Six areas across the university received Outstanding Department Awards at the President's Staff Sack Lunch on Oct. 18, and 12 others also were nominated by their vice presidents.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department of Anthropology's fall overall semester credit hours have increased by 34.6% in the past two years, their graduate applied cultural anthropology master's program continues to be one of the top five in the nation, and they are currently mentoring 84 thesis graduate students with eight tenure-track faculty.

The department is particularly proud of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiative, which began in June 2020 when students and alumni wrote an open letter to the faculty listing steps to move beyond sentiment and into material action. The faculty is committed to directly addressing issues of race and racial inequality in the departmental processes of recruitment, teaching, research and mentoring and are committed to expanding their efforts -- acknowledging that their response serves as the start of a much longer, ongoing conversation. Among the department's initiatives, a Townhall series, Grad Labs, and Coffee Talks open dialog between the department and students; the PADAWAN Society partners undergraduate majors with graduate mentors; the First Year Besties Initiative matches first-generation college students with ongoing anthropology majors to help them navigate UNT; and student representatives are invited to each faculty meeting to discuss issues important to students.

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