Robert Witt (American academic)

Robert E. Witt (born September 16, 1940) 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.

Early life & career

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 Pennsylvania State University. Hi is also a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.

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.

University of Texas at Arlington

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.

University of Alabama

Witt appeared on campus to considerable skepticism, given his remarks, in a closed meeting of the Faculty Senate Steering Committee, that he supported post-tenure review (PTR). Exposed by the Alabama Scholars Association, Witt responded to intense negative publicity by withdrawing his support for the change—a change he had tacitly supported during his tenure as president of the University of Texas-Arlington. Texas adopted PTR during this time, despite opposition from a variety of academic groups, including the American Association of University Professors.

In 2003, Witt responded to criticism that his administration encouraged grade inflation on campus by shutting down access the records of the Office of Institutional Research, which until that year had made grade distribution data freely available. The Alabama Scholars Organization, and its newspaper, the "Alabama Observer," had been instrumental in exposing the problem and recommending that the Witt administration adopt public accountability mesures.

Witt responded by taking steps to censor independent faculty publications on the campus of the University of Alabama, including "Alabama Academe," the newspaper of the Alabama chapter of the AAUP. The Academe had been distribued on campus for more than thirty years. The "Alabama Observer," the publication of the Alabama Scholars Association, was also banned, and strict rules adopted to insure that criticism of the Witt administration would not reach the public.

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