Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363

Date: December 8, 1998

UT System News Release

Finalists Named for U.T. San Antonio Presidency

AUSTIN - Four finalists for the presidency of The University of Texas at San Antonio were announced Tuesday (December 8).

The finalists are Tomas A. Arciniega, president of California State University at Bakersfield; James F. Gaertner, dean of the College of Business at U.T. San Antonio; Mario J. Gonzalez, vice chancellor for telecommunications and information technology for the U.T. System; and Ricardo Romo, vice provost at U.T. Austin.

The names of the candidates will be presented to the Board of Regents for the selection of a successor to President Samuel A. Kirkpatrick, who announced in June that he will step down from the position by next summer.

Before the regents' decision, campus visits will be scheduled in late January and early February to introduce the finalists to faculty, students, staff, alumni, community leaders, and the news media, said Ed Sharpe, U.T. System vice chancellor for academic affairs and chairman of an advisory committee that named the four finalists.

"I am very proud of the work of the committee which has resulted in four finalists with such outstanding qualifications for the UTSA presidency," Sharpe said. "We are confident that each of the candidates would be a superb president, capable of providing visionary leadership for the institution."

Donald L. Evans, chairman of the Board of Regents, said: "On behalf of my colleagues on the board, I want to thank the advisory committee for developing this list of four extraordinarily qualified finalists. The board considers the selection of the next UTSA president to be one our most important decisions as we seek to position all U.T. System institutions to meet the needs of Texas in the 21st century."

William H. Cunningham, chancellor of the U.T. System and a member of the advisory committee, said: "All of the final candidates have a broad range of successful experience as a teacher, a scholar, and an academic administrator. They have excelled in dealing with the challenges and opportunities of complex and dynamic institutions such as UTSA. We enthusiastically recommend each of them to Board of Regents."

U.T. San Antonio, one of the state's fastest growing universities, has 18,400 students and an annual budget of $128.5 million. In addition to the main campus, the university also includes the Downtown Campus and the Institute of Texan Cultures.