September 7, 2001 UNT Inhouse publication: Regents approve university, system appointments

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Regents approve university, system appointments

During its regular meeting Aug. 17, the UNT Deborah Leliaert System Board of Regents approved the creation of UNT positions for a vice president for university relations, an associate vice president for facilities and an assistant vice president for business services. Regents also confirmed three other key appointments.

Deborah Leliaert, UNT's associate vice president for communication and marketing and UNT System associate Pat Howell vice chancellor for communication and marketing, was promoted to the new vice president position. Milton L. "Pat" Howell Jr., director for facilities management at the UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth, was selected as the associate vice president for facilities, and Chuck Fuller, director of business services, was promoted to assistant vice Chuck Fuller president for business services.

In addition, the regents confirmed the May appointment of Judith Forney as dean of the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management, the June appointment of John Price as executive director of the UNT System Center at Dallas, and the June appointment of David Shrader as interim vice president for development for the duration of the ongoing Judith Forney Campaign-North Texas.

The position of vice president for university relations will oversee the university's communications John Price and marketing as well as visitor and public relations. Leliaert has served in her current role since 1996 and was the university's director of news from 1992 to 1996. She continues as associate vice chancellor for communications and marketing for the UNT System.

Howell was selected as associate vice president for UNT facilities after a national search. He has extensive experience in directing, planning and managing the development, construction, operations, renovations and maintenance of facilities and infrastructures.

The position of assistant vice president for business services was created to reflect the increased responsibility of overseeing the university's auxiliary David Shrader business services. In addition to overseeing most auxiliary operations on campus, including housing, dining services, the University Union, printing and mail services, and the bookstore contract, the assistant vice president will be responsible for overseeing the operations of the Coliseum, Auditorium and Gateway Center.

Regents also approved new operational functions and Virginia Wheeless appointments for key system personnel.

The board created positions for vice chancellor for planning, associate vice chancellor for system facilities and assistant vice chancellor for governmental affairs, while approving a reduced-time appointment for the current vice chancellor of governmental affairs.

Virginia Wheeless, UNT System associate vice chancellor for planning and UNT associate vice president for planning, was appointed vice chancellor for planning, while Howell was appointed associate vice chancellor for system facilities in addition to his appointment as associate vice president for facilities for UNT. Rey Rodriguez

Reymundo "Rey" Rodriguez Jr. was appointed assistant vice chancellor for governmental affairs, and Walt Parker, vice chancellor for governmental affairs, was approved for part-time service.

As vice chancellor for planning, Wheeless will be responsible for the planning for the new UNT at Dallas campus, which was established by statute in the 2001 legislative session. Wheeless served as the interim UNT System Center executive director from its inception in 1999 and has been head of the university's planning office since 1992. Wheeless will continue as associate vice president for planning for the university.

Howell was selected as associate vice chancellor for system facilities after a national search. Rodriguez joined the system governmental affairs staff in January 2001 in time to help establish the UNT System office in Austin and to assist during the 77th legislative session.

Before joining UNT, he worked as a senior analyst in Austin for the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus and as an analyst with the Social Security Administration in Washington, D.C., and in Baltimore, Md. Rodriguez is now chief of the UNT System office in Austin.

Parker, who has served the university since 1979 and the system since 2000, has requested a 60 percent appointment for 2001-02 and a 50 percent appointment for 2002-03. A statewide search will begin soon for a person to lead the day-to-day efforts of the system's governmental affairs office.

During the meeting, regents approved the Regents Professor award for 10 faculty members:

Witold Brostow, materials science
Roy K. Busby, journalism
Harlan W. Butt, visual arts
Leonard Candelaria, music
Chwee Lye Chng, kinesiology, health promotion and recreation
Eugene Corporon, music
Jerome Duggan, physics
James L. Poirot, technology and cognition
Victor Prybutok, business computer information systems
William T. Waller, biological sciences

The Regents Professor award, approved by the Board of Regents in 1987, provides recognition and salary support for individuals currently at the rank of professor who have performed outstanding teaching, research or both.

A Regents Professor is expected to teach at least one course, or the equivalent in individual instruction, each semester and devote at least half of each biennium's teaching workload to introductory-level courses.

The award consists of the designation as Regents Professor and a continuing salary supplement of $5,000 per year added to the nine-month salary base. Up to 10 awards may be made per year with the restriction that no more than 25 percent of those at the rank of professor can hold the designation of Regents Professor at any one time.

This year, 16 faculty members were recommended by their departments and deans. The recipients were determined by the provost and vice president for academic affairs, acting upon recommendations from the faculty Regents Professor Selection and Review Committee, and forwarded to the president and chancellor.

Regents approved the addition of two degrees, a bachelor of science degree with a major in electronic merchandising and a doctor of audiology degree. The electronic merchandising degree, in the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management, is designed to meet a growing industry demand for merchandisers who can address the unique requirements of merchandising in an electronic format, such as the Internet. A large portion of the degree program will be available on the web. The doctor of audiology degree was proposed by the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences as an upgrade of its master's degree in audiology. The program is a necessity because the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association has mandated that beginning in 2001, audiologists must have earned a doctorate to attain professional certification.

Both degrees must receive approval from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.