North Texas Daily

Steven James / Staff writer

Effective Nov. 19, former Purdue University vice president for human resources Luis Lewin will move to the UNT System and take over as the associate vice chancellor for human resources.

Lewin will be in charge of HR for all three UNT campuses—the Denton main campus, the Health Science Center in Fort Worth and UNT Dallas. He said he will work directly with the campus presidents and system chancellor Lee Jackson in developing strategic plans to make HR more transparent.

Lewin remained at Purdue until Nov. 14. Lewin said he is excited about joining UNT.

“One of my key goals will be to assess and develop the human resources staff to its highest potential to provide our customers with the depth and bench strength needed to facilitate their jobs,” Lewin said. “I will personally meet with every key stakeholder across the System to learn as much as possible about the UNT System and every one of its institutions, to evaluate their human resources needs, to find out what they expect of human resources and to start building relationships.”

Lewin began working at Purdue in March 2010. While there, he created new HR plans that involved creating new career positions and new customer service transaction techniques.

He worked at Ohio University and the Tribune Company. He also served on the Board of Directors for the Chicago Children’s Memorial Hospital and as a member for the Board of Directors for the Chicago Children’s Choir.

He earned a bachelor’s degrees in psychology, secondary education and Spanish from Wilmington College and a master’s degree in modern languages from Ohio University.

Lewin said there will not be major layoffs after he joins the system.

Jackson said he hired Lewin because of his near 25 years of experience in HR professions.

“We were impressed by his understanding of how universities work,” Jackson said. “Luis has a very broad, impressive background in human resources in Chicago and at two other major universities, Ohio University and Purdue.”

Jackson also said Lewin will not have any responsibilities with any of the budget crises the UNT System is currently facing.

Vice chancellor for finance Janet Waldron said Lewin will bring with him skills the UNT system needs, including appropriate skills compensation, training performance and recruiting necessary talent to help the HR division of the system.

“I think he has a strong vision and actually demonstrated bringing change to completion,” Waldron said. “We are looking forward to having such a high-level leadership experience. He will certainly be building upon the good work that’s already been underway.”