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Texas Governor's School
This June at UNT approximately 150 high school students from around the state attended the first Texas Governor's School in science, a three-week residential program funded by the Texas Legislature. The students, who will be entering the 10th grade in the fall, took courses from UNT faculty and secondary school teachers on the future of science and technology as well as courses covering science and technology in the arts, ethics in science and the history of science. Governor's schools began in 1963 in North Carolina. Although Texas has offered a summer governor's school in leadership for 18 years at Lamar University, the Texas Governor's School at UNT is the first in the sciences. UNT was chosen for the school because of its success in establishing and maintaining the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, a two-year early residential program that allows talented students to complete their freshman and sophomore years of college while earning their high school diplomas. Rick Reidy, associate professor of materials science and engineering, was director of the Texas Governor's School.
O. Finley Graves, senior associate dean of the College of Business Administration and professor and former chair of the Department of Accounting, will become interim dean of the college on Aug. 15. Graves replaces Kathleen Cooper, who will step down from the deanship in August to pursue her interests in national economic and energy policy issues. A national search for a dean will begin this fall. Graves joined the UNT faculty in 2002 and served as accounting chair from that time until January of this year. Previously, he was professor and head of the Department of Accounting at Kansas State University, professor of accounting at the University of Mississippi and visiting professor of accounting at the University of Newcastle in Australia. While on the faculty at the University of Alabama, Graves served as chair of the Department of German and Russian. He is a CPA licensed in the state of Mississippi and was a staff accountant with Coopers & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) before launching his teaching career. He earned a doctorate and a master's degree in accounting at the University of Alabama and earlier earned a bachelor's degree in modern languages from the University of Mississippi, a master's degree in modern German literature from Rice and a doctorate in Germanic languages and literatures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Concluding a nationwide search that began in January, UNT selected Earl F. Gibbons Jr. as its first vice provost and associate vice president for international education. "Of particular importance among Gibbons' new responsibilities is the implementation of the ‘globalization' initiatives of the university's strategic plan," says Gary Krahenbuhl, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. Internationalization, along with diversity and collaboration, is a key theme that will drive the plan adopted by the board of regents last year. When Gibbons joins the university in September, his duties will include enhancing UNT's reputation as a leader in international education; fostering international awareness and diversity programming throughout the university; advancing international dimensions in research, curriculum and instruction; and providing administrative leadership for UNT's International Studies and Programs. Since 2003, Gibbons has served as vice provost for international and educational outreach at Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Wash. In addition, he served as dean of the College of Business and Economics at Longwood University in Virginia and as associate vice president for overseas programs at Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management in Glendale, Ariz. He also held faculty appointments at Longwood, Thunderbird and Arizona State University. Gibbons earned his doctoral degree and master's degree in international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh and his bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
If you visited the mall area in front of Willis Library in the last year, you probably noticed some construction going on. As of this spring, the construction zone is gone. In April the university formally dedicated Jody's Fountain and Onstead Plaza and Promenade, which includes new water features, landscaping and seating areas in the central and southern portions of the mall. The fountain, restored for use as a working fountain in 2005, was renovated and refaced in fieldstone. The latest renovations also include a waterfall feature named in honor of Louise Evans ('38, '39 M.S.) at the mall's southern entrance on Highland Street. The former longtime acquisitions librarian donated money for that project before her death in 2006. The Onstead Plaza and Promenade and the fountain renovations were funded by donations from Charles Onstead ('47), the Charles and Jody Onstead Foundation and the Robert and Kay Onstead Foundation. Jody's Fountain is named in memory of Charles' wife, Jo Ann "Jody" Park Onstead ('44), who died in 2003. Speaking at the dedication were Charles Onstead and his sister-in-law, Kay Onstead. A plaque at the north end of the promenade provides visitors with information about the family and their ties to the university. Jody and Charles, who met at North Texas, were married after Jody graduated. Charles returned after World War II to finish his degree while Jody taught art in Dallas. Charles later earned his M.D. and served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. After retiring in 1970 as chief of radiology at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, he opened a private practice. Charles' younger brother, the late Robert "Bob" Onstead ('54), served in the Korean War and then lived on campus with his wife, Kay Martin Onstead, while he finished his North Texas degree. Kay's mother, Elizabeth Linn Martin ('39), also was a North Texas alum. Bob, who was one of the founders of the Randall's grocery store chain in the Houston area, died in 2004. He received the UNT Distinguished Alumnus Award earlier that year.
Sixteen graduate students in the School of Library and Information Sciences' advanced storytelling class have put their work online in Creating Ripples … Making Waves: A Storytelling Concert About Transformation. The students recorded themselves via digital video telling personal tales or reciting classic stories. Selections include "Home Not Home," written by a student from New Orleans displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and "How Boredom Made Me a Bride," about a student's boring summer days in Paris, Texas, that led to her meeting her future husband online. This is the seventh online concert produced over the last several years by the students of Elizabeth Figa, assistant professor of library and information sciences. Here are links to previous concerts:
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