University of North Texas System - Chancellors

Chancellors

• 1980–1981: Frank Vandiver, PhD, was appointed President and Chancellor July 1980, making him UNT's eleventh president and first chancellor. He resigned August 27, 1981, to accept the presidency of Texas A&M University. The Chancellor's post, at that time, oversaw the University of North Texas and University of North Texas Health Science Center. The position for a Chancellor was created by the UNT Board of Regents in 1980 and the system was formalized in 2003 by the 78th Texas Legislature. Vandiver's thirteen-month tenure in the dual role as president and chancellor is the shortest of either in the one hundred and twenty-two-year history of UNT.

• 1982–2002: Alfred Hurley, PhD & Brig. Gen. USAF (Ret.), was appointed president and chancellor on February 1, 1982, making him UNT's twelfth president and second chancellor. He stepped down as president of UNT in October 2000 to become the system's first full-time chancellor. Hurley stepped down as Chancellor on August 31, 2002. He is currently Emeritus Chancellor. Hurley had previously served 30 years in the U.S. Air Force, where, from 1966 to 1980, he headed the History Department at the Air Force Academy and served as chairman of its Humanities Division.

His tenures as president, eighteen years, and chancellor, twenty years, are the longest of either position in the histories of UNT and the UNT System. In August 2002, the Regents renamed UNT Administration Building — currently fifty-six years old — in honor of Alfred F. and Johanna H. Hurley.