Dear Division of Student Affairs Team,

Happy New Year, I hope everyone’s semester is off to a great start! Enrollment is currently up from last spring and I imagine many of you can sense this from increased traffic in your office or from attendance at your programs. I hope all of you are excited about what the New Year has in store for you, the Division, and UNT. 

I’m hopeful you all have paid attention to the University’s response to the executive order issued by the Trump administration regarding immigration.  We are an institution that values diversity and that specifically includes our international student population as well as our international faculty and staff.  This diversity enhances the educational experience at UNT and we are a better institution because of it.  Many students may have questions about their status.  As you encounter these questions, please provide support as needed and utilize the International Office, Student Legal Services, or the Counseling Center, as appropriate.  I appreciate all that you can do to help reinforce UNT’s commitment to all students.
 
I want to remind all of you of our completed DSA Strategic Plan and Learning Outcomes. Hopefully you’ve begun to think about how your department will contribute to our strategic plan and embed the learning outcomes in your own program assessments (more information will be coming out on how to do this soon). You can find these documents and more on the DSA home page.
 
I also want to encourage everyone to think about nominating a colleague for the DSA T.E.A.A.M. Award which recognizes Division employees who have made a notable contribution and/or act of service to the university community, whether large or small. All submissions will be recognized via the DSA website, newsletter, and division meeting and allow us to highlight the hard work our staff continuously put in to making UNT the best place it can be for students.
 
In this New Year, I hope that everyone plans engage in professional development activities. I encourage you to look through some of the upcoming training opportunities provided by Talent Management and Student Affairs.
 
Finally, you all should have a received an email from the Employee Engagement Survey from Gallup with a survey for you to complete.  As stated in the note in Inhouse: “In an effort to ensure that we have a great workplace, we need your feedback. The survey above was sent to your email account on Jan. 24 and is open for you to complete until Feb. 6 (Monday). If you did not see the email, check your spam, clutter and trash folders. Learn more about the survey.”  I hope that each of you are able to complete the survey.
 
You will notice quite a bit of construction beginning this spring on campus. Between the new Art Building, Residence Hall, Dining Facility, and Welcome Center, there is a lot to be excited about. Keep the end in mind as you may have to search for parking spot a little longer or find a new route to various places on-campus.

Thank you again for all that you do!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth With, Ed.D.

DSA Meeting
Wednesday, February 22
8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
Union Ballroom 314

DSA Staff Appreciation Breakfast
Wednesday, March 22
7:30 - 9:00 a.m., Grab-and-Go
Union Syndicate

DSA Dodgeball Tournament
Thursday, March 23
3:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Rec Center
Details on signing up to follow.

Please consider nominating a fellow staff member for a 2017 DSA Award by March 1!

Nominations can be submitted here: https://unt.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9o5TQM5n3WuKMCx. Feel free to nominate as many coworkers as you like. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to Kate Neal or Dr. Teresa McKinney, Kate.Neal@unt.edu and Teresa.McKinney@unt.edu.

Award descriptions and qualifications were sent out in a calendar invitation to the division. If you are missing these, please reach out to Kate Neal.

2 offices. 1 mission.

Working in partnership with the Financial Services and Financial Aid & Scholarships offices, the Student Money Management Center has opened its first satellite office in ESSC 110. The office will focus on expanding the center's coaching services. As such, our Assistant Director-CLASS - DANIELLE CHAMPAGNE - and our coaching team mentors will be staffing the satellite office. You can refer students to the new office by directing students to either Student Accounting or Financial Aid customer service desks of on the ground floor of the ESSC. Due to the location of the office, students are required to be escorted to the office from either customer service desk. You can also IM Danielle to ensure she is available to meet with the student if immediacy is required.

SMMC ESSC 110 (940) 369-6163

Thank you to all of our volunteers who made this program a success! We couldn’t have done it without you. I hope when you read some of the thank you notes we received from students, you understand how much you are appreciated. We hope you will participate again next year. The tentative dates are 10/18, 10/25, 11/1, and 11/8. Details to follow!

The spirit program (i.e., Cheer, Dance, and Scrappy) has officially transitioned from Athletics to Student Activities! If you would like to request the cheerleaders, dancers, and or Scrappy at your event, please submit a request on OrgSync. Requests for spirit groups at events is free for UNT departments. Requests must be made at least 10 business days in advance. If you have any questions, please contact Tracy Frier at 565-3807 or send an email to tracy.frier@unt.edu.

The Dean of Students Office is excited to announce that forty staff, faculty, and community members went through the five-day Green Dot Institute last month. Green Dot is an organization built on the premise that we can reduce power-based violence within any given community. In instances of harmful or violent words, actions, or behaviors, each person has a choice to ignore & accept it (a red dot) or intervene & address it (a green dot). Together, we will build a community equipped to intervene on red dot incidents to create a map full of green dots.

You can find more information about this program at www.livethegreendot.com. If you are interested in hosting a Green Dot program for your department, please contact Renee McNamara at Renee.McNamara@unt.edu.

Take Flight Job Shadowing Program

Are your students interested in learning more about a particular job or industry?
Are they wondering if they’re ready to commit to a job or internship in their field of interest?

The Take Flight – Job Shadowing Program is the perfect opportunity for them! Take Flight spans the course of one day to five days during Spring Break. The program provides students with the opportunity to visit companies and organizations primarily in the DFW area to explore careers, network with professionals, and to learn about career options related to their major. This event is a stepping-stone for students to receive insight into their career field. Through this event, students can build connections to aid in their future career goals, such as internships and job placement after graduation. 

Students can sign up for Take Flight by going to Eagle Careers and clicking on the Events tab. Then click on the “Events and Workshops” tab, and search for Job Shadowing under Category. For other questions, please contact our Graduate Assistant, Jake Bates, at Jacob.Bates@unt.edu.

Upcoming Career Fairs

A Career Fair is a major recruiting event where employers come to campus to seek out UNT students and alumni to fill (mainly) full time and internship position vacancies. Please encourage students to dress professionally and bring several copies of their resume. A list of attending employers can be found on Eagle Careers prior to each event.
 
Diversity & Inclusion Career Fair (Eagle Careers ID# 2900)
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
1pm-4pm
Union Ballroom 314

Business Career & Internship Fair (Eagle Careers ID# 2895)
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
3pm-6pm
UNT Coliseum

Engineering & Computer Science Internship & Career Fair (Eagle Careers ID# 2896)
Thursday, February 23, 2017
11am-3pm
Discovery Park

Journalism, Media, Communication & Design Internship & Career Fair (Eagle Careers ID# 2901)
Wednesday, March 1, 2017
1pm-4pm
Union Ballroom 314

Government, Non-Profit & Law Enforcement Career Fair (Eagle Careers ID# 2902)
Thursday, March 23, 2017
1pm-4pm
Union Ballroom 314 A/B

UNT/TWU Education Career Fair (Eagle Careers ID# 2903)
Thursday, April 6, 2017
9am-1pm
UNT Coliseum

Upcoming Business Expos

An Expo is often referred to as a “mini career fair”. This is because it is a much smaller recruiting event than a major career fair. Due to the expos taking place in the Business Leadership Building Atrium, students and faculty are able to conveniently attend before and after their class commitments. Open to all Majors!

Information Technology and Business Analytics Expo (Eagle Careers ID # 2993)
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
10am-12pm
Business Leadership Building Atrium

Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate Expo (Eagle Careers ID # 2994)
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
1pm-3pm
Business Leadership Building Atrium

Logistics/Operations & Supply Chain Management Expo (Eagle Careers ID # 2995)
Wednesday, April 12, 2017
12pm-2pm
Business Leadership Building Atrium

Management Leadership, Business Development, and Human Resources Expo (Eagle Careers ID# 2996)
Thursday, April 13, 2017
10am-12pm
Business Leadership Building Atrium

Sales Expo (Eagle Careers ID # 2997)
Thursday, April 13, 2017
1pm-3pm
Business Leadership Building Atrium

We are planning to have our UNT in Your Community event at the New College at Frisco for our Non-Traditional, Graduate, and Online students on Thursday, February 23rd from 6 - 7:30 p.m. to better serve the hectic schedules of our students.

This event provides students with the opportunity to get information about vital student services without them having to travel to Denton.

If you would like to send a representative to be available to answer questions on behalf of your department, please RSVP at this link: https://orgsync.com/71585/forms/237236.

We are working on creating some gift baskets to give away to students at this event. Whether attending or not, if your department would be interested in donating a few promo items to be included in these gift baskets (t-shirts, cups, pens, or any other promo items) please let us know, we can send someone to pick them up from you.

We would like to rent a UNT van for transportation for any department representatives that are attending to hopefully make it easier for all departments to be represented at this event.

Please contact Courtney Newsome (Courtney@unt.edu) with any questions 

The time has come to plan for our Spring 2017 Commuter Week; March 27-31! Join Off-Campus Student Services for Commuter Week 2017, a fun-filled week dedicated to commuter students! Events and activities will connect commuter students with information, resources, and other commuter students within the UNT community.

This is a prime opportunity to reach a significant number of students and provide them with valuable information.

Your department can either submit an intent to extend hours, plan an event/program, or both! By combining with your department/organization, we can give our students the best information & resources.

The deadline to submit is February 26, 2016: https://orgsync.com/71585/forms/231996. Contact Courtney Newsome (Courtney@unt.edu) with any questions.

The Office of Spiritual Life is bringing Donuts & Dialogue to the Union!  We started this past week with a discussion on February 1^st, World Hijab Day. World Hijab Day started in 2013 when Nazma Khan invited Muslim and non-Muslim women to wear a scarf to gain a better understanding of the choice to wear the hijab, and now people around the world use the day as opportunity to respectfully explore this subject. We used the event to spark a conversation about modesty as a spiritual practice, social issues, what the concept of “hijab” in Islam can mean, and more. Students from the Muslim Student Association joined the conversation as students shared their diverse perspectives.

Join us for our next conversation – students from all faith traditions and worldviews are welcome!

Upcoming Donuts & Dialogue dates:
March 6^th  & April 17^th
Union 339, 6 PM - 9 PM

A student-led We Mean Green Fund proposal to establish the UNT Community Garden is becoming a reality. The garden is currently being constructed between North Texas Lofts and Legends Hall, and we are set to get our hands dirty for the Spring planting season. The garden is meant to be accessible for all students, faculty, and staff regardless of gardening experience. The garden features 20 raised beds for organic gardening, a compost tumbler, 2 handicap accessible beds, a gazebo for socializing. Additionally, seeds, water, tools, and gardening education are provided for gardeners. Plots will be owned by groups of 5 or more and applications are coming in fast, so don’t delay in getting your group together!  Information and applications at sustainability.unt.edu/communitygarden.

The University of North Texas is taking action to address food insecurity among its students, and is doing so with a vision of partnership and community building. The Dean of Students Office has established a pantry that will provide an accessible on-campus food source for students in need. The food pantry launched at the start of the spring 2015 semester and is currently housed in the Union. There have over 1,800 student visits since the food pantry opened in January 2015.

If you would like to support the UNT Food Pantry, donations are accepted M-F, 8-5 PM in University Union 409. If you have questions, please contact deanofstudents@unt.edu. 

Examples of items needed include:

One of the primary resources available through the Office of the Dean of Students is to help students resolve University-related issues. Through the SOS (Seeking Options and Solutions) Program, the Office assists students and their families in navigating diverse concerns, as well as identifying resources for personal, academic, financial and social issues. Often times, having a point person to assist with university processes or simply directing the student in the most efficient way, can impact the student’s experience in a very positive way. This year DOS has assisted almost 700 students through SOS by developing creative solutions for the issues facing them today.

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