It's a new year of opportunities for UNT as our community comes together. We're focused on helping our students get a great education and build successful careers and lives — just like the alumni featured in this issue.

We welcomed another strong and diverse freshman class this year. And we kicked off our football season with our new head football coach, Seth Littrell, and our new vice president and director of athletics, Wren Baker. They bring great passion and experience in building a winning program. Join us for the home games, including Homecoming Nov. 5 when we take on Louisiana Tech.

I'm also excited that our key initiatives are gaining momentum. UNT's New College at Frisco, an off-site instructional facility, is our newest offering, joining our locations at the Collin Higher Education Center in McKinney and the Universities Center in downtown Dallas.

Just as we do at UNT, we're developing programs at the New College that will help people work at top companies in the area such as Toyota or the Dallas Cowboys world headquarters — The Star, which is a stone's throw away.

Speaking of which, we're now the exclusive education partner of the Dallas Cowboys. This association creates opportunities for our university and our students, including engagement and internships with one of the world's top sports organizations. The partnership also will help to expand overall awareness of UNT.

Through initiatives like this, we're raising our profile as a top-tier research university. Check out our new rankings site, which shows how UNT and our programs stand out.

As I noted in my State of the University address, which you'll read about in this issue, we're making significant progress. The sky is the limit!