Harrison Keller

Harrison Keller became the 17th president of the University of North Texas in August 2024, bringing with him a deep commitment to advancing student success and elevating UNT’s rich tradition of academic and research excellence at the national level. Dr. Keller is known as an innovator and leader in state educational budget and policy, university administration, fundraising, and building coalitions among higher education institutions, school districts, and policymakers to expand opportunity through education. Most recently, he served as Commissioner of Higher Education and chief executive officer for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, providing statewide leadership and coordination of higher education budget and policy for the world’s eighth largest economy, where under his visionary leadership the Coordinating Board advanced policies and programs to improve college readiness and student success, especially for low-income and first-generation college students. Prior to serving as Commissioner, Dr. Keller held numerous leadership roles at the University of Texas at Austin, including Deputy to the President for Strategy and Policy, Vice Provost for Higher Education Policy and Research, and Executive Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning, and earlier in his career he served as a legislative aide in the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives, Director of Research for the Texas House, and Senior Education Advisor for the Speaker of the Texas House, and has taught at UT Austin, Georgetown University, and St. Edward’s University. A sixth-generation Texan, Dr. Keller earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s and Ph.D. in philosophy from Georgetown University, served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve from 2005 to 2015, and lives with his wife, Gena Nivens Keller, and their three children.