Dallas Morning News, TX
07-06-0-6
NT names sole finalist for presidency
By James M. O’Neill
The top academic official for the University of North Carolina system has been
tapped as the sole finalist to be the next president of the University of North
Texas in Denton.
Dr. Gretchen Bataille
Dr. Gretchen M. Bataille, 61, a scholar of Native American literature with a vast
background as an academic administrator on campuses across the country, is
poised to become UNT's 14th president, and the first woman to hold that post.
Dr. Bataille would replace Dr. Norval Pohl, who decided last summer to step
down as UNT president at the end of August.
"I am confident Dr. Bataille has the background to strengthen UNT's academic
and research vision and the personal skills to be a very effective campus and
community leader," said UNT system chancellor Lee Jackson in a statement. He
noted that she would bring "a national perspective to the challnges facing higher
education."
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Her national perspective is culled not only from her six years as the top academic
official of the 16-campus North Carolina system, one of the more prestigious in
the country, but also in her role as the vice chair and a trustee of the College
Board, the confederation of universities across the country that administers the
SAT exam.
Dr. Bataille said she was excited at the chance to lead UNT and try to boost its
national profile. "UNT has a long history of serving the North Texas region, and
with the strength of its faculty and students it's well positioned to be better
recognized nationally and internationally," she said in a statement. "It will be my
responsibility to ensure the university achieves the level of prominence it
deserves."
At UNC, Dr. Bataille led academic planning efforts for all 16 UNC campuses,
which combined enroll 196,000 students. Her job included oversight of strategic
planning and budgeting, research, student affairs, international programs and
advising the UNC system president on academic issues.
She has spent much of her career focused on the issues of diversity, civil rights
and ethnic studies. For a time she chaired the Iowa Civil Rights Commission, and
wrote the grant that created the American Indian Institute at Arizona State
University. While at ASU, she also chaired a presidential committee on assessing
quality and diversity. During her time as an English department at Iowa State
University, she initiated and chaired the school's American Indian Studies
program.
She was provost - the top academic officer - at Washington State University, and
provost of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California at
Santa Barbara. She served as a dean at Arizona State University's College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, and was chair of its English department.
Dr. Bataille, a native of Indiana, earned her bachelor's degree and master's
degree from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, and a
doctorate in English from Drake University.
She is a widow and the mother of a daughter and son, both grown.
Before the UNT system's trustees can actually elect her president, Texas law
requires a 21-day waiting period after her announcement as the sole finalist for
the job.