Contact: Anthony de Bruyn, (512) 499-4363

Date: October 12, 2004

UT System News Release

Finalists Named for President of UT Dallas

DALLAS – The University of Texas System Board of Regents named three finalists on Tuesday (October 12) for the presidency of the University of Texas at Dallas.

The board announced the finalists after considering recommendations of an advisory committee that reviewed nominations and applications for the position.

Under state law, university governing boards must name finalists for a presidency at least 21 days before making an appointment. A meeting at which the UT System board will make a final decision has not yet been scheduled.

The finalists are:

• John C. Baldwin, M.D., associate provost for health affairs, Dartmouth College, and professor of surgery at Dartmouth Medical School. Dr. Baldwin earned his M.D. at Stanford University and completed residencies at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He has held academic positions at Stanford and Yale University and was chairman of the Department of Surgery at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where he held the DeBakey-Bard Chair of Surgery. Dr. Baldwin has served for 10 years as a corporate director and a member of the audit committee of the Houston Trust Company in Houston and has served on several corporate boards. A former Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Baldwin served as vice chair of the Board of Overseers of Harvard University. Dr. Baldwin is a native of Collin County.

• Thomas J. Barton, Ph.D., professor of chemistry, Iowa State University, and director of the Ames National Laboratory, a government owned, contractor operated research facility of the Department of Energy. He also serves as director of the Institute for Physical Research and Technology at Iowa State. A native of Dallas, Dr. Barton earned his Ph.D. at the University of Florida and did postdoctoral work at The Ohio State University. He began his career at Iowa State in 1967. He was named Distinguished Professor at Iowa State in 1984. Dr. Barton holds thirteen patents.

• Gary B. Schuster, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and dean, College of Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Schuster joined the faculty of Georgia Tech in 1994. Prior to moving to Georgia Tech, he was chair of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois. He was named Arthur C. Cope Scholar by the American Chemical Society. At Georgia Tech he holds the Vasser Woolley Chair of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Dr. Schuster earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Rochester and did postdoctoral study at Columbia University.

"The advisory committee worked hard to find candidates with excellent scientific credentials and experience in administration at leading universities," said Teresa A. Sullivan, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and chair of the advisory committee. "The committee is very pleased with the results of the search process and we are eager for the finalists to visit the Dallas campus."

"We are grateful to the advisory committee for its exemplary work in screening and interviewing potential candidates and in developing a list of extraordinarily capable academic leaders for the Board of Regents to consider," said Board of Regents' Chairman James Richard Huffines. "The selection of finalists for the UT Dallas presidency has been undertaken by the board with full awareness that the appointment of a new president for this great institution is one of the most important decisions that we will make."

Campus visits by the finalists will be scheduled soon and will include meetings with students, faculty, staff, department chairs, deans, alumni and community members.

The new president will succeed Dr. Franklyn Jenifer, who announced his retirement last fall. Dr. Jenifer joined UT Dallas as president in 1994. UT Dallas' enrollment has increased more than 61 percent during his tenure -- from less than 8,500 students to nearly 14,000 -- and the campus has undergone a dramatic physical transformation as major new facilities have been constructed -- including buildings for the School of Management, the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and the Callier Center for Communication Disorders as well as a Student Activity Center, athletic facilities and hundreds of student apartments.

UT Dallas is a comprehensive university with an emphasis on engineering, mathematics and the sciences. It began as a research institute established by the founders of Texas Instruments, Inc., joining the UT System in 1969.

UT Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 13,700 students. The school's freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs.

The UT System has 15 campuses, including nine academic and six health institutions, and an annual operating budget of $8.5 billion (FY 2005). Student enrollment is projected to exceed 185,000 students in the 2004 academic year. The UT System confers one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates three-fourths of the state's health care professionals annually. With more than 87,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.

UT Dallas

UT Dallas presidential search website

Biographies:

John C. Baldwin, M.D.

Thomas J. Barton, Ph.D.

Gary B. Schuster, Ph.D.

Related news release:

UT System News Release: Advisory Committee Named for Presidential Search at UT Dallas (12/12/03)

UT Dallas News Release: Dr. Franklyn Jenifer To Retire As President of UTD (10/2/03)