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

Date: December 10, 2004

UT System News Release

Additional Finalist Named for President of UT Dallas

DALLAS – The University of Texas System Board of Regents named an additional finalist on Friday (Dec. 10) for the presidency of the University of Texas at Dallas. David E. Daniel, Ph.D., dean and professor of civil engineering, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was unanimously named as a finalist at a special called meeting of the board in Dallas.

Daniel joins Thomas J. Barton, Ph.D., who had been previously named a finalist by the regents in October.

Under state law, university governing boards must name finalists for a presidency at least 21 days before making an appointment. The board will interview the two finalists and make a final decision at its scheduled meeting in February.

The two finalists for UTD presidency are:

• 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.
• David E. Daniel, Ph.D., Gutsgell professor of civil engineering and dean, College of Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Daniel earned his Ph.D. in civil engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, serving on the engineering faculty there until 1996 when he moved to the University of Illinois. His research expertise has focused on engineered containment systems for waste disposal and cleanup of contaminated waste disposal sites. He has won the American Society of Civil Engineers highest award for papers published in its journals and in 2000 was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

"The board is pleased with the quality of these two candidates for president of UT Dallas," said Board of Regents' Chairman James R. Huffines. "We are committed to completing the presidential search and naming a new president expeditiously. Appointment of a new president to succeed President Franklyn Jenifer is the highest priority for the board."

Chairman Huffines also called for a review of legal requirements and a study of best practices in president searches to make recommendations to the board for future searches. "We will make this process more efficient and timely while at the same time preserving our high degree of disclosure and transparency in our president searches," Chairman Huffines said.

A campus visit by the Dr. Daniel will be scheduled prior to the February personal interviews and vote by the Board of Regents. The campus visit will include meetings with students, faculty, staff, department chairs, deans, alumni and community members.

Dr. Barton visited the UT Dallas campus Oct. 28-29.

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

Biographies:

Thomas J. Barton, Ph.D.

David E. Daniel, Ph.D.

Related news release:

UT System News Release: Statement Regarding the UT Dallas President Search (11/23/04)

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)