Who We Are

Faculty Success at the University of North Texas fosters a vibrant, supportive environment where faculty can grow, connect, and thrive. Our mission centers on enhancing professional community, capabilities, career achievement, and overall climate through holistic learning and development programs, mentoring, networking, and transparent communication. The office offers numerous faculty development initiatives each year — including workshops, learning communities, and leadership opportunities — and administers awards, grants, and recognition programs that celebrate excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service. We also support key aspects of faculty life such as promotion and tenure guidance, strategic projects, and policy development. Faculty Success helps UNT faculty advance their careers while contributing to the university’s academic and public-serving mission.

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Our Strategic Goals (2026–2030)

Photo of panelists at a Project-Based Learning symposium

Develop faculty potential across all career stages

Develop
Faculty Success will coordinate faculty development programming across campus partners through the Faculty Development Collaborative, deliver a unified calendar of offerings, and conduct biennial needs assessments aligned to career-stage priorities. These efforts ensure that every faculty member, regardless of rank or appointment type, has access to the development, recognition, and support needed to contribute their best work to UNT's mission.

Our Implementation Priorities

  • Launch the Faculty Development Collaborative and deploy a centralized faculty development calendar: Biannual strategy meetings will bring together campus partners, including the Division of Research and Innovation (DRI), Learning Ecosystem for Empowering Futures (LEEF), UNT Libraries, and International Affairs to coordinate planning and reduce duplication. A calendar widget auto-populating with faculty-focused events will make coordinated programming visible and accessible to all faculty. 

  • Conduct a comprehensive biennial faculty development needs assessment: Launching in Spring 2027, the needs assessment will generate data on faculty development priorities across ranks and career stages. Findings will be disseminated to partner units to align programming, identify gaps, and ensure offerings are responsive to the varied needs of all faculty ranks and appointment types. 

  • Develop and launch an external faculty award pipeline strategy in collaboration with DRI: Internal award criteria will be revised to align with prestigious external award standards. A coordinated award committee liaison structure will facilitate data sharing and nomination development. Salute to Faculty Excellence awards criteria will be updated to recognize faculty contributions across interdisciplinary, entrepreneurial, and public-impact areas. 

  • Expand faculty recognition through the Look North Speaker Series and social media: The Look North Faculty Speaker Series will highlight faculty accomplishments across UNT's four strategic priority areas. An expanded LinkedIn presence will broaden awareness of faculty achievements internally and externally, strengthening UNT's visibility as a place where scholars thrive. 

Core Metrics

1st to 2nd Year Retention
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 77% | UNT Target (2030): 90%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • N/A
4-Year Graduation Rate
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 42% | UNT Target (2030): 65%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • N/A
6-Year Graduation Rate
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 61% | UNT Target (2030): 80%

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • N/A
Annual R&D Expenditures
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): $124M | UNT Target (2030): $250M

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • Rapid-response hiring pathways for grant-dependent faculty and graduate research assistants align appointment timelines with award milestones.
Doctoral Degrees Awarded
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 286 | UNT Target (2030): 300

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • Faculty development programming and data-informed support strengthen research productivity and doctoral student mentoring across disciplines.
Time to Value
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UNT Baseline (2024/25): 6 years | UNT Target (2030): Decrease time for programs over median

Unit contribution to achieving targets:

  • N/A

Emergent Metrics

Important Dimensions of Our Success that Require New Approaches

Post-graduation placement:
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Percentage of graduates placed in high-demand occupations or graduate and professional programs

Plans to use Academic Analytics to identify career outcomes for students of recognized faculty as part of award pipeline strategy.

Career-aligned learning:
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Percentage of academic programs that integrate internships, industry-sponsored projects, or other work-integrated learning experiences

N/A

Awards and recognitions:
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Prestigious awards, exhibitions, and performances achieved by our students, faculty, staff, and alumni

Manages 11 internal faculty awards and is building an award pipeline strategy to increase faculty competitiveness for external prestigious awards in partnership with DRI.

Innovation and entrepreneurship:
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New ventures, startups, and public impact projects launched by students, faculty, and alumni

Internal awards, grants, and programming aligned to support faculty research and teaching innovation; tracks grant activity supported through Faculty Success resources.

Student and alumni engagement:
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Perceptions of how well UNT prepares graduates to pursue lives of meaning and purpose

N/A

Unit Level Metrics

 

  • Faculty development program participation by career rank: Ensures faculty development offerings systematically address the needs of tenure-track, tenured, professional-ranked, and adjunct faculty across the institution.
  • Prestigious external faculty award submissions and wins:Tracks progress on the award pipeline strategy; external recognition enhances UNT's research reputation and strengthens faculty recruitment and retention.
  • Faculty job satisfaction (COACHE survey, administered every 3 years): Assesses faculty job satisfaction as a key predictor of retention and performance; identifies gaps in programming, internal grants, engagement, and policy support.
  • Faculty separation data (survey and interviews): Ensures that feedback on why full-time faculty leave UNT informs recruitment and retention strategies and supports continuous improvement.