Releases

EDITOR'S NOTE: UNT now offers interviews directly to you via Skype.  You can record a video interview with available experts from your office, saving you the time and travel.  To use the system, your station will need a Skype account, which is free to download from www.skype.com.  Skype-to-Skype calls are free.  There are versions for PCs, Mac, UNIX and other systems.

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Thousands of North Texas oil and gas industry jobs have disappeared in recent months as commodity prices have plummeted.

Dr. Terry Clower, director of the University of North Texas' Center for Economic Development and Research, says that the weakening of oil and gas industry will likely have negative effects on the North Texas overall economy

"Thousands of gas-field jobs have disappeared in 2009 as natural gas prices have fallen below $4.  Unfortunately, this is also sparking layoffs in other sectors of the economy as drillers and gas field service providers slow down operations and spend less for goods and business services," says Clower.

Clower says that drilling and production activity in the Barnett Shale helped insulate North Texas from the national economic downturn, but that the loss of employment in the sector will likely slow the pace of economic recovery in the region. He also says that declining royalty payments to mineral rights holders will likely exacerbate the already weak regional retail sales.

Clower predicts that the oil and gas industry, and subsequently the North Texas economy, will show improvement during the fourth quarter of 2009.

"As the economy picks up steam, demand for natural gas will increase and prices should firm up at significantly higher levels. Here's hoping for a cold, early winter."

Clower can be reached at can be reached at his office at 940-565-4049, on his cell phone at (214) 202-4692 or by e-mail at tclower@unt.edu. He is available via Skype by request; contact Alyssa Aber at Alyssa.aber@unt.edu or 940-565-3510 to schedule an interview.

EDITOR'S NOTE: UNT now offers interviews directly to you via Skype.  You can record a video interview with available experts from your office, saving you the time and travel.  To use the system, your station will need a Skype account, which is free to download from www.skype.com.  Skype-to-Skype calls are free.  There are versions for PCs, Mac, UNIX and other systems.

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who died Tuesday night at age 77, will be remembered for championing such causes as education, poverty and health care in his career as a "lion of the Senate," says Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, University of North Texas assistant professor of political science.

"He could be most remembered for any number of issues – some good, some bad," he says, recalling the Chappaquiddick car accident that damaged Kennedy's reputation and his failed challenge against Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1980. One of Kennedy's most memorable actions is his vocal opposition to Ronald Reagan's bid to appoint Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, Eshbaugh-Soha says.

"Shortly after Ronald Reagan announced Robert Bork to Supreme Court, Kennedy made a beeline to the Senate floor and began debate," Eshbaugh-Soha says. "He framed Bork as someone out of touch with American values and too extreme to be appointed. I think that speech is something people will look to, as Ted Kennedy was a very vocal proponent of the liberal agenda."

After living in the shadows of his older brothers and eventually giving up his presidential aspirations, Kennedy concentrated on his career in the Senate. 

"And historians will mark that," Eshbaugh-Soha says. "He made his mark in the Senate and pushed that agenda from that seat. Being reelected several times, and being a senior member, he had a great deal of power."

Eshbaugh-Soha can be reached at his office at: 940-565-2329 or by e-mail at mes@unt.edu.

With the new $1.3 billion Cowboys Stadium expected to attract great attention from Dallas Cowboys fans and sports media, the Cowboys, who begin the 2009 regular season Sept. 13, are facing pressure to post a winning season, reach the playoffs and win at least one playoff game. 

The team is hardly the only football team in Texas facing pressure to have a winning season, based partly on preseason rankings. The University of Texas has been predicted to tie for first place in the Big 12 Conference South division and is ranked among the top five teams in the nation, while the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs and University of Houston Cougars have also been picked to finish first in their conference or conference division.
  
Dr. Trent Petrie, director of the University of North Texas' Center for Sport Psychology and Performance Excellence, is available to discuss the pressures that professional, college and high school football teams face to have winning seasons, and what players and coaches can do to overcome those pressures.

He says the first step is setting realistic goals -- long-term, outcome-based goals such as winning an important game or winning a certain number of games during a specific month as well as short-term, performance-based goals "that will keep the team members focused on what they need to do each day to be successful."

"The players can focus on individual things that they can control in practice and competitions, such as the amount of effort they expend, how prepared they are to play and how well they execute each play," Petrie says. "They need to also think positively and confidently about themselves, reminding themselves that they have been successful in past performances and can do so again."

Players and coaches should examine their environment for distractions that could cause them to lose sight of their goals, and modify the environment to get rid of distractions, he says.

"Some coaches use negative comments from the media as a motivation technique for themselves and for their teams, but if reading negative comments in the newspaper or listening to sports talk radio on the way to practice causes players to be distracted, they shouldn't do it," Petrie says.       

Petrie may be reached via e-mail at Trent.Petrie@unt.edu, or at his UNT office at 940-565-2671.

Petrie is also available to do on-camera interviews via Skype by request. The UNT News Service can provide you with broadcast quality video, allowing you to interview faculty experts without leaving your studios. To schedule a Skype interview with Petrie, contact Nancy Kolsti in the UNT News Service at 940-565-3509 or Nancy.Kolsti@unt.edu.

What: Argentine music workshop and concerts at the University of North Texas

When/Where: Workshop on the performance of Argentine song
2 p.m. Aug. 27 (Thursday), 2 p.m. Aug. 28 (Friday), 3 pm. Aug. 29 (Saturday), 1 p.m. Aug. 30 (Sunday)
Room 290, Music Building, southeast corner of Avenue C and Chestnut Street

4 p.m. Aug. 28 (Friday)
Lecture: "Vienna in Buenos Aires"
Guest lecturer: Omar Corrado
Room 321, Music Building

7 p.m. Aug. 28 (Friday)
Pre-concert Lecture: Bernardo Illari
Recital Hall, Music Building

Guest and Faculty Recital -- Argentine Romantic Songs: Lost and Found
8 pm. Aug. 28 (Friday)
Patricia González, soprano; Elvia Puccinelli, piano; Dawn De Rycke, guitar; Jaymee Haefner, harp
Argentine romantic songs by Juan Pedro Esnaola
Recital Hall, Music Building

Symposium: Far More than Tango: Argentine Music
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 29 (Saturday)
Presented by Bernardo Illari, Omar Corrado, Carol Hess, Allison Weiss and UNT students
Recital Hall, Music Building

Guest Recital
6:30 p.m. Aug. 30 (Sunday)
Patricia González, soprano, and UNT students present Argentine songs
Recital Hall, Music Building

Cost: Free

Contact: 940-565-4528 or bernardo.illari@unt.edu

DENTON (UNT), Texas -- Delve beyond the tango at the University of North Texas, where scholars and performers will convene for a series of talks and performances about Argentine music and its history.

The free events take place Aug. 27 to Aug. 30 on the UNT campus.

Guest lecturers include Patricia González, an Argentine singer who has performed opera, oratorio and chamber music across the world. González will lead a workshop about folk music and dance referenced in works by composers Carlos López Buchardo, Carlos Guastavino and Alberto Ginastera, among others.

Omar Corrado, a leading researcher of 20th-century music in Argentina and South America, will give a lecture about the reception of the Second Viennese School in Buenos Aires and will participate in a symposium about Argentine music delving beyond the tango.

A concert on Aug. 28 (Friday) will feature romantic chamber songs from composer Juan Pedro Esnaola.

"The concert will present songs that have not been performed for about 150 to 180 years, fresh out of the archive," said Bernardo Illari, assistant professor of music at UNT. "They were prepared by me with the collaboration of several UNT students of musicology."

The event is funded by the UNT Hispanic and Global Initiatives Fund and the UNT Division of History, Theory and Ethnomusicology in the College of Music and organized by Illari.

Illari can be reached at 940-565-4528 or bernardo.illari@unt.edu. He is available for interviews in English and Spanish.