Regents appointed

		Rice M. Tilley Jr.

Gov. Rick Perry has named Rice M. Tilley Jr. of Fort Worth as UNT's newest regent and reappointed Gayle W. Strange ('67) of Denton and Robert A. Nickell ('68, '82 M.B.A.) of Irving to new terms on the board. All three will serve until May 2009, pending confirmation by the Texas Senate.

Tilley is a senior attorney and head of the taxation and estate planning section of the law firm of Law, Snakard & Gambill in Fort Worth. He replaces George W. Pepper of Fort Worth who left the board after his term expired at the end of the 2002-03 academic year.

Tilley is a former chair of the board of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce and Leadership Fort Worth and has served as a member of the board of directors of the North Texas Commission. In addition, he has served as president of the Exchange Club of Fort Worth, the Lena Pope Home and the Fort Worth Opera Association. He holds current memberships on a number of boards including the Van Cliburn Foundation and the Fort Worth Symphony Association.

		Gayle W. Strange

He earned his bachelor's degree from Washington and Lee University in Virginia, his law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law and a master of laws degree in taxation from New York University School of Law.

Strange joined the board in 1997 as a Gov. George W. Bush appointee. She is president of Axiom Commercial Company Ltd. of Denton, a small commercial construction company. In addition, she is a rancher, land developer, writer and researcher. Her association with the university also includes membership on the President's Council. Her civic affiliations include the Denton Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Denton Arts Council. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from UNT and a bachelor of science degree in journalism from Texas Woman's University.

		Robert A. Nickell

Nickell, an independent investor with a background as a commercial airline pilot and a history of entrepreneurial success in wholesale distribution, became a UNT regent in 2000 when Bush appointed him to fill a vacated seat on the board.

He has served on the UNT President's Council and the College of Business Administration Advisory Board. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in business administration at the university.

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$3.1 million for CART

		U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess (center) visits with UNT President Norval Pohl (left), UNT System Regent Gayle Strange and UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson after announcing funding for UNT’s new Center for Advanced Research and Technology.

The first phase of a new Center for Advanced Research and Technology (known as CART) at UNT was launched Nov. 10 with the announcement by U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess of a $3.1 million appropriation in the 2004 Defense Appropriations bill. Beginning in January 2004, the UNT Research Park will be the home of the new UNT College of Engineering and CART.

Burgess, who championed the appropriation for UNT in the House of Representatives while Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison carried the measure in the U.S. Senate, commended UNT for its foresight in investing in nanotechnology and for taking the first steps to serve as one of the North Texas region's research arms in this rapidly evolving new science.

Nanotechnology involves exploratory engineering at atomic and molecular levels, where the nanometer is a standard unit for measuring length.

UNT President Norval Pohl says the university's goals for CART are to acquire and develop specialized measuring equipment so that UNT scientists can characterize materials and devices at the atomic level.

"CART will add a critical service for helping transform academic research to the assembly of actual products at laboratories in the region, around the state and throughout the Southwest," Pohl says.

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All-time high

The UNT student population has climbed above the 31,000-student milestone to bring the highest fall enrollment numbers this year in the university's 113-year history — 31,065 students. In Fall 2002, UNT's enrollment surpassed 30,000 students for the first time. The 2003 enrollment is 2.9 percent ahead of the 30,183 students officially counted last year. It amounts to an increase of 882 students.

This is UNT's seventh consecutive year of increased enrollment. Last year enrollment was up 8.3 percent, in 2001 enrollment was up 3 percent, in 2000 enrollment was up 2.1 percent, in 1999 enrollment was up 3.8 percent, in 1998 enrollment increased by 2 percent, and in 1997 enrollment increased by 0.2 percent. These increases reverse modest declines in enrollment between 1991 and 1996.

The 2003 enrollment total does not include 355 out-of-state students who are registered only for UNT courses offered on the Internet.

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