Chilton Fun Fact

Fun Fact: What did the founder expect students to do?
From UNT Inhouse top stories for September 14, 2011.

When UNT was founded, President Joshua Chilton, right, announced lofty goals for the fledgling university. What were they?

A.  The university would prepare students “for the practical industries of the age.”
B. The university would teach agriculture and mechanical arts.
C. Graduates would fill the “most important positions in business and professional circles.”
D. The school would be a “university of the first class."   
The correct answer is C: When UNT began as a normal college in 1890, Chilton declared the institution's aim to become a leader in "the education of the young men and women of Texas, fitting them to creditably fill the most important positions in business and professional circles."
The city of Denton, destined to be the educational center of the North Texas region, had a population of 2,558.
 
Now, 121 years later, Denton’s population is closer to 120,000 and UNT is the nation's 33rd-largest public university, preparing about 36,000 students to fill society's important positions. These are in the arts, education, business, science and technology … and plenty of fields that hadn’t been invented back in Joshua’s day.
 
UNT is a major regional employer, with more than 9,000 faculty and staff. Operations spending by the university annually generates more than $1.3 billion in economic activity in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Learn more about how UNT continues to affect the growth and economic vibrancy of North Texas in the Fall 2011 issue of The North Texan alumni magazine.