Department Chair's Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation at the University of North Texas. We hope you will join fantastic team where you will be part of our world-class research and academic programs. We offer undergraduate majors in kinesiology, health promotion, public health, and recreation, event and sport management and a BBA in sport management at UNT’s New College in Frisco. We offer MS programs in kinesiology and recreation, event and sport management, an interdisciplinary MS in data science (sport performance analytics or sport marketing analytics concentrations) and a MBA in sport and event management at UNT’s New College in Frisco which is known as “Sports City USA.” Our collaborative PhD programs give students opportunities to specialize in exercise physiology, psychosocial aspects of exercise and sport, sport pedagogy and motor behavior, or sport management.

Whether in Denton or Frisco our department is connected with leading local and global sports brands. UNT is the official academic partner of the Dallas Cowboys; the department is sport science and marketing partner of the Dallas Griffins of Major League Rugby; and our Applied Physiology Lab has been designated as the first International Federation of Sports Medicine (FIMS) Collaborating Center based in the USA or Canada which connects us to the International Olympic Movement and allows us to be the only USA university lab with rights to display the Olympic Rings. One of our lab co-directors is also an Olympian as well as being one of UNT Regent’s Professors. Our new Sport and Event Management Lab is the home of the World in Union: Rugby Research Network and part of the World (Ice) Hockey Forum. We partner with the Department of Psychology in the Center for Sport Psychology and Performance Excellence, the sport psychology provider of the WNBA Dallas Wings.

Our students have interned with leading sports organizations including: the Dallas Cowboys; FC Dallas; the Dallas Stars; Grand Prairie Parks, Arts and Recreation; Oklahoma City Thunder; Liverpool FC; Dallas Griffins and Major League Rugby and major sports product companies. Recent graduates are working in major sports and fitness organizations, medical and health fields, and in leading sport businesses including in the NFL and NBA.

Our faculty come from across the USA and around the globe bringing you high quality sports, fitness and health education you cannot find elsewhere. KHPR at UNT is globally connected with research and study links in Shanghai, China; Dubai and Qatar in the Middle East; Belize, Barbados, and St. Lucia in the Caribbean; Ghana and South Africa in Africa; Australia and New Zealand; the United Kingdom; Austria; Denmark and Russia. We are also developing possibilities for sports science students in kinesiology to visit the Sub2Hour Marathon Project field lab in Ethiopia to work with elite distance runners trying to break the two-hour barrier in the men’s marathon. Our reach extends well beyond Denton and Frisco.

It is an exciting time to be at UNT and to be involved with all facets of sport and fitness performance and innovation. We look forward to seeing you in Denton or Frisco and to sharing our passion for sport, recreation, fitness and health.

John Nauright, PhD
Chair and Professor
Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation