Now, and Next: Telling the UNTHSC story

Team,

Part of my job as president of UNT Health Science Center is communicating the UNTHSC story.

I am called upon to share a vision of UNTHSC to the students who learn here, the employees who work here, the lawmakers who fund us, the hospitals and health care systems who hire our graduates and partner with us, and the community members who want to support us.

But I believe communication is a shared responsibility here at UNTHSC. I ask that you help me tell our story about the remarkable work we are doing together as one team.

Our success depends on us communicating with a single voice that is purposeful, clear and consistent. By delivering our key messages in a unified fashion, we reach our many audiences with a focused story that will tell them who we are, what we stand for and what we do.

What is our most powerful message? It’s us, working together as one team.

It’s written in our vision – One University, built on values, defining and producing the providers of the future – and seen in our Extraordinary Teamwork.

Our One University vision focuses our communication efforts on UNTHSC first – and individual schools and programs second.

It also means we highlight efforts that display our Extraordinary Teamwork, which is the key ingredient that makes One University possible.

At UNTHSC, Extraordinary Teamwork can be found in the Institute for Healthy Aging, which integrates clinical care, basic and translational research, innovative education and community engagement to create a new era of enduring quality of life.

Or it can be found in the Asthma 411 project, which brought together teams from PACE and the School of Public Health to improve the lives of schoolchildren across Fort Worth through partnerships with Fort Worth ISD, JPS Health Network and Cook Children’s Medical Center.

Through Extraordinary Teamwork, we tackle the toughest health and science questions affecting our community, from the maternal mortality crisis to helping families gain closure on missing persons to improving geriatrics care. We produce health care workers and scientific leaders who are empathetic, emotionally intelligent, highly competent and skilled at communicating.

And we do all of this through our values built on trust. We’re a people-first culture that invests in our team, with the end goal of transforming UNTHSC into a destination workplace recognized as a “Best Place For All.”

These aren’t always simple ideas to communicate. When I have just 15 or 20 seconds to explain UNTHSC to a new audience, here is what I tell them:

UNT Health Science Center is a collection of graduate schools with six colleges for health care providers, researchers and scientists. We have a strong culture of values, and through Extraordinary Teamwork we produce leaders in health care and science who transform lives.

In the coming weeks, our Office of Brand and Communication will help guide our efforts with some helpful and easy-to-use communication tools.

Thank you for helping me tell our story of Extraordinary Teamwork. And thank you for the work you do for UNTHSC as one team each and every day.

My best always,

Dr. Michael R. Williams

Questions? Email questions@unthsc.edu