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News: 2026

experiential learning lab

A Byte of AI: Copilot Workshop

You are welcome to A Byte of AI: Copilot Workshop. This session will be facilitated by Dr. Mark Albert, Chair of the Information Science department and Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. Dr. Albert held a similar Copilot workshop in April and has kindly agreed to facilitate a combined similar workshop for library employees and his students in the Experiential Learning Lab. This workshop will focus on AI practice tools that are readily available to all UNT faculty and students. By the end of the session, participants will have a personalized toolkit of AI workflows. When: Thursday, June 4 at 2:00 p.m. Location: Experiential Learning Lab, Willis Library, Room 236 Please register to attend. There are 25 seats available. public_services_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 05/31/2026
Theo Johnson

The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Theo Johnson

Theo Johnson (b. 2003, Houston, TX) is a photographer and writer whose work examines Black memory, displacement, and community resilience in Texas through documentary practice and archival research. His work centers suppressed histories, with a particular interest in how narratives of place are constructed, obscured, and reimagined over time. Through photography, he explores the relationship between landscape, memory, and collective identity, positioning the archive as both a site of preservation and intervention. Johnson received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Texas in 2026. The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee Theo Johnson Project Title The People of Quakertown Project Description The People of Quakertown is a photographic and archival research project exploring Black displacement and cultural resilience in Denton, Texas. Centered on the 1922 removal of Quakertown, a Freedmen’s Town, the work examines how histories of erasure and survival persist in the present-day landscape. Through contemporary photography and research within the Portal to Texas History, including oral histories from former residents and their descendants, the project maps connections between past and present, positioning the city itself as a living archive shaped by memory, absence, and transformation. Biography Theo Johnson (b. 2003, Houston, TX) is a photographer and writer whose work examines Black memory, displacement, and community resilience in Texas through documentary practice and archival research. His work centers suppressed histories, with a particular interest in how narratives of place are constructed, obscured, and reimagined over time. Through photography, he explores the relationship between landscape, memory, and collective identity, positioning the archive as both a site of preservation and intervention. Johnson received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Texas in 2026. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/25/2026
Kara Culp

The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Kara Culp

Kara Alexandra Culp is a PhD student in history at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studies how local, state, and federal education policies affect Latinos in Texas. She is dedicated to community-centric history, a methodology that includes oral histories, using individuals’ personal papers, and creating public history projects which make her research more accessible to the communities which she is writing about. Kara attended Texas A&M university for her undergraduate degree, where she majored in history and minored in Spanish and secondary education. Before beginning her graduate studies, she spent several years working as a public high school teacher and volunteering. She was born and raised in Texas. The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee Kara Culp Project Title Schooling the Alamo: Mexican American Education and Literary Culture in San Antonio Project Description Schooling the Alamo: Mexican American Education and Literary Culture in San Antonio, presents a community-based microhistory of San Antonio’s Mexican American population in the 1970s. The paper is specifically centered around an examination of culture through writing, analyzing how Mexican Americans present themselves and their education in their own words, such as the newspaper the Chicano Times, as compared to those from the dominant Anglo culture like the San Antonio Register. It is couched in a methodology of source criticism, and argues that there was a substantial difference in how Chicanos viewed themselves and their schooling as compared to the politically Anglo-dominant culture in the city. Biography Kara Alexandra Culp is a PhD student in history at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studies how local, state, and federal education policies affect Latinos in Texas. She is dedicated to community-centric history, a methodology that includes oral histories, using individuals’ personal papers, and creating public history projects which make her research more accessible to the communities which she is writing about. Kara attended Texas A&M university for her undergraduate degree, where she majored in history and minored in Spanish and secondary education. Before beginning her graduate studies, she spent several years working as a public high school teacher and volunteering. She was born and raised in Texas. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/25/2026
Gary Borders

The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Gary Borders

Gary B. Borders is a longtime writer who spent more than 50 years in East Texas newspapers as a journalist, photographer, and publisher. He received his Graduate Certificate in Archival Management from UNT in 2024 and became a Certified Archivist last year. Borders is the author of six books, including A Hanging in Nacogdoches, published by the University of Texas Press. He has written for Texas Monthly, World Wildlife Fund, Texas Observer, Texas Highways, and other publications. For the past eight years, he has served as an archivist and reference librarian at LeTourneau University in Longview, which holds the R.G. LeTourneau archives. (The archive formed a partnership with the Portal to Texas History, and more than 2,000 digital items are now part of the Portal.) The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee Gary Borders Project Title Politics, Polemics & Murder: A History of the San Augustine Red-Lander, 1838-1847 Project Description Using the Texas Newspaper Digital Program at the Portal to Texas History, Borders plans to expand a master’s thesis he completed at UT-Austin in 1987 into a book-length manuscript. The TNDP offers a trove of newspapers, including the original Red-Lander, that are digitally searchable, allowing him to complete his research more fully. His goal is not only to explore the history of this newspaper and its editors but also to tell the full story of San Augustine’s role during the Republic of Texas, when it was often called the “Athens of Texas” for its group of attorneys, prominent politicians, and two “universities” (essentially prep schools). Besides Houston, who represented San Augustine in Congress after his first term as president, the town produced the state’s first governor, James Pinckney Henderson, along with other notable elected officials. Biography Gary B. Borders is a longtime writer who spent more than 50 years in East Texas newspapers as a journalist, photographer, and publisher. He received his Graduate Certificate in Archival Management from UNT in 2024 and became a Certified Archivist last year. Borders is the author of six books, including A Hanging in Nacogdoches, published by the University of Texas Press. He has written for Texas Monthly, World Wildlife Fund, Texas Observer, Texas Highways, and other publications. For the past eight years, he has served as an archivist and reference librarian at LeTourneau University in Longview, which holds the R.G. LeTourneau archives. (The archive formed a partnership with the Portal to Texas History, and more than 2,000 digital items are now part of the Portal.) digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/25/2026
Madeline Baird

The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Madeline Baird

Madeline Baird is a border scholar and medical anthropologist. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut. Her doctoral research builds off a decade of engaged community research and public health work in the U.S. and Latin America. Her work has been supported by the Mexico Fulbright Program, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, and Dodd Center for Human Rights and published in Migration Policy Practice, the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, and Social Science & Medicine. She is currently developing a collaborative photobook, En las Manos de Dios (In the Hands of God), that showcases visual representations of border crossings and tactics of deterrence employed to dissuade access to asylum. The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee Madeline Baird Project Title Embodied Borders: Navigating Transit Migration and Asylum Access Project Description Drawing from multi-sited fieldwork in Chiapas State, Mexico, Darién Province, Panama, and Texas, Baird’s ethnographic research examines the impact of border externalization on migration policies and the journeys of people seeking asylum at the U.S. border. Through inclusion of a critical historical analysis, she examines the origins of the U.S. system of asylum and regimes of border enforcement along the U.S.-Mexico border. She employs visual ethnographic methods and collaborative ethnography with migrant people to humanize lived experiences crossing borders and to imagine new possibilities for migrant care, protection, and inclusion. Biography Madeline Baird is a border scholar and medical anthropologist. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut. Her doctoral research builds off a decade of engaged community research and public health work in the U.S. and Latin America. Her work has been supported by the Mexico Fulbright Program, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, and Dodd Center for Human Rights and published in Migration Policy Practice, the Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, and Social Science & Medicine. She is currently developing a collaborative photobook, En las Manos de Dios (In the Hands of God), that showcases visual representations of border crossings and tactics of deterrence employed to dissuade access to asylum. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/25/2026
Phillip Sozansky

The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Phillip Sozansky

Phillip M. Sozansky is an adjunct assistant professor of history at Austin Community College. He holds degrees in history from the University of Houston (BA) and Texas State University (MA). A veteran educator, he retired in May 2025 following a 29-year career teaching various history courses in Texas public schools. His research interests include 19th-century Texas—especially the antebellum and Civil War eras—and the environmental history of the American West. Beyond the archives and classroom, he advocates for native wildlife conservation, volunteers for living history events at the San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site, and enjoys spending time outdoors with his family and dogs. The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee Phillip Sozansky Project Title Crying Lobo: How Prejudice, Profit, and Propaganda Doomed the Wolves of Texas, 1865 – 1985 Project Description This project examines the historical conditions that produced a prolonged “war on wolves” in Texas from 1865 to 1985, a subject that has received scant scholarly attention compared to other regions of the American West. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, it demonstrates how Anglo-Texan attitudes toward wolves hardened after the Civil War, as Reconstruction-era changes fueled a coordinated campaign that ultimately led to their extirpation. It further traces the progression of that effort, analyzing how more than a century of extermination gained—and maintained—broad public support. Biography Phillip M. Sozansky is an adjunct assistant professor of history at Austin Community College. He holds degrees in history from the University of Houston (BA) and Texas State University (MA). A veteran educator, he retired in May 2025 following a 29-year career teaching various history courses in Texas public schools. His research interests include 19th-century Texas—especially the antebellum and Civil War eras—and the environmental history of the American West. Beyond the archives and classroom, he advocates for native wildlife conservation, volunteers for living history events at the San Felipe de Austin State Historic Site, and enjoys spending time outdoors with his family and dogs. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/25/2026
Halee Robinson

The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Halee Robinson

Dr. Halee R. Robinson is an Assistant Professor of History and Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is currently working on her first book, They Taken Him Away From Us: Race, Punishment, and the Intimate Histories of the Texas Prison System, 1865-1912. The book explores how the Texas prison system impacted the social ties of free and incarcerated Black, ethnic Mexican, Indigenous, and white people and how these intimate encounters consequently shaped the meanings of freedom, justice, and punishment after the Civil War. She received her PhD in History from Princeton University. The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee Halee Robinson Project Title They Taken Him Away From Us: Race, Punishment, and the Intimate Histories of the Texas Prison System, 1865-1912 Project Description They Taken Him Away From Us: Race, Punishment, and the Intimate Histories of the Texas Prison System, 1865-1912 explores how transformations in the Texas prison system impacted the social ties of free and incarcerated Black, ethnic Mexican, Indigenous, and white people between 1865 and 1912. This book examines the lived experiences of and relationships among three groups: incarcerated people, incarcerated people’s families, and incarcerated people’s communities. It argues that free people who encountered the Texas prison system through the system’s effects on their social ties defined freedom and justice through their abilities to cultivate, support, and participate in their social ties without intervention from the state. Biography Dr. Halee R. Robinson is an Assistant Professor of History and Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She is currently working on her first book, They Taken Him Away From Us: Race, Punishment, and the Intimate Histories of the Texas Prison System, 1865-1912. The book explores how the Texas prison system impacted the social ties of free and incarcerated Black, ethnic Mexican, Indigenous, and white people and how these intimate encounters consequently shaped the meanings of freedom, justice, and punishment after the Civil War. She received her PhD in History from Princeton University. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/25/2026
Kael Alford

The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Kael Alford

Kael Alford is a photographer, artist, and educator who seeks creative responses to our catastrophe-ridden era in her work. The Portal to Texas History 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee Kael Alford Project Title Speculative Lands and the Idea of Trees Project Description Her research explores the transformation of the Texas landscape over time and evidence of human relationship to place as recorded in archives available through the Portal to Texas History. She will be examining aerial photographs and images of landscape, with a special attention to trees, as well as newspaper clippings and other historical documents. Biography Kael Alford is a photographer, artist, and educator who seeks creative responses to our catastrophe-ridden era in her work. She examines the stories we tell about ourselves in light of the past to help navigate our shifting present and point toward possible futures. Drawing from three decades as an international photojournalist in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the United States, she expands the responsive, narrative approach of documentary to include performance, speculation, and re-interpretation. Alford has taught journalism, photojournalism, and art photography at the college level and in workshop settings since 1996. She holds a BA in English Literature (1993), an MA in Journalism (1998), and expects to complete an MFA in Studio Art at the University of North Texas in 2027. Her work is held in museum collections including the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans. digital_libraries_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/20/2026
Soccer team kneeling

1967: The Year Soccer Came to Texas

Rare soccer memorabilia and never seen photos of soccer clubs around the world will be on display at the UNT CoLab from June 5 through June 26, The opening reception is June 5 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Rare soccer memorabilia and never seen photos of soccer clubs around the world will be on display at the UNT CoLab from June 5 through June 26, The opening reception is June 5 from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Materials on display are drawn from the collection of Bob Kap, head coach for The Dallas Tornado Soccer Club. The Dallas Tornado was the first professional soccer team in Texas. It was founded by two wealthy sports fanatics in 1967, coached by a Yugoslavian immigrant, and employed only one American player. Team members were recruited and trained at the beginning of a whirlwind tour, which took them through 20 different countries over 7 months, and consisted of 45 matches against some of the best and worst soccer teams in the world. Exhibit visitors will have an opportunity to learn more about the original Texas soccer club, see soccer pennants, posters, flyers, photos, and ephemera collected by Kap during the 1967-1968 season. Visitors can also purchase limited edition t-shirts, featuring original drawings from Bob Kap’s soccer playbook, at the UNT CoLab. special_collections_in_the_news
Posted: 05/20/2026
Dr. Kelcie Slaton and Dr. Annette Becker

UNT Special Collections 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - Dr. Kelcie Slaton and Dr. Annette Becker

Dr. Kelcie Slaton is an Assistant Professor in the College of Merchandising, Hospitality. Annette Becker is Director of the Texas Fashion Collection at the University of North Texas UNT Special Collections 2026 Research Fellowship Awardees Dr. Kelcie Slaton and Dr. Annette Becker Project Title Remembering Fortnight: Oral Histories of Luxury, Culture, and Identity in Neiman Marcus Retail Spectacle Project Description This project documents and analyzes the lived experiences of individuals who attended Neiman Marcus Fortnight events, iconic retail spectacles that blended fashion, culture, and luxury in mid-20th-century Dallas. Using oral history interviews alongside archival materials from UNT Special Collections, the study explores how these events shaped consumer perceptions of luxury, cultural identity, and social meaning. By integrating memory with material archives, the project advances scholarship on retail as a cultural institution and preserves narratives at risk of being lost. Biography Dr. Kelcie Slaton is an Assistant Professor in the College of Merchandising, Hospitality, and Tourism at the University of North Texas, specializing in luxury retailing, consumer behavior, and digital retail strategy. She holds a Ph.D. in Apparel Merchandising and Design from Iowa State University and has industry experience with Neiman Marcus Group, informing her research on luxury consumption and retail innovation. Her scholarship has been published in leading journals such as Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, and Sustainability, with her recent work featured as a cover article in the Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research. Dr. Slaton’s research integrates quantitative and qualitative methods to examine evolving consumer experiences across physical and digital retail environments. Annette Becker is Director of the Texas Fashion Collection at the University of North Texas and a scholar of fashion history, material culture, and oral history. She earned her Ph.D. in History from UNT, with expertise spanning American fashion, museum studies, and digital history. Becker has curated numerous exhibitions, including projects on Neiman Marcus and the cultural history of fashion, and has conducted and archived oral histories within UNT Special Collections. Her work has been published in journals and edited volumes focused on fashion and cultural production, and she is an active presenter in academic and public history forums. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/10/2026
ToniAnn Treviño

UNT Special Collections 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee - ToniAnn Treviño

ToniAnn Treviño is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Texas, where she also serves as associate director of undergraduate studies for the Department of History. UNT Special Collections 2026 Research Fellowship Awardee ToniAnn Treviño Project Title Book Chapter: “We Try to Be Good Neighbors: Battles for Community-Based Treatment in a Model City.” Project Description With generous support from UNT Special Collections, Treviño will conduct archival research to develop her book chapter, “We Try to Be Good Neighbors: Battles for Community-Based Treatment in a Model City.” This chapter reveals how ethnic Mexicans in San Antonio, Texas navigated burgeoning resources for drug rehabilitation throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, connecting the emergence of community-based drug rehabilitation modalities in the city’s Mexican neighborhoods to Great Society programs. This research will utilize the Model Cities Program Records (1966-1974) at UNT Special Collections to meticulously trace how San Antonio’s drug treatment modalities developed amid critical federal and state policy transformations. Biography ToniAnn Treviño is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Texas, where she also serves as associate director of undergraduate studies for the Department of History. She is a scholar of Mexican American history, with a focus on the war on drugs, urban history, and policing in the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. With funding from UNT Special Collections, Treviño will conduct research to complete her first book, San Antonio After Sundown: The Long War on Drugs and Envisioning Rehabilitation in Mexican Neighborhoods. This historical monograph examines how ethnic Mexicans in San Antonio, Texas experienced overlapping anti-narcotics crusades and crafted community-based responses to drug policing through religious, medical, and social institutions between 1945 and 1979. special_collections_in_the_news_honors_and_awards_research_fellowships
Posted: 05/10/2026
Music Collections

Music Library Announces Two New Collections

Two New Collections: The UNT Music Library is excited to announce two new collections that are being added to the library every week. Two New Collections: The UNT Music Library is excited to announce two new collections that are being added to the library every week: The Chart Library collection features high quality scans of unpublished sheet music from the College of Music’s archive. These jazz big band arrangement hail from previous College of Music alumni and can be found on the digital library to any and all researchers. So far, we have 35 charts available with hundreds more to be added in the coming weeks. The Patch Boy collection features recordings of live music performances that took place in Texas between the 1970’s and 2000’s, with acts that span from local punk bands to early performances of now internationally recognized musicians. This collection is seeing new additions to the Digital Library every week, so please check back often and see what has been added. music_collection_highlight
Posted: 04/29/2026
black and white landscape photograph

Artist Lecture: Cressandra Thibodeaux

The Cathy N. Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment, the UNT Libraries Special Collections Department, and the Department of Studio Art, Photography Area are pleased to present a lecture by Cressandra Thibodeaux: Native Stories on Social Issues The Cathy N. Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment, the UNT Libraries Special Collections Department, and the Department of Studio Art, Photography Area are pleased to present a lecture by Cressandra Thibodeaux: Native Stories on Social Issues This lecture will take place in room 250H in the Willis Library on the UNT Denton campus. The Cathy N. Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment, the UNT Libraries Special Collections Department, and the Department of Studio Art, Photography Area are pleased to present a lecture by Cressandra Thibodeaux. Her current body of work, Native Climate Refugees, documents Indigenous communities facing forced relocation due to rising seas, coastal erosion, and environmental collapse. The project focuses on the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw and other Gulf Coast communities, often described as the first climate refugees in the United States. Thibodeaux’s photography has been exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at FotoFest, the Wetlands Museum in Louisiana, and galleries in Houston, as well as group exhibitions at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Houston Center for Photography, Stamps Gallery, and the SE Center for Photography. Her work debuted internationally at Art Basel in Basel, Switzerland. Made possible by The Cathy Nelson Hartman Portal to Texas History Endowment with support from the CVAD Department of Studio Art. Lecture is free and open to the public Monday, March 30th,2026 11:30 a.m. 250H Willis Library Artist Website Additional information about this event can be found on the University Libraries calendar digital_libraries_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 03/25/2026
Music Librarianship Interest Tea

Music Librarianship Interest Tea

Curious about a career in music librarianship? Join librarians as we spill the tea on the profession! Whether you’re exploring career options or just want to chat, we’re excited to meet you and answer your questions. March 26, 2026 3:00–4:00PM CT (Zoom) Curious about a career in music librarianship? Join librarians as we spill the tea on the profession! Whether you’re exploring career options or just want to chat, we’re excited to meet you and answer your questions. This event is co-sponsored by the UNT Music Library and the UNT Music Career Center. Registration is required. music_in_the_news
Posted: 03/15/2026
Artist Matthew Magruder

Artist Matthew Magruder to Speak at Rethinking the Codex on March 28

UNT Special Collections is excited to announce that Austin-based artist Matthew Magruder will be the keynote speaker at Rethinking the Codex on Saturday, March 28, in Willis Library. UNT Special Collections is excited to announce that Austin-based artist Matthew Magruder will be the keynote speaker at Rethinking the Codex on Saturday, March 28, in Willis Library. Matthew Magruder is an artist from Austin, TX with a focus on photography, printmaking, design, and integrating these into his book and box structures. He is also the Art Director with HerbalGram magazine, a licensed psychotherapist, and proprietor of Copelo Press. He studied architecture at Texas A&M University and has a master’s in counseling from St. Edward’s University. He currently serves on the board of the Austin Book Arts Center. He has extensive experience teaching photography, printmaking, and book arts workshops across the country. His work is in private and public collections. Learn more about Matthew from his artist statement below, and join us on March 28 to hear firsthand about his work by registering for Rethinking the Codex. Artist Statement “I am a self-taught artist who is motivated to engage in all parts of the process of creating my work. I have always been drawn to the physical act of engaging with materials and tools. My life long artistic and creative pursuits have maintained this tangible physicality through painting, historic handmade photographic processes, printmaking, letterpress printing, and typography, My photography and other 2-D work is a means to share how I distinctly see and experience the world through intimate and expansive points of view. Over decades of photography, I have learned to trust my process of visually wandering and allow what I capture to distill into the work I want to share. I then compile this into coherent narratives or series surrounding how I perceive and experience natural and man-made spaces. My training as an architect informs the precise construction and combination of these series into a finished book. I am drawn to the dichotomy of trusting my intuitive self while photographing and then engaging with my meticulous self through my book and box structure. The work I do as a psychotherapist is also deeply entwined with my artistic endeavors. I believe that creativity is inherently part of each of us and can manifest in boundless ways. The end goal of my work is to connect with the viewer in the act of slow, deliberate engagement, and build on an interconnected relationship that can be brought about through the finished piece.” special_collections_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 03/09/2026
Dr. Kelcie Slaton

The George and Ruth Christy Award - Nominations Due 4/1

We strive to acknowledge and express appreciation for our employees’ hard work and accomplishments at UNT Libraries. But as carefully as we pay attention, we don’t always catch every good deed or above-and-beyond action that takes place in our Libraries or virtually through our digital resources. And often, it is you, the user, who is the direct witness and beneficiary of exemplary staff service. Nominations are due April 1st. We strive to acknowledge and express appreciation for our employees’ hard work and accomplishments at UNT Libraries. But as carefully as we pay attention, we don’t always catch every good deed or above-and-beyond action that takes place in our Libraries or virtually through our digital resources. And often, it is you, the user, who is the direct witness and beneficiary of exemplary staff service. As a way of celebrating and acknowledging outstanding staff and faculty contributions in the UNT Libraries, we will be rewarding our best and most helpful service employees with a $500 award, funded by a generous endowment created by George and Ruth Christy, long-time members of the UNT community. Users will nominate library staff or faculty members deserving of this esteemed reward. If you have had an exceptional experience with one of our employees and would like to nominate them for this award, please share your story with us! administrative_office_honors_and_awards
Posted: 02/19/2026
arms of people with tattoos

2026 Summer Archives Institute Applications are Open!

UNT Special Collections is excited to announce that applications for the 2026 Summer Archives Institute are officially open. UNT Special Collections is excited to announce that applications for the 2026 Summer Archives Institute are officially open. The Summer Archives Institute is an immersive, career-focused experiential learning opportunity that prepares students for entry into heritage professions by engaging them in hands-on archival work within the UNT Special Collections department. Throughout the program, students receive professional-level training as they arrange and describe a unique archival collection, gaining skills directly applicable to archival and cultural heritage careers. For more information about prerequisites and application procedures, please see the UNT Summer Archives Institute 2026 Call. Questions regarding the institute can be directed to Special Collections Instruction and Engagement Librarian, Meagan May meagan.may@unt.edu special_collections_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 02/12/2026
Dr. Kelcie Slaton

Spring 2026 Special Collections Coursework Development Grant

UNT Special Collections is excited to announce the recipient of our spring 2026 Coursework Development Grant – Dr. Kelcie Slaton, Assistant Professor, College of Merchandising, Hospitality, and Tourism. UNT Special Collections is excited to announce the recipient of our spring 2026 Coursework Development Grant – Dr. Kelcie Slaton, Assistant Professor, College of Merchandising, Hospitality, and Tourism. Dr. Kelcie Slaton is an educator and researcher specializing in apparel merchandising, luxury retail, and consumer behavior. She earned her Ph.D. in Apparel Merchandising and Design from Iowa State University, with a focus on developing shopper typologies for Millennial luxury consumers. Her research explores topics such as the secondary luxury market, sustainability, digital product passports, and the integration of physical and digital (“phygital”) retail strategies, with publications in leading journals including the Journal of Retailing, International Journal of Consumer Studies, and Sustainability. Dr. Slaton has presented her work at national and international conferences, frequently addressing innovations in retail technology and evolving consumer motivations. In addition to her research, she teaches courses in merchandising analytics, luxury fashion retailing, and research methods at the University of North Texas and Parsons School of Design, often incorporating industry partnerships and experiential learning. Her professional background includes buying and merchandising roles at Neiman Marcus, as well as consulting in trend forecasting and AI-powered retail strategies. Dedicated to bridging academia and industry, she brings a global, forward-thinking perspective to preparing students for careers in a rapidly changing retail landscape. Partnering with UNT Special Collections to utilize the Dale T. Smith Neiman Marcus Collection, students are provided the rare opportunity to work directly with historic primary sources that exemplify luxury branding in practice. By engaging with the Neiman Marcus Fortnight posters in the Smith Collection, students move beyond textbook definitions of luxury and instead analyze original artifacts that shaped consumer perceptions of global sophistication in the twentieth century. Congratulations, Dr. Slaton! Special Collections staff are excited to work with you and your students this spring! The UNT Special Collections Coursework Development Grant is supported by the Toulouse Archival Research Program Endowment. For more information and questions, please reach out to Special Collections Instruction and Engagement Librarian, Meagan May, at Meagan.May@unt.edu. special_collections_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 01/26/2026
black and white landscape photograph

Rethinking the Codex: A One-Day Book Arts Symposium hosted by UNT Special Collections

Join UNT Special Collections on Saturday, March 28, in Willis Library for Rethinking the Codex. Featuring presentations, workshops, a keynote, and a reception to celebrate the participants and winners of the 14th Biennial Artists’ Book Competition - the day is sure to be a good time for anyone with an interest in the book arts! Join UNT Special Collections on Saturday, March 28, in Willis Library for Rethinking the Codex. Featuring presentations, workshops, a keynote, and a reception to celebrate the participants and winners of the 14th Biennial Artists’ Book Competition - the day is sure to be a good time for anyone with an interest in the book arts! Registration is free, but required, so claim your spot today. Be sure to check back on this page regularly to stay up to date on symposium news including schedule, presenter, and keynote information. We hope you will join us on March 28!       Time Event Room 8am-8:45am Check-in and Breakfast Willis 250H 8:45am-9am Welcome Willis 250H 9am-10am The Artists’ Books of Teel Sale Michael Bartels, President, Triangle Nonprofit Publishing Morgan Gieringer, Head, UNT Special Collections Kathy Windrow, Southern Methodist University Willis 250H 10am-11am The Geography of the Page: Thinking of the Page in Physical Space Alesandra Bell, UT Dallas Willis 250H 11am-1pm Lunch and Japanese Stab Binding Workshop Willis 250H 1pm-2pm Rethinking the Codex Keynote: Matthew Magruder Willis 250H 2pm-3pm Artists’ Book Presentations and Demonstrations Audrey Grizzaffi, Wayward Son, 2025 Lauren Lachausse, Visitation, 2025 Nina Le, Window of Time, 2025 Willis 443 3pm-4pm Reception for the 2025-2026 Biennial Artists’ Book Competition Willis 443 Matthew Magruder Matthew Magruder is an artist from Austin, TX with a focus on photography, printmaking, design, and integrating these into his book and box structures. He is also the Art Director with HerbalGram magazine, a licensed psychotherapist, and proprietor of Copelo Press. He studied architecture at Texas A&M University and has a master’s in counseling from St. Edward’s University. He currently serves on the board of the Austin Book Arts Center. He has extensive experience teaching photography, printmaking, and book arts workshops across the country. His work is in private and public collections. special_collections_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 01/21/2026
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Call for Proposals: Rethinking the Codex

UNT Special Collections invites proposals for presentations, demonstrations, and workshops for Rethinking the Codex, a one-day symposium held in conjunction with UNT Special Collection’s 14th Biennial Artists’ Book Competition to be held on Saturday, March 28, 2026 in Willis Library. A Biennial Symposium Celebrating the Book Arts Hosted by University of North Texas Special Collections Saturday, March 28, 2026 Willis Library, Denton, Texas UNT Special Collections invites proposals for presentations, demonstrations, and workshops for Rethinking the Codex, a one-day symposium held in conjunction with UNT Special Collection’s 14th Biennial Artists’ Book Competition. The symposium aims to foster dialogue about the book as both an artistic form and a site of inquiry where material, textual, visual, and conceptual practices intersect, and we invite proposals that embrace this year’s theme of Rethinking the Codex through the exploration of sculptural elements, bindings, book structures, materials, and more in artists’ books. Proposal Categories Papers and Presentations 15-minute research-based or reflective presentation exploring historical, theoretical, or contemporary topics related to the book arts. Possible areas include but are not limited to: The book as material, performance, or archive Reading, viewing, and the sensory experience of the book Artists’ books in libraries, collections, and teaching Collaborative and community-based book arts projects Artist Demonstrations A 10-minute demonstration and overview highlighting the creative process, materials, or conceptual development behind the making of artists’ books and related forms. Workshops A 90-minute hands-on or participatory session that will be held during the symposium’s lunch break that explore techniques, technologies, or interdisciplinary approaches to book arts practice, pedagogy, or research. Submission Guidelines Please include: Title of proposal 250 words or less abstract or description Format (presentation, demonstration, or workshop) Any equipment or space requirements Submit proposals by Saturday, January 31, 2026 using the application form Notifications of acceptance will be sent by Friday, February 6, 2026. For additional information, please contact Meagan May, Special Collections Instruction and Engagement Librarian, at meagan.may@unt.edu. special_collections_presentations_and_lectures
Posted: 01/07/2026