At a momentous event Feb. 13, President V. Lane Rawlins helped unveil the four bold goals of UNT’s new strategic plan and its new theme line, “A green light to greatness.”
In its continuing journey to greater excellence, the University of North Texas unveiled today its new five-year strategic plan with four bold goals — aimed at helping UNT to provide the best education and to become one of the best public research universities in the nation — and an iconic new theme line: "A green light to greatness."
Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the university gathered in the Murchison Performing Arts Center Feb. 13 for the Four Bold Goals, One Great University: UNT in a Whole New Light event. As the UNT Symphony Orchestra performed, the university celebrated its 122-year history and announced the goals of the University of North Texas Strategic Plan 2012-17, which will guide UNT as it grows as a major public research university offering the best undergraduate educational experience in Texas. UNT’s four bold goals, the cornerstones of its strategic plan, are:
- Goal 1: Provide the best undergraduate educational experience in Texas
- Goal 2: Provide superior graduate education, scholarship and artistic endeavors and achieve status among the nation’s tier-one research institutions
- Goal 3: Become a national leader among universities in student support, employee relations, operational effectiveness and service to constituencies
- Goal 4: Establish UNT as a nationally recognized, engaged university and regional leader by building and expanding mutually beneficial partnerships and resources
"The strategic plan and the new theme line aren't just about increasing our quality and cultivating our image, they also represent our ultimate promise to students: To be a place where you can become the best because of all that we provide,” UNT President V. Lane Rawlins said. “Everything we do is in service to our students and we want to be a catalyst for their greatness."
Rawlins also emphasized that by making quality of service and community engagement key goals of UNT's strategic plan, the university is stretching in ways that it hasn't before.
"We want to ensure that UNT is a fulfilling environment for the students who study here and the faculty and staff who work here. And at the same time, we want to make sure that we find new ways to reach out to our communities and support them," Rawlins said.
By striving to reach these goals, UNT will deliver an education to its students that will rival that of the nation’s best higher education institutions and will ensure UNT students’ ability to compete with anyone, anywhere. In doing so, with this plan, UNT is reinforcing its commitment to students and to keeping the North Texas region, state and nation strong and competitive.
UNT Provost Warren Burggren said the strategic plan has bold standards and a new level of accountability for UNT.
"We're raising the stakes and embracing the challenge because we know that to continue attracting and cultivating ever-better students, we must be an ever-better institution," Burggren said. "With this plan, UNT is focused on becoming a national research university that excels at teaching and research. You can't have one without the other to be truly great."
The new theme line, "A green light to greatness," represents the university’s new direction and reflects the university's transformation during the last seven years. Although the new theme line is represented in new graphics, the UNT brand and logo, which were launched in 2005, will remain largely the same. UNT’s color also remains the same vibrant shade of green.
The theme line was developed after months of research and with input from a representative group of campus community members. The campus and the public at large will begin to see the new theme line and image on many university materials as they are phased in during the year and through a DFW advertising campaign.
For more information, visit www.unt.edu/bold.