The College of Science is thankful to Dr. Charles Mangum for the two years in which he served as the college's Advancement Board chair, leading the team in project-based fundraising and partnerships that laid the groundwork for the board to accomplish major milestones as the college itself enters its third year of independence. The board's most recent meeting saw changes to leadership, as dictated by the bylaws, nominating and appointing Dr. Linda Truitt Creagh as the new board chair, and Dr. Erin Tate, who joined last year, as co-chair.
With the unanimous approval of all voting members, the COS Advancement Board has collectively made two major contributions this year:
UNT Astronomy Planetarium
A generous $17,500 donation from Dr. Harvey Wiggins, combined with $7,500 from the board and a $500 gift from Dr. Dana Rosencranz raised enough funds to be matched by the UNT Physics Department to complete necessary tech updates for UNT's Sky Theater. The College is looking forward to implementing the upgrades to the planetarium in the coming year.
The Sky Theatre is located in the Environmental Education, Science & Technology Building on campus and generally open to the public during regular showings. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, all UNT Astronomy events are on hold. They do seek continued assistance from donors at this time to support their ongoing facility improvements and provide online educational resources: http://astronomy.unt.edu/donate-astronomy
UNT Cares
More recently, at the suggestion of the new Chair, Dr. Creagh, the Advancement Board has also contributed $10,000 to President Smatresk's UNT Cares campaign, which has been distributing timely funds to students with emergency needs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Formed in early 2018 just after the College of Science became an independent entity at UNT, the purpose of the Advancement Board is to support the college in providing a supportive and collaborative environment for everyone in our community. Their leadership and fundraising efforts are helping us advance the education within our college with a focus on research and technology development.
The COS Advancement Board works closely with Dean Gao and COS leadership to ensure success in their efforts to enhance our programs and offerings. If you are interested in learning more and/or joining this team of accomplished alumni and friends helping to give back to the future of research, education, technology, and natural preservation, please contact COS Development Officer Meghan Dours at Meghan.Dours@unt.edu.