David Sabatini: Water for Life

Sabatini

David Sabatini is a distinguished professor of engineering at the University of Oklahoma. But he would rate that particular accolade as below of list of several others: Christ follower, husband, father and innovator of water projects.

Sabatini spoke both to the College of Engineering and to our Faculty-Administrator-Staff fellowship on February 23. His passion to provide clean water to emerging countries does not provide great financial rewards, he told the Fellowship, but it does allow him a way to live out his faith.

His recent article in Huffington Post explained that too often Western charity involves projects that aren’t sustainable. He wants to see lasting effects in the lives of others.

Praise & Worship – Friday Feb 5

Goolsby Chapel

Please join us for a praise and worship time at UNT’s Goolsby Chapel!
This nondenominational service is open to the entire UNT community. Alan Albarran (Media Arts, formerly RTVF) will be talking about lessons from his life both within and beyond the university.

Friday Feb 5
8:00 am – 8:50 am

“Without worship, we go about miserable.”
—- A. W. Tozer

Matteson receives Nilson Award

Award
Sam Matteson, Professor Emeritus (physics) received the Nilson Award on November 16.

This is a national award given annually by Faculty Commons to one Christian faculty member at a public university who has demonstrated outstanding leadership.

Sam received his PhD from Baylor in 1976, and did postdoc work at Cal Tech. He worked at Texas Instruments as a research scientist until joining the UNT physics department in 1987.

 

He has the distinction of being the chairman of four different departments at UNT. He and his wife Carolyn have been married for 46 years and love spending time with their children and grandchildren in Tennessee and Colorado.
Sam-And

Semester Kickoff: Goolsby Chapel Sept. 4

Oppong

Friday, Sept 4
8 AM

We hope you were able to attend our kickoff worship service!

Joseph Oppong, (Geography & Assoc Dean Toulouse Graduate School) spoke about his journey from Asankrangwa, a small town in the Western region of Ghana, to life as a medical geographer and Christ-follower. He began in extreme poverty: abandoned by his father at three months of age, he lived with his mother, grandmother and eight siblings in a small room “about the size of my current office.”

He went quickly and easily through primary grades, but was unable to attend secondary school because of the family’s poverty. He moved to the city and found his father, who tricked Joseph into working for two years with the promise of paying for his education. Once his father’s deception was uncovered, he moved in with his brother, and had a steady job, yet more setbacks occurred.

“For the first time in my life, I had a regular monthly income; I rented a room, and began to ‘enjoy independent life.’ I liked to dance, drank occasionally, and loved the girls. I maintained this life style until 1972, the year my brother was going to graduate. Six months after graduation, my brother Anthony, died. I was devastated, and resolved that I should live it up because I would probably die like my brother.”

Life DID get better for Joseph. To skip ahead in his story, he did come to know Christ in college:

“Finally, after crying for what seemed an eternity, tears streaming down my face, I looked up and prayed roughly as follows: ‘God I know I messed up this life real bad. But if you are still interested in me, please take my life and make meaning out of it.’

The rest of his story can be read at Meet The Prof.

**While it was sponsored by the Christian Faculty-Administrator-Staff Fellowship, all of our events are open to the entire UNT community.

Fall Kickoff

Fall

Does it seem like summer went by way too quickly? While we are anxious for cooler weather, the pace of summer does not seem to slow down around campus.

With classes starting later this month, we are having planning meetings and will have our fall event calendar posted soon.

Common Call Conference — May 30

Common-Call-UNT

Professors from UNT, TWU, SMU, UTA, UT, and OSU attended a Faculty Commons event in Dallas on May 30 to discuss ways to live out their faith on campus. The conference included these speakers and topics:

Walter Bradley (Texas A&M; Baylor):    Facing the Giants of Fear — Baby Steps of Faith;   and Ministering in the Secular Academy — Lessons from 30 Years

Peter Moore (SMU): The Life Of An Exile

Dave Engle (OSU): Building A Leadership Team

Geri Forsberg: (Western Washington): Blessing the Academic Community

This conference was one of four sponsored by Faculty Commons in various cities this year. Others were held in Orlando, Birmingham and State College, PA. This fall conferences will be held in Minneapolis and Baton Rouge.