts and network with colleagues. Allies are welcome! If you would like to be involved at any level from observer to contributor, please send an e-mail to Nicoladie.Tam@unt.edu.
Call for Faculty Advocates
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Do you want to help make a real difference in the lives of other faculty members? Enjoy working with a diverse range of people? Becoming a faculty advocate may be for you!

As a faculty advocate, you will develop skills that will contribute to your own professional development in the following areas:
  • Communication
  • Teamwork 
  • Positive and balanced work ethic   
  • Networking with faculty advocates and mentors 
  • Organization and planning
  • Problem-solving, analysis and investigation 
  • Leadership
  • Ability to influence, persuade and negotiate

For more information, email WFN@unt.edu.
Career Connect
Do you engage your students in any of the following high-impact practices?

  • Service-Learning
  • Global Learning
  • Undergraduate Research
  • Writing Intensive
  • Capstone
  • Collaborative Projects
  • Learning Communities
  • Internship
  • Common Intellectual Experiences
  • First-Year Seminar 
 
If you answered yes, then you may be missing out on an opportunity to help students connect what they learn in your class to what it means for their future by recognizing students’ work as a micro-credential to appear on their learner record. Contact UNTCareerConnect@unt.edu to learn about creating a micro-credential for your class! 
Upcoming Events in Career Connect
Check out Connect’s spring calendar of events here.
Zoom Rooms
  • ePortfolio
  • Mondays and Thursdays from 4 to 5 p.m.
  • Log in to ask us anything about the ePortfolio! Share the Zoom link with students as a resource they can use to ask questions and learn more about their ePortfolio. Join the Zoom meeting. 
  • Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR)
  • Alternating Thursdays, 11 to 12 p.m.
  • Log in to ask us anything about the comprehensive learner record (CLR) and learn how to create opportunities that can appear as badges for UNT students! Open to faculty and staff who want to learn more about this innovative technology that helps students document and connect their college experiences to the job market. Join the Zoom meeting. 
  • Comprehensive Learner Record for Students
  • Last Friday each month from 2 to 3 p.m.
  • Join Career Connect to learn how to communicate the meaning of the badges and microcredentials you’ve earned as well as how to articulate your experiences and explain how they've helped you develop important skills. Connect with peers and practice marketing your experiences and skills to land the job after graduation! Join the Zoom meeting. 
 
SPOT Survey
Student Perceptions of Teaching (SPOT) is the student evaluation system for UNT. This system offers both online and paper administration options, as well as evaluation forms that support different pedagogical formats (e.g., large lecture, online, studio). This system also offers many benefits to obtain an overall assessment of the course and instructor. 

The SPOT period for Fall 2020 is November 16 – December 3.

If you have any questions, please email spot@unt.edu.
News from the UNT Libraries
Electronic Resources Highlights
For the month of November, UNT Libraries would like to highlight some of our numerous electronic resources.

CultureGrams provides concise cultural information on the countries of the world. This database includes details on daily life and culture, including the background, customs, and lifestyles of the world’s people. The country reports covering over 200 countries, all 50 United States, and the Canadian provinces, are written and reviewed by in-country experts and are updated as new information becomes available.
 
Public Health Archives: Public Health in Modern America, 1890-1970 documents the rise of the twentieth-century public health system in the United States through correspondence, reports, pamphlets, ephemera, and more.
 
Indigenous Peoples of North America enables exploration of the political, social, and cultural history of native peoples from the sixteenth century well into the twentieth century. The collection is sourced from both American and Canadian institutions, as well as from newspapers from various tribes and Indian-related organizations.

UNT Libraries Hours and Services
To get the most up-to-date information on our hours of operation check out our Summary of Hours page. Updates on our services may be found on our Continuity of Library Services guide.
Building Student Resilience 
UNT is home to Scrappy, who is our spirit animal in many ways. Scrappy steps into any arena ready to succeed by adapting to change and finding creative solutions to obstacles. This ability to meet and overcome challenges in ways that maintain or promote well-being plays an essential role in how we learn to achieve academic and personal goals.

Resilient people feel a sense of control over their own destinies. They know they can reach out to others for support when needed. We can cultivate resilience by encouraging students to utilize resources from our Learning Center and providing early informational feedback that will allow students to apply adaptive strategies and persevere the Scrappy way.

Foster student success through feedback by:
  • describing observations about process and performance relative to learning goals,
  • offering students opportunities to reflect on performance, identify strengths and recognize errors,
  • providing guidance for improvement in order to engage learners in developing plans for improvement, and
  • allowing students to rewrite and re-submit selected pieces of work.
Chief's Corner
This year challenged our UNT community and the entire nation mentally, physically and emotionally – from COVID-19 to the elections to financial strain. This stress can take a tremendous toll on our mental health.
We strongly encourage you to proactively take care of your mental health and support proactive steps in your students and colleagues. UNT offers the following resources to help:

  • For students – Counseling and Testing services are free. They are located in Chestnut Hall and can be contacted at 940-565-2741 or Counselingandtestingservices@unt.edu.
  • For active and retired employees and members of their household – The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provides help. For assistance with EAP, contact UNT Human Resources at 940-565-2281.

CARE Team
To help UNT community members before they reach a crisis point, the Dean of Students and Human Resources created a student and a faculty/staff CARE Team. Each CARE Team consists of a network of professionals from across campus that are committed to a caring, confidential program of identification, intervention and response in order to provide our community members with the greatest chance of success and protection.

To refer a student to the CARE Team, you can file an online report at report.unt.edu. For concerns about a faculty or staff member, email careteam@unt.edu or leave a voicemail at 940-565-4373.

If someone’s behavior places themselves, you or anyone else in immediate danger please call 911 immediately. In Denton, you can also text 911 – please remember to include your location so we can quickly assist you. Remember to trust your instincts if you feel a situation is dangerous or could escalate.

For more safety tips follow @UNTPolice on Facebook or Twitter.
News from International Affairs
Study Abroad Workshop:
Designing a New Faculty Led Program

The UNT Study Abroad Office will be hosting two virtual workshops this spring for anyone who is interested in designing a faculty-led program. Register today!
Jan
29
11 a.m. to noon
Feb
9
11 a.m. to noon
UNT Passport Office
Starting December 3, the UNT Passport Office will be open for scheduled appointments on Mondays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. To learn more or request an appointment, visit: https://studyabroad.unt.edu/passport-office.
Stay in Touch with Faculty Success
Our office is responsible for and supports numerous programs to ensure that faculty at all levels are successful in their teaching, scholarly, and leadership endeavors.

We encourage you to explore our website for additional information on specific programming or contact us directly to learn more about the numerous opportunities available to UNT faculty. We are here to foster your success.