Among the many children’s books on her office shelf, Dr. Brenda McCoy keeps a copy of Dr. Seuss’ The Sneetches and Other Stories — a book she said helps students better understand sociological concepts.

“It is about working together and playing together, and recognizing equal value in people,” said McCoy, the new director of the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences program at the University of North Texas. “That is what I like about it.”

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Dr. Brenda McCoy, new director of the Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences program at the University of North Texas, is also a sociology professor. She uses children’s books to talk about issues related to sociology.

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McCoy said children’s books are powerful because they expose youngsters to the world around them.

“Inside these children’s books are embedded messages about race and culture, and men and women, and people, young and old,” she said. “Even if kids are not verbal, that does not mean they are stupid — they are really smart and they are picking up messages in everything.”

When McCoy is not in her classroom talking about the meaning of the stars in Sneet­ches or discussing gender issues using Barbie dolls, she is inspiring other students to think about furthering their careers.

In her new position as director of the applied arts and sciences program, McCoy encourages students to select a career theme and work toward finishing their college degrees. The program, part of the College of Public Affairs and Community Service, is designed for students who may have started their education at a community college and later decided to return to school and acquire a four-year-college diploma.

“When these kids want to come into a four-year institution, instead of being able to transfer all of those classes — let’s say in business — most of them don’t transfer,” McCoy said. “In essence, you just take a match and burn all of your efforts toward getting a degree and you start over at four years, unless you come into a program like this.”

She calls it an inverted de­gree. Since it is not a general degree plan, the new Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences degree focuses on achieving career goals with an emphasis on creating broad skills sets.

McCoy uses herself as an example. She acquired her bachelor’s degree in history in 1977 and then delved into the world of marketing for IBM, where she stayed for 12 years. In another job, she sold products for the education sector and later went to graduate school to acquire her master’s degree and then her doctorate in sociology.

Before her current position, she worked for UNT Dallas as a coordinator of sociology programs and helped the school double its enrollment.

“If you look at what I am doing right now, every day that I breathe, I do a little teaching, I do marketing and I do management activities … so you are really drawing on diverse skill sets,” she said.

Her friend Helen Ross Petty believes McCoy’s experience has added value to her current role at UNT.

“She has the ability to view education as a business,” said Ross Petty, a health care consultant in Austin. “It is the business of how we prepare people to go into the world.”

Other students who also may benefit from the applied arts and sciences program are those serving in the military or veterans seeking college credit, and students interested in multiple disciplines.

“This degree recognizes students can draw out of different skill pools in order to do their careers,” McCoy said.

Born in League City south of Houston, McCoy, 53, is des­cribed by friends as a genuinely nice person who truly wants to make a difference.

“Her teaching style is to talk about her own experiences. She is not afraid to make herself the butt of the story, if it helps her prove her point,” Ross Petty said.

She loves telling stories, said Cathy Griesbaum, who met McCoy working at IBM in 1982.

“She is also an avid gardener,” Griesbaum said.

McCoy said she likes being around flowers so much that she would paper the planet with flowers if she could.

“I guess I’ll do it when I retire,” she said.

Until then, she lives with one essential vision she wants to give to her students and others. 

“I don’t want to give up on the idea that the world can be a better place for all us,” McCoy said. “I don’t want to give up on the hope that we can all be better together.”

KARINA RAMÍREZ can be reached at 940-566-6878. Her e-mail address is kramirez@dentonrc.com .