In its first year of participation, the University of North Texas collected 471 pairs of socks and an additional $100 donation for Soldiers’ Angels Warm Feet for Warriors Project, a program that collects new socks for veterans in VA hospitals and deployed soldiers.

Soldiers’ Angels is a global network of volunteers who work to support troops and veterans by providing aid and resources for them and their families. According to Solders’ Angels, socks are among the most requested items by service members and veterans.

Thanks to a $50,000 grant from H-E-B, UNT ELEVAR — an inclusive postsecondary education program for students with intellectual disabilities (ID) — will increase scholarship support in 2022.

ELEVAR — which stands for Empower, Learn, Excel, enVision, Advance, Rise — welcomed an inaugural class of five students in the fall of 2021. As the program brings in a larger cohort for its second year, the grant from H-E-B will help more students with ID become determined, independent and healthy adults who are prepared for successful careers.

The University of North Texas raised $32.7 million in fiscal year 2021 — making it the third highest fundraising year in UNT’s history.

“Thanks to our UNT family’s giving spirit, we continued to empower our students and help them succeed during a difficult year,” UNT President Neal Smatresk said. “We are grateful for our community’s generosity and support.”

Funds raised for academic impact achieved significant growth, with donors increasing support for scholarships, faculty positions, research and academic programs. Highlights of the 2020-21 fiscal year:

The UNT Kuehne Speaker Series was established in 2013 by alumnus Ernie Kuehne (’66) to create meaningful networking opportunities, bring prominent speakers to North Texas and give UNT visibility in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. But there’s always been a deeper vision for the donor-founded series — supporting academic excellence at UNT.

Now, with more than $3 million raised for scholarships, the series Board of Directors has launched the Kuehne Speaker Series Scholarship Program. In the spring of 2021, the first three Kuehne Scholars were awarded $25,000 each for the 2021-22 academic year — one of the largest donor-funded scholarships at UNT.

For Brenda Barrio (’06, ’08 M.S., ’13 Ph.D.), a case of homesickness changed the course of her life and set her on a path to create countless opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities at the University of North Texas.

Barrio was a first-generation college student studying international business at the University of Missouri when, missing the ranches she grew up around in El Paso, she started volunteering at a therapeutic riding center and had her first experience working with people with disabilities.

“I fell in love with that and realized it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Barrio says.

For Andrea Miller, dean of the Mayborn School of Journalism and interim chair of Media Arts, a used trailer presented a world of possibilities for the UNT community in the age of COVID-19. With a little help, she thought, the trailer could be transformed into a mobile production unit that would allow students to safely bring live events to the homes of fellow students, alumni and friends of the university.

UNT and the Greater Texas Foundation established High School Career Connect (HSCC) in 2018 to show students in Denton County that the destination isn’t just a diploma — it’s a rewarding and satisfying career. Now, thanks to a two-year $100,000 grant from the Texas Pioneer Foundation, HSCC will extend its reach even further through virtual mentoring.

The goal is to help low-income and underrepresented students — mainly in rural Texas school districts with limited access to resources — make important academic and career decisions.

When Ivy Knight sat down at last fall’s UNT Alumni Scholarship Recipient Dinner, she was not expecting an alumnus to teach her how to set up a LinkedIn profile — but that’s just the sort of thing that happens when you are part of the UNT Alumni Scholarship Program.

The program’s primary purpose is to award scholarship money to deserving students, but the people behind it are also on a mission to provide extended resources that help students develop valuable skills.