UTA'S E-NEWSLETTER FOR FACULTY AND STAFF

MONDAY, SEPT. 22, 2025

🍁🍂 Happy fall y'all! The autumnal equinox occurred in Arlington at 1 p.m. today.

Today's MavWire is 800 words, a six-minute read.

Staff Advisory Council

Welcome Back Bash to celebrate you this week

Promotional image for the Welcome Back Bash

The Staff Advisory Council (SAC) invites you to attend the Inaugural Welcome Back Bash!

Why it matters: SAC wants to celebrate our impact on the campus community and the start of another semester with free food and games.

Going deeper: The bash will be held Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 4-6 p.m. at Trinity Hall, Room 104 and Parking Lot F6. All faculty and staff are invited. This is a come and go event. Please RSVP here.

Brand Campaign

Social and digital brand Munch 🥐 and Learn

Learn how to properly use UTA logos on your digital and social media sites at the next Marketing, Messaging, and Engagement Munch and Learn.

Why it matters: Our brand’s visual identity accelerates trust with prospective students, partners, and donors, streamlines our daily work, and ensures our message is heard, making our recruitment, advancement, and community engagement efforts more effective.

Small bites: 🥯☕ Munching and learning is on Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 10-11:30 a.m. in Trinity Hall, Room 112.

College News

Curtains rise on UTA’s daring theater season

Collage of posters for The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance eight productions this season

The Department of Theatre Arts and Dance is preparing a full slate of plays and musicals for the 2025-26 academic year.

Why it matters: The goal is to train the students to be professional artists and thrive in this business, whether they work in nonprofit management, as theater teachers, or on and behind the stage.

Going deeper: The season opened Friday, Sept. 19 with Seize the King and Passage, with each running for four performances in the Studio Theatre. Tickets for all performances can be purchased here.

Read what it takes to ensure the curtains go up without a hitch for each performance in a Q&A with Jeanmarie Higgins, head of the Theatre Arts and Dance Department at UTA.

University News

Who let the dogs talk? UTA's Kenny Zhu!

U T A students pet a happy black and white dog on campus

UTA researcher Kenny Zhu, a professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department, has compiled the world’s largest video and audio catalog of canine barks, growls and whimpers after discovering a set of words and phonemes dogs use to communicate.

Why it matters: The research holds strong commercial promise and could extend to other species. Dr. Zhu’s findings could also transform training of service animals, which, for example, could one day be able to “speak” to their owners, improving their effectiveness. Beyond household pets, the work could also bring applications to agriculture.

Going deeper: The canine vocalization set contains video and audio files, along with metadata such as the dog’s age and sex and the environment where the sound was recorded. Zhu is encouraged by progress his team has made in deciphering what dogs are saying to each other and their human companions.

Read more about Zhu and his students and their work.

University News

UTA unveils MAVRC, boosting drone innovation

An onlooker records two drones flying in the MAVRC outdoor netted facility

UTA unveiled the Maverick Autonomous Vehicle Research Center (MAVRC).

Why it matters: MAVRC is a cutting-edge outdoor netted drone facility located at UTA’s research institute in Fort Worth, UTARI, which is set to accelerate autonomous technology research and strengthen Fort Worth’s role as the “Aviation and Defense Capital of Texas.”

Going deeper: The new facility will support a wide range of projects, from improving drones’ ability to navigate obstacles and carry payloads to testing surveillance and security systems to monitoring crops and the environment to inspecting bridges, power lines and supply chains—making it a versatile tool for innovation, public safety and real-world problem solving.

About 150 industry leaders, researchers from universities across Texas and community partners attended the Tuesday, Sept. 16, opening.

Around Campus

Celebrate UTA history with the Growth and Transformation grand opening

A promotional image for the grand opening for the new U T A growth and transformation exhibit

All are invited to attend the grand opening event for the new permanent exhibit Friday, Sept. 26, at the Central Library from 3:30-5:30 p.m.

Mav Bites

💳 The state of Texas signed a contract that requires US Bank to be the bank provider for all payment cards, including ProCards, travel cards, airfare cards, and rental car cards. Timelines for transferring University payment cards to US Bank are being finalized. For questions, email here.

🔬PIVOT-RP Funding Opportunities : The Center for Proposal Development will host a virtual refresher training for PIVOT-RP, an expert curated global source of funding opportunities with powerful workflow, intelligence and discovery tools. Friday, Oct. 17.

🍪 Elmo and Friends Say Hello! Elmo, Cookie Monster, and friends from Sesame Street are coming to your neighborhood to say hello! Faculty and staff can purchase a discounted four-pack of tickets with the promo code "UTA" for the upcoming show Saturday, Oct. 4.

🐎 The MavsManager Foundations Program is designed for managers with one to two years of experience. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of how teams navigate challenges together. Apply by Monday, Sept. 29.