DENTON (UNT), Texas -- The University of North Texas will recognize its outstanding faculty during Salute to Faculty Excellence Week, which will be celebrated the week of Oct. 1-5 with a variety of events that includes an awards ceremony and dinner.

“Salute to Faculty Excellence is an opportunity for the university community to recognize our excellent faculty members who help shape our institution and contribute to our Four Bold Goals,” said Christy Crutsinger, Vice Provost for Faculty Success. “While UNT has held faculty recognition events annually, this year’s event has expanded to a weeklong celebration that will culminate in an awards dinner unlike anything we’ve done in the past. We want to take the time to pause and say ‘thank you’ to our faculty.”

The week will kick-off with the Distinguished Research Faculty Lecture and Reception at 3:00 p.m. in the Golden Eagle Suite on Oct. 1 (Monday). Featuring UNT Research Award Winners Angela Wilson, Regents Professor of chemistry and Jeffrey Bradetich, Regents Professor of music, and sponsored by the Office of Research and Economic Development. Later in the week, individual academic departments will recognize faculty with coffee and donut receptions to launch the Thank-a-Teacher program. The receptions will be held at 8 a.m. on Oct. 3 (Wednesday). A full schedule of events is available online.

The week will culminate with the Salute to Faculty Excellence Awards Dinner and Celebration. The formal dinner will be held on Oct. 5 (Friday) at 6:30 p.m. on the club level of Apogee Stadium. Three new, cash prizes will be awarded at the event, in addition to the traditional teaching, research, and service awards. The new awards are funded by the UNT Foundation.

Bruce Bond, a Regents Professor in the Department of English, will be awarded the UNT Foundation’s Eminent Faculty award. This award is to recognize a faculty member who has made outstanding and sustained contributions to scholarly-creative activity, teaching, and service and has served as an inspiration to the UNT community. Bond has propelled UNT’s creative writing program into national prominence serving as the Director of Creative Writing and Poetry Editor of American Literary Review, publishing numerous books, and essays and hundreds of poems that combine personal lyric and metaphysical inquiry. He will be awarded the highest cash prize of $15,000.

Arminta Jacobson, a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology, will be awarded the UNT Foundation Community Engagement award. This award recognizes UNT faculty members whose careers are marked by sustained activities that systematically and effectively advance mutual university-community engagement, successfully address important community issues through collaborative initiatives, and create intellectual products respected by peers within and beyond the academy.

Jacobson is an expert in child development, early education, infant care, family life education, parenting, parent education, parent involvement and work-family relations. In 1993, Jacobson founded and has since directed the UNT Center for Parent Education. Jacobson was recently named a Fellow of the National Council on Family Relation, the nation’s premier professional association for the multidisciplinary understanding of families.

The third award winner Mary Harris, a Regents Professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Administration, will be awarded the UNT Foundation Leadership Award. The recipient of this award must demonstrate a high degree of professionalism, be committed to the strategic mission of the university, and encourage others to support and work toward the public good through innovative initiatives. Under her co-leadership, Harris has founded Teach North Texas, a successful mathematics and science teacher education program, and the North Texas Regional P-16 Council.

A list of all the award winners can be found online.

For more information about events contact Christy Crutsinger 940-565-2550