On The Move - Fall 2022 - UNT Dallas Newsletter

Bob Mong
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Greetings Trailblazers,
The university is preparing carefully for the upcoming 88th Texas
Legislative Session that begins in January.
Our theme for this session is “Why UNT Dallas Matters – Local Students for
the Local Workforce.”
This message was well received during my first legislative presentation on
Sept. 20 in Austin.
You will recall we had our best session ever two years ago. We left with the
largest percentage increase in appropriations of any DFW public university.
We also received $3.5 million to begin our Center for Socioeconomic
Mobility through Education. Most of all, we received $100 million for a
new STEM building, something that will transform our campus and create
healthcare pathways for area students for generations to come. The
building should open in the 2025–26 school year.
We have built a trusting and strong relationship with the local Dallas area
legislative delegation as well as leaders in the state. They have a good
grasp of why we matter, and we will do our best to build on that good will
this session.
One reason for this trust and support can be found in recently released
state data on how much debt our graduates leave with. The majority of our
graduates are Hispanic with African Americans being the second largest
group. So what does the state say about these graduates?
For African American UNT Dallas graduates, 90 percent earn their degree
with no or manageable debt, much better than the state average.
As for Hispanics, 98 percent earn their degree or manageable debt, also
well above the state average.
We are proud of our demographics, and prouder still, that we are assisting
our students with earning a degree without much debt.
Our vision is to provide our students with a pathway to upward economic
mobility. It is a vision that we are making progress on. A national study
released earlier this year ranked us 15th nationally among 1300 American
colleges and universities in upward economic mobility among our grads.
That’s a good story to tell.
STRATEGIC PLANNING IS ABOUT CHOOSING
WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO
The University of North Texas at Dallas
is moving from a one-year strategic plan
to a five-year strategic plan. With a golive
date of early 2023, the plan is led by
a cross-functional committee of over 30
people and chaired by Drs. Jose da Silva,
Marco Shappeck, and Julie Siddique. It
will be our GPS – Guided Path to Success
– as we continue to advance our mission
of empowering students, transforming
lives, and strengthening communities. We
will be aspirational, think big, and boldly
ask what if and why not. Through broad
campus and community engagement, the
plan will reflect the insights and expertise
of our students, faculty, staff, and other
stakeholders and partners. It will align
our efforts, inform decisions, and guide
where and how we invest our energy
and resources as we transition to the
expansion stage of our growth lifecycle.
And we could not be more excited about
the UNT System “Join the Journey” values
initiative, where our five-year strategic
plan will naturally align.
We are Trailblazers! Here we come.
Guided Path to Success
Blazing our path to the future.
2 ON THE MOVE | FALL 2022