Robert E. Witt is president of the
University of AlabamaThe University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship university of the University of Alabama System. Within Alabama, it is often called "the Capstone"...
, as of March 1 2003. His experience includes 35 years in the University of Texas system, including 10 years as dean of the University of Texas at Austin business school and eight years as president of the University of Texas at Arlington. Witt received his bachelor's degree in economics in 1962 from
Bates CollegeBates College is a private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists. Bates confers Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees. Bates College is one of the first colleges to be coeducational from establishment...
, his M.B.A. from
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
and his Ph.D. from Penn State University.
Witt joined the business school faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 1968, and rose through the ranks as chair and associate dean.
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Robert E. Witt is president of the
University of AlabamaThe University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. Founded in 1831, UA is the flagship university of the University of Alabama System. Within Alabama, it is often called "the Capstone"...
, as of March 1 2003. His experience includes 35 years in the University of Texas system, including 10 years as dean of the University of Texas at Austin business school and eight years as president of the University of Texas at Arlington. Witt received his bachelor's degree in economics in 1962 from
Bates CollegeBates College is a private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists. Bates confers Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees. Bates College is one of the first colleges to be coeducational from establishment...
, his M.B.A. from
Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College is a private, coeducational university located in Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. Incorporated as "Trustees of Dartmouth College," it is a member of the Ivy League and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution...
and his Ph.D. from Penn State University.
Witt joined the business school faculty at the University of Texas at Austin in 1968, and rose through the ranks as chair and associate dean. He was named the Zale Corporation Centennial Professor in Business in 1983. Two years later he was named to the Mortimer Centennial Professorship in Business and that year became acting dean of business. In 1985, he was named
deanIn academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
, a position he would hold for nine years.
In 1995, Witt went to
University of Texas at ArlingtonThe University of Texas at Arlington is a comprehensive doctoral/research university in Arlington, Texas . It is classified by Carnegie as Research University - High Activity. UT Arlington has a student population of nearly 25,000 and is the third largest institution of the University of Texas...
as interim president. He was named permanent president in 1996. His accomplishments at UT-Arlington included:
- Turning around an enrollment decline
- Partnering with the Chamber of Commerce to establish the Arlington Technology Incubator
- Creating a nanotechnology research and teaching facility
- Establishing the University's first alliance of African-American ministers and community leaders to assure the needs of minority students are addressed.
At the University of Alabama, Witt has pursued the following goals, among others:
- Increasing enrollment by approximately 40 percent to 28,000 by the year 2013
- Raising faculty and staff salaries
- Increasing financial aid to students
- Upgrading and expanding facilities