By Brian Scott
A single mother and now University of North Texas graduate is beating the odds after nearly losing her life.
Darla Ray will get her degree at Friday's UNT commencement ceremony after becoming a well-known figure to many on campus.
Ray spent the last few years living in the dorms on campus and attending classes and study groups, though as a 49-year-old mother of two, she is clearly not the typical student.
Ray divorced when both of her daughters were still young...
About 3,000 University of North Texas students will walk across the stage with other graduates from their respective colleges during fall recognition ceremonies Friday and Saturday.
Last spring, UNT opted for a mass commencement ceremony held in May, which features a keynote speaker but doesn’t include the conventional practice of having students walk across the stage one at a time to receive their degrees.
To fill the gap, college...
Commencement ceremonies are mostly pretty similar, one to another. Graduates, caps and gowns, polite attention to a speaker at a podium.
But at the University of North Texas, the keynote speaker — the governor of the state — addressed just a tiny fraction of the graduating class. And part of that small audience was actively protesting him — turning away from him, holding anti-Gov. Greg Abbott signs.
A spokeswoman for the university in Denton, Tex., north of Dallas, said last-minute changes to the ceremony, moving it from an outdoor football field to an indoor coliseum after heavy rain and the possibility of hail and...
The University of North Texas had a campus-wide commencement over the weekend – a first for the school in Denton. The keynote speaker, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, ignored a few protestors and stayed focused on the graduates in his speech.
Greg Abbott came to the podium as banners unfurled in the stands. “Get the frack out of Denton” and “Abbott Free UNT” read a few. Abbott didn’t address them directly, but instead started his speech with thanks to people in the armed services, especially UNT student Nick Bradley.
“It’s because of Nick, and everyone like him who has fought on battlefields across the globe, that...
An estimated 300 to 400 degree recipients attended the University of North Texas’ first mass commencement ceremony, of the more than 4,000 who earned their diplomas this weekend.
Not a drop of rain had fallen by the time the ceremony ended — in spite of university officials’ Thursday decision to have the commencement in the UNT Coliseum, rather than at Apogee Stadium, because of the high chance of severe weather.
Because of the change, students from the College of Arts and Sciences and doctoral and master’s candidates were told not to go to the Coliseum for Saturday’s ceremony, instead having their degrees conferred...
In The News
