Because the winter holidays are quickly approaching, there have been holiday parties all over campus in various offices, and everyone seems to be in a holiday spirit. Just last week, President Bataille sent out a holiday card to everyone in the UNT community with a link to a multimedia holiday card set to music from UNT’s jazz program. Check it out: http://www.unt.edu/holiday/.
UNT is participating in WFAA’s 40th annual Santa’s Helpers toy drive, which provides toys for as many as 50,000 North Texas children in need. Last year, the UNT community donated almost 700 toys to the drive! Bring your toys to any of the brightly wrapped collection boxes found in most of the buildings on campus. The toy drive ends December 9th at 12:00pm, so make sure you bring your toys before then!
Holiday display in the current University Union
UNT’s Master Planning Team for the University Union has been working hard to come up with ideas on how to provide enhanced services, facilities, and programs in the new and advanced Union to be built in the near future. Because the current Union was originally designed 40 years ago to provide services for only 15,000 students, we’ve decided to update the Union to serve our current student population of over 36,000. For more information about the Master Plan project or to give your input on the plan, visit: http://www.unt.edu/union/masterplan/.
Speaking of the Union, you should check out the holiday display in the current Union. It features a giant Christmas tree (close to 25 feet!) surrounded by display boards describing other traditional religious holidays, including Hannukah, Eid, and Kwanza.
A public groundbreaking ceremony was held last weekend on November 21st to celebrate the beginning of UNT’s new energy efficient football stadium complex being built. The stadium is going to be a multi-purpose facility with a capacity of 30,000. It will also be the nation’s very first college venue to be Gold LEED-certified, one of the highest levels of sustainable achievement. The stadium will be open for the 2011 football season.
Today, all of the offices in UNT-International came together to have a Thanksgiving feast! It was a potluck-style meal, so everyone brought his or her favorite traditional Thanksgiving dish to share. Some of the dishes included turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, dressing, green beans, and sweet potatoes, among many others. There were several traditional desserts as well, including pecan pie and pumpkin pie. Thanksgiving is a pretty big holiday in the US, and all of us at UNT-I are looking forward to having this Thursday and Friday off to celebrate with our families!
UNT will now offer degree options at Collin Higher Education Center in McKinney due to a new partnership between UNT and Collin College. President Bataille participated in a signing ceremony on November 9th to formalize the creating of the center. Degree options include:
Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman"
Besides tomorrows screening of Eat Drink Man Woman for the Ang Lee Film Festival, today’s events are the last chance to celebrate International Education Week at UNT.
For lunch, stop by the International Welcome Center for “Tea, Samosas, and the Promise of Education,” benefitting internally displaced families of Pakistan from 11:00-12:00. Then head to the Kerr Hall Cafeteria for a Moroccan lunch menu, lasting until 2:30.
This afternoon, visit Marquis hall room 118 for information on funding international research and scholarly work from 2:00-4:00. Then from 3:00-7:30, be sure to stop by the Chilton hall Cooking Lab for “Cooking and Tasting around the World” to enjoy a taste-test of cuisines from all over the world!
Today’s events for International Education Week at UNT include a Thai lunch menu at Victory/Champs Hall Cafeteria and an information session with a representative from Teach and Learn in Korea. Also, the Ang Lee Film Festival continues with the screening of the movie, The Wedding Banquet. For information on times and locations of all International Week events, click here.
Tonight is the first game of the season for the UNT men’s basketball team, and if they win tonight, they will have achieved their 1000th win! The team has won 999 games over the past 92 years and is hoping to make it an even 1000 in their game against Cameron at 7:00pm at the Super Pit tonight. Not surprisingly, UNT was picked to win the Sun Belt West Division in every pre-season publication, as well as the Sun Belt Coaches Poll. Click here for their season schedule.
Also, be sure to check out the UNT women’s basketball team. For their schedule, click here.
Don’t forget that UNT students get in FREE to all sporting events with their UNT ID!
Yesterday marked the beginning of International Education Week with the deadline for submissions to the essay contest with the theme, “Sustainability: The Key to Global Citizenship.” Check back next week for the winning essay!
This weekend is when all the exciting events begin for International Education Week at UNT, starting with the annual celebration of Diwali put on by the India Student Association. I’ve gone every year for as long as I can remember, and I highly recommend it! The music, dancing, fashion shows, and FOOD are excellent. The event will be held in the Auditorium Building on Saturday from 5:45pm to 8:00pm. For tickets, please go to the information desk on the third floor of the Union.
