UNT is keeping the Mean Green lean a year into strategic plan

One year into its five-year strategic plan, “Look North: UNT 2030,” and the University of North Texas has hit some goals early while finding others more challenging. President Harrison Keller addressed North Texas leaders, state representatives, faculty and students on Thursday during his second State of the University address. He shared some wins: merit-based raises for faculty and staff before Christmas; a slashed budget deficit; and millions in fundraising for student support. And the challenges? Math and science readiness among students; rising costs of housing and food; and a future workforce that is expected to understand artificial intelligence as something more than a chatbot. Overall, Keller sketched a vision of the university that has the Mean Green living lean — paring away inefficiencies, leaning into initiatives that are working and positioning UNT students for a future that seems full of uncertainty. He said the previous year “has tested all of us.” Federal policy changes caused UNT to see a deficit that was in the tens of millions and dented the enrollment of international students, who pay cash for their education. Federal policy changes also hit sponsored research and student financial aid funds. “We came together as a campus. We didn’t shy away from making hard choices to reduce our costs while still advancing our mission,” Keller said. “We slowed new hiring. We consolidated units and sunset lower-demand programs.” Perhaps the biggest announcement was that UNT met some major financial goals, and early. Keller said UNT closed fiscal year 2026 with a deficit of less than $5 million. “About one-half of 1% of our annual operating budget,” Keller added. “But to be clear, we’re not out of the woods yet.” Keller said a centerpiece of the five-year plan was “Better Look North,” a campaign to raise $100 million for students within 24 months. “We launched our first fundraising campaign in more than a decade,” he said. “Today, I am proud to announce we reached that goal in exactly 10 months. As of today, our Better Look North campaign has raised $107 million for student success at UNT. And we’re not done.” Keller credits the university’s rising national profile for greater support from donors and partners. The funds have already fueled financial aid and assistance for students who struggle to meet basic needs. UNT also enrolled its first students to participate in the UNT Promise program, which is available for students whose families make less than $100,000 a year. Keller said the university has work to do. When he unveiled “Look North” in 2025, it included a goal of retaining 90% of students. When students don’t earn a degree, they still have loans to pay. This fall is the inaugural class of UNT One Path, a program that allows students pursuing an associate’s degree at Collin College to enroll at UNT at the same time to pursue a bachelor’s degree. Keller said the UNT College of Science has redesigned math and science programs to meet students where they are and get them on the road to better performance and comprehension. UNT students aren’t unique in their lagging math abilities. Across the country, student math scores have tumbled, and the National Assessment of Educational Progress found in 2025 that just 22% of high school seniors are proficient in math on their grade level. That reality poses a problem for Tier 1 research Institutions like UNT, where STEM research often demands that scholars understand and use high-level math. “We’re still early in our journey to help our first-year students build momentum, and stay on track into their second year,” Keller said. “This year, just over 3 out of 4 first-year students returned for their second year. We’ve got to do better to reach our Look North goal of at least 90%. So this year we’ll double down on strategies that have been most effective here and at other institutions.” Keller said more advising and personalized support are two approaches that have shown promise. In a post-address interview with the Denton Record-Chronicle , Keller joined UNT Chancellor Michael Williams to consider the next four years in the strategic plan. Both leaders acknowledged student concerns about AI. UNT just launched a new college focused on AI , and its mission is to teach students how to build AI technology and use it to create new products and services. The college will also research advanced data analytics, the infrastructure that measures digital behavior and habits. “One of the most important things we've got to acknowledge is how fast it's changing,” Keller said. “So when we talk to industry, it's not just that we're grappling with these tectonic changes. It's the pace of change. No individual company, no major corporation, no university could go it alone.” The new college will especially avoid teaching students technology and techniques that “will be obsolete in six months or a year.” UNT’s approach to AI will exceed training. It will teach students to understand AI as a language, a tool kit and a skill set. Williams said he wants to see UNT students see AI as a tool instead of something to fear. “I think we always have to be cognizant of impact,” Williams said. “That it's impacting not only how we do our work. It's also impacting how we look to govern something as wide open as this is right now. It is really an edgy frontier.” UNT leaders are working with industry partners who have the same questions and concerns about AI, but industry will ultimately determine how they use AI, and how they expect workers to use it. “What we're committed to is making sure our students are trained adequately about how to use it properly. And how to use it in a way to where they can then have impact when using it in their own career,” Williams said. Keller elaborated on his remarks about a Moody Foundation grant, a relatively small grant that will give rural Texas high schoolers access to dual credit classes. Dual credit programs allow high school students to earn college credit before they graduate. With the $1.87 million grant, UNT will increase the number of high school teachers who are qualified to teach dual credit courses by offering them online training and courses, as well as offering the education at community colleges. UNT began as a teachers college, and the grant builds on that legacy. “Where we see UNT able to add the most value is training in support of the teachers,” Keller said. “There's a shortage of teachers who are qualified to teach dual credit. Especially in rural communities. They may just not have access to these courses. The Moody Foundation grant enables us to train teachers so they can get graduate certificates.” Participating educators will receive tuition support while completing fully online master's degrees or graduate academic certificates designed to meet credential requirements. “Our role is to partner with the community colleges and the school districts to expand access to high-quality instruction across the state, so you don't have just an individual teacher out in the middle of God's Texas who's the only dual credit teacher maybe for 50 miles,” Keller said. “But they've got a whole network of instructors. They've got the University of North Texas who has their back and helps support them.” Wake Up with the DR-C: Get today's headlines in your inbox Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Wake Up with the DR-C Please enter a valid email address. Sign up Manage your lists