Regents grant emeritus status to seven faculty

Actions at the Nov. 20 UNT System Board of Regents meeting included granting of emeritus status and tenure and selection of the 2004 Regents' Faculty Lecturer.

The regents, gathering at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth for their 2003 fall quarterly meeting, granted emeritus status to seven distinguished retired faculty members:

• Ken Bahnsen, athletics and the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, who retired in 1998 but continued on modified service through May 2003, completing 43 years of service to UNT
  
• Leonard Candelaria, College of Music, who retired at the end of Spring 2003 after 29 years with the university
  
• Gloria Delaney, Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, who retired in 1998 but continued on modified service through Fall 1999 to complete 39 years of service
  
• Frank Feigert, Department of Political Science, who retired in December 2002 after 25 years of service
  
• Laurel Miller, College of Music, who retired in 1998 but continued on modified service through May 2003, completing a 25-year career at UNT
  
• Jean Pekara, Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, who, after her 2000 retirement, taught for another year on modified service to bring her years of service to UNT to 35
  
• Jerry Yeric, Department of Political Science, who retired at the close of Spring 2002 after serving 27 years on the UNT faculty

The regents also authorized awards of tenure to Samuel Atkinson, professor of biological sciences, and Murali Varanasi, professor of computer science and engineering. Atkinson returned to UNT this fall after serving as professor and chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Health Science Center. Varanasi, who is arriving in January as the first coordinator of electrical engineering, has been professor and former departmental chair of computer science and engineering at the University of South Florida.

Following the recommendation of the Faculty Research Committee, the board selected Zhibing Hu, professor of physics, to present the 2004 Regents' Faculty Lecture. Hu is working with water-based, gelatin-like polymers —"smart gels" — that can be programmed to expand or contract in reaction to a stimulus (such as temperature, light, pH balance or electric fields) to create a self-regulating delivery for medicines. Because of their adaptability, Hu's "smart gels" have a host of other potential applications.

The regents also authorized the university to seek low-interest, short-term financing for equipment and projects from the Texas Public Finance Authority through its master lease purchase program.

BY RODDY WOLPER rwolper@unt.edu

Other web references

• UNT Board of Regents

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