Jose Garcia is one of two HPS students to earn this honor that only six students received university wide.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – Jose Garcia, who’s pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work in the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service, has earned the esteemed UNT Golden Eagle Award from the Division of Student Affairs and Multicultural Center. It is the most prestigious award that UNT bestows on a student leader. Recipients are those who show a tremendous commitment to co-curricular activities and enhance campus life at UNT by engaging in considerable service and displaying great leadership, all while achieving excellence in the classroom.

“I could not have achieved this award without the support of my family, professors, student organization advisors and classmates at UNT. As a non-traditional student, it can be challenging to make sure everything is taken care of at home, school, student organizations and volunteering,” Garcia said. “However, being part of student organizations at UNT,...

DENTON (UNT), Texas – U.S. News and World Report has named two concentrations in the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service (HPS) number one in Texas on its 2021 list of Best Graduate Schools – local government management, and homeland security and emergency management.

“These rankings show our college's continued dedication to excellence and to providing our students with a top-tier education,” said Dr. Nicole Dash, dean of the college. “While we know rankings aren't everything, it's always an honor to have outside entities recognize our achievements."

The Master of Public Administration (MPA) program specialization in local government management is ranked no. 12 in the nation and it is also ranked in the public financing and budgeting category, where it sits at no. 31. 
“The UNT MPA program is proud to again be recognized as one of the top degrees in the nation. With a placement rate...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — A researcher in the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service is studying how the continuum of care for homeless people, which includes the social, medical, public health and education sectors, has changed during COVID-19.

Hee Soun Jang, an associate professor and graduate coordinator for the Department of Public Administration, and Jesus Valero, an assistant professor at the University of Utah, have been researching services for homeless people that are run at a local level and often involve multiple agencies known as Continuum of Care (CoC).

“Continuum of Care is a premise that is unique to improving a fragmented service system for homelessness,” Jang said. “There are innovative and interesting examples of individual agencies providing successful interventions for homeless populations. But, because agencies do not always coordinate services and information with one another, it is difficult to capture comprehensive knowledge of...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — University of North Texas students are working with the Women’s Storybook Project to make the holidays a little brighter for children whose moms are incarcerated.

Senior Julia Langlois and 29 of her classmates in the College of Health and Public Service Social Work program chose the organization to support this semester as part of a long-standing tradition in the department to assist a group that needs some extra help. With COVID-19 restricting many activities, the Women’s Storybook Project was a great fit, as it allowed the fourth-year social work students to make an impact without in-person contact.

“When we were contacting organizations to see who might need help, they said that any help this semester would be great, since there’s a lot more people in the prisons wanting to participate during the holidays,” Langlois said.

The Women’s Storybook Project originated in 1994 and allows women who are incarcerated in state prisons to record themselves reading a story and offer a short greeting...

Hadidja Nyiransekuye, an assistant professor of social work in the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service, has won the prestigious Social Worker of the Year Award from the National Association of Social Workers that honors a member of the organization that exemplifies top-tier values and achievements.

Nyiransekuye, a refugee from Rwanda and a survivor of genocide along with her four children, specializes in policy advocacy focusing on the refugee crisis that affects communities across the globe.

“I know what it feels like to not have a home,” she said. “There are people who have helped me and opened their homes to me, for that I am grateful. I owe it to humanity to do what I can to help others.”

Nyiransekuye’s research demonstrates the problems faced by refugees that are global issues, including acts of violence and loss of freedom.

“If we don’t address...

UNT faculty and students took home a variety of awards.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – Over 40 graduate students from the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service Department of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology headed down to Houston to attend the Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA) convention. The annual convention, held between February 20 and 22, is one of the largest of its kind.

While attending, many UNT students received awards. In the Praxis Bowl, a competition among 18 speech-language pathology (SLP) programs in Texas, UNT placed third.

The Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation presented awards to individuals, with UNT’s Erin Bellue (SLP supervisor), Benjamin Kirby (assistant professor in audiology), and Rebekka Cassidy (graduate student in SLP) receiving honors. Bellue received the Award of Honors, Kirby received the Presidents’ Research Award and Cassidy received a Sandy Friel-Patti Research in Language International Travel Award.

The department’s...

Leslie Roberts emphasized planning, multi-party negotiation and working with a variety of cultures in the one-day workshop.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – Leslie Roberts, principal lecturer in the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service Department of Public Administration, worked with Toyota Motor North America to provide negotiation training to a dozen members of the information technology vendor management team. The daylong workshop on March 4 concentrated on planning to negotiate in four situations:

• Working more effectively with internal and external teams
• Gaining an informal leadership role in negotiations when no clear leader is determined
• Working with startups that have no experience working with large corporations
• Working with original equipment manufacturers (OEM)

“Toyota works with a wide variety of parties with very diverse backgrounds and...

The grant will fund the UNT Summer Bridge Program, which provides housing, resources and early coursework to students who’ve been touched by the foster care system.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – The University of North Texas received an $85,000 grant for its Persevere UNTil Success Happens program. PUSH helps young adults who age out of foster care achieve educational success at UNT by focusing on each student’s academic, financial and career success, as well as social well-being.

The Santander Consumer USA, Inc. Foundation grant will be used to further fund the Summer Bridge Program, an initiative that provides housing, programming, early coursework and college transition services to incoming freshmen and transfer students who have been touched by the foster care system.

“Approximately 18 percent of foster care alumni attend college and of those, only 3 percent graduate,” said...

Shae Ebrahimi is one of only 18 in Texas to receive this scholarship.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – Shae Ebrahimi, an Advanced Joint Master’s student in Social Work in the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service was awarded the 2019 Ima Hogg Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to graduate social work students who were nominated by the heads of their programs.

The scholarship awards $5,000 to each recipient, and for Ebrahimi this means her family is supported while she goes to school.

 “Because of the scholarship I will be able to focus on my studies and not worry so much about how to help support my family after we adjusted down to a single income,” Ebrahimi said. “Student loans help but it's barely enough, so this scholarship helps us out tremendously.”

Ebrahimi was nominated by the chair of the ...

The grant from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission will be used to expand their Healthy Community Collaborative program to less densely populated areas of Texas.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – The University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service (HPS) has received $400,000 in funding from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (THHSC) to expand its Healthy Community Collaborative (HCC) program, which promotes collaboration between public and private sectors to help increase access to...

A new report shows that six of the eight jobs with the most job growth are in the healthcare industry.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – According to a new CareerCast report, health professions have the highest rate of job growth in the U.S. and the University of North Texas College of Health and Public Service (HPS) is ready to prepare students for those careers with a new Bachelor of Science in Public Health. The degree program, which is housed in the Department of Rehabilitation and Health Services, prepares professionals to promote health and identify, prevent and solve health problems at the community, local national and global levels.

Dr. Neale Chumbler, dean of the college who has a background in public health, says he’s excited to offer a degree program that will prepare students for...

The product is expected to make big changes in preventing credit card fraud.

DENTON (UNT), Texas – The University of North Texas UNT Cyber Forensics Technology Lab, headed by Dr. Scott Belshaw, associate professor in the College of Health and Public Service Department of Criminal Justice, has recently filed for a patent with the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a credit card skimmer detection wand. The product, developed by Dr. Belshaw and Michael Saylor, president of Cyber Defense Labs, is expected to have a major impact on preventing credit card fraud.

Credit card fraud has been occurring more frequently at gas stations and ATMs, with criminals inserting skimmer devices into machines that read a card’s expiration date, security code and 16-digit card number once it is swiped. The information is then sent via Bluetooth to the nearby criminal who will sell the victim’s information on the dark web.