Founded in 1890, the University of North Texas is the largest and most comprehensive higher education institution in the North Texas region with over 35,000 students. The University is designated as a Carnegie 2000 Doctoral Research University, being classified at the highest possible research level (Extensive). Training in gifted education at UNT began in the early 1980s with the first tenure track faculty hired to work solely in this area in 1988.

Initially, gifted education at UNT served primarily schools and parents in the North Texas area with classes and services. In the early 1990s research and service projects were added. One such program was the Summer Opportunities for the Academically Ready (SOAR) program which was offered in collaboration with the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) program at UNT provided accelerated math, science, and language arts course work to middle- and high-school gifted students from across Texas, around the US, and from some foreign countries. Another program from the period was the Investigations of Talented Elementary Students (ITES) program which provided above-level testing and direct and indirect services to schools and parents for young mathematically talented children.

While these projects are no longer offered, since 1998 the program made the graduate courses in gifted education available online (100% online since 2000). These were some of the first 100% online gifted education courses available in the world and attracted graduate students and parents from all continents. Today the master's degree in Educational Psychology with a focus on gifted and talented is available 100% online also. Students never have to come to the Denton campus to complete this excellent master's program. Students may use the gifted classes as their specialization area in the masters in special education and in curriculum and instruction although these degrees are not 100% online.

The classes in gifted education and the masters in educational psychology, special education, and curriculum and instruction are accredited by

• the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
• the Southern Association of  Colleges and Schools (SACS) , and
• the Texas State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC)

Additionally, the programs in gifted education are aligned to the national standards of:

• the National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC)
• the Talented and Gifted (TAG) division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), and
• the standards for the Awareness Certification from the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented (TAGT).