University of North Texas names Harrison Keller as next president

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The University of North Texas Board of Regents has named Harrison Keller, Texas’ higher education commissioner, the next president.

Keller will succeed Neal Smatresk, who announced in February that he would step down after 10 years at the helm of the system’s flagship university, which has 47,000 students.

A vote in June from the Board of Regents kicked off a 21-day mandatory waiting period before the formal action on Monday that appointed Keller as president. He takes office Aug. 1.

"Harrison Keller has spent his career committed to improving Texas higher education," Chancellor Michael R. Williams said in a news release. "His ability to lead, innovate, and partner both statewide and nationally has helped transform Texas higher education and will have an invaluable impact on UNT.”

In Keller’s five-year tenure as the commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas was one of the first states to set goals to get students to complete degrees in high-demand fields. Keller also led the state to increase support for community college students that intend to transfer to a four year university through a program called Texas Direct.

Keller has dedicated his professional work to boosting the success of students from low-income backgrounds and of students who are the first in their family to go to college.

He previously was a high-level administrator at the University of Texas at Austin, where he created a program to provide college-level courses for high school students, called OnRamps.

Keller said in a statement that he looks forward to working with the UNT community. “I am honored by the opportunity to lead the state’s third-largest and fastest-growing university and am inspired by the openness to innovation and commitment to students among UNT System leadership, faculty and staff,” Keller said.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the University of Texas at Austin and University of North Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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