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He's been here for 10 years, which is a long time. It's also not uncommon for his level of position to have a contract that renews every so often, he must be up for renewal but ready to dip.
From the quotes he’s given, he’s basically tired and wants to go back to teaching.
I was a staff member for a good chunk of Dr. Smatresk’s tenure, and it’s not super shocking. He just seems *exhausted* sometimes in the last two or three years. The university president’s job, especially at a larger, regional university with more esoteric specialties like UNT has, is always going to be a 24/7/365 job that’s a bit more stressful than the presidencies at more cookie-cutter regional universities like UTA or UNLV, where he was before he came to UNT.
Wouldn’t shock me one bit if he’s just tired and sees retirement on the horizon, so he just wants to spend a few years still in academia but also able to leave work at work. I was on some email chains with Dr. Smatresk in 2021 and 2022, and the man will sometimes still be answering emails at 2 AM.
You think the President of a state university is allowed to just write his own public-facing communications? They have templates on file for this kind of stuff. You just fill in the blanks.
Over my dead body will yall zip up to a reasonably priced parking garage instead of driving for an hour trying to find a spot before giving up and parking a mile away at an apartment you might get towed at, only to see 4 open spots closer as you walk back to campus. That experience *shapes* a person the way only UNT can.
The student population is liberal, but all of the top level positions of President and above are appointed by the Governor (technically he nominates then the Board votes, but he appointed the Board so it's a rubber stamp basically). I will say that through his tenure here it was obvious Smatresk gave a damn, but given the executive leadership make up it's hard to say the university itself is liberal past the point of placating 99% of the student population who doesn't pay attention to the goings on of the University as a business.
Smaetresk was brought in after President Bataille wanted to keep UNT centered in Denton instead of moving the admin to Dallas. I'm not sure why he has a reputation for being liberal when he was brought in to basically alienate the university community from admin decisions and cut budgets across all departments. Dude was absolutely despised when he first showed up and was considered a corporate stooge.
I saw it coming tbh. But 10 years is a long time for someone in his position
I feel old now... My freshman started halfway through his first year. I still think of him as the "new" president of UNT.
My senior year was his first year. I’m surprised to find out he was still there. Good on him.
Who is next?
Saddam Hussein
No matter who, guaranteed they will be changing the color of green yet again.
This is so true
off to go hit more people with his car
Classic Neal!
Wait what?
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Why is he quitting?
He's been here for 10 years, which is a long time. It's also not uncommon for his level of position to have a contract that renews every so often, he must be up for renewal but ready to dip.
From the quotes he’s given, he’s basically tired and wants to go back to teaching. I was a staff member for a good chunk of Dr. Smatresk’s tenure, and it’s not super shocking. He just seems *exhausted* sometimes in the last two or three years. The university president’s job, especially at a larger, regional university with more esoteric specialties like UNT has, is always going to be a 24/7/365 job that’s a bit more stressful than the presidencies at more cookie-cutter regional universities like UTA or UNLV, where he was before he came to UNT. Wouldn’t shock me one bit if he’s just tired and sees retirement on the horizon, so he just wants to spend a few years still in academia but also able to leave work at work. I was on some email chains with Dr. Smatresk in 2021 and 2022, and the man will sometimes still be answering emails at 2 AM.
Good. I never liked him.
And he used AI to write that
UNT staff wrote it
Obviously not
You think the President of a state university is allowed to just write his own public-facing communications? They have templates on file for this kind of stuff. You just fill in the blanks.
worried this could make the college less liberal but also hopefully solve the overpopulation and parking issue?
UNT was liberal and had bad parking long before Neal and will continue both of these trends long after, don’t you worry
Over my dead body will yall zip up to a reasonably priced parking garage instead of driving for an hour trying to find a spot before giving up and parking a mile away at an apartment you might get towed at, only to see 4 open spots closer as you walk back to campus. That experience *shapes* a person the way only UNT can.
Overpopulation and parking isn’t exclusive to UNT. I’m at A&M now for my doctorate and it’s the same
The student population is liberal, but all of the top level positions of President and above are appointed by the Governor (technically he nominates then the Board votes, but he appointed the Board so it's a rubber stamp basically). I will say that through his tenure here it was obvious Smatresk gave a damn, but given the executive leadership make up it's hard to say the university itself is liberal past the point of placating 99% of the student population who doesn't pay attention to the goings on of the University as a business.
if you think the college is overpopulated, you can always help solve the problem and leave. If you think parking is hard, the buses are pretty good.
True! although I am disabled and unable to use the buses so I have to drive everywhere. oof
Smaetresk was brought in after President Bataille wanted to keep UNT centered in Denton instead of moving the admin to Dallas. I'm not sure why he has a reputation for being liberal when he was brought in to basically alienate the university community from admin decisions and cut budgets across all departments. Dude was absolutely despised when he first showed up and was considered a corporate stooge.