Escalante named UNT System vice chancellor for administrative services

The UNT System has named Richard L. Escalante, city manager of Farmers Branch, to the post of system vice chancellor for administrative services.

Escalante will begin his new duties Feb. 18. He will be responsible for guiding the UNT System's facilities and campus master planning; acquisition, sale and management of real estate and buildings; selection of architects, engineers and contractors; management of new construction and major renovation projects; and oversight of system administrative policies, procedures and performance.

"Richard Escalante is a proven administrative leader who will help us develop our resources to support our scholastic and administrative goals and to meet the needs of this region," says UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson.

Escalante says he is excited to join the growing UNT System.

"I look forward to using my management experience to help develop the campuses in Denton, Fort Worth and Dallas," he says.

Escalante has served the city of Farmers Branch since 1987, overseeing a budget of $84 million, 564 city employees and a full range of municipal services.

He coordinated the development of capital planning and the construction of numerous high-quality municipal facilities, including a city hall, justice center/police station/court facility and senior center.

His approach to financial planning and the municipal budget process enabled the Farmers Branch utility fund to become debt free in 2001 and created a pathway for the city's general fund to be debt free in 2008.

Escalante developed a tax dividend program for Farmers Branch that made it the first city in the nation to return tax dividends to taxpayers. On this basis and because of the other merits of the tax dividend program, the city was selected as a finalist in the Innovations in American Government Award Program sponsored by the Ford Foundation and administered by Harvard University.

Also in 2001, Framers Branch received the award for excellence in governmental finance from the Government Finance Officers Association.

Prior to his work in Farmers Branch, Escalante was village manager of Carpentersville, Ill.; city manager of Moundsville, W.Va.; and assistant city manager of Boca Raton, Fla.

He is a past president of the North Texas City Management Association. He is on the editorial advisory board of the Economic Development Case Book for the International City/County Management Association and is a board member of the Community Council of Greater Dallas.

Escalante completed Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government Mid-Career Program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government in 1997. He earned his master of arts degree in public affairs in 1978 and his bachelor of arts degree in political science in 1974 from Northern Illinois University.

Escalante and his wife, Joyce, have two sons, a chemical engineer and a college student.

This new position was created by the separation of the offices of system vice chancellor for administrative services and university vice president for administration. Previously, Fred Pole, who retired last August, held both positions. At the time the positions were separated, Richard Rafes was named senior vice president for administration for UNT. The two appointments are subject to confirmation by the UNT Board of Regents.

BY RODDY WOLPER rwolper@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• UNT working to reduce fiscal year 2002-03 budget by $8 million
• Enrollment up 6.8 percent over last spring
• UNT mathematics professors find solution to 50-year-old math problem
• Book drive for Thailand community expanded to include books for adults
• 2002-03 Fact Book available online
• Enterprise Information System project implementation under way
• Staff Council chair gives top 10 reasons why UNT is a great place to work
• Black History Month under way at UNT

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