Congratulations to Virnin Bonner for receiving the UNT President's Special Recognition Award for the university's Staff Appreciation Month! Virnin has called UNT home for a while, first as a student and now as a health professions advisor in the College of Science. His deep knowledge of UNT and passion for serving students make him uniquely equipped to help them realize their academic and career goals. He goes above and beyond in his advising, engaging students in deep conversations that make them feel valuable and important. Not only does he build great rapport, but he also provides them with endless encouragement and the knowledge and resources they need to succeed. When the office gets busy, Virnin is often the first to jump in and lessen the load for his colleagues. For example, he teaches two sections of the first-year Science Success Seminar and frequently serves as a mentor and advisor for those students as well, reviewing their academic plans and guiding them along their academic journey. Virnin also helps run the Joint Admission Medical Program, whose goal is to support students coming from underserved backgrounds on their path to medical school.

"I love what I do! I 100% enjoy working with every student I come into contact with," said Virnin. "I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with such passionate students and such caring colleagues. These students are going to do truly amazing things and I want to help them in any way that I can; it's amazing to be recognized and I'm very grateful for this."

The virtual Staff Appreciation Awards Ceremony Presented by DATCU took place Tuesday, March 2, to honor the staff members who received our annual staff awards and three presidential awards this year. Find the livestream of the event archived on YouTube.

Read about all three fantastic College of Science recipients of UNT's 2021 Staff Appreciation Awards here: https://cos.unt.edu/news/three-cos-staff-recognized-university-wide-staff-appreciation-awards