Robert E. Witt is president of the University of Alabama, 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 College, his M.B.A. from Dartmouth College 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 dean, a position he would hold for nine years.

In 1995, Witt went to University of Texas at Arlington 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

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