Introducing CLASS, COS and HPS

June 7, 2017

To help UNT expand and strengthen its prominence as a Carnegie-ranked Tier One research university, this spring the College of Arts and Sciences split into two new colleges focused on natural sciences and liberal arts. This change was planned to accelerate efforts to bolster research, program offerings and rankings. The split will provide more support for each department and program, will assist in recruitment efforts and is intended to yield additional grant funding and research dollars. Also, the College of Public Affairs and Community Service, led by Dean Tom Evenson, was renamed the College of Health and Public Service. It houses seven academic departments, including the new Department of Social Work.

"By creating two separate colleges for the sciences and liberal arts, we'll be able not only to better support our faculty and students, but also to provide them with more focused and concentrated research opportunities," President Neal Smatresk says. "And the renaming of the College of Health and Public Service will provide more opportunities to grow programs related to allied health and put more prominence on pre-professional health track programs that will keep pace with today's industry needs."

College of Science

More than 10 percent of UNT students are enrolled in the College of Science's 12 undergraduate and 14 graduate degree programs in the departments of biological sciences, chemistry, mathematics and physics. It houses UNT's BioDiscovery Institute and Advanced Environmental Research Institute.

The college has 122 full-time faculty members and is led by interim dean Su Gao, former chair of the math department, while a search for a permanent dean is underway. The College of Science also is home to Teach North Texas, a program to prepare and support secondary math and science teachers. Majors can participate in Teach North Texas by completing 21 hours of structured, hands-on coursework, which can be taken as a minor, and remain on track for graduation.

"Creating a college devoted solely to science is an effort to better prepare our UNT science community for the future, by giving us new resources and stand-alone abilities to expand our strong research programs and earn additional research grants," Gao says.

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences offers 69 degree programs in its 21 departments and programs. The dean is David Holdeman, who served as dean of the former College of Arts and Sciences. The college is home to the Air Force ROTC and Army ROTC programs and custom-tailored undergraduate degrees in integrative studies and social science. With an integrative studies degree, students self-select three areas of interest and complete all coursework in those focus areas. The social science degree equips students to respond to cultural, economic, political and technological changes in the future.

"Our goal in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is to continue to prepare our students to achieve success and become the next generation of civic leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, performers and scholars," says Holdeman. "We remain eclectic and provide students with numerous and interdisciplinary choices for their future careers."

College of Health and Public Service (HPS)