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Volume 95 | Issue 52
Stormy 80° / 57°
ntdaily.com
The Student Newspaper of the University of North Texas
UNT prepares summer activities for kids BY K RYSTLE CANTU Staff Writer
Grandparents University is returning for its second year this summer among a multitude of other summer programs offered by the university. Grandparents and grandchildren, ages 7 to 12, can attend. During the camp, they will choose two subjects or “majors” to learn about. The majors include genealogy, apparel merchandising, astronomy, computer animation, CSI Denton (forensics), robotics, French culture and language, animal geniuses, and others. “It’s about fostering the relationship between grandparents and grandkids, but in a real fun way,” said Michael McPherson, dean of the Grandparents Un iversit y prog ra m a nd economics faculty member. “The classes are all very hands-on and experiential.” The two-day program takes place June 24 and 25. Participants pay $350 if they stay in the dorms or $315 if they stay off campus. The camp is organized by the Center for Life Long Learning at UNT. Interested participants can find a detailed list of the majors and more information at call.unt. edu/lifelonglearning. “The idea is that we give these kids a quick little taste of college life,” McPherson said. “It was such an amazingly popular experience for folks last year, a bunch are returning this year.” McPherson said some of the
participants last year were UNT alumni. “It’s kind of cool to get some of these people back that haven’t seen all the changes around here,” he said. “They haven’t been on campus for 20 or 30 years.” UNT’s Discovery Park is also hosting a robotics and game programming camp that will run from June 7 to July 23. The camp will split into seven weeks, four of them “Robocamps” in which participants will have the chance to build their own functioning robots, and three Xbox game development camps. Participants are given a template to design their own Xbox game, along with characters, rules and details. Once completed, they can take their game home and play it on any Xbox. The camp is geared toward teenagers in grades nine through 12. “We’ve been doing this for six years now,” said David Keathly, co-director and computer science department faculty member. “We’ve been featured in several national magazines.” This camp is paid for by the Texas Workforce Commission, the Motorola Foundation and other sources outside the university. Interested participants can find more info at www.cse.unt. edu/robocamp. Nort h Texas’ Elm Fork Education Center will offer a variety of one-week science camps for children in grades
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL MCPHERSON
Grandparents and grandchildren, ages 7 to 12, can attend a summer program called Grandparents University. During the summer camp, they will have the opportunity to choose two subjects or “majors” to learn about. two through eight. The camps include a multitude of subjects, such as chemistry, astronomy, biology and aquatic entomology. The hours are from 8 a.m. to noon. Options are available for working parents if needed. “We always have repeat campers,” said Alana Presley, education coordinator for Elm
Fork Education Center. “We make learning science fun and very hands-on.” More information can be found at www.efec.unt.edu. The College of Music is also hosting camps for kids of all ages, including a piano and violin workshop. Tina Chung, president of the North Texas Music Alumni,
will direct the program. Students will strengthen their musical skills in both types of instruments. Piano and violin professors will be involved and will offer different mastery classes and lessons for participants. Students will also get a chance to watch a UNT student and
alumni recital at the end of the day after classes. “It’s good for our publicity and the College of Music,” Chung said. “It’s also good to show the people who are attending that there is a lot of interest in this area. It is a good recruiting tool and good opportunity for children to come and experience.”
Admin unveils Tier One plan BY A LEX CHEATHAM Staff Writer
PHOTO COURTESY OF DENTONJAZZFEST.COM
The 30th annual Denton Arts & Jazz Festival will take place 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. The festival will be at Denton Quakertown Park off McKinney Street. Admission is free.
Jazz festival returns Friday BY BRIANNE TOLJ Design Editor
Sounds of smooth jazz, laughter and friends will roll through Quakertown Park this weekend from Friday to Sunday for the 30th annual Denton Arts and Jazz Festival. Residents and visitors are invited to the festival to eat and play games while listening to a variety of bands spread across seven different stages as they admire fine art. “Students will love it to just come out and eat and drink and bring their friends,” said Lori McLain, Denton Festival Foundation Inc. food chair. The free event, hosted by the foundation, will include performances from more than 2,200 musicians, arts and crafts, food, games, and a children’s art area, according to the website, dentonjazzfest.com. Booths will be set up around the park providing information and selling sponsors’ and renters’ products, such as Budweiser beer. All proceeds from the concession
booths go toward funding the event and the foundation’s goal of benefitting local arts in the community, according to the website. Headlining musicians include the Chick Corea Trio, performing at 9 p.m. Friday, Jimmy Vaughn, performing at 9 p.m. Saturday, and Brave Combo, performing at 7 p.m. Sunday. “It’s like seeing family again when repeating artists come back year after year,” said Jean Stanley, foundation president. Opening for Chick Corea Trio is the One O’Clock Lab Band, who will also perform with the other eight lab bands for their annual Lab Band Madness event on the UNT Showcase stage from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday. Traditionally the event is performed on campus but it was moved to the festival this year to reach a bigger audience. “It is a good way to interact with the community and the Dallas-Forth Worth area in a very easy and fun way,” said Steve Wiest, director of the One
O’Clock Lab Band. Artists from surrounding areas will present their work in booths inside the Civic Center and outside in the park. Attendees can enjoy and purchase sculptures, candles, stained glass, paintings and photos. Other activities include rock climbing, face painting, train rides, a used-books sale, a playground and a pet adoption. Five food courts will be placed around the event, serving food such as nachos, egg rolls, hamburgers and funnel cakes. An estimated 200,000 visitors can enjoy the Asian, Mexican, Greek, Cajun or Italian cuisine while watching bands take the stage. Wine, beer, water and coffee will be available also. A tent will be set up for children to enjoy wood building and a musical petting zoo where children can touch different percussion instruments to better understand them. Dogs are not permitted inside the event and coolers are not allowed in the jazz area.
UNT’s goal to become a top university is underway with a 10-year strategic plan to increase research. The plan aims to boost UNT to the highest research category and help it achieve Tier One status. The Office of Research and Economic Development and the Office of the Provost have designed the plan with various colleges, and faculty members. “Tier One is the highest level of university that people recognize in terms of research,” said Vish Prasad, vice president for research and economic development. Wendy Wilkins, provost and vice president of academic affairs said the plan is broken down into two phases and will
cost $250 million. The first phase is intended to receive government funding. UNT receives $11.2 million for research from the federal government. The goal is to increase funding to $45 million by 2015. UNT must meet other criteria, such as increasing the quality of the faculty, the freshman class, graduate students and the number of doctorates, Prasad said. Once reached, the university will be eligible to receive support from the National Research University Fund. The $45 million will be used to reach other research goals. “We will use the money from the National Research University Fund to keep moving at a faster rate and eventually double the $45 million funding to $90 million, which will be the equivalent of about $150 million in
research expenditures,” Prasad said. The money will be used to produce more than 300 doctorates. He said once this is accomplished, UNT would compete for the Highest Research University Category. Prasad said that when Tier One status is reached, the quality of faculty, students and infrastructure of UNT will increase. UNT is recognized by the Carnegie Foundation as a High Research Activity Category university and receives less funding than universities in the highest category. If successful, the plan will benefit students by adding value to their degrees and offering better faculty, Prasad said.
See UNT on Page 2
Honor society elects national representative, holds banquet BY A LEX CALAMS Staff Writer
Jonathan Lavezo said he has done his fair share of hard work as an undergraduate at UNT. The senior will graduate in May with a bachelor’s in chemistry, but he said completing four years of required coursework wasn’t the only obstacle he overcame. He has served as president of UNT’s Alpha Chi National College Honor Societ y, a student organization that admits select students from the top 10 percent of their classes, for two years. H i s w or k w it h i n t he society earned him the position of National Region II Representative during its Super-Regional Convention
last month. “His election into the office of student representative for Region II to the National Council is well deserved and hard earned,” said Cameron Mc C or d , an A lpha Ch i g radPHOTO BY KAITLYN PRICE/PHOTOGRAPHER uate science Jonathan Lavezo, a chemistry senior, is the President for student. “His UNT’s Alpha Chi National Honor Society and serves as a work the last student representative on the National Council. two years as Lavezo said it wasn’t easy our local president, building us up from zero to a viable juggling his responsibiliand sustainable organiza- ties. tion, served as great training for this new position.” See STUDENT on Page 2