The University of North Texas's main campus is situated in Denton, a town with a population of approximately 170,000, in the northern part of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States.

[16] In 2020, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved UNT building a branch campus to provide upper-level and graduate courses on 100 acres donated by the city of Frisco.

Four decades later, in February 2016, Carnegie elevated North Texas to its top category – Doctorate-Granting Institutions with "highest research activity.

And, in 2011, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board included UNT as one of eight Emerging Research Institutions in its accountability system.

In Fall 2011, the college moved into a new state-of-the-art Gold LEED certified $70 million facility named the Business Leadership Building.

The focus is developing computing models for the future—models that go beyond applications with preordained fixed capabilities—models capable of services that are dynamically created, verified, and validated in the field and on the fly.

The college is organized in seven departments: Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology; Behavior Analysis; Criminal Justice; Emergency Management and Disaster Science (UNT purports that it was the first American university to offer such a program, having done so in 1983[51]); Public Administration; Rehabilitation and Health Services; and Social Work.

Academically, it offers no degrees; but its courses are integrated with the baccalaureate programs of the other ten constituent colleges and the journalism school.

On September 1, 2009, the entire program was elevated as its own collegiate unit and named the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism.

[citation needed] TAMS is a two-year residential early college entrance program that has, since 1987, served exceptionally qualified Texas students who otherwise would be attending high school as juniors and seniors.

It was renamed in 1990 in honor of Robert Bartell Toulouse, EdD (1918–2017), who joined in 1948 as a professor in the College of Education, then served dean of the Graduate School from 1954 to 1982.

Toulouse, before retiring as professor emeritus, had served other roles at the university, including provost and vice president of academic affairs from 1982 to 1985.

It also houses the Collaboration and Learning Commons, a place to study in groups, create multi-media projects, and record presentations.

[65] Fraternities and sororities at North Texas offer students an opportunity to engage in community service, build strong friendships, and develop leadership skills.

UNT's mascot, the American eagle, was adopted on February 1, 1922, as a result of a student-faculty council debate and ensuing student election.

[citation needed] The name "Mean Green," now in its fifty-eighth year, was adopted by fans and media in 1966 for a North Texas football defensive squad that finished the season second in the nation against the rush.

[69] That season, Joe Greene,[citation needed] then a sophomore at North Texas, played left defensive tackle on the football team and competed in track and field (shot put).

The North Texas athletic department, media, and fans loved the novelty of the national use of its nickname, and its association with Joe Greene's surname and university's official school color.

By 1968, "Mean Green" was branded on the backs of shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and the cover of the North Texas football brochure.

[70] Francis Edwin Stroup, EdD (1909–2010),[71] emerged in 1939—ten years after graduating from North Texas—as the winning composer (lyrics and music) of a university sponsored fight song competition organized by Floyd Graham.

A collegiate academician who played piano mostly by ear and neither majored nor worked in music, Stroup lived to be 101, a number exceeding the songs he composed by one digit.

In 1919, Julia Smith (1905–1989), while a music student, and Charles Kirby Langford (1903–1931), then a third-year letterman on the football team and an outstanding overall athlete, composed "Glory to the Green and White" which was adopted as the school's alma mater in 1922.

The Talons, a spirit and service organization formed in 1960, acquired it in the 1964, mounted it on a wagon, and began the tradition of running it around the football field to rally fans.

The clock is depicted on the official class ring with two different times on its faces: 1:00 (for the One O'Clock Lab Band) and 7:00—the curfew initiated in 1892.

[81] "In High Places," is a 22 ft (6.7 m) tall bronze statue of a flying eagle created by Gerald Balciar and dedicated during the university's centennial in 1990.

[81] KNTU (88.1 FM), licensed and owned by the university and operated by students, has, for fifty-five years,[84] broadcast to the North Texas region.

Under the guidance of now-retired faculty member Bill Mercer, several sports broadcasters and radio personalities have emerged from North Texas, including Dave Barnett formerly of ESPN, George Dunham, and Craig Miller.

As of 2012[update], North Texas sponsored fifteen athletic teams that compete at the intercollegiate level of NCAA Division I—for men: football; for men and women: basketball, track & field, cross country, and golf; for women only: diving, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, and volleyball.

The North Texas men's basketball team won the 2006–07 Sun Belt Conference championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

The Complex is a state-of-the-art research facility that houses the university's biochemistry, molecular biology, developmental physiology, genetics and plant sciences programs.