Of nearly 100 nominations, Dr. John Quintanilla, University Distinguished Teaching Professor of UNT Mathematics and our Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, was selected to be featured as a "North Star" on the UNT Pod! He has taught at UNT for the past twenty-five years; his general philosophy is to inspire students to want to be in his class and to never even think of saying, "I hate math." It's clear to his students that he cares about them and wants them to succeed.

"I try as hard as I can to make my students want to be there," said Dr. Quintanilla. "I'm very serious about my subject but that doesn't mean we can't have fun doing it."

Listen to his segment at 26:39: https://anchor.fm/unt-pod/episodes/Episode-29----North-Stars-e13ovtk

Great professors can serve as guiding lights -- teachers whose passion, dedication and support help students see what's possible, and set them on a path to making the world a better place. A couple of months ago, we put out a call asking students and alumni to tell us about current UNT professors who have done just that -- and the response, unsurprisingly, was staggering. While there were nearly 100 professors who were nominated, on this episode of UNT Pod, we shine a spotlight on the seven finalists, who we're calling our first-ever "North Stars" -- the kind of mentors who steadfastly illuminate the way to a brighter future.