Gretchen M. Bataille’s long career in higher education has included a variety of positions from department chair to university president as well as the Senior Vice President for the American Council on Education, the preeminent higher education association for over 1800 colleges and universities.  In her various roles, she has taught, mentored, and managed over $15 M in grants. She has been invited to visit and speak in over twenty countries and has consulted throughout the United States and abroad.

Before becoming president of the University of North Texas, a research university with over 36,000 students, Dr. Bataille  served as an administrator at Arizona State University (Department Chair and Associate Dean), University of California-Santa Barbara (Provost), Washington State University (Provost for four campuses) and the University of North Carolina system (Senior Vice President).   Her academic experiences include  nearly twenty years as a faculty member at Iowa State University, a one-year appointment as interim chancellor at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and ten months of consulting in academic affairs at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.  

Throughout her long career in higher education, Bataille has been a frequent speaker at colleges and universities and for leadership programs and has been in demand for programs specifically targeting women’s leadership. She has consulted at Allegheny College, Arizona State U, Fielding Graduate U, CSU Sacramento, CSU San Marcos, CSU Chico, the CSU System, the U of Nebraska-Lincoln, the U of Nebraska-Omaha, Auburn U, Yale U, the U of Central Oklahoma, the U of Albany (SUNY), Iowa State U, Utah State U, U of Colorado, Georgia State U, Queens College (CUNY), Scripps College, Texas A&M U-San Antonio, the U of Houston-Clear Lake, the Uof Houston-Downtown, the U of Texas-Permian Basin, the U of Texas-El Paso and the U of Missouri as well as working on projects for the Department of State, CIES, the Sloan Foundation, WASC, The Natural History Museum of LA County and other government agencies and foundations.  She served as the US Senior Academic Advisor for Navitas for six years, a global higher education company located in Australia with academic pathway programs in Australia, UK, US, Canada, Sri Lanka, Singapore, New Zealand and Indonesia. In 2014 and 2016 she served as the Presidential Consultant for the TIAA Higher Education Leadership Conference in New York City, and in 2015 and 2017 she served on the steering committee for the Kellogg/NADOHE Chief Diversity Officer Summit at Northwestern University.   

Dr. Bataille, whose scholarly specialization is American Indian literature, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California Polytechnic State U and her doctorate in English from Drake U. Her publications include reviews, articles, academic papers, and a dozen books in her academic field. She is the co-author with Betsy Brown of the book, Faculty Career Paths: Multiple Routes to Academic Success and Satisfaction and with Diana Cordova edited Managing the Unthinkable: Crisis Preparation and Response for Campus Leaders, published by Stylus Publishing in 2014. She has presented over 200 speeches and has written or edited fifteen books and monographs.  She served as a member of the Board of Directors for SAGE Publications for twelve years and has served on many other boards, including the Board of Trustees of The College Board, ACE, the Research Triangle Board (RTI), World Affairs Council (Dallas/Fort Worth), Board of Trustees for Drake U, DATCU Credit Union Board, and the North Texas Commission.  She is on the Advisory Board for Yellowdig, an eLearning Platform and social learning network. 

Dr. Bataille serves as president of the consulting firm, GMB Consulting Group, LLC and is a strategic partner with ROI Consulting Group in Rancho Mirage, CA.