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November 13, 2009
Broadcast journalist Morley Safer donating papers to UT
Morley Safer, a veteran CBS News broadcast journalist and “60 Minutes” correspondent, will donate his papers to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas.
The addition of his papers will expand an already sizable journalism collection that includes materials from Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, Newsweek magazine’s research archives and the “morgue” files of the New York Herald Tribune.
“It is especially appropriate that the Safer archive will be joining the papers of Walter Cronkite for whose ‘Evening News’ broadcast Morley filed his reports from Vietnam,” said Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center. “Cronkite deeply admired Safer as one of the very best correspondents in the history of CBS News.”
The photo is of Safer in Saigon in 1965.
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October 23, 2009
Professors to debate influence of college football
In “The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values,” authors James L. Shulman and William G. Bowen describe the shocking level of violence in college football in the early 1900s. In 1905 alone, 18 players died, largely as a result of such plays as the Harvard-invented “flying wedge,” in which the offensive team ran en masse into or over one player on the defensive team.
President Theodore Roosevelt summoned the presidents and coaches of Harvard, Yale and Princeton to express his outrage.
That led to the formation of what is now the National Collegiate Athletic Association, charged with improving safety and making sure athletic programs were consistent with “the dignity and high purpose of education.”
More than 100 years later, the question still stands: Is college football a positive influence in American universities?
Two professors at the University of Texas will debate the point next week. Thomas Palaima, left,
a professor of classics, will answer the question in the affirmative; Lino Graglia, a law professor, will take the opposite position. Emma Tran, a student majoring in rhetoric and writing, will moderate. The debate, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday in Room 2.112 of the Recreational Sports Center.
A posting on the College of Liberal Arts’ Web site notes that a 2006 study found that a substantial proportion of the American public believes a university’s athletic success and academic success are connected. Many members of university faculties disagree.
The posting adds: “Palaima, the University of Texas’ representative on the Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics, has been critical of money’s influence on NCAA football while upholding the concept of ‘amateur sports within a true educational context.’ Graglia, an outspoken opponent of large college football programs, has called big-time college football a ‘fraudulent enterprise.’ “
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October 5, 2009
A postscript on UT cost-cutting
My story in Sunday’s paper about cost-cutting at the University of Texas touched briefly on efforts to save money in athletics.
To elaborate a bit: The men’s and women’s athletics programs are hoping to shave “hundreds of thousands” of dollars a year from their spending, said Chris Plonsky, the women’s athletic director. The goal is to do so without affecting recruiting and other aspects of the university’s competitiveness.
A major focus is on airline travel, hotels and meals, Plonsky said. For example, routine flights must be booked earlier, to take advantage of discounts. Efforts have been ramped up to drive a harder bargain on charter flights and hotels as well.
The athletics programs at UT are essentially self-supporting, thanks largely to income from football. A portion of the $110 million in total annual revenue for athletics is forked over to the UT president’s office for academic purposes.
Here’s how Mary Knight, associate vice president and budget director, explained this and other revenue transfers from athletics:
“Effective fiscal year 2008-09, Athletics provides a minimum of $1M per year for presidential initiatives. Prior to fiscal year 2008-09, the contribution was about $600K per year. In years with exceptional income, such us the 2005-06 football national championship, additional gifts will be made to promote presidential priorities and programs. An additional $1.5M was provided for presidential priorities at that time.
“Additionally, Athletics transfers about $2.8M to cover central administrative support costs provided to Athletics, and to support the University Bands and improvements to the Jamail Swim Center.”
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September 21, 2009
Faculty panel calling for environmental campus at Brackenridge tract
The University of Texas’ Brackenridge tract in West Austin would be transformed into an environmental science campus under a proposal to be presented today by a panel of faculty members.
The five-member faculty committee is calling for enhancing an existing biological field laboratory by housing the university’s extensive plant and natural history collections, currently stored on the main campus, in a new science center that would serve as a museum, a research center and a public outreach site.
Additional space on the 350-acre tract would be set aside for a technology transfer center, where researchers could work on biofuels, biotech, clean energy, environmentally friendly architecture and other initiatives with a goal of moving breakthroughs at the lab bench into the marketplace.
“It basically gives UT a large environmental sciences campus along Lake Austin with public outreach components, commercial components and academic components,” David Hillis, a professor of integrative biology and chairman of the panel, said in an interview this morning.
Hillis is scheduled to outline the committee’s recommendations at a Faculty Council meeting this afternoon.
The proposal by the Faculty Council panel differs dramatically from two conceptual plans developed by a consulting firm hired by the university’s governing board and outlined in June. Those plans call for downsizing or relocating the Brackenridge Field Laboratory, eliminating a municipal golf course and developing a dense residential and commercial neighborhood.
The faculty members’ proposal defers a decision on the Lions Municipal Golf Course until closer to 2019, when the city’s lease for the parcel expires. The faculty committee is recommending against residential development.
“It doesn’t fit UT’s mission,” Hillis said. “We have a lot of need for space to enhance UT’s academic programs.”
The faculty panel’s proposal is similar to those advanced by Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP in some ways. For example, a hike-and-bike trail would be extended into the Brackenridge tract, and and retail space would be leased for shops such as cafes and bicycle stores.
In addition, the faculty panel wants to expand the university-owned Gateway apartment complex, just off the Brackenridge tract, to accommodate some students living in apartments on the tract. The Cooper firm recommended eliminating all apartments on the tract, but the faculty members are calling for eliminating some and deciding later about the rest.
Hillis said funding for his panel’s recommendations needs to be worked out. “The financials I think are still somewhat unclear on everybody’s proposals,” he said.
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September 16, 2009
Rep. Villarreal's take on top 8 percent
I have a story in today’s paper about the announcement from the University of Texas that freshmen who want to enroll under the state’s automatic-admission law will need to rank in the top 8 percent rather than the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. The new policy is effective for the fall 2011 entering class, meaning that the first students affected will be those who are currently high school juniors.
One lawmaker who has been following these matters closely is state Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, who was instrumental in crafting legislation earlier this year that gave UT authority to scale back its admission of top 10 percent students.
“It’s not a surprise,” Villarreal said of the announcement by UT President William Powers Jr. “When we were analyzing different options of how to bring the two sides together, the data that we were looking at told us if we capped it at 75 percent, the rule would be effectively a top 8 percent.”
The “two sides,” Villarreal said, were those who wanted to repeal the top 10 percent law and those who wanted no change whatsover. Of course, the 8 percent rule could evolve into a 7 percent rule, a 6 percent rule and so forth down the road as the state’s population increases.
“I think it’s important to recognize this is a short-term solution to a long-term challenge,” Villarreal said. “And that challenge is growing top-tier universities in Texas where students want to live and study.
“Students want to live and study in places like Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.”
What about Lubbock? I asked.
“Dallas, Houston and San Antonio,” he replied.
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August 17, 2009
Judge upholds UT's use of race in admissions
The University of Texas’ use of race and ethnicity as factors in deciding whom to admit is narrowly tailored and passes constitutional muster, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks of Austin ruled today.
Sparks dismissed a lawsuit filed by two white students whose applications had been rejected. Last year, he denied a request by Abigail Fisher, then a student at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, and Rachel Michalewicz, who attended Jack C. Hays High School in Buda, for a preliminary injunction requiring UT to re-evaluate their applications.
Barry Burgdorf, the UT System’s vice chancellor and general counsel, said he read Sparks’ ruling as “a complete vindication” of the admission system at the flagship campus.
Fisher and Michalewicz will appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, said Edward Blum, director of the Project on Fair Representation, a Washington-based group that opposes the use of race in public policy and that is underwriting the students’ legal expenses.
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August 12, 2009
UT hiring more women for faculty
Forty-two percent of the new faculty members expected to sign on at the University of Texas this fall are women, according to projections released today by the university.
The hires come less than a year after a campus report found that women constitute a slightly smaller proportion of tenured and tenure-track faculty members at UT than they do at doctoral institutions nationwide.
Officials project that about 117 new faculty members, including 49 women, will join UT’s faculty this fall. Twenty-two of those women have accepted offers from the College of Liberal of Arts, the largest unit on campus. As of last fall, 177 of the college’s 529 tenured and tenure-track faculty members were female, according to a university news release.
“The College of Liberal Arts has made tremendous progress in its hiring. The school’s efforts serve as a model for the rest of the university as we continue to work on this important issue,” said Vice Provost Judith Langlois, who oversees UT’s efforts to achieve gender equity.
Last year’s report by the Gender Equity Task Force said women at UT constitute 19 percent of the full professors, 25 percent of the tenured faculty and 39 percent of the tenure-track faculty. By comparison, at doctoral institutions nationwide, women constitute 26 percent of the tenured faculty and 41 percent of the tenure-track faculty.
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August 11, 2009
Ex-UT dean now president at Oregon
When Richard Lariviere left the University of Texas in 2006 to become executive vice chancellor and provost at the University of Kansas, the smart money said it wouldn’t be long before he would become president of a major university. That expectation has proved correct.
Lariviere, who had been dean of UT’s College of Liberal Arts, which has more students than any other unit on campus, became president of the University of Oregon last month.
At Kansas, he oversaw the reorganization of the graduate school and the School of Fine Arts, among other initiatives. He’s started a blog at Oregon and, from a posting the other day, seems to be settling into his new job.
The posting recounts how he and his wife, Jan, were walking to an ice cream shop and bumped into a group of engineers from seven countries and three continents. The conversation was “brief but invigorating” and “a great example of how a community dedicated to multicultural and global perspectives provides fascinating opportunities even in the most unexpected places,” he writes.
That sounds like vintage Lariviere, a Sanskrit scholar who reads eight languages and speaks three.
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August 10, 2009
Biscoe's letter to Powers on Muny marker
Sportswriter Kevin Robbins and I had a story in Sunday’s paper about the latest dust-up concerning the University of Texas’ Brackenridge tract. At issue is the wording and location of a historical marker concerning the racial integration of Lions Municipal Golf Course, which occupies part of the tract.
As the story noted, Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe is a strong supporter of the marker. Biscoe wants the marker installed at the first tee, where golfers will have a chance to read it. The UT System and the Texas Historical Commission prefer that it be placed in the right of way along an adjacent street, an as-yet uspecified location that they say would provide wider visibility.
Here’s Biscoe’s letter in June to UT-Austin President William Powers Jr. on the matter. Biscoe subsequently met with Francisco Cigarroa, chancellor of the UT System. It’s the system’s call on where to place the marker, and no decision has been made.
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July 14, 2009
UT's statement on Energy Institute appointment
Energy is a hot topic. The University of Texas is ramping up its involvement in the field with today’s announcement that Raymond Orbach, former under secretary of science for the U.S. Department of Energy, will lead UT’s new Energy Institute.
Here’s the announcement issued by the university:
Dr. Raymond Lee Orbach, the U.S. Department of Energy’s first under secretary for science, has been appointed director of The University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute, a multi-disciplinary institute that combines the strengths of the university’s schools and colleges to advance solutions to today’s energy-related challenges.
The Energy Institute is developing multi-disciplinary research programs and educational materials to overcome the scientific and technological barriers to a secure and sustainable energy future, while helping policy leaders make the informed decisions required to reach this goal.
Orbach, whose appointment begins Aug. 1, also will have joint appointments as a professor with tenure in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering; the Department of Physics, the College of Natural Sciences; and the Jackson School of Geosciences.
The Energy Institute will integrate the most advanced expertise from across the university’s schools and colleges, including the Cockrell School of Engineering, Jackson School of Geosciences, College of Natural Sciences, McCombs School of Business, School of Law, LBJ School of Public Affairs, School of Architecture and the College of Liberal Arts, as well as expertise from the private sector.
“I am delighted that Ray Orbach has agreed to serve as the director of our Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin,” said Steven Leslie, provost of the university. “He is a world leader of energy research and policy and he will be instrumental in organizing research efforts of our faculty in areas of critical importance to our state’s and nation’s energy needs.“
“It is with great enthusiasm that I look forward to becoming a part of The University of Texas at Austin,” said Orbach. “The superb quality of the faculty and students, its supportive relationship with the State of Texas, and its national and international renown make this an opportunity of enormous promise. I am delighted to be a part of the university’s faculty, and I look forward to working with the campus, the city of Austin, the Texas legislature and our nation’s leaders to solve the technical and policy issues facing our planet’s energy future.”
Orbach said he sees the Energy Institute as a unifying collaborator to help The University of Texas at Austin mobilize its faculty and academic resources, as well as talent from other universities in The University of Texas System, to make “transformational changes in energy production and usage” of fossil fuel, renewable and nuclear energy resources. He said these changes would address threats to the economic future of Texas, the nation and the world.
Orbach said the energy resource issues to be addressed initially would include:
— Fossil fuel production and use operating in a carbon-constrained environment. The lack of economical technology, combined with an absence of a legal and policy framework, could put Texas’ energy resources at risk.
— New concepts and technologies in wind and solar energy for the development of electrical energy storage for these resources.
—Recycling spent fuel from carbon-free nuclear energy. The university has the opportunity to recreate a robust radio-chemistry program to extract the energy contained in spent fuel and to substantially reduce its toxicity and heat load for subsequent storage.
“These three areas combine to form the nexus of the future of energy production and use in the State of Texas requiring game-changing transformational research and development,” said Orbach. “With success in this endeavor, our state will enjoy an economy and quality of life in the future comparable to that which it has enjoyed in the past.”
Orbach was sworn in as the Department of Energy’s first under secretary for science in June 2006. He was the chief scientist of the Department of Energy, and adviser to Secretary Samuel W. Bodman on science policy as well as all scientific aspects of the Department of Energy, including basic and applied research ranging from nuclear energy, to environmental cleanup of Cold War legacy sites, to defense programs. Orbach was responsible for planning, coordinating and overseeing the Energy Department’s research and development programs and its 17 national laboratories, as well as the department’s scientific and engineering education activities.
Orbach also was responsible for the department’s implementation of the president’s American Competitiveness Initiative, designed to help drive continued U.S. economic growth. He led the department’s efforts to transfer technologies from Department of Energy national laboratories and facilities to the global marketplace.
From the time of his Senate confirmation in 2002, Orbach also was the 14th director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy. He managed an organization that was the third largest federal sponsor of basic research in the United States, the primary supporter of the physical sciences in the country and one of the premier science organizations in the world.
From 1982 to 1992, Orbach was the provost of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and from 1992 to 2002, he was chancellor of the University of California (UC), Riverside. Under his leadership, UC Riverside doubled in size, achieved national and international recognition in research and led the University of California in diversity and educational opportunity. In addition to his administrative duties at UC Riverside, Orbach sustained a research program, worked with postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students in his laboratory and taught the freshman physics course each year.
Orbach received his bachelor of science degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1956. He received his Ph.D. degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1960 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He began his academic career as a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University in 1960 and became an assistant professor of applied physics at Harvard University in 1961. He joined the faculty of UCLA two years later as an associate professor and became a professor in 1966.
Orbach’s research in theoretical and experimental physics has resulted in the publication of more than 240 scientific articles. He has received numerous honors as a scholar, including two Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowships, a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship at Oxford University, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship at Tel Aviv University, the Joliot Curie Professorship at the Ecole Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle de la Ville de Paris, the Lorentz Professorship at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, the 1991-1992 Andrew Lawson Memorial Lecturer at University of California, Riverside, the 2004 Arnold O. Beckman Lecturer in Science and Innovation at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Outstanding Alumni Award from the California Institute of Technology in 2005.
Orbach is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has held numerous visiting professorships at universities around the world and is a member of 20 scientific, professional and civic boards.
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June 17, 2009
UT announces staff salary freezes
The University of Texas announced another round of employee salary freezes last week, this time affecting a wide range of staff members.
In “light of what is happening elsewhere, this is an opportunity to advance the university rather than settle for the status quo,” university president Bill Powers said in a memo released last week. “For us to move ahead, however, we must focus our available resources in areas that have consistently been identified as the most critical for progress: our competitiveness in attracting and retaining outstanding faculty and graduate students.”
The freezes will include all classified and administrative and professional staff, Powers said.
“I believe that we must continue to strive to become the nation’s best public university-in good times and in bad,” Powers said. “This plan will keep us on that path.”
The decision at UT-Austin to freeze staff salaries is a prudent response to challenging economic times and does not suggest major financial problems, said James Huffines, chairman of the UT System Board of Regents.
“Several of our campuses around the system have frozen salaries for their employees,” Huffines said, noting that many businesses have also done so.
In February, the university announced it would freeze the salaries of all vice presidents and deans, as well as UT System officials.
In spite of this, the school remains fiscally sound compared to many other large universities that are plagued by the current economic downturn, Powers said. “The University of Texas at Austin has fared better than many universities in other states,” he said.
“We do not face pay cuts, mandatory furloughs, and other austerity measures that peer institutions across the country are experiencing.”
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April 13, 2009
Applications to LBJ School up 35 percent
Applications to master’s degree programs at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas are up 35 percent this year, officials announced today.
The graduate school received 671 applications for fall 2009, up from 496 for fall 2008. Officials said 130 slots are available for new students.
The rise in applications is one of several notable developments in the past year or so, said Bob Inman, a professor and interim dean of the LBJ School who is also a retired admiral and former director of the National Security Agency.
The school introduced a new master’s degree in global policy studies, hosted a debate between Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and saw some members of its faculty receive appointments in the administration of President Obama, including Dean James Steinberg, named deputy secretary of state.
“It is especially gratifying to see that more and more prospective students are looking to the LBJ School to equip them with the tools and knowledge necessary to be leaders in a contemporary global environment, helping to shape public policy for the 21st century,” Inman said.
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April 9, 2009
$1 million raised for UT's Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies
According to an announcement by the University of Texas at Austin today:
AUSTIN, Texas — The College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin has raised $536,000 in response to a $500,000 challenge grant it received from the TLL Temple Foundation of Lufkin, Texas, to support the first privately funded faculty chair in the study of Pakistan.
The Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies will encourage research on the geo-political importance of Pakistan, its history, culture and literature. Funds may be used to support travel for distinguished scholars, policymakers and speakers of note for conferences.
“In this type of challenging economic climate, our success in fundraising is a strong indicator of the relevance and timeliness of the Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies,” said Randy Diehl, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. “This fundraising effort was truly a grassroots campaign. I want to especially recognize the great help that we received from the Pakistani and Pakistani-American communities in Texas.”
“We are so glad the Charlie Wilson Chair in Pakistan Studies will now become a reality,” said Buddy Temple, chairman of the TLL Temple Foundation. “The foundation initiated this challenge to honor and acknowledge former Congressman Wilson’s service to his country and to the people of East Texas.”
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March 25, 2009
UT's Powers 'very pleased' with Senate vote on top 10 percent
William Powers Jr., president of the University of Texas, put it this way in a brief interview this morning: “We were very pleased with the outcome.”
Powers was referring to the Texas Senate’s passage Tuesday of legislation that would scale back the state’s top 10 percent law. That’s the 1997 law that entitles any student graduating in the top 10 percent of a Texas high school to enroll at any of the state’s 35 public universities.
UT is the favored destination, with 81 percent of current freshmen having gained admission under the law. My story about the Senate’s action is here. The Senate bill would allow UT and other public universities to limit top 10 percent students to 60 percent of admissions from Texas.
The Senate is expected to grant final approval to the plan today. Then it will go to the House, where its prospects are uncertain. The House rejected a similar measure two years ago, but Powers has been communicating with members of that chamber since then.
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March 13, 2009
Director named at UT's Strauss Center
Francis J. Gavin has been named director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas.
Gavin (pictured at right), a professor at UT’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, previously served as the founding director of studies at the Strauss Center.
“The Strauss Center is the centerpiece of the university’s effort to expand, broaden and improve our cutting-edge research and public outreach in our increasingly interdependent global environment,” UT President William Powers Jr. said in a statement. “Frank Gavin possesses a keen understanding of this environment, its complex challenges as well as its wealth of opportunities.”
Gavin’s interests include national security, the history of international monetary relations, U.S. foreign policy and arms control. He succeeds James M. Lindsay, who resigned to return to the Council on Foreign Relations as director of studies, a position he formerly held.
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February 26, 2009
UT pushing to scale back top 10% law
The University of Texas is ramping up its effort to persuade state lawmakers to scale back the top 10 percent law. That’s the 1997 measure entitling any student in the top 10 percent of a Texas high school graduating class to enroll at any public university in the state. UT is increasingly the school of choice.
If current trends continue, UT will be forced to reject all Texas high school graduates who are not in the top 10 percent by 2013, according to a report by the university. By 2015, the report said, there will be no room in the freshman class for students from other states or countries.
University officials thought they had a good chance at scaling back the law two years ago, but the state House crushed those hopes at the 11th hour of the legislative session.
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February 18, 2009
LBJ Library director stepping down
Betty Sue Flowers, director of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum for the past seven years, announced today that she has decided to step down, effective May 22.
“It’s been such an honor and pleasure to serve as the director of this flagship presidential library, and I’m sure I would have been happy to continue serving into the indefinite future,” Flowers said in a prepared statement. “But it’s always been my philosophy that it’s good for an institution to adapt to new leadership — and for a leader to face new challenges.”
The library and museum are on the campus of the University of Texas.
Tom Johnson, chairman of the LBJ Foundation, applauded the various initiatives undertaken during Flowers’ tenure. These include the release of recorded phone conversations from the Johnson administration, the tribute to Lady Bird Johnson and repair of the plaza.
The foundation manages gifts benefiting the library and museum and UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs.
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February 14, 2009
Former President Clinton offers 'a marketplace of ideas'
Former President Bill Clinton held a news conference in Austin today — sort of. The 42-minute session was actually one part news conference, one part teaching moment and one part pep talk on the virtues of civic service.
The former president is in town for the Clinton Global Initiative University, a three-day meeting of college students and college presidents from across the country that concludes Sunday. The purpose of the event, held in cooperation with the University of Texas, is to inspire the students and administrators to undertake projects that save energy, reduce poverty, improve health care and otherwise benefit the world.
“What I try to do is provide a marketplace of ideas and passions,” Clinton said.
Looking relaxed in a sport coat and cowboy boots, if perhaps a tad tired, Clinton touched on everything from the economic stimulus package approved Friday by Congress (he supports it) to surveys showing that people 25 to 34 years old plan to increase their charitable giving despite the downturn (he’s delighted and encouraged by that).
Although Clinton’s foundation is perhaps best known for its work on AIDS, he said its childhood obesity projects get the most hits on its Web site. He shares that concern.
“We’re running the risk of raising the first generation of American kids to have shorter life spans than their parents,” he said.
Clinton put in a plug for one Austinite, Lance Armstrong, the cyclist and anti-cancer crusader, whom he described as a friend. The former president praised Armstrong for returning to the sport to call attention to the cause.
Asked to identify the biggest problem facing the world, Clinton offered a three-part answer:
In the short term, the economic downturn, fed in part by an underlying and growing gap between rich and poor.
In the medium term, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and other security concerns.
In the long term, climate change. This is the biggie, the one that can wipe us out, he said.
Asked to rate wife Hillary Clinton’s first major policy speech as secretary of state on Friday, the former president said, “I thought it was a very good speech. I was favored with a copy of it in advance.”
He noted that she has moved quickly, with President Barack Obama’s support, to name a number of special envoys to trouble spots around the world.
“You don’t have the option of doing things one after the other,” Clinton said. “I think she’s off to a good start.”
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February 11, 2009
UT-Austin freezes salaries of top officials
University of Texas President William Powers Jr. announced today that salaries for the university’s senior leadership have been frozen. Here is the text of his message to faculty and staff members:
Recent stories in the news media and the University of Texas System announcement yesterday of salary freezes for its top administrative officers, including campus Presidents, has led to questions about how our University will respond in this difficult economic climate.
We remain committed to pursuing our goals as diligently as we ever have, but we recognize the need to take thoughtful and calculated measures to ensure our fiscal effectiveness.
Effective immediately, the University is freezing the salaries of all Vice Presidents and Deans, the senior leadership of the institution. This does not apply to Associate or Assistant Deans or Associate or Assistant Vice Presidents. This freeze will stay in effect until Aug. 31, 2010. At that time, the University Budget Council will evaluate the University’s financial situation and determine whether the salary freeze can be lifted.
I remain hopeful that the University will be able to provide a merit-based salary increase pool for faculty and staff next fall. The retention and support of outstanding talent remains among our highest priorities. Compensation remains a critical element in our strategy to remain competitive and move forward during this challenging economic time.
At this time, I am also announcing there will be no merit salary increases in March. We will continue to monitor our financial situation and determine when we can reconsider mid-year increases.
In addition, we are working on policies related to instituting a flexible hiring freeze for non-faculty personnel at the University.
In comparison to many institutions, our University remains financially sound. It will be imperative during the coming months that we stay focused and disciplined so that we use our resources wisely to advance our academic and research missions. I appreciate the understanding and support of the Deans and Vice Presidents and their commitment to pursuing our vision for the University.
William Powers Jr.
President
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February 3, 2009
$18 million donated to UT for engineering, science research
W.A. “Tex” Moncrief, a philanthropist from Fort Worth, has donated $18 million to underwrite research that cuts across engineering and science, the University of Texas announced today.
Here is the university’s announcement:
AUSTIN, Texas - Fort Worth philanthropist W.A. “Tex” Moncrief has given $18 million to create the W. A. “Tex” Moncrief Jr. Endowment in Simulation-Based Engineering Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin, the university announced today (Feb. 3).
The gift will be combined with an $18 million gift from an anonymous donor to create the endowment.
“This is an extraordinary gift,” said William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin. “It will allow this university to become the leader in researching what we call the scientific ‘grand challenges’ facing the nation and the world today. These will involve using computational engineering and science to study such monumental challenges as cardiovascular engineering, water sustainability and weather.”
Other important areas of study include the next generation of energy sources, carbon sequestration, drug design and delivery, healthcare system modeling, nano-science and engineering, rising seas modeling, national security, and computational medicine and biomedicine.
The endowment will allow the university’s Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICES) to support eight new Faculty Fellows, nine Grand Challenge Faculty Fellows and eight undergraduate interns.
ICES is one of the nation’s leading interdisciplinary research centers in the computational sciences and engineering and in information technology. The institute supports nine research centers and numerous research groups. It also supports the Computational and Applied Mathematics Program (CAM), a graduate degree program leading to master’s and doctor’s degrees in computational and applied mathematics, the ICES Post Doctoral Fellows Program and a program for visiting scholars through the J. Tinsley Oden Faculty Fellowship Research Fund.
“This generous and timely gift is enormously important to the university and to the nation,” Oden said. “We hope to recruit the best faculty and students to advance areas of computational engineering and sciences vital to our nation’s competitiveness. The new programs made possible by this gift will ensure the success of our university as the leader in the nation in these important disciplines.”
Moncrief is a 1942 graduate of The University of Texas and President of Moncrief Oil Interests in Fort Worth. His father was legendary Texas wildcatter, W. A. “Monty” Moncrief, who discovered Lathrop #1, one of the first major East Texas oil wells.
Moncrief’s interest in The University of Texas at Austin dates back to the late 1930s, when he was on the university’s golf team. He was graduated in 1942 with a degree in petroleum engineering and went to work as an engineer for Standolind Oil and Gas Co., the forerunner of Amoco.
In 1943, Moncrief left the company to serve in the U.S. Navy, where he was commissioned as an officer in the South Pacific. After the war, he joined his father’s oil business, which had interests in Texas, Wyoming and Florida.
Moncrief has been president of Montex Drilling since 1946 and is now president and owner of Moncrief Oil. His accomplishments as an engineering alumnus were recognized in 1983 when he was honored as a Distinguished Engineering Graduate.
Moncrief’s interest in higher education led to his appointment to a six-year term on The University of Texas System Board of Regents by Texas Governor Bill Clements in 1987.
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January 26, 2009
Inman Named Interim Dean of LBJ School of Public Affairs
From a University of Texas press release:
AUSTIN, Texas — Admiral Bobby R. Inman has been appointed interim dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, Provost Steven W. Leslie has announced.
Inman succeeds James B. Steinberg, dean of the LBJ School since 2006, who has been named U.S. deputy secretary of state. Inman also became interim dean in January 2005 following the resignation of former Dean Edwin Dorn.
“President (William) Powers and I are delighted that Admiral Inman will bring his great vision and leadership experience to the deanship of the LBJ School,” Leslie said. “We are also deeply appreciative of his strong commitment to The University of Texas at Austin. He was skilled and highly effective as interim dean four years ago and we are fortunate that he will take on this leadership role once again.”
Leslie said he would soon form a search committee to find a permanent dean for the LBJ School.
“We will all miss the leadership of Dean Steinberg,” Inman said. “I will strive to maintain the momentum evident at the LBJ School while the university searches for a worthy leader to succeed him.”
Steinberg remains on the LBJ School faculty as a tenured professor on unpaid leave, Leslie said.
Inman has held the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy at the LBJ School since August 2001. An expert on national security and international affairs, he has taught graduate seminars as an adjunct professor at the university since 1987.
Inman’s record of accomplishment includes having been a public servant, entrepreneur, community leader and educator. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and the National War College, he spent 31 years in the U.S. Navy and was the first naval intelligence officer to achieve four-star rank. Between 1974 and 1982, he served in tours as director of naval intelligence, vice-director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, director of the National Security Agency and deputy director of Central Intelligence.
After retirement from the U.S. Navy, he was chairman and chief executive officer of the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC) in Austin, Texas, for four years and chairman, president and chief executive officer of Westmark Systems, Inc., a privately owned electronics industry holding company, for three years. Inman also was chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 1987 through 1990.
His primary activity since 1990 has been investing in start-up technology companies as chairman and a managing partner of Gefinor Ventures. Inman is a member of the board of directors of Massey Energy Company and several privately held companies. He is a trustee of the American Assembly and the California Institute of Technology. He also is a director of the Public Agenda Foundation and is a member of the National Academy of Public Administration.
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January 23, 2009
University of Texas printing presses to be sold
The governing board that oversees the University of Texas’ student newspaper, the Daily Texan, voted this afternoon to sell its printing presses.
Kathy Lawrence, director of Texas Student Media, said the printing of all student publications using the presses will stop on May 15. The board voted to sell the 35-year-old presses by a vote of 6 to 2, she said.
“It may be that it’s time for us to invest in our multimedia coverage and web presence rather than invest in print,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said the board has been looking for bids from other papers in the area to see who could deliver the best deal to print the Texan. The Austin American-Statesman — which prints The Onion, the Austin Chronicle and The New York Times — is one of the companies that could print the Daily Texan in the future.
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January 21, 2009
Former Bush aide to teach at UT's LBJ School
Dan Bartlett, a former special counsel to former President George W. Bush, will be an adjunct faculty member at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a fellow of the school’s Center for Politics and Governance.
He will teach a seminar on public affairs media in the spring along with Jeffery Patterson, assistant dean, the LBJ School said in a news release.
Bartlett is a senior strategist in Austin for Public Strategies Inc., a communications firm. He was counselor to Bush from 2005 to 2007, overseeing strategic communications planning and policy formulation, and also held other positions in the White House.
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January 16, 2009
UT extends deadline for applications
The deadline to apply for admission to the fall 2009 freshman class at the University of Texas has been extended by a few days, to 5 p.m. Wednesday.
UT announced a year ago that Thursday, Jan. 15, would be the deadline instead of Feb. 1, a date that had been in place for years. But some students and high schools apparently did not get the message, and the extension is intended to allow partial applications to be completed, Bruce Walker, vice provost and director of admissions, said today.
UT plans to move the deadline to Dec. 15, 2009, for the fall 2010 class and to Dec. 1 next year as a permanent deadline. UT, like a number of other universities, wants to complete its reviews sooner so that students can be notified of decisions in February rather than late March, giving them more time to plan their futures, Walker said.
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January 15, 2009
UT professor looking for history through lens
Washington will be swarming with photographers — amateurs and professionals alike — on Tuesday for the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.
Eli Reed, pictured here, will be among them. He’s a pro.
Reed, a clinical professor of journalism at the University of Texas, has compiled a considerable body of work during a career that has taken him around the globe on assignment for organizations ranging from the Ford Foundation and National Geographic to The New York Times and McDonald’s. His interest in social justice and the effects of war spawned two books: “Beirut, City of Regrets” and “Black in America,” the latter of which features 175 photographs taken during a 16-year period, accompanied by text and poetry he wrote.
I spoke with Reed this morning and found him simultaneously enthusiastic and reflective about the prospect of shooting the inauguration. Reed, who is affiliated with the Magnum Photos cooperative, and other photographers around the world will be contributing to a book of photos taken on the day of Obama’s swearing-in.
There’s no telling what Reed might train his lens on. He’ll be in the thick of the crowd, looking for ways to document the historic nature of the moment. Having photographed Obama before, he’s more interested in the crowd than the president.
“You have to look around you and see what’s happening, go with the flow,” he said. “If you pay attention, you’re going to make some interesting pictures.”
Here are a couple of Reed’s photos, one of Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and one of the rapper and actor Eminem.
Reed covered Election Day in Chicago and was surprised by how few people seemed to step back and appreciate the historical context. He said he never expected to see a black man occupying the White House in his lifetime. Reed is 62.
“The older you get,” he said, “the more you feel a responsibility for knowing the images you make are going to be there forever.”
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January 13, 2009
Former Lt. Gov. Barnes gives $1 million to LBJ school
ANNOUNCED BY UT TODAY:
Former Texas Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes has made a $1 million gift in support of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation has announced. The gift will be used primarily for student fellowships.
“Except for President Johnson himself, nobody has been more important to the LBJ School of Public Affairs than Ben Barnes,” said LBJ Foundation President Larry Temple. “He was instrumental in the school’s creation and initial funding and Ben has been a key adviser and supporter of the LBJ School over the past 40 years. This generous gift is the latest manifestation of Ben’s abiding support for the school. It will assure that the LBJ School can continue to recruit and educate the best and brightest students available.”
Barnes serves on the Lyndon B. Johnson Foundation board of directors and the LBJ School’s advisory committee, and his volunteer efforts on behalf of the school span more than 30 years.
“Governor Barnes’ extraordinary personal commitment to the LBJ School has played a crucial role in building and sustaining the program since its inception,” said James Steinberg, dean of the LBJ School who was recently nominated by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of State. “In particular, his generous support for student fellowships has made it possible for the LBJ School to bring to UT the finest young men and women and help them pursue vitally needed careers in public service.”
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January 12, 2009
Former UT President Lorene Rogers dies
Lorene Rogers, a former president of the University of Texas and the first woman to lead a major public university in the United States, died Sunday at an assisted-living center in Dallas.
Rogers, 94, broke her leg in October and never fully recovered, said her niece, Donna O’Dell.
Rogers, pictured at right, was president of UT from 1975 to 1979. She began her teaching and administrative career there in 1949, after earning master’s and doctoral degrees in biochemistry on campus.
“They would not make her a professor of chemistry because at the time, they wouldn’t give that position to women,” O’Dell said. “So they put her in the department of home economics and nutrition.”
She gradually rose through the ranks, becoming interim president in 1974 and president a year later.
Born in Prosper, about 20 miles east of Denton, in 1914, she had three older brothers and two younger sisters. O’Dell said Rogers was considered smart for her age and advanced to the second grade on her first day of school.
“She was already brighter than everybody there,” O’Dell said.
After high school, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English from North Texas State Teachers College, now the University of North Texas.
O’Dell said her aunt taught English for a few years and, in 1939, married Burl Gordon Rogers, whom she had met while they were students at North Texas. They moved in 1941 to New Jersey, where Burl Rogers, a chemist, worked for General Analine Works. He died later that year of injuries he sustained in a laboratory explosion.
Widowed at 27, she eventually moved back to Texas, enrolling at UT to study chemistry like her husband, O’Dell said.
“She decided that if he liked chemistry so well, that she wanted to pursue it also,” O’Dell said.
Rogers never remarried and did not have children. “She devoted her whole life to the university and to her work,” O’Dell said.
Rogers lived in Austin until November, when her family moved her to Dallas, O’Dell said.
She is survived by a sister, Beulah Conatser, of Dallas, and numerous nieces and nephews. In accordance with Rogers’ wishes, there will be no funeral service, and her ashes will be buried at her husband’s grave in Albany, northeast of Abilene, in a private ceremony.
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December 23, 2008
Obama picks UT dean for No. 2 post at State Department
President-elect Barack Obama announced today that he would nominate James Steinberg, dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, to the position of deputy secretary of state.
Here’s the statement issued by the Obama team:
President-Elect Barack Obama and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden Announce Key Members of National Security Team
CHICAGO - Today, President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden announced the nomination of key members of their national security team, including James B. Steinberg for Deputy Secretary of State, and Jacob Lew for Deputy Secretary of State, and the appointment of Thomas E. Donilon as Deputy National Security Advisor and Antony “Tony” Blinken as National Security Advisor to the Vice President.
President-elect Obama said, “The team that we have assembled is uniquely suited to meet the great global challenges facing us today. They join a strong team of leading experts and accomplished managers and I look forward to working with them in the years ahead.”
Vice President-elect Biden said “Tony Blinken has been my most trusted advisor on the most important issues we’ve faced in the areas of national security and international affairs over the past six years. His broad experience in foreign policy and his sound judgment will be invaluable to me and to the President-elect in addressing the challenges ahead.”
The following White House announcements were made today:
James B. Steinberg, Deputy Secretary of State
James B. Steinberg became dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs on January 1, 2006. Before joining the School, he was the vice president and director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. (2001-2005), where he supervised a wide-ranging research program on U.S. foreign policy. From December 1996 to August 2000, he served as deputy national security advisor to President Bill Clinton. During that period he also served as the president’s personal representative (“Sherpa”) to the 1998 and 1999 G-8 summits. Prior to becoming deputy national security advisor, he served as chief of staff of the U.S. State Department and director of the State Department’s policy planning staff (1994-1996), and as deputy assistant secretary for analysis in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1993-1994). Steinberg is a member of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security Board, the President’s Council on International Activities of Yale University, the board of directors of the Pacific Council on International Policy, the senior advisory council of The American Assembly’s Next Generation Project, the board of advisors of the Center for a New American Security, the board of advisors of The Yale Journal of International Law, and the editorial board of The Washington Quarterly. He also is a member of the D.C. Bar. Steinberg is the author of and contributor to many books and articles on foreign policy and national security topics, including Difficult Transitions: Foreign Policy Troubles at the Outset of Power, Protecting the Homeland 2006/2007 and An Ever Closer Union: European Integration and Its Implications for the Future of U.S.-European Relations. Steinberg received his B.A. from Harvard in 1973 and J.D. from Yale Law School in 1978. Steinberg is married to Ms. Sherburne B. Abbott, director of the Center for Science and Practice of Sustainability at the University of Texas at Austin. They have two daughters, Jenna and Emma.
Jacob Lew, Deputy Secretary of State
Jacob J. “Jack” Lew is a Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Citi Alternative Investments, where he is responsible for operations, technology, human resources, legal, finance and regional coordination. Previously, Mr. Lew was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of New York University, where he was responsible for budget, finance, and operations (including capital projects and human resources). Prior to joining NYU, Mr. Lew served in President Clinton’s cabinet as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and led the Administration budget team, from the preparation of the President’s budget through final negotiations with Congress. He was also a member of the National Security Council. From 1979 to 1987, he was a Senior Policy Advisor to House Speaker Thomas P. O’Neill, Jr. Mr. Lew serves on the Corporation for National and Community Service Board and chairs its Management, Administration, and Governance Committee. He co-chairs the Advisory Board for City Year New York and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Brookings Institution Hamilton Project Advisory Board, and the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is a member of the bar in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia.
Thomas E. Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor
Thomas E. Donilon is a Partner at the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers and serves on the firm’s global governing committee. Most recently Mr. Donilon co-chaired the Obama-Biden State Department Agency Review Team and the Obama-Biden general election debate preparation effort. Mr. Donilon served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and Chief of Staff at the U.S. State Department during the Clinton Administration. In these capacities, he oversaw the development and implementation of the Department’s major policy initiatives. He was deeply involved in a range of policy issues, including the Bosnia and Middle East peace negotiations, the expansion of NATO, and US-China relations. He was awarded the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award — the Department’s highest award — in November 1996. Mr. Donilon is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he has served on Task Forces on State Department Reorganization and Transatlantic Relations, the Brookings Institution Board of Trustees, where he co-chaired the Institution’s 2008 policy development effort, the Miller Center of Public Affairs Governing Council, the Aspen Strategy Group, the National Security Advisory Group to the Congressional Leadership, and the Trilateral Commission. Mr. Donilon received his B.A., summa cum laude, from the Catholic University of America and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Antony “Tony” Blinken, National Security Advisor to the Vice President
Antony “Tony” Blinken was appointed Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 2002. From 1994 to 2001, Mr. Blinken served on the National Security Council staff at The White House. He was Senior Director for European Affairs (1999-2001) and Senior Director for Strategic Planning and NSC Senior Director for Speechwriting (1994-1998). He also served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (1993 - 1994), and was a lawyer in New York and Paris. Mr. Blinken was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (2001 to 2002) and a Senior Foreign Policy adviser to the Obama-Biden presidential campaign. He has been a reporter for The New Republic magazine and has written about foreign policy for numerous publications, including The New York Times and Foreign Affairs Magazine. He is the author Ally Verses Ally: America, Europe and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis (1987). Mr. Blinken is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School.
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UT's Steinberg to be named No. 2 at State Department
James Steinberg, dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, is expected to be named by President-elect Barack Obama today as his choice for deputy secretary of state.
Here’s the text of an e-mail that Steinberg sent to associates at the LBJ School on Monday:
To the LBJ Community-
Tomorrow I anticipate that President-elect Obama will announce his intention to nominate me for the position of Deputy Secretary of State, an honor for which I am deeply appreciative. If confirmed (and as all good LBJ’ers know, it would be the height of hubris to presume how the Senate might act on my nomination), it will be a great privilege to serve with President Obama, Secretary of State-designate Clinton and the entire national security team at this time of great challenge but also of great opportunity for the United States and the world.
Public service is at the heart of our mission, and in taking up this position I follow in the footsteps of so many LBJ faculty and alumni who have and continue to answer the call. I’m delighted to be able to join our colleague Jeanne Lambrew and LBJ Foundation Board member Tom Daschle in the new administration, and express my appreciation to Ben Sasse, who has served so ably at HHS during the Bush administration.
The past three years as Dean of the LBJ School have been among the most rewarding experiences of my life. I am grateful for the support and encouragement that my family and I have received from every element of our community - students, staff, faculty, alumni, the LBJ Foundation, colleagues at UT and friends of the School. Together, we have built on the LBJ School’s great tradition to establish an even stronger foundation for the School’s future. Through our new MGPS degree program and our enhancements to the MPAff and PhD programs, new research centers, including the Strauss Center and the Center for Politics and Governance, strengthened fellowship support and alumni outreach, new faculty hires and, not least, the long awaited renovation of our facility, the LBJ School is poised to remain one of the most influential schools of public affairs for years to come.
We have come far, but there is even more we can accomplish together. It is my hope and plan to return to the LBJ School following my time in Washington to continue to work with you all in this exciting endeavor. Over the next few weeks I will be talking with President Powers, Provost Leslie and the LBJ Foundation about our own “transition” arrangements, including what I believe will be a very exciting approach to teaching the course I planned to offer this spring. I expect to be in and out of Austin between now and the inauguration, and plan to hold a get together at the School during the first week of class in January to discuss the transition and to hear your thoughts about keeping the School moving forward.
I look forward to staying in touch with you all, and supporting (consistent with all the appropriate conflict-of-interest caveats!) the work of the School while I am at the State Department.
Thank you again for your friendship and support.
Jim
James B. Steinberg
Dean, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin
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December 15, 2008
UT's Powers named knight of French order
William Powers Jr., president of the University of Texas, has been named a knight of a French order of chivalry on the recommendation of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Here’s the university news release today announcing the appointment:
PARIS-William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin, has been appointed to the rank of Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur, the most senior of France’s Orders of Chivalry, for his work in establishing the French Judicial Visiting Fellowship program at the university.
The appointment as a Knight of the Order of the Legion d’honneur, on the proposal of President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, was announced officially in France’s Official Gazette on Oct. 28. The Order was created by Napoleon in 1804.
The fellowship program brings to The University of Texas at Austin two French junior judges who spend a year learning about the United States judicial system. The program covers most of the participants’ tuition and living expenses.
Powers established the program in 2005 while dean of the Law School. It is supported by the Anderson Foundation of Houston on the initiative of Gib Gayle, partner in the law firm Fulbright and Jaworski and long-time supporter of the Law School.
“In my 40-year international legal career I have never come across an initiative that furthered more intellectual exchanges and the study and eventual use of foreign law,” said Sir Basil Markesinis QC, holder of the Jamail Regents Chair in the university’s Law School and administrator of the program. “At the same time it performs an immensely useful role in creating closer working links between the U.S. and an old and important ally.”
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December 2, 2008
For Briscoe, it's boots and burnt orange
Shirley Bird Perry, a senior vice president at the University of Texas, has an eye for detail. She was quick to notice that Dolph Briscoe, a former governor of Texas, was wearing cowboy boots at a news conference called to announce that the university was naming its Center for American History for him in recognition of $15 million in gifts and pledges. My story about the announcement is in today’s paper.
Briscoe, who was using a wheelchair, comes by the boots honestly. His family’s ranchlands, based in Uvalde, span more than 600,000 acres. But if Briscoe was dressed as one part cowboy, he was also one part Longhorn loyalist, with a shirt and blazer in shades of burnt orange.
Briscoe is an alumnus, and he was in a reminiscing mood Monday. He recalled the time his father dropped him off to begin his studies at UT. “He had one admonition: Now don’t you flunk out.”
His grades suffered a bit after a blind date — “I was one who otherwise couldn’t get a date” — introduced him to Betty Jane Slaughter. “I spent the next three years working on that project,” he said of the courtship that would lead to their marriage. She died in 2000.
Briscoe, a history buff, sees great promise in what is now known as the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History: “It is in my opinion the unknown gem of the UT System.”
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December 1, 2008
UT gets $15M gift from ex-governor
The Center for American History at the University of Texas will be named for Dolph Briscoe, a former governor of Texas, in recognition of a $15 million donation, officials announced today.
“It’s fitting that it be named for one of the most devoted champions of the history of Texas and the history of our nation,” said UT President William Powers Jr. at a news conference on campus announcing the naming of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
Briscoe, who participated in the news conference, said he had not restricted the use of the money or earmarked it for any particular programs at the history center.
“The judgment of those running the center is excellent,” Briscoe said. “And their judgment would be better than mine on how to use it.”
Don Carleton, the center’s executive director, said the money would be used for such purposes as expanding the purchase of historical collections, funding travel for visiting scholars, and underwriting research and publishing.
“It’s really a transformative gift for us,” Carleton said.
The center’s vast collections range from the historical archives of the Exxon Mobil Corp. — which filled a dozen tractor-trailers — to documents concerning the case of Timothy McVeigh, the decorated Gulf War veteran and government hater who was executed in 2001 for bombing the federal building in Oklahoma City.
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November 13, 2008
UT gets $10 million for teaching awards, technology commercialization
University of Texas System regents approved a proposal on Thursday to spend $10 million on teaching awards and technology commercialization at UT-Austin during the next five years. The award program would get $5 million and the commercialization program would get the same amount.
The regents also authorized $5 million for teaching awards at the system’s eight other academic campuses.
The awards are intended to reward faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching and a commitment to students, including the ability to inspire and motivate them. Faculty members could receive one-time awards of up to $30,000.
The program is in part to a response to Gov. Rick Perry’s higher education summit this year, at which some speakers criticized universities for emphasizing research more than instruction.
The $5 million for technology commercialization at UT-Austin would help establish the Center for Technology Commercialization, a unit that would bring together the existing Office of Technology Commercialization and the Austin Technology Incubator.
In other action during their meeting at UT-El Paso, the regents said former Gov. Dolph Briscoe will receive the Santa Rita Award, the UT System’s highest honor.
H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the regents, said Briscoe has given or pledged more than $26 million to system institutions, including UT-Austin’s Center for American History. The award will be presented at a ceremony in Austin in February, Caven said.
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November 4, 2008
Female professors at UT paid less than men
Female professors at the University of Texas are paid about $9,000 less than their male counterparts, according to a hard-hitting report on gender gaps ranging from promotion opportunities to the overall campus climate.
President William Powers Jr. and Provost Steven Leslie did not dispute the findings and pledged to address the shortcomings.
Here’s a copy of the university’s news release. I’m working on a story about the matter for Wednesday’s paper.
AUSTIN, Texas — The Gender Equity Task Force, created by the provost of The University of Texas at Austin in March 2007, has recommended in its report that the university develop and enact a 5-10 year gender equity plan to “reduce or eliminate faculty gender inequity—specifically with respect to hiring, promotion, salaries and governance.”
The report, presented this week to Provost Steven Leslie, found gender gaps at The University of Texas at Austin in areas of faculty representation, promotion and attrition for faculty advancing through the ranks, salary and leadership. It also noted concerns about the “climate” for women faculty on campus, departmental governance structures, a lack of clear knowledge by faculty and administrators about “family-friendly policies” on campus, and a need to improve the situation of senior women faculty members. The report said senior women at the university are more likely to feel isolated and less recognized for their professional achievements and that they receive significantly lower salaries than do their male colleagues.
“I asked the task force to conduct a deep and thorough assessment of gender equity and work environment on our campus and they delivered one of the most probing and data-driven reports I have seen in all of higher education,” said Leslie, who formed the task force a few weeks after he took office as provost of the university. “There are some recommendations that we will be able to address soon and others that will take a while to work through, but we will begin immediately to tackle the recommendations.”
In forming the committee, Leslie asked the 22-member group to consider what work “remains to be done in order to make The University of Texas at Austin an inviting and productive place for women faculty members in all areas.” Leslie’s creation of the task force was consistent with an announcement by the university’s new president, William Powers Jr., that recruitment and retention of a diverse student body and faculty body would be a core area of emphasis for his presidency.
“I applaud the work of the Gender Equity Task Force,” said Powers. “Its members have performed a valuable service for the university by identifying issues we must address to support the professional growth of our faculty. In order to compete for, recruit and retain the very best faculty, we must be committed to policies, programs and leadership built on fairness, equity and equal opportunity.”
The co-chairs of the task force are Professors J Strother Moore, chair of the Department of Computer Science, and Gretchen Ritter, a professor of government and director of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. The committee included faculty members from Architecture, Business, Communication, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Law, Liberal Arts, Natural Sciences, Pharmacy, Public Affairs and Social Work. Two deans, a vice provost, a graduate student, a staff member and a vice president also were members of the committee.
“Promoting gender equity is central to the university’s mission of becoming the nation’s leading public university,” said Ritter. “Recruiting faculty from all sectors of the population allows us to draw on a broader pool of talent in building academic excellence. If we fail to recruit and retain women faculty in all fields, then we deny ourselves the opportunity to benefit from the talent and insights of half of the population.”
“Gender discrimination is pervasive in our society, including in higher education,” said Moore. “The university should be applauded for confronting such a problem head-on. As advances in fields like computer science shape our economy and our society, it is essential that women and minorities be recruited into those fields as scientific leaders.”
Leslie has appointed Vice Provost Judith Langlois as administrative leader to oversee the next phase of implementing Gender Equity Task Force recommendations. He said Langlois, the Charles and Sarah Seay Regents’ Professor of Developmental Psychology, is highly regarded on campus for her vision and ability to get things done.
The findings of the Gender Equity Task Force will be presented to the university’s Faculty Council during a meeting in January, and will be discussed in a panel discussion with the Faculty Women’s Organization in February 2009.
Key recommendations of the task force report propose that the provost develop and enact a 5-10 year gender equity plan to reduce or eliminate faculty gender inequity—specifically with respect to hiring, promotion, salaries and governance. The task force said the plan should include a time line, an annual budget, ongoing accountability mechanisms and a budget justification. The committee said specific goals should be set with the dean of each school and college in the areas discussed. It also recommended that a Gender Equity Plan for the university, which should include goals and timetables for each school and college, be finalized and announced by the fall 2009.
The recommendations included hiring initiatives such as creating a provost’s opportunity fund for hiring and retention of faculty who contribute to intellectual diversity by, for instance, increasing the proportion of women in fields in which they are underrepresented. The report said progress toward gender equity in hiring by field should be benchmarked against the proportion of women faculty members at the top 20 research universities in a given field. The task force also suggested the provost’s office oversee a proposed program of training schools and colleges on the best practices for recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty. The report also recommended that a dual-career assistance office be created with the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement to aid hiring efforts.
In the area of retention and promotion, the report said deans and chairs should be required to report and explain significant gender differentials in retention and promotion rates. It said gender equity should be part of the annual reviews for deans and department chairs and that the availability of supplemental resources for hiring and retention under the provost’s opportunity fund should be tied to a demonstrated commitment to the promotion of gender equity by deans and chairs.
Recommendations on salary included a proposal that a “best-practice model” be established for awarding merit raises, endowed chairs and professorships in a gender equitable fashion. The report said that, on average across the university in 2007, female professors earned $9,028 less than men. Among non-tenure-track faculty, on average, female faculty members earned $4,507 less than their male counterparts, the report said.
The task force found women constitute a slightly smaller proportion of the tenured and tenure-track faculty at the university than they do at doctoral institutions nationwide. It said women constitute 19 percent of the full professors, 25 percent of the tenured faculty, and 39 percent of the university’s tenure track faculty. In comparison, at doctoral institutions nationwide, women constitute 26 percent of the tenured faculty and 41 percent of the tenure-track faculty. The report said American Association of University Professors data for 2006 show the university ranked 11th out of 12 peer institutions in the percentage of women ranked as full professors.
The “climate” survey included reports of harassment and discrimination and more than 14 percent of women faculty members said they have been subjected to sexual harassment. Women faculty members also were much more likely than male faculty members to report they have experienced discrimination related to gender, race, age or family status.
Addressing the “leadership gap,” the report said women are underrepresented as department chairs, who can provide discretionary resources for faculty and are influential in hiring, salary and promotion decisions. It also noted that only 9 percent of the university’s endowed chairs are held by women, even though women constitute 19 percent of the full professors at the university.
The Gender Equity Task Force was convened at a moment when concerns about gender equity in higher education had risen nationally. Many of The University of Texas at Austin’s peer institutions over the last decade have conducted studies similar to the one conducted by the task force, finding similar problems and issues that were addressed to result in “substantial progress in recent years in increasing the level of gender equity within their faculties,” the report said.
The report said that, wherever possible, the task force endeavored to compare data from The University of Texas at Austin with information from the 11 public research universities typically treated as the university’s peer group. These include: the University of California, Berkeley; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Indiana University, Bloomington; Michigan State University; the University of Michigan; the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Ohio State University; the University of Washington, Seattle; and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
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October 27, 2008
UTPD 'Crime Watch' cuts to the chase
I’m frequently impressed with the clever and insightful take on routine crime reports in the University of Texas Police Department’s online Campus Watch. Today’s postings are no exception. Consider this passage at the conclusion of an item about a bicycle theft:
There are times I want to put quotation marks around the word “secured” in these bicycle theft entries. I say this because the word means secured in name only. Bicycle thieves cut through cable locks as if they weren’t even there. Use a quality u-lock to secure your bicycle.
Here’s another posting that cuts to the chase concerning an assault in the stands at Saturday’s football game between the Longhorns and the Oklahoma State University Cowboys:
A UT student was reported to event staff personnel as being offensive as he was yelling profanities. After the student refused to change his word selections, another patron at the football game told the student to “quiet down.” The student furthered his offensiveness by pushing that patron down a row of stadium seats; not once but twice. The patron received a cut on his shin during one of the falls. The patron defended himself by hitting the student in the mouth. Oh, my apologies, did I fail to mention the student was found to be under the influence of an alcoholic beverage to the point that he was a danger to others and, as it turned out, to himself.
And finally, a to-the-point crime-prevention tip:
By law, a police officer does not need to take you to jail if you are found to be publically intoxicated. Other options include turning you over to a sober adult who is willing to assume custody of you or you can be turned over to a hospital if the situation warrants you needing medical attention. In any event, the officer still has the option to issue you a citation for consumption of alcohol by a minor or even for public intoxication. Trust me, a citation is much better than being booked into jail. Always go out with a sober friend - that person can help keep you safe - that person may even keep you out of jail.
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October 17, 2008
Echoes of the Depression in UT's fund drive
In the late 1920s and early ’30s, when the nation was mired in economic depression, the University of Texas launched a fundraising campaign dubbed “For Texas, I Will.”
Contributions by the university’s alumni and friends during that period made it possible to build Gregory Gymnasium at a cost of $500,000, Anna Hiss Gymnasium for $400,000, the Texas Union for $417,353 and Hogg Memorial Auditorium for $221,145.
“They didn’t say, ‘For Texas I will — when things get better.’ No, they completed the construction of the four buildings between 1930 and 1933,” Kenneth Jastrow, a UT graduate and former chairman of Austin-based Temple-Inland Inc., said at a news conference today.
Jastrow is hoping for the same can-do spirit as UT tries to raise $3 billion for scholarships, faculty endowments, construction projects, research and athletics. Jastrow is chairman of the campaign.
He and UT President William Powers Jr. said they were mindful of the tough economic times. In fact, Powers said, university leaders considered postponing the campaign for that reason and because some Texans are still recovering from Hurricane Ike.
“But we took the long view,” Powers said.
Three billion dollars is “a big goal, but we’re a big university and we have a big impact on the world around us,” Powers said.
The choice of Jastrow to lead the campaign is not surprising. He chaired the Commission of 125, a panel of more than 200 alumni, civic leaders and other university friends that issued a report in 2004 laying out goals for UT for the next 25 years. The fundraising campaign is intended in large part to achieve those goals, which include improving the undergraduate curriculum and strengthening the leadership and funding of UT’s various colleges, schools, departments and research units.
For more on the campaign, read my story here.
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October 14, 2008
Donors honored for $55 million gift to UT music school
Earlier this year, faculty members at the University of Texas’ music school were called to a meeting with Sarah and Ernest Butler of Austin, whose $55 million donation to the school was being announced.
Harvey Pittel, who teaches saxophone, attended and months later is still astonished that Ernest Butler offered profuse thanks to the faculty for their work. That’s not something faculty members often hear. And in this case, who deserves the thanks?
The Butlers’ gift promises to improve the school, and the lives of its faculty and students, in many ways. For instance, there is now money for professors to attend out-of-town conferences that they otherwise could not have attended. And of course there are scholarships to bring in the most talented students from around the world.
On Monday evening, several dozen people — Pittel and other faculty members, administrators, students, donors and friends of the Butlers — expressed their appreciation to the couple at a dinner in the Main Building. As UT President William Powers Jr. put it, the gift is nothing short of “transformative.” It is the largest donation to a music school at a public university and second-largest when private schools are taken into account.
There was, of course, live music for the occasion, performed by students at what is now known as the Butler School of Music. For instance, Pasha Sabouri and Meredith Riley played dueling-violin pieces by Bach and Michael McLean with passion and grace. And Francois Minaux blasted through Benjamin Godard’s breathless “Valse from Suite de Trois Morceaux” on his flute with impressive precision.
The Butlers were typically low-key, appreciative and full of smiles. And in a gentle nudge to other philanthropists in the room, Ernest Butler suggested that the work of endowing the music school isn’t finished.
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October 13, 2008
Austin council to consider UT's Brackenridge tract
The debate concerning the future of the Brackenridge tract, 345 prime acres in West Austin owned by the University of Texas, is getting more interesting.
A draft resolution to be considered by the Austin City Council on Thursday would call on the university’s governing board to preserve a municipal golf course, a youth recreation complex and student housing on the tract. Furthermore, it would direct City Manager Mark Ott to look into the feasibility of a land exchange and a bond issue as options for acquiring the golf course and youth complex. He would have to compile an inventory of undeveloped city-owned land and report back to the council Dec. 18.
The council’s agenda is here. Search for the letters “Brack” to pull up the item in question.
The resolution is sponsored by Council Member Lee Leffingwell and co-sponsored by Members Mike Martinez and Laura Morrison.
The city has leased the 141-acre golf course, known as Muny, from the UT System Board of Regents for decades. The idea of acquiring it by purchase or trade is not new. Then-City Manager Toby Futrell proposed just that in January 2007.
“That’s the city’s ultimate interest,” Futrell said at the time. “I want to look for the opportunity to take title to that land. The City of Austin has a very strong interest in the golf course.”
Futrell did not say how much the city might be willing to spend for the golf course or what land it might be willing to trade. But she and then-Council Member Betty Dunkerley offered to sweeten negotiations by granting UT additional development rights on nearby parcels that are part of the Brackenridge tract.
The regents never responded to Futrell’s proposal. A blue-ribbon task force advising the regents subsequently called for replacing Muny and more than 500 student apartments with commercial development that could earn more money for the university.
A planning firm hired by the regents is due to present at least two master plans for redeveloping the Brackenridge tract in June. The firm, Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP, plans to unveil design principles during a public workshop the first week of November.
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October 9, 2008
UT suspends ban on signs in dorm windows
University of Texas officials announced this morning that they are suspending a rule that prohibits displaying signs in dorm room windows.
Two cousins were involved in a battle with UT officials because they displayed Obama campaign signs in their windows. The rule against displaying signs of any sort was widely criticized by students, as well as University Democrats and College Republicans.
Jeff Graves, associate vice president for legal affairs at UT, said that rule was suspended this morning and the university will convene a committee of students and staff to review it. Until then, students are free to display whatever signs they want in their windows, he said.
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September 29, 2008
Thank-you's strike a pleasant note
It’s not unusual for high-dollar donors to university scholarship programs to receive heart-warming and inspiring thank-you notes from the student recipients. But when your gift runs to the tens of millions, you get thank-you notes by the dozens.
Sarah and Ernest Butler of Austin have discovered this following their $55 million donation to the University of Texas’ music school, which now bears their name. Proceeds from about two-thirds of the gift will be used for scholarships and other student support, with the balance earmarked for faculty assistance and other programs.
“I am amazed by the diversity of the group and the quality of the group,” said Ernest Butler, a retired physician, after reading the thank-you notes. “Some have performed nationally and internationally.”
Glenn Chandler, director of the music school, predicted in March when the gift was announced that it would help the school compete for the most talented students.
The Butlers shared some of the letters with me.
One student, the first person in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree, has begun working on a master’s in music and human learning. “Your generous donation has allowed many students, myself included, to pursue higher degrees that may not have been possible without your help,” she wrote. “I hope that you witness a hundred-fold return on all that you have invested in the next generation of musicians.”
A doctoral student in piano who has already performed in Boston, Taiwan and Russia wrote that his Butler Excellence Scholarship will be “tremendously helpful” in the pursuit of his goal of coupling international performance with teaching at a university.
Another student, who graduated in May with a master’s in music performance and is now working on a doctorate, wrote: “This, of course, would not have been possible without the help of this scholarship.”
And one entering freshman wrote simply: “I hope to be an amazing clarinet player. The Butler Excellence Scholarship will help tremendously.”
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September 23, 2008
$12.5 million awarded to train engineering teachers
The University of Texas has been awarded $12.5 million by the National Science Foundation for a program intended to prepare high school engineering educators.
UT’s engineering school and the university’s colleges of natural sciences and education will collaborate in the program, according to a university news release.
“With this grant, the NSF is building on the university’s successful UTeach program to create a model for preparing high school engineering educators, that we call ‘UTeachEngineering,’” said David Allen, a chemical engineering professor and the principal investigator for the newly developed program. “Texas is one of just a few states aggressively pursuing year-long high school engineering courses, and the effort here will help define how other states approach engineering education in high school.”
The Austin school district will partner with the university in developing and evaluating UTeachEngineering, which will begin next summer.
The program will target future and current teachers. UT faculty members will use half of the five-year grant funding for course development, lab development and salaries. The other half will provide stipends, scholarships and fellowships to students and teachers working toward engineering teaching certification.
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September 18, 2008
UT fund drive likely to be in same range as Berkeley's
With the economy on the skids, it might not seem like the most auspicious time for a university to launch a multibillion-dollar fundraising campaign. The University of Texas is forging ahead anyway.
To be sure, officials have been planning the campaign for many months. Indeed, UT fundraisers said nearly a year ago that the goal would be somewhere north of $2 billion and south of $4 billion. President William Powers Jr., in his state-of-the-university address on Wednesday, said only that an announcement would come “very soon’ and the goal would be “big.”
Meanwhile, the Contra Costa Times reports that the University of California regents have given UC-Berkeley approval for a $3 billion campaign. The campaign’s so-called quiet phase began in 2005 and has amassed about $1.3 billion. The public phase begins Friday and will run for five years.
UT hasn’t done too badly in its quiet phase, either. A $55 million gift from arts donors Sarah and Ernest Butler gave the School of Music $55 million. Overall, UT has received $360 million in gifts in the past year, the largest amount in its 125-year history, Powers said.
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A big word for a big anniversary
I’ve heard of a bicentennial (a 200th anniversary) and even a sesquicentennial (a 150th anniversary). But a quasquicentennial? That was a new one on me — and, judging by the chuckling crowd, a new one on many of the roughly 400 people attending a speech on Wednesday by the president of the University of Texas.
William Powers Jr., or perhaps his speechwriter, tossed that vocabulary-builder into the opening lines of his state-of-the-university address, noting that Monday was the 125th anniversary — the quasquicentennial — of UT’s opening.
My story about his remarks on the university’s achievements and challenges is posted here.
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September 11, 2008
UT offers to shelter staff and student cars in campus garages
The University of Texas has sent out the following bulletin:
Attention: All Members of the University Community
Starting at 6pm on Friday, September 12th through 7am on Monday, September 15th all University Garages, with the exception of the AT&T Residential Conference Center Garage, will be open and available for vehicular shelter relating to the potential impacts from Hurricane Ike.
Gates will remain open all weekend to allow movement of vehicles if necessary. You will need to return to your assigned parking location no later than 7am, Monday, September 15, 2008. Unpermitted vehicles left in the garages after 7am will start accruing the daily parking fees.
Parking & Transportation Services
The University of Texas at Austin
Phone: 471-7275 (PARK)
Fax: 471-4227
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Powers to assess 'state of the university'
William Powers Jr., president of the University of Texas, will deliver the annual “state of the university” address Wednesday. He’ll take stock of ongoing and new initiatives as the institution marks its 125th anniversary.
Powers will speak at 4 p.m. in the B. Iden Payne Theatre of the F. Loren Winship Drama Building near the bus turn-around and the corner of San Jacinto and 23rd streets. The program is open to the public. The event will also be broadcast live on the Web. More information is available here.
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September 10, 2008
Professor Palaima pulls no punches
One thing about Tom Palaima, a professor of classics at the University of Texas: You know exactly where he stands.
An article he wrote for Times Higher Education, a London-based publication, is no exception. In it, Palaima, an award-winning educator, tells of the passion that inspired him to study and teach classics but warns that current trends in higher education threaten to cause the extinction of such passion.
He rails against the growing emphasis on the financial and economic rewards of higher education. And he is particularly critical of the tone of a recent summit on higher education convened by Gov. Rick Perry and of a report by U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’ commission on the future of higher education.
Here’s an excerpt:
Worse yet is that matters are so far gone right now that neither the commission report nor the governor’s summit generated much in the way of critical response. No regent spoke up in defense of faculty or dared to point out the problems that the supposed “breakthrough solutions” would perpetuate or create.
Whether students at our colleges and universities are headed towards professional careers in law, medicine, business, journalism, engineering, library studies, social work, public affairs or natural sciences, or as teachers or professors in the traditional liberal arts, they need to be “nourished”, as the Latin verb “alo” that underlies the English terms “alumnus” and “alumna” implies.
They are not mere consumers shopping in educational malls. This widespread notion is reprehensible. However, higher education has virtually stopped nurturing the civic, social and moral values of general students, most of whom are at the critical transitional stage into adult citizenship, what the ancient Greeks called the “ephebic” stage.
It is hardly any cause for wonder that government officials who have gone through our educational shopping malls make political decisions that show no understanding of the lessons of human history or violate basic decencies within human culture. They have been trained as what Aristotle calls “animate tools”.
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How LBJ dean lined up Madeleine Albright
A story in today’s paper by yours truly discusses a new master’s degree program in global policy studies at the University of Texas’ Lyndon B. Johnson School of Affairs.
Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state, and James Steinberg, dean of the LBJ School, will engage in a “public conversation” about the program — and the increasingly global flavor of economic, technological and other issues — at the LBJ Library and Museum this evening.
All seats are taken, but you can tune in online for the live webcast at 6 p.m. at this site.
One footnote to my story: Steinberg clearly has a pretty impressive Rolodex, owing to a résumé that includes a stint of nearly four years as President Clinton’s deputy national security adviser.
How’d he line up Albright? Easy. He just asked her while they were attending the annual gathering of public policy types hosted by the Aspen Institute in Colorado. They’ve been friends since the early 1980s.
“I said, ‘Madeleine, we’re starting a new degree program and I can’t think of anybody better to help launch it,’ ” Steinberg said.
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August 28, 2008
UT dean defends plan to honor Charlie Wilson with endowed chair
A dozen faculty members at the University of Texas who oppose plans to name an endowed chair in Pakistan studies for former U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson of East Texas aren’t getting much sympathy from the administration.
The professors, in a letter this week to Randy Diehl, dean of UT’s College of Liberal Arts, and Itty Abraham, director of UT’s South Asia Institute, argued that Wilson, now 75, doesn’t deserve the honor.
In a written response, Diehl and Abraham said they were fortunate to be working with the T.L.L. Temple Foundation of Lufkin to establish the chair, which would be the first privately funded faculty endowment in the United States focused on the study of Pakistan.
“The foundation’s generous support will help the college recruit a leader who will make the University of Texas at Austin the pre-eminent location for the study of this region in the country,” they wrote.
Officials hope to raise $500,000 to match a $500,000 challenge grant from the foundation. The challenge grant was accepted in 2005 by then-dean Richard Lariviere.
The 12 faculty members, who specialize in South Asian studies, say Wilson’s support for anti-Soviet mujahedeen groups in Afghanistan ultimately undermined democracy in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Wilson’s covert support of the resistance movement was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the move “Charlie Wilson’s War” last year.
Here is the full text of the statement issued by Diehl and Abraham:
The College of Liberal Arts is proud to be in the forefront of South Asian studies, focusing on the cultures, histories, languages, and literature of South Asia.
Given the importance of Pakistan in the world today, recruiting a senior scholar with expertise in modern Pakistan is more important than ever to ensure that we understand the ongoing transformations within the country.
In 2005, Richard Lariviere, former dean and faculty member in Asian studies, accepted a $500,000 challenge grant from The T.L.L. Temple Foundation to establish the Charlie Wilson Chair of Pakistan Studies. Last May, faculty members— including some of the individuals who signed the letter distributed to the media—were briefed on the fundraising efforts during the South Asia Institute’s end-of-the-year retreat. To date, no faculty members have requested a meeting with either of us to discuss their concerns.
We are fortunate to be working with the Temple Foundation to establish this chair, which will be the first privately funded faculty endowment in the United States focused on the study of Pakistan. The foundation’s generous support will help the college recruit a leader who will make The University of Texas at Austin the pre-eminent location for the study of this region in the country.
Randy Diehl, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts Itty Abraham, Director of South Asia Institute
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July 23, 2008
UT's Powers stands up for liberal arts
State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, doesn’t like the fact that legislative appropriations are used to pay university professors to conduct research that won’t pay off in medical advances, new technologies or other tangible benefits. He made that pretty clear at a joint hearing of two Senate higher education subcommittees on Wednesday.
Kent Hance, chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, took a mild shot at humanities research at the same hearing when he declared that research on “the best part of Shakespeare’s play” isn’t on the same level as the research his university is conducting for the Defense Department.
William Powers Jr. had a different take. In a spirited defense of the liberal arts, the president of the University of Texas testified that the study of history, literature, language and business is essential.
“Those are parts of the American culture that drive our economy in the long run,” Powers said.
A footnote to my posting last Tuesday about this hearing:
Andrew von Eschenbach, commissioner of the federal Food and Drug Administration, had been scheduled to testify about investing in biomedical research, but he instead was called to the White House by his boss, President Bush. So said Warren von Eschenbach, son of the FDA commissioner and director of the two Senate subcommittees.
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July 16, 2008
Bemoaning, but cashing in on, the Ransom Center's prowess
The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas has been snapping up manuscripts, artwork, photographs and other cultural treasures from around the world for more than 50 years.
Its founder and namesake, Harry Ransom, was particularly good at this. The current director, Thomas Staley, is no slouch, either.
From time to time, the center’s acquisition skills rub some people the wrong way. The Guardian, a British publication, ran an article Tuesday about a novelist, Jim Crace, who sold his papers to the Ransom Center for a six-figure sum but now seems to bemoan the flow of literary heritage across the pond.
“When I was at the Ransom Center, I held Blake paintings and Coleridge notebooks in my hand. I couldn’t help thinking that they didn’t belong there,” Crace told the Guardian.
On the other hand, he conceded, Texas was willing to pay 10 times what a university in the UK offered.
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Some UT students' identity information exposed online
Personal information on nearly 2,500 students at the University of Texas was exposed online, according to a Washington-based watchdog group.
University officials restricted access to the information immediately after learning of the problem in January, but copies remained in the Yahoo search engine caches until May, the nonprofit Liberty Coalition said on its Web site.
The information included graduate applications, personal tax returns, 66 Social Security numbers, test scores and other sensitive information, the coalition said.
Robin Gerrow, a spokeswoman for UT, said today that personally identifiable information on fewer than 50 students was exposed.
“The information was immediately removed, all of the students were notified, and purge requests were issued to Yahoo, Google and others,” Gerrow said. “There has been no indication that there was any identity theft as a result, and after reviewing logs, none of the information appeared to be accessed by anyone” but the watchdog group.
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July 14, 2008
UT's field lab, by the numbers
As I’ve noted in recent days on this blog and in stories, Dean Mary Ann Rankin and faculty members at the University of Texas’ College of Natural Sciences want to preserve the Brackenridge Field Laboratory.
The future of this biological field lab, part of the university’s 345-acre Brackenridge tract in West Austin, is uncertain, to say the least. A planning firm hired by the university’s governing board is supposed to produce recommendations by June 2009 for developing portions of the tract.
A brochure put together by the College of Natural Sciences emphasizes the research and educational activities that take place at the field lab. The following passage in the brochure puts numbers to those values:
8th best Ecology, Evolution and Behavior graduate program in the nation
40 years of long-term data collection in an urban ecosystem
82 acres of prairies, pecan bottoms, juniper woods and lakeshore
3 miles from campus
500 or more students taking courses at BFL every year
1,200 species of butterflies and moths
180 species of birds
370 species of plants
200 species of native bees
18,000 square feet of state-of-the-art lab space
500,000 specimens in the entomology collections
6 greenhouses
15-20 faculty conducting research or teaching
$4 million generated in grants and endowments annually
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July 12, 2008
Professor wouldn't mind hearing Powers defend Brackenridge field lab
Bob Jansen, professor and chairman of integrative biology at the University of Texas, studies how plants evolve. He’s hoping that the Brackenridge Field Laboratory, where he does some of his research, doesn’t evolve into some sort of commercial development.
Jansen spoke Saturday at a city-sponsored public meeting on the university’s Brackenridge tract, 345 acres of prime West Austin land. The field lab occupies 82 of those acres.
I covered the meeting and wrote a story for Sunday’s paper on how the university’s governing board has a lot more say about the future of the tract than the City of Austin. The city is developing a plan that will recommend future uses of the tract as part of its routine neighborhood land-use planning process.
Jansen hasn’t been shy about urging the UT System Board of Regents to preserve the field lab. Ditto for several other faculty members in biology and the natural sciences dean, Mary Ann Rankin.
In contrast, the school’s president, William Powers Jr., has stayed more or less on the sidelines as the regents have undertaken a lengthy process to produce their own plan for developing the Brackenridge tract.
I asked Jansen how he felt about Powers’ stance. His reply:
“I personally would prefer that he say that he supports the field lab. I do understand why he’s trying to remain neutral. It’s a hot topic. There’s lots of issues UT is facing, including some I’m probably not aware of.”
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July 6, 2008
Uncertainty nothing new for Brackenridge tract
The future of the Brackenridge tract has seemed uncertain ever since the land along the Colorado River was donated to the University of Texas in 1910.
Col. George Washington Brackenridge intended the West Austin parcel to become the home of the university. That didn’t happen, in part because business and political interests decided to expand the Forty Acres site instead.
As my colleague, Kevin Robbins, writes in a story today, the future of the tract’s 84-year-old Lions Municipal Golf Course is uncertain.
Golfers are bracing for a fight — for good reason. A blue-ribbon panel told the university’s governing board last year in rather blunt terms that Muny should go to make way for development that would be more profitable for UT.
The “Save Muny” proponents want the course to stay as is, although they’d be delighted if the City of Austin were able to acquire it. Don’t hold your breath on that option. The Board of Regents has made it pretty clear that it’s in a leasing, not a selling, mood.
Meanwhile, lawyer and economic development ace Pike Powers is putting together a plan for the tract that would include golf, albeit in a more elite flavor than the everyone-is-welcome taste that characterizes Muny. On a parallel track, Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP, a New York City planning firm, is putting together its vision for the property under a contract with the regents.
I asked Powers last week to identify his partners and elaborate on his plan. He declined. Fair enough. It’s a competitive market out there.
But this is a man who helped bring Samsung, Applied Materials, Sematech and other high-tech players to town. In other words, he’s a guy who can get his calls to the occupant of the governor’s office returned. Same goes for calls to regents, legislators and deep-pocket investors.
Stay tuned.
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June 12, 2008
Powers pressing for more education funding
In speeches, legislative testimony and, now, in cyberspace, the president of the University of Texas has been hammering home his view that the state Legislature should spend more on higher education.
“We cannot escape the fact that Texas spends less of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education than other states,” Powers writes in his latest missive, a “message from the president” e-mailed to alumni and other friends of the university.
Texas spent 3.35 percent of its GDP on public schools and higher education in 2006, compared with 4.49 percent in Michigan, 4.24 percent in California and 4.05 percent in North Carolina.
“These differences may seem slight, but as an illustration, if we added 1 percent of our state GDP to education spending, it would generate $8.5 billion,” says Powers. “Adding one-tenth of 1 percent would provide $850 million annually.
“It is also worth noting that California spends almost twice as much on higher education than Texas, and it has done so consistently for many years, even though its population is only a third larger. That investment has surely played a role in California’s GDP, which is 75 percent greater than ours.”
Powers goes on to decry the fact that Texas ranks 35th among the states in the percentage of citizens with a college education.
“Texans deserve better. We need to increase higher education capacity, and we need to fund excellence at the state’s existing national research universities. In the months ahead I’ll be repeating this message around the state.”
We’ll see next year, when the Legislature convenes for its next regular session, whether Powers’ views resonate under the pink granite dome.
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June 3, 2008
UT names engineering dean
Gregory Fenves, a specialist in structural engineering and former chairman of the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, has been appointed dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas.
Fenves, 51, whose appointment is effective Sept. 1, replaces Ben Streetman, who will take a one-year sabbatical after 12 years as engineering dean, according to a news release from the university.
“Gregory Fenves is an internationally recognized leader in civil and environmental engineering, and we are enormously pleased that he will take over the leadership of the Cockrell School of Engineering after Ben Streetman’s long and successful deanship,” said UT President William Powers Jr. “Dean Fenves will inherit one of the premier engineering schools in the nation and we have confidence that under his leadership the school will accomplish even more.”
Fenves chaired civil and environmental engineering at UC-Berkeley from 2002 to 2007 and since then has been a visiting professor at the University of Pavia, Italy, and Kyoto University in Japan, conducting research on computational methods for earthquake engineering simulation.
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June 2, 2008
UT geosciences dean leaving for Colorado
The Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas has announced that Eric Barron, dean since 2006, is leaving to become the new executive director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.
“Barron thought the job was a once in a lifetime opportunity to lead national research in his chosen field and he could not pass it up,” said J.B. Bird, the Jackson school’s communications director. “The world will probably be a better place with Eric Barron leading national U.S. climate research, but his departure is a disappointment to us here at the Jackson school, where he has accomplished a great deal in two years with the launch of a new strategic plan, hiring of seven outstanding new faculty for 2007-08 and plans in progress for a new student center.”
Before coming to UT, Barron was dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. He has chaired several national research boards, including the Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Academies, and his research interests are in climatology, numerical modeling and Earth history, according to UT’s Web site.
The atmospheric research center, managed by a nonprofit consortium of North American universities, announced Barron’s appointment here.
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From 'Perry Mason' to 'The Wild One'
The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas is upping its cool factor this summer with a series of films, musical performances and other events, including a screening of the 1953 film classic “The Wild One,” starring Marlon Brando, at 7 p.m. Thursday.
All of the events are free and open to the public. How cool is that?
The schedule for June and July includes a live performance by the Violet Crown Radio Players of a “Perry Mason” episode, a lecture on the civil war in El Salvador, a screening of Nicolas Ray’s “Rebel Without a Cause,” which stars James Dean, and a tribute to the Beats by the Austin Chamber Music Center’s Tosca String Quartet.
A detailed schedule is posted at the Ranson Center’s Web site.
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May 16, 2008
Caven keeps it short, sweet
Unlike many graduation speakers, H. Scott Caven Jr. not only said he would keep it brief, he actually did.
I didn’t time him, but Caven’s address to graduates of the University of Texas’ McCombs School of Business this morning was concise and direct, tinged with humor and avuncular advice.
“You’ll want to stop raising your hand when you know the answer,” said Caven, who is chairman of the UT System Board of Regents and a graduate of the business school. “That sort of thing is frowned upon at business meetings.”
Caven, who is also managing director and regional manager for Texas for the Atlantic Trust Co., a money-management firm, also suggested that students might want to swap flip-flops and T-shirts for more appropriate attire as they enter the business world.
On a more serious note, he told the students that they had received an outstanding education. “We expect nothing but the best from you, and we wish nothing but the best for you,” he said.
Various other colleges, schools and departments at UT are holding similar convocation ceremonies today and Saturday as part of the runup to the universitywide commencement Saturday evening at the Tower.
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May 13, 2008
Powers, Dewhurst make nice-nice
William Powers Jr., president of the University of Texas, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst don’t always see eye to eye on higher education funding.
But you couldn’t tell on Monday as they shared the podium for the announcement of a $15 million donation to UT from lawyer-philanthropist Joseph Jamail. You can read my story about the announcement here.
Dewhurst and Powers were falling all over each other to make nice-nice.
Dewhurst: “It is a great university. It’s got great leadership, and I’m real high on Bill Powers.”
Powers: “You are a great friend of higher education, a great friend of our university.”
This is the same Dewhurst who has been cool to the Legislature’s decision a few years ago, propelled largely by House Speaker Tom Craddick, to allow public university governing boards, rather than lawmakers, to set tuition. And earlier this year, Dewhurst squawked at Powers’ proposal to raise tuition, prompting the UT regents to scale it back to just under 5 percent.
What’s more, Powers, like other higher education leaders in Texas, has pointed out from time to time that the state’s share of higher education spending has declined over the years, putting pressure on universities to increase tuition and raise private dollars.
For his part, Jamail said in a brief interview that Dewhurst is a champion of higher education. But the trial lawyer from Houston added this thought:
“Private money is not enough. Raising taxes is really not a sin if you do it for the right purpose.”
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May 12, 2008
UT announces multi-million dollar gift
Joseph Jamail, an 82-year-old University of Texas alumnus and long-time Longhorn supporter, has given UT’s nursing and law programs $15 million for faculty recruitment and retention. According to a UT press release announcing the gift today:
AUSTIN, Texas — Prominent Houston attorney, philanthropist and University of Texas at Austin alumnus Joseph D. Jamail has given the university $15 million to create endowments in the schools of Law and Nursing and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies.
The Law School will use $10 million of this gift to create a Faculty Excellence Fund to support recruitment and retention. The School of Nursing will use $2.5 million to encourage faculty recruitment and retention as well, but will also create fellowships to support students seeking a doctorate in nursing. Undergraduate Studies will use $2.5 million to fund a program to advise prospective and first-year students on making wise choices of college and major.
In recognition of the Jamails’ long involvement and history of philanthropy, the university has named one of its most important public rooms in honor of Lee Hage Jamail, Jamail’s late wife. Main 212, which has been used by the University of Texas Board of Regents and has been the site of numerous public announcements, has been designated the Lee Hage Jamail Academic Room.
“For a long time, Joe Jamail has been a staunch supporter of many programs across our university,” said William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin. “We are deeply indebted to him for this marvelous gift. It will be of great benefit to our Law School, our School of Nursing, and our emerging programs with our undergraduate curriculum. So often, Joe has moved his alma mater forward toward excellence. I’m proud to say he is a dear friend of mine, and, more important, of this great institution.”
The Jamails’ giving spans three decades and reflects a deep commitment to athletics and academics. They have made significant gifts to the colleges of Communication, Education, Fine Arts, Liberal Arts, Natural Sciences, the School of Nursing, the Harry Ransom Center, the Texas Exes and Athletics. Jamail has served on numerous institutional boards and councils, as did his wife. Prior to her death in 2007, Lee Jamail was a life member of the university’s influential Development Board.
The university’s campus includes the Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center, the Joseph D. Jamail Pavilion in the School of Law, the Joseph D. Jamail Center for Legal Research and the Joe Jamail Field, the playing surface in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
“I take great satisfaction in making this gift, because I know its value will be compounded many times over through the work produced by the faculty and students at the University of Texas,” said Jamail, 82. “That work is vital to the life and health of the state of Texas, and never before has support from the university’s alumni and friends been more important. Looking forward to an even brighter future for Texas, I consider this gift an investment—the best and most lasting investment I could make.”
“Joe and Lee Jamail have long made The University of Texas at Austin the center of their philanthropy,” Powers said. “It seems most fitting that we honor their passion for the university and their generosity in a significant way. We chose to rename Main 212 primarily because it has served since the 1930s as the principal setting for many of the university’s important public announcements. At one time or another, we have expressed all of our hopes and our vision for the university in that room, as well as honored the best of our family there—our students and faculty, our donors and our alumni.”
Joe Jamail has long been recognized as one of the most influential attorneys in the country. He and his late wife are also well known philanthropists whose generosity made the “100 Most Generous Americans” list in 1997. They have made substantial gifts to the Texas Heart Institute, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, UT Health Science Center, UT’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and the South Texas College of Law.
Joe Jamail is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1950 and a juris doctor degree in 1953. Lee Jamail earned a bachelor’s degree from Incarnate Word College and studied speech pathology at The University of Texas at Austin.
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May 2, 2008
UT senior 'a remarkable kid'
I have a story in today’s paper about Greg Power, an engineering student at the University of Texas who is graduating on time this month despite a near-fatal car wreck in August.
I wasn’t able to reach Chad McKenzie for the story until this morning. McKenzie, assistant director of recreational sports at UT, knows Power from the latter’s involvement in ice hockey, a club sport. Power started playing at the age of 3 in Newfoundland, where he grew up, and put in a stint as president of the UT hockey team.
“I’ll never forget the morning I heard about his injury,” McKenzie said. “What I heard initially was that he had passed away.
“We were relieved to see that he was OK. His recovery time was so quick because of his natural ability as an athlete. He’s a remarkable kid.”
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April 16, 2008
An online version of the state's cultural legacy
Question: How many generations have people been living within the borders of what is now Texas?
The answer appears below.
This is just one of a seemingly endless collection of facts, maps, drawings and other materials about Texas that can be found at a slick Web site that has received the 2008 Award for Excellence in Public Education from the Society for American Archaeology.
The site, www.texasbeyondhistory.net, is what Susan Dial, its editor, calls “a virtual museum of Texas cultural heritage.”
Among its gems: a gallery of 1930s watercolor paintings of the rock art at Hueco Tanks State Historic Site near El Paso, much of which is inaccessible to the public; accounts of life in South Texas and Mexico in the early 1500s from Cabeza de Vaca and his companions; and a highly interactive section for schoolchildren that explains, for example, how American Indians made use of every part of the buffalo, from its beard (as an ornament for clothing) to its droppings (fuel for cooking).
The Web site is a project of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, a unit of the University of Texas’ College of Liberal Arts.
Oh, Texas has been populated for at least 13,500 years. At 25 years per human generation, that’s 540 generations.
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April 15, 2008
UT, fraternity reach agreement
The University of Texas issued the following statement today concerning the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity:
The University of Texas at Austin and the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity, in response to hazing incidents that took place in fall 2006, have reached an agreement to restructure how SAE conducts its pledge and initiation processes and its social activities.
The agreement notes that SAE, “while still on probation for a prior violation of the university’s hazing rules, engaged in hazing and use of alcohol by minors during the pledging process.” Individual members of the fraternity have been disciplined. SAE’s compliance with the agreement will preclude any further action against the organization.
“It is our hope that this agreement creates a model for conduct by our fraternities and sororities,” said William Powers Jr., president of The University of Texas at Austin. “We appreciate the involvement of fraternity leadership, the SAE alumni advisory board, the house corporation and parents of SAE members in reaching this agreement. It is important that our university community—and particularly members of SAE and our other fraternities and sororities—recognize the consequences of illegal activities such as hazing or the provision of alcohol to minors.”
Under terms of the agreement SAE:
Shall be a conditionally registered student organization in good standing for five years beginning April 7, 2008. If at the end of the five years the dean of students determines SAE has fulfilled the obligations under the agreement, SAE shall be granted unconditional registration as a student organization. A number of terms of the agreement related to structural change in SAE operations shall remain in effect permanently;
Must strictly prohibit hazing. SAE shall take an active role in the development and delivery of training on the prohibition of hazing and on alcohol abuse. All members of SAE shall attend an annual educational program on hazing and alcohol awareness and abuse issues that is approved by the dean of students;
Shall permanently bar from membership any member who engages in hazing;
Shall suspend any member who provides alcohol to a minor or any member who fails to report hazing or provision of alcohol to a minor;
Shall annually inform pledges and members of the terms of the agreement prior to the pledging period;
Will limit its fall pledge period to eight weeks and include in its Pledge Education Program elements approved by the dean of students;
Will initiate a required pledges study hall from Sunday through Thursday of each week during the pledging period;
Shall provide its chapter adviser and the Dean of Students Office a written schedule of all SAE new member recruitment or rush activities;
Shall assure that all pre- and post-party and event clean-ups and other housekeeping activities during the pledge period will involve all members of SAE, not just pledges;
Shall employ a full-time resident assistant who will live in the SAE house and help chapter officers supervise the fraternity’s activities;
Is subject to “unannounced visits to the SAE house and its common areas” by the university police department, Austin Police, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission or the Dean of Students Office;
Shall assure that alcohol served at any party or event must be dispensed by a third-party vendor, provider or caterer licensed by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission;
Must allow a representative of its Advisory Board, the chapter adviser or a resident assistant to monitor all new member or rush activities;
Will eliminate any non-sanctioned parties or events.
The university shall promptly report to the Travis County attorney any allegation or report of hazing or provision of alcohol to a minor by SAE, the agreement says.
The agreement also establishes guidelines for future SAE parties and events. The guidelines include, among other things, giving advance notice to the university and SAE alumni advisers of large parties, limiting the attendance of guests at large parties to those named on a pre-party guest list, requiring the use of off-duty police officers to distribute tamper-proof wrist bands and to provide security, and limiting parties or events to Fridays and Saturdays with an ending time of 2 a.m.
“We must be unyielding in eliminating the abuse of students through hazing at The University of Texas at Austin,” said Juan C. González, vice president for student affairs. “Our commitment, led by President Powers, to ending hazing, to ending cruelty and to ending abuse is absolute. Identifying and prosecuting hazing violations is of paramount importance to the university. It is critical that every student, faculty and staff member be aware of the extreme danger associated with hazing. Protecting one another from harm is a responsibility we all share.”
“The agreement is intended to significantly restructure how SAE conducts its pledge and initiation processes and its social activities, and, in appropriate cases, serve as a template and catalyst for change for other fraternal organizations affiliated with UT,” the agreement says.
“We are very thankful for the efforts of the president and his office in allowing us to take a leadership role in improving fraternity life at The University of Texas at Austin,” said Jody Lane, alumni adviser for SAE.
Charlie Nettles, president of SAE at The University of Texas at Austin, said, “The Sigma Alpha Epsilon officers, members and alumni are extremely happy with the agreement. It is a great step in the right direction for all Greek organizations, and we look forward to the benefits it will reap for the fraternity and sorority community and its relations with the university.”
“We are very pleased with the efforts of The University of Texas at Austin and Sigma Alpha Epsilon to address the problem of hazing and improve fraternity life on campus,” said Roy Q. Minton, attorney for SAE.
The agreement was signed for the university by Powers, Gonzalez and Soncia R. Reagins-Lilly, senior associate vice president and dean of students, for SAE by Lane and Nettles, and by the respective attorneys for each, Patti Ohlendorf for The University of Texas at Austin and Minton for SAE.
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April 14, 2008
Dahlby named new j-school director
From a UT press release:
Tracy Dahlby, the Frank A. Bennack, Jr. Chair in Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin, has been appointed director of the School of Journalism for a two-year term.
The school’s current director, Lorraine Branham, was named dean of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, effective July 1.
“Tracy’s appointment comes at a critical juncture in the School of Journalism’s history,” said Roderick P. Hart, dean of the College of Communication. “With the school’s six-year accreditation review drawing near and important decisions to be made about programming space in the Belo Center for New Media, it is essential to have stability in the director’s position during that time.
“He has a world-wide vision and understands both the scholarly and professional sides of journalism education. These traits will enable him to build upon the advances made under Lorraine Branham’s leadership and will help the school lay out new trajectories.”
Dahlby joined the School of Journalism faculty in 2006 after three decades as a journalist specializing in international affairs, including 13 years living in Asia where he was Tokyo bureau chief for Newsweek and The Washington Post. In 1987, he became managing editor of Newsweek International in New York, where he directed and coordinated worldwide news coverage.
A former contributor to National Geographic with stories about political, social and economic developments in Asia, his most recent book is “Allah’s Torch: A Report from Behind the Scenes in Asia’s War on Terror.”
Dahlby earned his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Washington in Seattle and his master’s degree in East Asian studies from Harvard University. Dahlby’s bio is available online.
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April 9, 2008
UT fires up world's most powerful laser
Researchers at the University of Texas have begun putting the most powerful laser in the world through its paces.
The unit, which sits beneath the plaza of the physics building, reached more than one petawatt of power on March 31, said Todd Ditmire, a physics professor and director of UT’s Texas Center for High-Intensity Laser Science. One petawatt is a quadrillion watts.
When the laser is turned on, it has the power output of more than 2,000 times that of all power plants in the United States, Ditmire said. It’s brighter than sunlight on the surface of the sun.
On the other hand, the laser doesn’t have much stamina, its juice lasting for just one-tenth of one-trillionth of a second.
The laser will be used to create and study matter in extreme conditions, according to a news release from the university. This includes gases at temperatures greater than those in the sun and solids at pressures of many billions of atmospheres. In short, researchers will be able to create astronomical phenomena in miniature, including supernovas.
“We can learn about these large astronomical objects from tiny reactions in the lab because of the similarity of the mathematical equations that describe the events,” Ditmire said.
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April 7, 2008
UT sued for considering race in admissions
The University of Texas is violating the Constitution and civil rights laws by considering race and ethnicity in deciding whether to admit students, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Austin today.
The plaintiff, Abigail Noel Fisher, 18, a student at Stephen F. Austin High School in Sugar Land, applied to UT and received a rejection letter last month. She ranked in the top 12 percent of her class.
UT is required under state law to accept any student from Texas in the top 10 percent. The university considers race and ethnicity, among other factors, in deciding whether to admit other students. Fisher is white.
“But for her race and ethnicity, it is our belief she would have been admitted to the University of Texas,” said Edward Blum, director of the Project on Fair Representation, a legal-defense group that fights the use of race and ethnicity in public policy.
The project, based in Washington, D.C., is underwriting part of the litigation costs.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 in a case involving the University of Michigan that race and ethnicity could be considered in admissions decisions. But Monday’s lawsuit contends that such affirmative action is allowed only after race-neutral approaches are found inadequate. The suit argues that the top 10 percent law is working, but UT officials contend that the law hasn’t done enough to boost minority enrollment.
“Each year we are very fortunate to receive applications from thousands of very able high school seniors, but as with many universities around the country, we are limited in the number of applicants we can admit,” said Patti Ohlendorf, UT’s vice president for legal affairs. “We believe that our undergraduate admissions policies are well administered and in compliance with Supreme Court precedent and all other applicable law.”
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April 4, 2008
UT's Ransom Center posts Mike Wallace interviews
Fifty years ago, broadcast journalist Mike Wallace interviewed Hollywood star Gloria Swanson about sex appeal and plastic surgery. He asked former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt about Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. And he questioned Supreme Court justice William Douglas about freedom of expression.
Wallace, now 89, donated these and other segments from “The Mike Wallace Interview,” a television program that ran for two seasons in 1957 and 1958, to UT’s Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center in the early 1960s.
The 30-minute interviews have been transferred from 16 millimeter kinescope and, starting today, can be viewed online.
I’ve watched just one segment so far, an interview of architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and I can tell you it’s riveting stuff. The pace is slower, the probing deeper than current TV news fare. One gets a good sense of Wright’s self-importance, his disdain for the common man and his views on everything from Salvador Dali (“clever” and “somewhat” artistic) to the American Legion (“professional warriors”).
I particularly enjoyed how the interview veered off in unexpected directions occasionally, thanks to the luxury of time. Consider this exchange, which came after Wallace agreed with Wright’s observation that everyone has something for which to apologize.
WRIGHT: For instance, that thing you have in your mouth now.
WALLACE: This cigarette?
WRIGHT: Is that something that you feel like … apologizing for?
WALLACE: Not at all, I enjoy it. Can I offer you one?
WRIGHT: That is just the point.
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April 2, 2008
Conradt to speak at UT commencement
Jody Conradt, former women’s basketball coach at the University of Texas, will deliver the commencement address at the universitywide graduation ceremony May 17 on the Main Mall, UT announced today.
Conradt coached for 31 years at UT. She is known for 900 career victories and a 1985-86 undefeated championship team. UT officials said she also earned the respect of academics and administrators for a career that saw 99 percent of her letter winners earn their college degrees.
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March 26, 2008
UT regents approve higher tuition
Tuition and fees at the University of Texas at Austin will rise nearly 5 percent in fall 2008 and a similar percentage a year later, to $4,477 a semester.
The new charges for undergraduates from Texas were approved today by the university’s governing board. The charges comply with a limit of 4.95 percent or $150, whichever is greater, in annual increases for the two-year period adopted in December by the UT System Board of Regents.
Six of the other eight academic campuses in the UT System were allowed to raise tuition and fees above the 4.95 percent and $150 caps. That is because the regents decided to exempt student-authorized fees from the calculation. Increases in fall 2008 at those campuses will range up to 9.29 percent.
At UT-Austin, tuition and fees will rise in the fall by $201, or 4.94 percent, to $4,266 a semester. Charges will rise by $211.18, or 4.95 percent, in fall 2009 to $4,477.
Most students in the UT System pay 20 percent to 30 percent less than the sticker price when financial aid is taken into account, said UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof.
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March 18, 2008
$55 million donation appreciated, Longhorn-style
Sarah and Ernest Butler of Austin received multiple standing ovations today at the announcement of their $55 million donation to the University of Texas’ music school. The retired physician and his wife also got a couple of burnt-orange T-shirts.
Glenn Chandler, the school’s director, said the T-shirts made things really official. They bore the school’s new title: Butler School of Music.
“We’re humbled, we’re confirmed and we’re inspired,” Chandler said.
Self-effacing as ever, the Butlers thanked the music school’s faculty and the university’s administration for their dedication to the arts. Sarah Butler, waving a packet of vegetable seeds destined for her backyard garden, said she hoped the couple’s gift would function much like those seeds: as an instrument for creating wonderful things in the future.
UT President William Powers Jr. called the Butlers “two very extraordinary people,” adding: “And all this from two Baylor graduates. They must be doing something right up there in Waco.”
For more information on the donation from these longtime arts philanthropists, check out my story in today’s paper.
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March 7, 2008
McVeigh archive temporarily closed
Public access to the Timothy McVeigh archive at the University of Texas’ Center for American History has been temporarily suspended while Social Security numbers are blacked out to comply with privacy laws.
The archive includes transcripts, FBI reports, correspondence, videotapes, photographs and other materials relating to the case of McVeigh, the decorated Gulf War veteran and government hater who was executed in 2001 for bombing the federal building in Oklahoma City.
“We didn’t realize that the collection is full of Social Security numbers,” Don Carleton, the center’s director, said today. “It’s salted all through the collection, which is a major headache for us.
“Our goal is to get that collection open as quickly as we can. I’m guessing we’ll get this thing totally open by this summer, but that’s just a guess.”
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