As longtime UNT chancellor departs, inaction on student debt is his lingering worry

[Harry]

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/

[Rudy]

He hasn't left YET?!  What do we have to do to get rid of this guy?

[keith]

49 minutes ago, Harry said:

raised its six-year-graduation rate to 51 percent.

Wow, this is really sad and probably one of the critical metrics that continues to saddle UNT with a US News & World Report rating of RNP (Rating Not Published).  There are obviously other metrics involved but 51% in six years, oh my.  I hate to ask what it was raised from or what our four-year-graduation rate is.  

[dmaxel]

37 minutes ago, Rudy said:

He hasn't left YET?!  What do we have to do to get rid of this guy?

Today was Roe's first day, but he's staying in an advisory role to her for the rest of the calendar year.

[EagleMBA]

41 minutes ago, Rudy said:

He hasn't left YET?!  What do we have to do to get rid of this guy?

[oldguystudent]

9 hours ago, keith said:

what our four-year-graduation rate is.  

In all honesty, it's pretty tough to get out of any school in four years. 

[untbowler]

Lee Jackson just go away, you did absolutely nothing to help UNT Main Campus, you f**ked up the Stadium vote in Austin, you wasted money on unaccredited Law School in Dallas, when easily could have bought established TX Wesleyan, you have dumped money into a failing campus in Dallas. So Lee Jackson STFU and go away and never come back. 

Edited October 10, 2017 by untbowler