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Lee Jackson plans to do a lot more than just clean out his desk and say his goodbyes during his last full workday Friday as chancellor of the University of North Texas System. He's got a meeting at 7:30 a.m., a charity fundraising luncheon at noon and a visit to University of North Texas at Dallas scheduled for the afternoon. "I told people a long time ago that I was going to work until 5 o'clock because that's consistent with my life," he said. The chancellor of 15 years, the longest tenure in Texas, had a lot to say during a Tuesday interview about how he plans to stay engaged until the end — and beyond. For example, when asked how these last few months have been, knowing that his time as chancellor is coming to an end, his 20-minute-long answer touched on his thoughts on his career, politics and the cost of attending college. Jackson's appointment as chancellor in 2002 raised some eyebrows. It was considered unusual at the time to hire a career politician — he's a former state legislator and Dallas County judge — to a top academic post. But Jackson's tenure reshaped the UNT System. Since he started, the system has added UNT-Dallas, a new campus in economically challenged south Dallas. It has also enrolled thousands more students, spent millions of dollars more on research and raised its six-year-graduation rate to 51 percent. And during Jackson's time, the way state leaders view the job of chancellor has shifted. Now, four of the five chancellors of the state's other big systems are nonacademics — Brian McCall of Texas State, Robert Duncan of Texas Tech and John Sharp of Texas A&M are former state politicians, and Bill McRaven of the University of Texas is a retired Navy admiral. Jackson's replacement will be another "nontraditional" choice: former NASA administrator Lesa Roe. Here are the highlights from the interview, edited and rearranged chronologically for clarity: read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/10/05/outgoing-unt-chancellor-federal-inactivity-student-debt-biggest-threat/

The most visible symbol of Lee Jackson’s 15-year tenure as chancellor of the University of North Texas System may be its newest campus. Perched on a bluff in southernmost Dallas, UNT-Dallas’ small cluster of academic buildings reflects Jackson’s goal of making affordable, employable degrees more accessible to all North Texans. UNT-Dallas is the first public university within the city limits, and it serves students, local employers and the surrounding community. It’s one of many examples of how Jackson has quietly, skillfully and respectfully worked the machinery of local and state government to do useful things for the people of North Texas. In his four-decade career in public service, he has been a state representative and a county judge. He was named chancellor of the UNT System in 2002. In March, Jackson announced he planned to retire this year. On Thursday, UNT Regents announced the sole finalist for the next chancellor: Lesa B. Roe, acting deputy administrator of NASA. We welcome her to her new position, and wish her great success. UNT will miss Jackson’s productive combination of temperament, experience and knowledge. Born in Austin and raised in Dallas, Lee Jackson has brought the same game to every job he’s had: relentless preparation, good sense, self-control and a desire to get things done rather than to grandstand. “Lee is the best example of public service in this community,” said Dale Petroskey, president and CEO of the Dallas Regional Chamber. “The best public servants are those who can stand in the shoes of those who are opposing them, and forge some sort of compromise so that everybody can win. ...I’m going to miss him terribly at our board meetings,” read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2017/08/17/can-name-new-unt-chancellor-impossible-replace-leadership-span-retiring-lee-jackson

To identify these mistakes, UNT financial staff has worked with consultants from Deloitte and Touche since June to review almost all income and expenses on the campuses and at the system level. While the process was supposed to be done by the end of August, it was completed this month. Completing the restatement means the university and system are one step closer to understanding their finances and reforming their accounting practices, Chancellor Lee Jackson said. My message is were taking all possible steps to restore public confidence in our financial records and reports, Jackson told the Board of Regents. Im confident that were creating a system of high integrity as you expect us to have, and were committed to that. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20141016-officials-report-financial-balance.ece

DALLAS — University of North Texas System Chancellor Lee Jackson will remain in the position until at least 2017, after the university’s Board of Regents unanimously approved a contract extension Friday. The action shows the board’s continued confidence in Jackson, despite the financial challenges the system and the flagship campus in Denton are still facing, chairman Brint Ryan said. “I personally have found him to be a very capable leader, and he’s following the direction of the board and all of the new things that we want to do to change the system, to change UNT to make it better,” Ryan said after the vote. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20140822-regents-extend-jacksons-contract.ece

My alma mater, the University of North Texas, has a healthy pattern of growth and a solid financial base, although you’ve seen some alarming revelations in recent months. I want the community to understand that our future is bright and our enrollment generates revenue that will allow us to continue to grow and excel. But we’re learning a hard lesson about the importance of solid and honest accounting, something my UNT professors taught me years ago. The old Russian proverb of “trust but verify,” appropriated by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, has new meaning and significance for the administrative leadership and regents of the University of North Texas System. The current board, our predecessors and system leaders have trusted that the individuals at UNT responsible for the basic tasks of managing the university’s funds were doing so accurately and professionally. But in recent years we began demanding technology upgrades and enhanced reporting to verify that the highest standards of accounting principles were being followed. As a result, we and our auditors have discovered and disclosed some significant errors and inaccurate reports. We have now documented a series of ingrained and improper financial practices that simply should never have happened. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20140714-lesson-from-unt-funds-mess-trust-but-verify.ece

FORT WORTH — The University of North Texas has adjusted its budget for the current fiscal year, as new projections show revenue will be $3.5 million less than anticipated. The budget was created last summer when old leadership was in place and those who oversaw financial mismanagement were still in charge. Now, expenditures have been adjusted to meet the anticipated $542 million in revenues, Janet Waldron, the UNT System’s vice chancellor for finance, said during Thursday’s Board of Regents meeting. In Waldron’s strategic budget update to the board, she noted that in the future the reports will be more thorough. “It was obviously a budget that was put together before the hiring of the current vice president and chief financial officer, and probably one that the new president, I suspect, inherited as he was coming into office,” she said. “I know the chief financial officer is reviewing this very much currently as a priority area, and there will be changes as a result of that.” read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20140612-unt-adjusts-budget-by-3.5-million.ece

Neal Smatresk hasn’t had the easy transition he might have hoped for in his new job as president of the University of North Texas in Denton. In fact, UNT has been in a storm of bad news almost since Smatresk took over in February, none of it his fault but all of it his job to fix. Between 2004 and early this year, the university improperly drew down more than $83.5 million in state funds to pay employee salaries and benefits. To his credit, Smatresk faces the problem head-on. The only part of it he ducked in a meeting with the Star-Telegram Editorial Board on Thursday is the investigation into exactly how things went wrong and what kind of settlement UNT will reach on paying back the money to the state. Those two angles are being handled by Chancellor Lee Jackson and other UNT System officials headquartered in Dallas. Still, Smatresk admits to being baffled at how UNT got itself in this position. The problems were recognized as early as 2011, he said, but still were not adequately corrected. Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/06/05/5877817/new-unt-president-gets-a-financial.html#storylink=cpy

Smatresk said his four-year presidency at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas taught him how to deal with financial hardships when the state cut $74 million in funding. “Compared to some of the things I’ve had to deal with in the past, I’m going to call this ‘garden-variety,’ and that doesn’t mean it’s not significant. So I’m not trying to diminish what has occurred. What I am telling you is that we put a good team together and we know how to get ourselves back on track,” Smatresk said. Three finance officials resigned in light of the findings. The university has since hired a new vice president for finance and administration, an assistant vice chancellor for financial planning and reporting, and a vice chancellor of finance. Smatresk said he is ready to work through the woes, including a lowered bond rating by Moody’s Investors Service. In an April press release, Moody’s stated it had given UNT a rating of Aa2 and that the school’s outlook went from stable to negative. The university’s financial crisis was cited in the explanation of the change. Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/06/05/5877802/unt-president-on-financial-troubles.html Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/06/05/5877802/unt-president-on-financial-troubles.html#storylink=cpy

The University of North Texas will make cuts of 2 or 3 percent next year to cope with budget shortfalls, President Neal Smatresk told faculty this afternoon. He also said that for the past six years, the Denton campus has spent money it doesn’t have. That information comes from Jenna Duncan at our sister publication, the Denton Record-Chronicle. Jenna is live-tweeting from the Faculty Senate meeting where Smatresk is delivering the bad news. Read more: http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/05/unt-president-announces-budget-cuts-in-wake-of-financial-problems.html/

The University of North Texas System will spend at least $1.35 million to get its financial house in order after a series of problems, regents decided Thursday. Regents voted to spend $350,000 so a consulting firm can finish its work in tracking down all of UNTs financial problems that have started to come to light this year. Regents approved at least another $1 million so the firm, Deloitte & Touche, can help fix those problems. Its part of an effort that system leaders call their financial transformation. Read more: http://www.dentonrc.com/local-news/local-news-headlines/20140516-unt-spending-1.35m-to-fix-finances.ece

A message from the chancellor: It is my pleasure to announce that today the UNT System Board of Regents voted unanimously to name Dr. Neal Smatresk as the sole finalist for the presidency at UNT. Dr. Smatresk is currently the president at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. If confirmed as UNT president by the board in December, Dr. Smatresk will bring a powerful combination of distinguished leadership in higher education and a keen understanding of the North Texas region to our flagship institution. I am confident that Dr. Smatresk is the right person to help UNT continue to grow and succeed, and I believe he will be able to join us by February of next year. As president of UNLV since 2009, he has led that institution to become a much more prominent resource in one of the country’s fastest-growing cities. At UNLV, Dr. Smatresk emphasizes the importance of student access and success as well as research and innovation. Under his direction, UNLV completed a $537 million fundraising campaign that included creating UNLV’s largest active scholarship program, established an Academic Success Center to help students graduate on time, and opened Brookings Mountain West in partnership with the prestigious Brookings Institution. You can learn more about him in the official news release. Dr. Smatresk and his wife, Debbie, have deep Texas roots and an understanding of our region. UNT and UNLV have many similarities, and Dr. Smatresk has demonstrated his effective leadership in many areas where UNT is experiencing critical growth and opportunity. I am excited about the future of UNT under his leadership. And I am especially grateful to Dr. V. Lane Rawlins for his invaluable contributions over the past three and a half years. Dr. Rawlins has helped UNT develop a clearer focus on its institutional goals and metrics and increased our momentum and recognition. Under his direction, UNT has reached significant milestones and the Board and I are very pleased that Lane and Mary Jo have chosen to make their home here in Denton, where they will continue to be involved with UNT. Dr. Rawlins has agreed to accept a President Emeritus appointment upon his retirement and will contribute to our fulfillment of the plans he helped develop. I thank you for doing your part every day to improve UNT’s quality and reputation and ask that you continue to support Dr. Rawlins and assist Dr. Smatresk in this transition period. I hope you are as excited as I am about our future. Sincerely, Lee F. Jackson Read more: http://inhouse.unt.edu/neal-smatresk-named-sole-finalist-president

The UNT System College of Pharmacy was recently granted an accreditation status that allows the institution to moved forward with its inaugural class of Doctor of Pharmacy students this fall. Read more: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/extra_credit/2013/07/unt-system-college-of-pharmacys-first-students-to-start-this-august.html Read more here: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/extra_credit/2013/07/unt-system-college-of-pharmacys-first-students-to-start-this-august.html#storylink=cpy