DENTON (UNT), Texas — University of North Texas student Brandon Nowell says his future started in the past – with a box of poorly made balloons.

Three decades ago, Brandon’s dad, Wes, was working for UPS Inc., when a client from the Pioneer Balloon Company offered him some mis-manufactured product. Wes took the defective balloons home and soon discovered that he had a knack for creating new balloon designs. He and wife Joanie started a small balloon art and decorating business:...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — Three years ago in Hays County, Texas, a government initiative was introduced that would reclassify thousands of subdivisions known as “flash flood alley” as prone to flooding – despite the fact that those areas were in the midst of a multiyear drought. Residents protested the reclassification because it would increase insurance premiums and affect home values, but within months, a disastrous flood struck the county....

DENTON (UNT), Texas — UNT’s Society for Human Resource Management affiliate has been awarded the 2017-2018 Outstanding Student Chapter Award by their national society for their excellent initiatives to ensure their members thrive and become future professionals. The UNT chapter will be presented a plaque at the national organization’s annual conference in Chicago on June 17.

The society’s student chapter merit award program, was created in 1972 to encourage student...

The University of North Texas was recently awarded the prestigious Global Centers of Insurance Excellence designation by International Insurance Society for its outstanding risk management and insurance program. Last year in the inaugural year of the award program, only 20 institutions from around the world were recognized as recipients of the designation - and so far, UNT is the only school in Texas to be given this recognition.

The...

The University of North Texas is leading an initiative to grow a sustainable, business accelerator platform throughout the North Texas region, thanks to new leadership for UNT’s Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Jon McCarry, a UNT alumnus with a wide breadth of experience in private equity, was tapped as the senior director for the center housed in UNT’s College of Business.  

"The North Texas region offers so much for industry, and as a Tier One research university,...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — The first woman to win IBM’s Master the Mainframe challenge for the North American region is a senior at the University of North Texas. College of Business student Anna McKee won first place in the final and most difficult portion of IBM’s contest, making this the second year in a row that a UNT student has won.

“Part Three was by far the most challenging,” said McKee, who is pursuing two degrees, a Bachelor of Science in business computer information systems and a Bachelor of...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — University of North Texas accounting doctoral candidate Megan Seymore, CPA, has been awarded the $10,000 Michael J. Barrett Doctoral Dissertation Grant to study how visualizations of big data and differing data sources influence decision-making in internal audits.

The grant comes from the Institute of Internal Auditors’ Internal Audit Foundation,...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — Graduation was still a year away, but the pressure was on for University of North Texas accounting students Veronica Elsberry and Brian Kennedy to get hired. Accounting is a unique profession in which most top- and mid-level firms start recruiting for new talent a year or more before students graduate. Those who miss that window often have to wait.

“The recruiting process is the hardest part of the accounting program because you’re doing it a year in advance...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods and most recently Kroger, through its Fred Meyer locations, recently announced changes to their store gun sale policies following a deadly shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 dead. Among the limitations, all three companies will end the sale of firearms to anyone under age 21.

Associate professor Francisco Guzman, and professor...

DENTON (UNT), Texas — It might appear that Ernesto Usabiaga is giving college a third try. Records at the University of North Texas show that his namesake attended in the 1950s, and that a similarly named Jorge Ernesto Usabiaga came in the 1980s. In truth? The 20-year-old junior is part of a family legacy of Usabiagas – all successful businessmen thriving in Mexico – who have been enrolling at UNT for decades.

Starting with the grandfather, Ernesto G. Usabiaga, who graduated in 1959, a total of five family members have completed their studies at UNT, with each alumnus working...