Gretchen Bataille said Wednesday that her health is fine and that she doesn't have another job, but she still would not say why she resigned suddenly as University of North Texas president last week.

"I'm not ill, I don't have another job lined up, and I'm not looking for another job," Bataille said.

Speaking to a quarterly employee luncheon meeting, Bataille said her resignation was in the best interest of the university, regardless of public speculation on the subject, which has included that tension existed between her and Chancellor Lee Jackson. The resignation takes effect Feb. 28.

During her comments, Bataille outlined UNT's accomplishments during her 3 ½-year tenure, which included becoming more prominent in the national and international community and advancing in the statewide race to become a nationally recognized research institution.

"Indeed, our stock has risen, and we've made tremendous gains ... and that transformation will continue," she said, addressing university employees for the last time.

Later Wednesday, at a faculty senate meeting that Bataille did not attend, Jackson addressed the reasons behind the resignation but offered no specifics.

"We developed internal communication and collaboration concerns among our leaderships and board that needed to be addressed internally," Jackson said. He repeated parts of a statement he made last week – for instance, saying that efforts to improve communication had gone on for more than a year.

Student journalists pressed Jackson about why Bataille left. One asked Jackson if UNT's 36,000 students didn't deserve to know the reasons. Jackson said he'd never seen other universities publicly detail sensitive personnel matters.

"It would not be appropriate for me to disclose the details of the board's private discussions with Dr. Bataille," Jackson said. "We have not done that in other administrative personnel matters."

He also said: "There clearly were differences, and they were not about the major goals of the university."

The UNT System Regents accepted Bataille's resignation Friday on a 7-2 vote and agreed to pay her $723,000 for the remainder of her contract, which runs through August 2011, as well as up to $20,000 in legal fees.

Her separation agreement also gives her the option to stay at UNT in Denton and earn more money: $150,000 to conduct education research during the 2010-11 school year; and $139,000 a year to teach in the counseling and higher education department, starting in fall 2011.

Phil Diebel, a former vice president for finance, was named interim president. He will start March 1.

Diebel spoke at Wednesday's faculty senate meeting, saying he would not make any formal changes to the university's objectives. He is expected to serve about 90 days, or until an academic interim president is named, he said.

Administrators have said the projects that Bataille has been working on would continue, including construction of a new football stadium, the Life Sciences Complex, and the Business Leadership Building.

After Wednesday's meeting, professor Frank Heidlberger, a member of the faculty senate, expressed disappointment that Jackson wasn't more forthcoming.

"It's just frustrating to not know what happened, especially as a public university," he said. "All we have is speculation ... and we're all frustrated."

Dallas Morning News staff writer Holly Hacker contributed to this report.