The UNT community gathered for the third annual Celebration of Desegregation march Oct. 4 to honor the university's early African American students, first admitted in the 1950s. Participants walked from Wilson Street to the university, a route the students took every day to come to class, as they were not initially allowed to live on campus. The event was hosted by UNT's first African American fraternity - the Phi Gamma chapter of Omega Psi Phi - the Multicultural Center and the Trailblazers, UNT's association of pioneering African American students.

Photo by Angilee Wilkerson

"We Mean Green," a UNT public awareness campaign to promote sustainability, kicked off Oct. 10-11 with a conference on renewable energy, sponsored by the North Texas Energy and Environment Club. The campaign is promoting UNT's new eco-friendly water filter system and free reusable water bottles along with other campus efforts. In the fall, UNT purchased a generator that converts cafeteria cooking oil to bio-diesel fuel for its vehicles and added eight electric maintenance vehicles. Recycling efforts bring in 12,000 to 14,000 plastic bottles each week and 300 pounds of aluminum cans and 33 tons of paper and cardboard each month.

Photo by Carolyn Bobo

October's more than 100 concerts by the College of Music were dedicated to slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl as part of Daniel Pearl World Music Days, an annual network of concerts across the globe to promote tolerance and humanity through music. The journalist, who was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan in 2002, was a classical violinist. Judea Pearl, his father and a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, spoke on campus Oct. 20.

Photo by Michael Clements

Eagle Election Night 2008 gave UNT students the opportunity to experience real-world lessons in media coverage of a presidential race. NTTV, the student-run television station, broadcast election returns live from the University Union courtyard Nov. 4. The broadcasts featured interviews with administrators and faculty experts as well as reports from student journalists at political headquarters. About 125 students participated in all, including political science students who provided research and others working behind the scenes.

Photo by Jonathan Reynolds

More than 1,000 middle and high school students from Texas and New Mexico competed in the annual Texas BEST robotics competition Nov. 14-15. Texas BEST - Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology - aims to inspire students to pursue careers in technology and science. This year's participants had to build and operate a robot that would assemble an airplane.

Photo by Michael Clements

Neil Slater and James Riggs ('72 M.M.) retired from leading the university's top two jazz bands, the One O'Clock and Two O'Clock lab bands, in August and were honored with a jazz reunion concert Nov. 22 to benefit scholarships in their names. Between them, they represented more than 60 years of service to UNT. The reunion included tributes and performances by many renowned alumni musicians and the current One O'Clock and Two O'Clock bands. In front from left are Riggs, Bob Belden ('78) and Lou Marini, who attended in the 1960s. In back are Michael Steinel ('82), associate professor of music, Jack Evans ('87, '93 M.S.) and, seated, Tom Malone ('69).

Photo by Vanessa Mendoza