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November 12, 2009
Praise draws a tweak
David Callender, president of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, took a moment at today’s meeting of the UT System Board of Regents to praise Kenneth Shine, to whom he reports, for his leadership in the national effort to improve patient safety by reducing errors, speeding up blood transfusions and other measures.
To which Shine, the executive vice chancellor for health affairs, offered this deadpan reply: “Thank you, David. Remember, salaries are frozen this year.”
After the chuckles subsided, Callender replied: “Well, it was a try.”
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November 11, 2009
University fund regaining some ground
How are the endowments overseen by the University of Texas System Board of Regents faring these days? Bruce Zimmerman, CEO of the University of Texas Investment Management Co., put it this way at a regents’ meeting today:
“We are making up ground, but we have more ground to make up.”
The main endowment, the Permanent University Fund, which benefits the UT System and the Texas A&M University System, stood at $9.7 billion on Aug. 31, the end of the fiscal year. That’s down about 15 percent from the $11.4 billion balance a year earlier, but the net investment return — which excludes distributions and certain other factors — was down 13 percent.
The PUF has ticked north in the past couple of months and totaled about $10 billion at the end of October, Zimmerman said. When other endowments and operating funds are added, UTIMCO’s assets under management total about $21 billion.
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UT regents briefed on distance, online learning
The University of Texas System Board of Regents is meeting today and tomorrow in Austin. Along with the usual personnel appointments, budget items and so forth, the regents carved out some time, as they often do, for a briefing on an issue in higher education. The issue du jour: distance and online learning.
Distance learning, simply put, is education that takes place when the instructor is in one location and the student in another. For instance, students in a remote location might gather in a classroom to observe a professor’s lecture via closed-circuit TV, while other students observe the professor in the flesh. Online learning is just that: learning that takes place via computer.
Both distance and online learning are increasingly common and are likely to become even more prevalent, according to several UT System campus presidents who participated in the briefing. They cautioned, however, that such learning is a better fit for some disciplines than others.
Software management and some business courses can be a good fit, said UT-Dallas President David Daniel. Physics or engineering with a laboratory component? Not so much. And by the way, Daniel said, online delivery of courses isn’t likely to save money, especially if the course goes national or global, with 24-hour chat requirements, teaching assistants and other measures.
Online learning seems to be working well for a Ph.D. program in nursing launched in that format last year, said UT-Tyler President Rodney Mabry. Seventy-two students have signed up this year for a new master’s program in educational leadership, he said.
UT-Austin President William Powers Jr. sounded a warning note. Technology, he said, can be a terrific supplement to the regular classroom experience, but it’s important to maintain the “learning communities” that develop when people study together on a campus.
“We would be reluctant to grant a degree to somebody who had not been on our campus,” Powers said.
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October 12, 2009
Regents approve plan to expand academic medicine in Austin
The governing board of the University of Texas System unanimously approved a plan today to expand medical education and research in Austin through a partnership involving the system, the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and the Seton Family of Hospitals.
“It really is a historic day for the UT System and Central Texas,” said James Huffines, chairman of the Board of Regents.
The board’s approval comes as no surprise. Officials have been working for years to strengthen academic medicine in Austin. The plan could advance efforts to establish a medical school here, but there are no guarantees.
My story about the plan in today’s paper describes it in greater detail.
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What the Brackenridge proposals cost
Some readers have asked how much the University of Texas System Board of Regents is spending for the Brackenridge tract development proposals by Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP and its subcontractors.
I’ve previously reported that the maximum possible total of fees and expenses under the Cooper firm’s contract with the regents is $5.1 million.
Here is some additional detail from Florence Mayne, the UT System’s director of real estate:
The total budget is $5,139,882. That budget consists of a professional fee component and a reimbursable expense component.
The total professional fee budgeted is $4,590,782. Of that budgeted amount, $87,552.77 remains to be paid when all work is completed.
The total amount of the fee that Cooper Robertson earned was $2,060,920; the remainder of the budgeted amount (which remainder is $2,529,862) was budgeted for Cooper Robertson to pay its subcontractors (almost all of whom are here in Austin). (UT pays Cooper Robertson, and Cooper Robertson then pays its subs.)
The total expense amount budgeted is $549,100. Of that budgeted amount, a total of $299,481.83 in expenses has been reimbursed.
So, a total of $4,802,711.06 of the overall budgeted amount of $5,139,882 has been paid.
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August 31, 2009
A postscript on relocating Muny historical marker
Here’s a postscript concerning the question of where the historical marker concerning the integration of Lions Municipal Golf Course in West Austin should be placed:
The Texas Historical Commission does not allow markers to be moved without its permission. That rule factored into the University of Texas System’s decision to insist that the marker be placed somewhere in the public right-of-way along an adjacent street. The UT System owns the Brackenridge tract, on which Muny sits, and is considering development of a commercial and residential district.
The system’s chancellor, Francisco Cigarroa, said a little more than a week ago that it wouldn’t be prudent to place the marker on the course, as the Save Muny group prefers, in light of the commission’s rule.
I asked the Historical Commission about relocation of markers. Commission spokeswoman Debbi Head did some checking, and her reply suggests that it’s not a big deal:
“We do not keep a record of requests for moving markers, nor are we required to. They come in sporadically and all in recent memory have been approved with the exception of the Young Perry Alsbury Centennial Marker in San Antonio that was placed by the state in 1936 to mark a grave site. A descendant wanted the marker moved to the Texas State Cemetery and that request was denied because it did not include disinterring any associated remains. Young Perry Alsbury was a San Jacinto veteran.”
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August 20, 2009
UT chancellor suggests second historical marker for Muny
The chancellor of the University of Texas System has extended something of an olive branch in a dispute concerning a historical marker for Lions Municipal Golf Course, which sits on university-owned land in West Austin.
In a letter to Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe, Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa said he stands by the system’s plan to place the Texas Historical Commission marker about the course’s integration in the public right of way along an adjacent street rather than on the course itself.
However, he suggested placing an unofficial similar marker or an interpretive display on the course or at the clubhouse.
“We agree with you that the golfers at Muny have a special interest in the history of the course,” wrote Cigarroa, who provided a copy of the letter bearing Tuesday’s date to the American-Statesman today.
“In that regard, I have spoken with UT Austin President Bill Powers, who has indicated an interest in working with you and with the City of Austin, as the golf course tenant, to explore possible ways to tell the story of the golf course at the site.”
Biscoe has been a proponent of placing the state marker on the first tee, which is also the preference of Save Muny, a grassroots group that sponsored the effort to create a marker.
With the future of the golf course uncertain, Cigarroa said that wouldn’t be a prudent location because a state marker cannot be moved without Historical Commission approval. The system is studying the possibility of major commercial and residential development at Muny and other portions of the university-owned Brackenridge tract.
An unofficial second marker or interpretive display wouldn’t be subject to such regulation and could be relocated if necessary, he said.
Cigarroa said he hasn’t looked into the cost but is confident that issue could be worked out.
“The issue is being sensitive to both sides,” he said.
For more on the future of the Brackenridge tract, click here.
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August 19, 2009
73 UT System faculty members honored
The University of Texas System Board of Regents announced today that 73 faculty members at the system’s academic campuses are inaugural recipients of the regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards and will share $2 million.
Excerpting from the system’s new release:
The awards, which range from $15,000 to $30,000 depending on level of experience, are believed to be among the highest in the country for rewarding outstanding undergraduate faculty performance and innovation.
Winners in the contingent faculty category will be awarded $15,000 each, while those in the tenure-track category will receive $25,000 each. Tenured faculty awardees will receive $30,000 each. A full list of honorees and the institutions at which they teach is available online at www.utsystem.edu/teachingawards/.
“These awards demonstrate our commitment to maintaining excellence in our classrooms and send a clear message to our campus communities that we value exceptional performance and innovation,” said Regents’ Chairman James R. Huffines.
The awards program was established by Regents in August 2008 as the latest in a series of UT System-launched initiatives aimed at fostering innovative approaches to teaching, research and commercialization endeavors at all 15 UT System institutions.
“We believe these new initiatives, coupled with our previous efforts to elevate excellence at our campuses, further enhances our standing on the higher education landscape, substantially improving our ability to bring together the brightest students and faculty,” said David B. Prior, the UT System’s executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
Candidates for the teaching awards were nominated at the campus level, then evaluated on several criteria, including student and peer evaluations; teaching portfolio (which includes pedagogical innovation and teaching objectives); and student learning outcomes.
“It was essential to be very rigorous in setting the highest standards for these teaching awards,” Prior said. “These awards are a tangible demonstration that UT faculty advance excellence in service to our students by diligently imparting state-of-the-art information and concepts based upon scholarship and research, and by using the very best teaching methods,” Prior added.
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Regents' panel to review Brackenridge tract plans
A special committee of the University of Texas System’s Board of Regents was named today to review a consultant’s recommendations for developing the Brackenridge tract in West Austin.
James Huffines, chairman of the regents, named Printice Gary, Janiece Longoria and Gene Powell to the panel. The trio will review two conceptual master plans prepared by New York-based Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP.
Both plans call for substantial commercial and residential development on the 350-acre tract along the Colorado River. Under one plan, UT-Austin’s biological field laboratory would be downsized; the other plan would relocate the lab to some other location that has not been chosen. Both plans would eliminate the Lions Municipal Golf Course.
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August 13, 2009
Muny historical marker in storage for now
The historical marker concerning the desegregation of Lions Municipal Golf Course has been delivered and is being stored in a back room at the course, awaiting a decision by the University of Texas System on where it will be placed.
My colleague, Kevin Robbins, who covers golf and other sports, writes about this latest development concerning the Muny marker at his blog, Backspin.
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June 18, 2009
Two plans for UT's Brackenridge tract unveiled
A municipal golf course that has operated in West Austin since 1924 should be eliminated to accommodate a major commercial and residential development that would generate income for academic programs at the University of Texas, consultants told the school’s governing board today.
Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP, an architectural and urban planning firm that has been studying the university-owned Brackenridge tract for more than a year, also recommended that the Board of Regents downsize or relocate a biological field laboratory. In addition, the firm called for razing 500 student apartments on the tract and dramatically enlarging a nearby student apartment complex.
“The board will spend a great deal of time in the coming months and probably the coming years studying these plans, and then we will eventually make some decisions,” said James Huffines, chairman of the regents.
“But I want to emphasize: These are just recommendations. We are a long way from making any decisions.”
The recommendations are detailed in two conceptual master plans unveiled by the Cooper firm at a regents’ meeting in Austin.
Both plans call for eliminating the Lions Municipal Golf Course and developing thousands of housing units, as well as offices, retail shops, as many as three hotels, tree-lined trails and parkland.
The recommendations also include realigning portions of Lake Austin Boulevard and Exposition Boulevard, building a new street from the corner of Exposition and Enfield Road to Red Bud Trail in an effort to relieve congestion and adding northbound and southbound on-ramps to MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) just east of the tract.
Under one of the conceptual plans, called Brackenridge Park, the field lab would be downsized to 56 acres from its current 82 acres. A total of 6,600 housing units could be accommodated under the plan, said David McGregor, project director with Cooper. Using his estimate of 1.5 people per unit, that works out to 9,900 residents.
The other plan, called Brackenridge Village, eliminates the field lab and accommodates 8,700 housing units, with 13,050 residents. A field lab would be established at some other site, yet to be identified, along the Colorado, McGregor said.
The recommendations are certain to intensify a long-simmering debate about the future of the 345-acre Brackenridge tract, which was donated to the university in 1910 by George Washington Brackenridge, a regent and banker.
Golfers regard Lions Municipal, also known as Muny, as an iconic place. Faculty members who conduct research and hold classes at the field lab say its location close to campus and its decades-long history of field data make it irreplaceable. Increased traffic is likely to be a major concern for West Austin residents.
No development could take place on Muny or the field lab until 2019, under the terms of a 1989 development agreement between the City of Austin and the Board of Regents. That is also when the city’s lease for the golf course expires.
But other parcels — notably two sections with a total of 500 apartments — could be redeveloped for commercial purposes at any time.
The Cooper firm called for razing those apartments and rebuilding the nearby Gateway student apartment complex, off Sixth Street, to accommodate 800 to 825 units, with occupancy in September 2012. That would be an increase of about 100 units from the current capacity of the Gateway apartments and the Brackenridge tract apartments combined.
A 15-acre sports complex operated by the West Austin Youth Association would be retained, though perhaps relocated within the Brackenridge tract. Two parcels would be set aside for possible future uses — one for an elementary school and one for any university need that could arise.
“We came to the understanding that WAYA in fact long-term would be a valuable asset to the site and actually serve future residents and existing residents,” said Paul Milana, partner-in-charge for the Cooper firm.
The case for preserving the 141-acre golf course is not nearly so compelling, he said.
“After considering its size and its use and the availability of its use, we felt that long-term it was not an appropriate use to be preserved on the site, underscoring that this is a 40- to 50-year outlook,” Milana said.
“The ability to utilize nearly half of the acreage of the site gives us so many options with regard to providing freely accessible, completely open parkland that can be flexible and respond to a wide variety of folks.”
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April 16, 2009
UTIMCO chief cool to proposed bonus approvals
I have a story in today’s paper about a legislative proposal to subject the University of Texas Investment Management Co. to increased oversight. Its board would be revamped and bonus pay would be subject to approval by the governor, the state attorney general and the Legislative Budget Board.
Deadlines and space for the print edition being what they are, I wasn’t able to include a comment by UTIMCO Chairman Erle Nye about the bonus restrictions. Here’s what he said:
“The administrative process that would be necessary to seek approval of the governor, Legislative Budget Board and attorney general would be very time consuming and make it difficult if not impossible to get timely approval. Incentive compensation is very common in many industries and most endowments.”
Clearly, he’s not thrilled about the potential for such restrictions on the company, which invests billions in behalf of the UT System and the Texas A&M University System. Some aspects of the bill, authored by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, don’t give Nye heartburn.
For example, he’s OK with a provision that says the A&M regents would get to name one of UTIMCO’s directors. Under the current arrangement, the UT regents already follow the recommendation from the A&M regents, but this would formalize the Aggies’ authority. Nye is a former chairman of the A&M regents.
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April 13, 2009
Huffines elected chairman of UT regents
The Board of Regents of the University of Texas System elected Regent James Huffines, an Austin banker, as its chairman this morning.
The vote was unanimous.
“We have a lot of work to do to move higher education forward and create excellence,” said Huffines, pictured at right.
Board members elected Regents Colleen McHugh and Paul Foster as vice chairmen.
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UT regents to elect new leader
The governing board of the University of Texas System is scheduled to elect a new chairman today. The change in leadership for the state’s largest university system comes during a bumpy legislative session and during an economic downturn that has caused the system’s endowments to lose billions.
The new chairman of the Board of Regents will succeed H. Scott Caven Jr. of Houston, who had held that post since Nov. 9, 2007. Regent James Huffines of Austin has been filling in as chairman since Caven’s term as a regent expired.
Huffines, a banker and longtime adviser to Gov. Rick Perry, is thought to be a strong possibility for chairman. If elected by his fellow regents, he would be only the fourth person since 1881 to serve two stints as chairman. Huffines led the regents from June 2004 to November 2007.
Perry announced in February that he was reappointing Huffines to a six-year term on the board. On paper, the board members elect a chairman, but in actual practice they typically act on quiet signals from the governor’s office.
Perry also named three new regents to the nine-member panel in February. (A 10th member, a student regent, gets no vote.) The three are R. Steven Hicks of Austin, the chairman of a private investment firm; William Powell , a businessman from San Antonio; and Robert Stillwell , a lawyer for an energy-oriented investment firm in Houston.
This has been a trying legislative session for the UT System. Regent Robert Rowling abruptly resigned during a Senate hearing when lawmakers questioned his approval of more than $3 million in bonuses for employees of the system’s investment arm, which he had chaired. Rowling and Caven defended the bonuses as having been earned before the financial markets plunged.
Sen. Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, is pushing proposed legislation that would impose additional oversight on bonuses and investments. The system’s investment arm, known as the University of Texas Investment Management Co., has seen its holdings decline dramatically in recent months. The main endowment it manages for the regents, the Permanent University Fund, is worth about $8.5 billion, down from $11.4 billion at the end of August.
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March 17, 2009
Ex-regent wants investment review
Charles Miller resigned as chairman of the University of Texas System regents in May 2004. Nearly five years later, he still likes to weigh in on policy matters from time to time.
A recent letter to H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the Board of Regents, is a case in point. Miller makes a strong plea for a complete review of the regents’ investment operations.
The regents oversee the University of Texas Investment Management Co., which, in turn, manages about $18 billion for the UT System, the Texas A&M University System and other state institutions. It is the Board of Regents, though, not UTIMCO, that has ultimate legal responsibility for managing the money.
“In my opinion,” Miller writes, “this comprehensive review of investment policies and procedures is not an option. In current and future circumstances, considering the radical changes we face in the global financial system, it is the fiduciary duty of the Board of Regents.”
Here’s the full text of Miller’s letter to Caven:
Dear Scott:
In normal times it is periodically necessary to review the investment strategy used in managing financial assets of The University of Texas System and related organizational structure and operational policies. Obviously, in financial markets today, these are not normal times.
What is happening now and what will happen in the near and intermediate future is a major restructuring of the U.S. and global financial system. Virtually every organization and institution will be faced with new rules and regulations, new oversight and new demands for investment management services.
The changes which will take place affect every supplier of advisory and investment management services to institutions such as The University of Texas System and The University of Texas Investment Management System in significant ways. We should expect to see the most radical transformation of the business position of investment management firms in history. The historical relationships of the various financial market players are certain to change, creating both risks and opportunities for owners of substantial assets, such as The U.T. System, as well as risks and opportunities for the manager of managers such as U.T.I.M.C.O.
For these reasons, I believe it is absolutely imperative for the Regents of The U.T. System to undertake a thorough and complete review of every aspect of their investment operations: Investment objectives and strategy; the structure, contract and operation of U.T.I.M.C.O.; System staff and support; communications and transparency policies; compensation schemes and fees; advisors and consultants; and the general duties of the Regents as fiduciaries.
In my opinion, this review needs to be thorough, timely and highly visible and it should start with the assumption that all earlier assumptions should be questioned under a totally new environment.
The benefits derived from engaging in this thorough review process are many, not the least an opportunity to engage the public, policymakers and beneficiaries in an open discussion about how the Regents carry out this extremely important duty.
In my opinion, this comprehensive review of investment policies and procedures is not an option. In current and future circumstances, considering the radical changes we face in the global financial system, it is the fiduciary duty of the Board of Regents. I’m sure you will see the wisdom of carrying out this duty as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Charles Miller
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March 10, 2009
UT regent named to investment board
University of Texas System regents, as expected, appointed Regent Janiece Longoria today to the board of the system’s investment arm.
Longoria succeeds Robert Rowling as a director of the University of Texas Investment Management Co. Rowling resigned from UTIMCO and from his position as a regent last month.
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March 9, 2009
Regent expected to be named to UT System investment board
The governing body of the University of Texas System is expected on Tuesday to name Janiece Longoria to the board of the system’s investment arm.
Longoria, a UT System regent, would replace Robert Rowling, who resigned last month when state officials criticized more than $3 million in bonuses awarded to employees of the University of Texas Investment Management Co.
Longoria, a lawyer from Houston, has been recommended for the UTIMCO post by H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the regents, according to the regents’ agenda for Tuesday’s meeting in Austin. The regents typically go along with a chairman’s request on such matters.
The regents are also scheduled to get an update on issues related to the future of patient care at the UT Medical Branch at Galveston, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ike in September. In addition, they will discuss proposed “breakthrough solutions” for improving academic productivity, such as rewarding extraordinary teachers.
Read the resolution HERE.
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February 12, 2009
Chairman of UT regents expects to be replaced
The chairman of the University of Texas System regents said today that he expects a replacement to be named imminently by the governor for him and another regent whose six-year terms expired Feb. 1.
H. Scott Caven Jr., an investment adviser from Houston, became somewhat emotional as he spoke of what an honor it was to serve on the Board of Regents. Caven said the office of Gov. Rick Perry had advised him that replacements for him and Regent John Barnhill Jr. of Brenham would be named shortly.
“By and large I have enjoyed every minute of serving on this board,” Caven said. “John and I will leave the board with our heads held high knowing that we have given our best for the citizens of the state of Texas.”
Caven said it was his understanding that Perry would reappoint Regent James Huffines of Austin to the board. Huffines’ term also ended Feb. 1.
The past week or so might have included some minutes that Caven didn’t find so enjoyable. Regent Robert Rowling, who was also chairman of the UT System’s investment arm, resigned both posts last week during a grilling by the state Senate Finance Committee. Caven subsequently defended Rowling, who was criticized by Perry and the senators for approving bonuses for the investment arm’s employees.
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February 9, 2009
Observations regarding a regent's resignation
Jottings from a reporter’s notebook in the wake of Robert Rowling’s abrupt resignation last week as vice chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents and chairman of its investment arm:
The background. The University of Texas Investment Management Co., a private nonprofit that oversees billions for the UT System, the A&M System and other state institutions, awarded its employees more than $3 million in bonuses, including $1 million to its CEO, as the markets were tanking in November. Fine print: The bonuses covered the year that ended June 30, when UTIMCO did relatively well. Rowling, an Irving-based billionaire, quit amid sharp criticism from Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and members of the Senate Finance Committee.
Speaking of fine print. Perry, Dewhurst and the Senate Finance Committee apparently didn’t do a lot of homework before blasting Rowling and UTIMCO CEO Bruce Zimmerman. I base that observation on a Perry-Dewhurst letter to Rowling, coupled with the line of questioning from senators at last week’s hearing. The letter and the senators’ questions assumed that UTIMCO’s compensation committee had approved the bonuses but that the matter had yet to be taken up by the UTIMCO board. In fact, the board approved the payments the same day the committee did, Nov. 6.
All defense, no offense. As Rowling and Zimmerman settled into their chairs at the witness table before the Senate Finance Committee, Ogden told them, “Go ahead.” But neither had any prepared remarks. It pretty much went downhill for them from that point on.
What about that faux limestone? No one in state government seemed to fuss much a few years ago when UTIMCO, under then-CEO Bob Boldt, spent $2.8 million to set up its offices in the Frost Bank Tower in Austin. The posh digs feature cherry-stained mesquite floors, blue-tinted artisan glass, a multi-colored Tibetan rug and faux limestone trim evocative of a Hill Country stream bank. My former colleague, Robert Elder, and I detailed the makeover in a front-page story in March 2006. Asked last week why the governor didn’t object to such spending, spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said he “wasn’t aware at the time.”
Neither fish nor fowl. Although UTIMCO is a private, nonprofit company, it answers to a public entity, the UT Board of Regents. UTIMCO is subject to state open records and open meetings laws. The thinking behind its creation in 1996 was that a private model would produce more competitive investment returns. Part and parcel of that model is hinging bonus pay on how well investments fare. Ogden is questioning that practice because he says it encourages the money managers to take outsize risks. He says UTIMCO ought to measure performace against an essentially risk-free Treasury bill, an approach that UTIMCO officials fear would lead to underperformance in funds that are expected to meet current spending needs while also growing sufficiently against inflation to meet future needs.
Once a regent, always a regent. OK, that’s a stretch. But this much is true, according to UT System officials: Although Rowling put his resignation in writing, he’s still technically a regent and counts toward a quorum until a replacement is named and sworn in. Besides Rowling, three other regents whose terms expired Feb. 1 need to be replaced; those three likewise will continue as regents until successors are in place. “As soon as the governor determines the best-qualified people to fill these positions, he will make an announcement on those appointments.” Cesinger said.
The Hutchison factor. The governor’s ire was driven purely by large bonuses at a time when state agencies are being asked to tighten their belts, Cesinger said. But it would be hard to ignore the fact that Rowling, a Perry appointee who contributed more than $200,000 to his campaigns, had recently signed on as a member of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison’s campaign leadership team. Hutchison, R-Texas, has said she’ll jump into the governor’s race this summer against Perry. Today in Austin she told reporters, including my colleague W. Gardner Selby, that she thought Rowling was set up and that there was an element of retribution to it: “I think the setup was partly a payback, I do. He (Rowling) thinks so, too. I think that’s unfortunate.”
Now what? Ogden told Rowling that he wanted him to “come back here in 30 days and tell me about the mistakes that you have made and how you’re going to fix them going forward.” That task will fall to whomever is named the next chairman of UTIMCO.
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January 27, 2009
UT System names UT-Pan American interim president
The University of Texas System has named Charles Sorber interim president of the University of Texas-Pan American.
Sorber, pictured at right, will fill the top spot on the Edinburg campus while a search committee finds the replacement for Blandina “Bambi” Cardenas, who announced her retirement last week.
In a prepared statement, Cardenas, who has led the campus in Edinburg, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, for more than four years, cited “the pressures of the last few months,” including surgery last year and the “need to take greater care of this somewhat battered, mended heart.”
She made no mention of an anonymous allegation last year that she plagiarized her doctoral dissertation. The allegation prompted an investigation by the UT System that has been stopped as a result of her announcement.
Sorber is a professor emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering. His appointment is effective Feb. 23.
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January 25, 2009
An early sign of UT chancellor's ambition
I wrote a profile for today’s paper about Francisco Cigarroa, who on Feb. 2 becomes the chancellor of the University of Texas System. The story — actually two articles, a video and photographs — is online as well, of course. Just click here.
A writer always has material that, for space reasons, doesn’t fit into the print version. One anecdote that fell into that category involved Cigarroa’s first job, as a teenaged back-office clerk for Joe Brand, a rather high-end clothing store in Laredo.
Seymon Deutsch, the owner of the store, said he saw early signs of an uncommon drive to succeed and excel. One of the first tasks assigned to the youngster was to operate a machine that stamped customers’ names and addresses onto metal plates for credit cards.
The spacing of the machine’s keys turned out to be slightly different from the typewriter Francisco had been used to, and he made a number of mistakes. He stuffed the rejects into his pockets, but they made a jingling sound that gave him away. Soon enough, he mastered the technique.
“He would not leave anything unfinished,” Deutsch said when I interviewed him at his office on the second floor of the store. “His desk was always clear at the end of the day.”
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January 20, 2009
UT-Pan Am president resigns
The president of the University of Texas at Pan American announced today that she is resigning, effective Jan. 30.
In a prepared statement, Blandina “Bambi” Cardenas, who has led the campus in Edinburg, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, for more than four years, cited “the pressures of the last few months,” including surgery last year and the “need to take greater care of this somewhat battered, mended heart.”
She made no mention of an anonymous allegation last year that she plagiarized her doctoral dissertation. The allegation prompted an investigation by the UT System that has been stopped as a result of her announcement.
“I don’t think there’s much point in continuing an investigation of a person who’s actually resigned from our system,” said David Prior, the system’s executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
Cardenas reimbursed UT-Pan Am in 2007 for more than $7,000 in improvements to her home and for use of a campus vehicle after auditors found system rules were violated.
H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the UT System regents, praised Cardenas as an inspirational leader who presided over the campus during a period of considerable growth. He said the regents would move quickly to name an interim president and begin a search for a successor. Paul Sale, the university’s provost and vice president for academic affairs, will assume the duties of president for the time being.
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January 10, 2009
UT regents briefed on plagiarism allegation
An investigation begun in October of a plagiarism allegation against Blandina Cardenas, president of the University of Texas at Pan American, is still under way.
Barry Burgdorf, vice chancellor and general counsel of the UT System, said today that the system’s Board of Regents was briefed on the review during a closed-door session on Friday. Burgdorf is overseeing the investigation along with David Prior, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
The review was prompted by a packet of materials, sent anonymously to UT System administrators and news organizations, alleging that Cardenas plagiarized her doctoral dissertation. She received her doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1974, according to UT System records.
In 2007, Cardenas reimbursed UT-Pan American for more than $7,000 in improvements to her home and for use of a campus vehicle after auditors found UT System rules were violated. The university is in Edinburg, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
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January 9, 2009
Cigarroa formally named UT chancellor
Francisco Cigarroa, a transplant surgeon and health campus president, was formally named chancellor of the University of Texas System today.
The appointment by the system’s Board of Regents, who conducted their meeting via a telephone conference call, was expected. The regents unanimously named Cigarroa, right, the sole finalist for the position Dec. 18 after interviewing him and John Montford, a telecommunications lobbyist who was previously chancellor of the Texas Tech University System and a state senator.
Under state law, the regents could not firm up the appointment until a 21-day waiting period had elapsed. The vote today was also unanimous.
Cigarroa, 51, has been president of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio since 2000. A native of Laredo who comes from a family of physicians, he was the first Hispanic to lead a major academic health center. He now becomes the first Hispanic to serve as chief executive of the UT System, overseeing 15 academic and health campuseswith an annual operating budget of $11.5 billion, more than 194,000 students and more than 81,000 employees.
He starts the new job Feb. 2, and his compensation has yet to be negotiated. Regents Chairman H. Scott Caven Jr. said Cigarroa’s compensation likely would be similar to that of Mark Yudof, the previous chancellor. Yudof’s package totaled $775,000 a year. Caven noted that this would represent a significant reduction in pay for Cigarroa — a reference to the fact that he is currently paid for transplant surgeries that he presumably will no longer perform in the new job.
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December 20, 2008
Governor's office comments on UT regents' choice for next chancellor
There’s no doubt which candidate Gov. Rick Perry favored for the next chancellor of the University of Texas System: John Montford, a telecommunications lobbyist, former state senator and former chancellor of the Texas Tech University System.
After all, in a rare comment on a pending appointment, Perry told some San Antonio legislators in April that Montford would be a good choice.
But the nine voting members of the UT System Board of Regents got to make this call. And even though they are all Perry appointees, they had other ideas. On Thursday, they named as sole finalist for chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, a pediatric transplant surgeon who has been president of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio for the past eight years. My story about Cigarroa’s aspirations for the system is in today’s paper.
I asked Perry’s press office to comment on the regents’ decision to go with Cigarroa rather than Montford. Here’s what Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for the governor, said in an e-mail:
Dr. Francisco Cigarroa has a proven track record for increasing research and development, which is a key priority for Governor Perry. The governor is hopeful that Dr. Cigarroa’s experience and life-long commitment to science and technology education will enable the University of Texas System better compete in an increasingly global economy.
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who could challenge Perry for the GOP nomination for governor and who has made it plain that higher education would be a key campaign issue, previously issued this statement concerning the regents’ appointment:
I am very pleased that Dr. Cigarroa will lead the UT System. As a member of the Institute of Medicine, he is a nationally recognized academic. I have worked with him during his tenure as President of the UT Health Science Center in San Antonio where he had a remarkable record of success, including nearly doubling research funding.
John Montford has been an outstanding public servant as State Senator and Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System and I hope will continue to work for quality education in Texas.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who nominated Cigarroa in a letter to the regents, issued the following statement:
The naming of Dr. Francisco Cigarroa as the sole finalist for the position of chancellor of The University of Texas System is an excellent selection. I have worked with Dr. Cigarroa extensively and have been lifelong friends with him. I know he possesses the requisite abilities, talent, and energy to lead our beloved university system and work with the Texas Legislature.
Dr. Cigarroa has demonstrated remarkable leadership as President of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) and has earned respect and admiration in higher education and in public service arenas. His stature as a surgeon qualifies him to lead a system that includes six health-related institutions.
What’s more, his experiences as a university administrator have prepared him well to lead UT and the higher education community through the many challenges that lie ahead.
The University of Texas system will be fortunate to have someone of Dr. Cigarroa’s caliber and intellect as its chancellor. Texans who care about higher education will benefit from his leadership.
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, also issued a statement:
Dr. Cigarroa is a great choice. As a medical school president, he understands the value of education. More than any other system, the UT system must deliver value for education dollars in order for Texas to succeed. Most of the growth in Texas’ college graduates will be among Hispanic students and he has a wealth of experience in providing that education.
The regents are expected to make the appointment final next month. It does not require Senate confirmation.
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December 18, 2008
Francisco Cigarroa named sole finalist for UT chancellor
Francisco Cigarroa, a pediatric and transplant surgeon who is president of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, was named the sole finalist for chancellor of the UT System today.
The vote by the UT System Board of Regents was unanimous.
Although state law requires the regents to wait 21 days before firming up the appointment, today’s vote means that Cigarroa is all but certain to become the next chief executive of the state’s largest and most prestigious university system, with nine academic and six health campuses.
The regents interviewed Cigarroa and John Montford, a telecommunications executive and former chancellor of the Texas Tech University System, behind closed doors this afternoon before emerging to name Cigarroa.
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November 3, 2008
Brackenridge tract planners to outline design principles
A planning firm hired by the University of Texas’ governing board will outline its draft “design principles” this evening for future development of the 345-acre Brackenridge tract in West Austin.
The principles are expected to be broad guidelines rather than specific recommendations as to whether, for example, the Lions Municipal Golf Course should be retained or replaced with commercial development.
More detailed recommendations, in the form of at least two conceptual master plans, will be submitted to the Board of Regents in June by Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP of New York City. For now, the company is hoping to massage its draft principles during a series of workshop sessions this week at the headquarters of the Lower Colorado River Authority, 3700 Lake Austin Blvd.
Background and progress work will be displayed in a gallery format starting at 4:30 this afternoon, with representatives of Cooper’s team on hand. At 6:30 this evening, the team will give an overview of its work, describe its draft design principles and take questions.
Other highlights of this week’s sessions:
Tuesday: Gallery hours from 7:30 to 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Wednesday: Gallery hours from 7:30 to 9 a.m. and 4:30 to 6 p.m. Public work session from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Thursday: Gallery hours from 7:30 to 9 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m.
Friday: Gallery hours from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Closing presentation from 6:30 to 9 p.m.
You can learn more at the planners’ [Web site}(http://www.utbracktract.com/).
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October 17, 2008
UT regents' chairman responds to City Council
The Austin City Council, as expected, approved a resolution on Thursday calling for preservation of the Lions Municipal Golf Course and the West Austin Youth Association, both of which are on the University of Texas’ Brackenridge tract in West Austin.
The UT System Board of Regents is studying the 345-acre tract with an eye toward redevelopment that could generate more income for the university.
The resolution instructs City Manager Mark Ott to study the possibility of acquiring the parcels with bond money or by trading city-owned land for them.
H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the regents, issued the following statement:
“To meet its fiduciary and legal obligation to use the Brackenridge Tract in ways that benefit The University of Texas at Austin - and to honor the request of the land’s donor, Colonel George W. Brackenridge - The University of Texas System Board of Regents commissioned a master planning firm to develop at least two conceptual master plans for the redevelopment of the 345-acre Brackenridge Tract in West Austin. The Board selected an internationally renowned master planning firm, Cooper Robertson & Partners.
“Cooper Robertson has been at work since March on the first phase of the planning process - data gathering and analysis - which includes public involvement and consultation with important constituent groups. The Board specifically directed Cooper Robertson to include opportunities for the public to offer input as an essential element to its planning process.
“The planning process has a large scope of work, including, in addition to public input, surveying, traffic studies, infrastructure studies, market analysis and many other professional analyses of the tract, the neighborhood and the city.
“In hiring Cooper Robertson, the Board emphasized that any potential revenue realized from the future development of the land must directly benefit UT Austin’s faculty and graduate and undergraduate students.
“The Board and the master planners recognize the importance of open space in any future development; and it is important to emphasize that collaborative planning with city leaders, student housing representatives and other constituents, which has been extensive and is ongoing, is an essential element of the master planning process.
“We and the master planners have heard from many citizens of Austin who are passionate about the Brackenridge Tract. The Board, too, is passionate about the tract and its importance to the future of UT Austin. We ask the citizens of Austin and their elected officials to give Cooper Robertson time to complete the entire process. We believe that the final result will be world-class conceptual master plans and a vision for the Brackenridge Tract that will benefit UT Austin and the City of Austin for future generations.”
The master planning team will conduct a weeklong planning workshop November 3 - 7. A complete schedule and description of public events for that week may be found on the UT System Real Estate Office’s website at WWW.UTSYSTEM.EDU/REO.
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October 3, 2008
UT System weathering credit crisis nicely
I was curious about the impact of the national credit crisis on the financial operations of the University of Texas System, so I put the question to Philip Aldridge, vice chancellor for finance and business development.
His bottom line during an interview today: “We’re in good shape.”
Most of the system’s debt for construction and other projects at its 15 academic and health campuses has a fixed rate. However, $2.2 billion in short-term debt — the duration is anywhere from overnight to several months — has a floating rate, and that rate has risen, he said.
The system is paying 2 percent to 4 percent on such debt now. That’s lower than most of its peer institutions are paying but a good bit more than the 1.5 percent to 1.9 percent the system was paying before things got bumpy.
The system isn’t having any trouble borrowing money, Aldridge said. Then again, with endowment and operating reserves of about $23 billion, it’s a pretty reliable borrower. In fact, its credit rating is AAA, the highest possible and one notch higher than that of the State of Texas, he said.
Still, Aldridge wouldn’t want to be issuing long-term debt now — and doesn’t need to do so. “We can wait this out,” he said.
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September 24, 2008
Council to discuss Muny behind closed doors
Would golf be a “compelling reason” to sell part of the University of Texas’ Brackenridge tract in West Austin? The answer probably depends on whom you ask.
The Austin City Council will meet in closed session Thursday to “deliberate the purchase, exchange, lease or value” of the Lions Municipal Golf Course, which occupies 141 of the tract’s 345 acres.
“No one from the UT System has encouraged the city to explore such an option, as our board is awaiting recommendations of Cooper, Robertson master planners,” said Anthony de Bruyn, a spokesman for the system. “No decision will be made until such time as the board reviews the proposed master plans.”
The Board of Regents won’t do that until those plans are delivered in June of next year, although Cooper, Robertson & Partners will outline a series of design principles at a week-long public workshop beginning Nov. 3.
The city’s prospects for acquiring the golf course, as Betty Dunkerley and Toby Futrell had urged while the former was still a council member and the latter was city manager, seem highly uncertain. For one thing, the regents’ blue-ribbon task force recommended in its report last year against selling any of the Brackenridge tract “without a compelling reason.”
And even if the regents were in a selling mood, would the city be willing to come up with what would almost certainly be a nine-figure price? As for a land exchange, there probably aren’t many parcels that would be equivalent in value to the prime acreage occupied by Muny.
Stay tuned.
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September 19, 2008
Former UTMB president gets California post
When John Stobo was president of the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, he reported to Mark Yudof, chancellor of the UT System. Now that Yudof has become president of the University of California system, Stobo is following him to the Golden State.
The UC regents on Thursday confirmed Yudof’s recommendation to name Stobo senior vice president for health sciences and services at the UC system. The appointment is expected to be effective around Oct. 1.
Stobo is currently a professor at the Galveston campus and executive director for academic health programs, a joint appointment with that campus and the UT System.
Meanwhile, UT System Chancellor Kenneth Shine has named Steven Lieberman, a professor and vice dean for academic affairs at Galveston, to the additional position of program director for academic health programs, a joint position at that campus and the system.
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August 15, 2008
Brackenridge tract workshop schedule criticized
The University of Texas System and the company it hired to make recommendations on future development of the Brackenridge tract have taken considerable efforts to invite public comment. But a plan to hold a public workshop during the first week of November has stirred complaints because the presidential election will take place that week.
“We just can’t imagine a worse possible time to schedule that,” Bill Oakey, a photographer who lives in Tarrytown, told me this week.
People will be distracted by the election, and many residents of West Austin are likely to be involved in campaigning and in volunteering at local polling places, Oakey said.
Anthony de Bruyn, a spokesman for the UT System, said Thursday: “There will be no public activities related to the master planning process on Election Day. Additional details and a schedule of activities for the workshop will be released soon.”
As of this morning, the calendar posted by the planning team headed by Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP showed that a “weeklong workshop” would take place each day of that week, including “all day” on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 4
Oakey said he and like-minded West Austinites were contacting local elected officials in hopes of getting them to press for delaying the workshop by a week or so.
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August 12, 2008
Brackenridge tract consultants to weigh in
The planning firm hired to advise the University of Texas System Board of Regents on future development of the Brackenridge tract has been doing a lot of listening lately. Tonight, its principals will do some talking.
Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP will share “preliminary information and analyses” concerning the West Austin tract, according to a news release from the system. The session begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Lower Colorado River Authority’s Hancock Building, 3700 Lake Austin Blvd. The session is open to the public.
Meanwhile, the UT System has invited the public to participate in a second online survey concerning the tract. A link can be found on the Web site for the master planning process.
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July 17, 2008
UT regents delaying action on ethics rule
The UT System Board of Regents and the board of its investment management company will hold a joint meeting next Thursday in Austin. I figured they’d be discussing one of the more controversial items facing them: a proposed change in the company’s ethics code. I figured wrong.
Instead, the board of directors of the University of Texas Investment Management Co. will take up the matter at a separate meeting Wednesday in Austin. The regents, who will make the final call, will consider the proposal in August.
The proposal would eliminate a rule that bars directors of UTIMCO from putting their own money into the same private investments as the company. Regents and UTIMCO directors have signaled support for the change but have also expressed concern about how it might be perceived by the public.
I asked Anthony de Bruyn, a spokesman for the UT System, why the regents aren’t going to consider the matter next week, as they had earlier planned to do. De Bruyn said the item was moved to August for scheduling reasons.
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July 10, 2008
Searching for a UT System chancellor
It’s been nearly a month since Mark Yudof stopped being chancellor of the University of Texas System and started being president of the University of California system. And more than four months since he agreed to take the California job.
So I asked Anthony de Bruyn (pronounced duh-BRAIN), spokesman for the UT System, how the Board of Regents is coming in its search for a successor. His emailed reply:
“Members of the Board are actively engaged with the executive search firm reviewing applications and nominations from across the country. This includes informal conversations with a few individuals to educate them about the scope and responsibility of this important position.
“The search is ongoing and informal discussions with individuals in various locations will continue, as needed, to find the right person; how long that will take is unknown. There are very few individuals with the experience and skill set necessary to lead a large, complex enterprise such as the UT System.”
The enterprise consists of nine academic campuses and six health institutions, with a collective operating budget of $10.7 billion, 194,000 students and more than 81,000 employees.
Gov. Rick Perry told a few state legislators from San Antonio back in April that John Montford, an AT&T Inc. lobbyist and former Texas Tech University System chancellor, would be a good choice for CEO of the UT System. Montford is also a former state senator.
The regents get to make the final call, but it’s a safe bet that they’ll at least consider Montford. All of the regents are Perry appointees.
A growing number of chancellors in Texas have political and business backgrounds, as opposed to the traditional academic credentials.
Mike McKinney at Texas A&M has been a state representative, chief of staff for Perry, CEO of a health care plan, a family practice physician and a senior official in the UT System. Kent Hance at Texas Tech taught law for a while and has also been a member of the U.S. House, a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, owner of a construction company and a developer of apartments. Charles Matthews at Texas State has been mayor of Garland and a member of the Railroad Commission, but also earned a doctoral degree in higher education administration.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the UT regents, most of whom are steeped in business and politics, would look closely at candidates with such backgrounds, especially in a state where legislative relations are so important in the successful operation of public universities.
By the same token, the regents could damage the system’s reputation by choosing someone with little or no academic heft. After all, some of the system’s institutions — notably UT-Austin on the academic side and the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas on the health side — compete at the highest intellectual levels. And Yudof, who elevated the system’s profile, had solid academic credentials, having served as provost at UT-Austin and president of the University of Minnesota.
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July 7, 2008
Scarred land has a Longhorn look
An alert reader e-mailed me today to point out something curious about the Texon Scar, a tract of University of Texas System land in West Texas that was denuded by salt water, a byproduct of oil production.
If you plug the location into Google Maps for a satellite view, the area looks an awful lot like the Longhorn logo. Check it out:
For more on the so-called Texon Scar, you could read my story in today’s paper.
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Little left of once-booming oil towns Texon, Best
I have a story in today’s paper about efforts to restore the landscape near Santa Rita No. 1, the first oil well on University of Texas System land. It turns out that saltwater from the early decades of production in the area continues to poison vegetation on the West Texas tract.
UT System officials and Marathon Oil Co., which has leased the area from the system since 1962, are collaborating to terrace the soil and plant salt-tolerate seedlings.
The area in question is pretty remote. But in the 1920s and ‘30s, it was a happenin’ place. The Big Lake Oil Co., which took over from Texon Oil and Land Co., driller of the first well, built a company town named, appropriately, Texon. I couldn’t find anyone who knows where the name Texon came from, by the way.
Unlike many rough-and-tumble oil towns, Texon was rather civilized, with a grade school, golf course, swimming pool, tennis courts, church, hospital and theater, according to the Handbook of Texas Online.
The nearby town of Best, in contrast, had a wild reputation, apparently well deserved. As an article in the Handbook of Texas put it, there were enough murders, knifings and brawls that the slogan became “the town with the Best name in the world and the Worst reputation.”
Hardly anything is left of Texon and Best, which between them had several thousand residents in the ‘20s. When I toured the area several weeks ago with Steve Hartmann, executive director of university lands, he pointed to the remains of a cinder-block building that had been the jail in Best.
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April 23, 2008
Perry suggests Red Raider for UT System chancellor job
Former Texas Tech University System chancellor John Montford would make a good University of Texas System chancellor, Gov. Rick Perry has told several San Antonio legislators.
Montford, a former state senator and current AT&T executive, led the Texas Tech system from 1996-2001.
The governor made the suggestion Monday when he met informally over burgers in San Antonio with Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, Rep. David Leibowitz, Rep. Jose Menendez and Rep. Joaquin Castro, the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle reported Wednesday.
“He seemed to suggest that if it were up to him, he had a preference for a non-academician and that John Montford would be considered — was in the running,” Castro said.
Montford, who has two degrees from UT-Austin including a law degree, said he would be most interested in the UT chancellor’s job.
“That would be the culmination of a lifelong passion for higher education. I’m flattered if the governor did mention my name,” Montford said.
UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof is leaving in mid-June to become chancellor of the University of California. The UT Board of Regents will launch a national search before choosing Yudof’s successor. Castro said he asked Perry for his thoughts.
“All I could get from it was that Montford was being considered,” Castro said. “It was telling that (Montford was) one of the first people that the governor thinks of. It’s not like he went through a litany of 20 people, or something.”
Montford, 64, spent 12 years in the Texas Senate, where he chaired the finance committee, before retiring to become chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. He is now a senior vice president for San Antonio-based AT&T.
Van de Putte confirmed that Perry threw out Montford’s name in a conversation about the next UT chancellor, but she called it mere speculation.
“It was a very casual meeting,” she said. “I wouldn’t take anything to the bank.” She said the chancellor discussion was sandwiched between talk about who’s having a baby, who is getting hired, Aggie Muster, fallen soldiers, skyrocketing fuel prices and the way teenagers grow up so fast.
Perry did say that the UT System has had success with leaders from outside academia, Van de Putte said, but they also talked about successful leaders who came from the inside, such as Elsa Murano, president of Texas A&M University.
The UT System consists of nine academic universities and six health institutions. It has more than 194,000 students and 81,000 employees and an $11 billion budget. Kenneth I. Shine has been named interim chancellor effective May 1. Shine, a cardiologist and physiologist, has been executive vice chancellor for health affairs at the UT System since 2003.
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April 16, 2008
All smiles, at least for now
The fellow on the right starred in “The Terminator,” a 1984 science fiction and action film. But the fellow on the left might become known as the Terminator if, as expected, he oversees the dismissal of hundreds of employees from the 1,750-employee president’s office at the University of California system, as officials have recommended.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met with Mark Yudof, currently chancellor of the University of Texas System, on Tuesday in Sacramento. Yudof was named last month as the next president of the California system.
The photo by William Foster of the governor’s staff was taken in the Ronald Reagan Cabinet Room at the Capitol. My alert colleague, Bob Keefe, of our West Coast Bureau called it to my attention.
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April 1, 2008
Shine named interim UT chancellor
Kenneth Shine, executive vice chancellor for health affairs for the University of Texas System, today was named interim chancellor, effective May 1.
The appointment by H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, puts Shine in charge of overseeing the 15-campus system while the regents search for a replacement for Chancellor Mark Yudof, who last week was named president of the University of California System.
Yudof will become a special adviser to Shine on May 1, serving in that capacity until his departure for California, which is expected sometime this summer.
Shine, 73, a cardiologist and physiologist, currently oversees the system’s six health campuses. He is a former president of the Institute of Medicine and a former dean and provost for health sciences at UCLA. He earned bachelor’s and medical degrees at Harvard University.
“His demonstrated achievements as an academician, physician and administrator make him a perfect choice to lead the UT System,” Caven said in a prepared statement. “I am confident he and the executive staff will build upon the momentum of the past several years and continue to move the system forward during this time of transition.”
Officials said details of the search for a permanent chancellor would be announced later.
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March 28, 2008
Yudof has a style all his own
My able colleague in our West Coast bureau, Bob Keefe, was there in person. I was listening, first on the Internet, then on a telephone conference call. Ah, the wonders of technology.
The occasion: Mark Yudof’s appointment Thursday in San Francisco as the next president of the University of California System, and his subsequent news conference. You can read our story about it here.
Suffice it to say, it was vintage Yudof all the way.
In a style honed by decades of teaching law, the 63-year-old Yudof, who has been chancellor of the University of Texas System since 2002, was alternately clever, blunt and eloquent, with just a touch of imperiousness.
Asked whether he had sought assurances that there would be no micromanaging by the University of California regents, he didn’t dodge in the least:
“I sought and obtained those assurances. I didn’t want the job if the university system was going to be run by the board of regents.”
Yudof said he didn’t seek the job and had expected that he would remain as chancellor for a couple more years and then return to “what I do best, oppressing law students.”
He trotted out a couple of well-worn lines also, including this one with a been-there, done-that flavor: “Once a year, someone comes into your office and says (faculty) morale is at an all-time low.”
Yudof said the past few days — the period after he was recommended by a search committee but before formal action by the California regents — have felt like a kind of twilight zone.
When will he leave Texas? “It’ll be June, July, August — in that range, but I don’t have a date. When I finally hit the ground, I’ll hit it running.”
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March 27, 2008
Yudof named president of California system
It’s official. Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas System, is the next president of the University of California System.
Yudof, as expected, was unanimously approved by the UC regents at a meeting in San Francisco this afternoon.
“I accepted this job because I think there’s no better job in public higher education than here,” Yudof said.
The 63-year-old lawyer, who has led the 15-campus UT System since August 2002, will inherit a host of budget, compensation and other problems in California, but he took a glass-is-half-full approach in his remarks to his new bosses.
“There will be budget crises, morale crises. There are always crises, and if you’re big enough anything that can happen will happen,” Yudof said. “But my strong feeling is it will all work out.”
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March 26, 2008
Regents' chairman praises Yudof and his lieutenants
Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas System, appears to be on his way out. He’s expected to be named president of the University of California System on Thursday.
Mindful of that, H. Scott Caven Jr., chairman of the UT System Board of Regents, took a few minutes at today’s meeting of the regents to praise Yudof and his team of senior managers.
“Apparently, he has done such an outstanding job for us that he has attracted the attentions of a suitor from the west,” Caven said. “I think it is fair to say that every member of this board is chagrined by the ministrations of this rival … but not surprised.”
You can read Caven’s full statement here.
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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 22, 2008
Retaliation alleged in UT-Houston porn case
In a federal lawsuit filed in 2005, Cynthia Davis, the former information technology auditor for the Houston campus, accuses two prominent higher education officials of largely brushing aside the problem of workers’ viewing pornography on university computers and retaliating against her for raising concerns.
Read the story and leave your comments.
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March 20, 2008
Yudof getting top job at University of California
SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas System, was formally recommended for the job of leading the University of California System today and is expected to be named to the position next week.
Richard Blum, chairman of the UC Board of Regents, said a search committee unanimously recommended Yudof for the job of leading the most prestigious university system in the nation.
The full UC Board of Regents is expected to announce that Yudof will be given the job at a meeting on March 27 in California. Blum said Yudof’s compensation package won’t be announced until next week.
“He’s expensive,” Blum said in a brief press conference.
Yudof was present but did not meet with the press following a two-hour meeting. He is planning to return to California on March 27 to formally accept the job.
Asked why Yudof would want to leave the UT System, Blum said he thought it was a matter of taking over a more prestigious system.
“I think the University of Texas has a great system, but I think it’s generally acknowledged that the best large system of higher education — not just in this country but the world — is the University of California,” Blum said.
Asked why Yudof wouldn’t meet with the press today, Blum said it wasn’t the right time.
“We thought it was best for him if we approved him as the next president, and that was the appropriate time,” Blum said. “Hopefully, that will be next week.”
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Yudof is UC's top pick
Update: More details.
SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California’s search committee just formally recommended Mark Yudof for the job of president of the UC system, Richard Blum, chairman of the UC Board of Regents has announced.
The full UC board of regents is expected to announce he will be given the job at a meeting March 27 in California.
Blum gave no more details about the committee’s unanimous decision to pick Yudof for the job and said his compensation package won’t be announced until next week.
“He’s expensive,” Blum said in a brief press conference in San Francisco.
Yudof was present but did not meet with the press following a two-hour meeting. He is planning to return to California next week to formally accept the job.
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UT's Yudof in California for possible appointment
Mark Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas System, flew to California this morning and could be named president of the University of California System later today.
News reports out of California said he was the leading candidate to head the 10-campus UC System.
“The only thing we can confirm is that he indeed has been in discussions with them and continues to explore this,” said Randa Safady, vice chancellor for external relations at the UT System.
“I can’t confirm that a job has been offered to him.,” Safady said. “That’s because I don’t know, and likely he doesn’t know. He’s really in discussions with them at this point. The UT regents are aware of his discussions with the UC search committee.”
An agenda posted on the UC System’s Web site lists a special meeting behind closed doors at 3 p.m. Central time of the regents’ Special Committee to Consider the Selection of a President.” The UC regents are also meeting today. The sessions are at UC-San Francisco’s Mission Bay Community Center in San Francisco.
I reached Yudof just before midnight last night at his home, the UT-owned Bauer House in West Austin. He was polite but declined to comment. He left this morning for California, said Anthony de Bruyn, a UT System spokesman.
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March 11, 2008
Judge wants to resolve UT-Brownsville border fence dispute
A federal judge apparently would like to resolve a border fence dispute involving the University of Texas at Brownsville next week.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Brownsville has scheduled a hearing for next Wednesday in the government’s case against the campus, whose president, Juliet García, has refused to allow access for surveys and environmental studies by officials of the Homeland Security Department. She contends that the government’s proposed route for the fence would jeopardize safety, inhibit use of a golf course, harm the ecology and disrupt the historical character of the campus.
The judge ordered lawyers for the government, the UT System and Texas Southmost College, which also operates on the campus, to attend the hearing with people authorized to make binding decisions.
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March 7, 2008
UT gets $17 million for predictive science
The University of Texas and four other universities have been awarded $17 million each to conduct research in the emerging field of predictive science for the federal agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons.
The UT award, announced today, went to the university’s Center for Predictive and Computational Sciences, a research unit within the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences.
UT researchers will develop computer modeling techniques in an effort to provide more reliable predictions of complex systems, such as re-entry of space vehicles into Earth’s atmosphere.
The National Nuclear Security Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, also awarded grants to the California Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, Purdue University and Stanford University.
All five schools will focus on unclassified matters, according to the security administration.
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March 6, 2008
Of religion and higher education
It’s not widely known, but 39 of the 40 private colleges and universities in Texas have religious affiliations. Some wear it on their sleeve; at others, you can hardly tell. The exception: Rice University in Houston.
This came to mind as I reflected on the effort by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to establish a first-rank science and technology university. Unlike the situation in much of the world, money shouldn’t be a problem in the oil-rich kingdom. But questions regarding academic freedom, religious expression and the like are inevitable.
The fledgling school, known as King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, has signed up the University of Texas, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley to help design courses and recruit faculty members. For their trouble, the schools will be paid handsomely — $27 million over five years, in the case of UT. I wrote about the partnerships in today’s paper. You can read it here.
UT officials say they’ve been assured by representatives of the Saudi institution that there will be no discrimination on the basis of religion, race or sex. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam and home to the religion’s two holiest shrines. As the CIA World Factbook notes, the kingdom is governed according to Islamic law.
Indeed, the king’s official title is Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. In a message on the university’s Web site, King Abdullah opens by declaring that the Quran “exalts the place of knowledge as the ultimate tool for enlightenment and exhorts all human beings to gain knowledge.”
He goes on to describe his aspirations for the institution, which is scheduled to open in September 2009:
“As a new ‘House of Wisdom,’ the University shall be a beacon for peace, hope and reconciliation and shall serve the people of the Kingdom and benefit all the peoples of the world in keeping with the teachings of the Holy Quran, which explains that God created mankind in order for us to come to know each other.”
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March 5, 2008
UT, Saudi school reach agreement
The University of Texas and a fledgling university in Saudi Arabia announced an agreement today under which UT will help King Abdullah University of Science and Technology establish a program in computational earth sciences and engineering.
UT officials said the agreement was worth millions of dollars but did not immediately pinpoint the amount. Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley will each get nearly $30 million under similar agreements with King Abdullah University.
A joint news release from UT and the Saudi school said faculty members at UT would help organize the curriculum, choose faculty members and collaborate in research and joint programs.
King Abdullah University is being built on the Red Sea and is scheduled to open in September 2009.
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February 14, 2008
Proposal would raise UT law tuition 47 percent
No student likes to see tuition go up. But students at the University of Texas School of Law say a proposal to raise tuition by 47 percent during the next two years is particularly galling because they were not consulted on the plan.
By contrast, UT-Austin administrators obtained considerable student input and support for a proposal to increase tuition for undergraduates and some graduate programs.
“It’s very unfortunate and it’s frustrating students,” said Katie Lyons, a second-year law student who is president of the Student Bar Association, the law school’s student government. “Not to have input is a really big problem.”
Under the proposal, tuition would increase by $4,528 for the 2008-09 school year and by $4,702 the following year, to $28,934. That’s 47 percent more than the current sticker price. The UT System Board of Regents will consider the matter at a meeting in March, said Anthony de Bruyn, a system spokesman.
“The tuition request emerged in conversations between us and the provost’s office about our financial needs,” said Larry Sager, dean of the law school, who met with scores of unhappy students Tuesday evening.
Sager said he had expected that the proposal would be sent to an advisory panel of students, administrators and faculty members for review, but it was not. “That decision wasn’t in our hands,” he said. “We didn’t urge or not urge it.”
Although the regents control tuition, “we have the capacity to use scholarship money and grants to reduce the burden on students presently enrolled in the law school,” Sager said. “We plan to consult them fully on the question of what portion of this burden gets passed on to them.”
If the proposed increase were approved, UT’s tuition would still be $10,000 or more below what other top public law schools plan to charge, including the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia and the University of California at Berkeley, Sager said.
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February 7, 2008
Palestinian Prime Minister's speech Webcast live
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad of the Palestinian National Authority is giving a speech today at the University of Texas on building a Palestinian state and fostering peace and prosperity in the region, according to a UT press release.
The speech, which starts about 6 p.m., is sponsored by the LBJ School of Public Affairs, the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security & Law and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum.
Visit the LBJ school’s Web site to view Fayyad’s remarks.
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February 6, 2008
UT regents seek resolution of border fence dispute
University of Texas System regents, stepping into a simmering controversy along the border with Mexico, called today for negotiations to resolve a dispute with the federal government concerning a security fence proposed for the campus of UT-Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.
Meeting at a sister campus in South Texas, UT-Pan American, the regents voted unanimously to urge a solution that would ensure border security while minimizing disruption to educational and athletic activities.
The resolution is not as sharply critical of the federal government’s plan as a resolution adopted in October by the Texas Southmost governing board. Texas Southmost, which is a community college, and UT-Brownsville operate on the same campus under a partnership agreement.
The regents nonetheless made it plain that they aren’t thrilled by the government’s plan to erect an 18-foot-high border fence along portions of the campus. One alternative, the regents said, would involve fortifying existing flood-control levees with a concrete wall. Such a wall could serve as a barrier both to illegal immigrants and to floodwaters from the Rio Grande.
Juliet García, president of UT-Brownsville and Texas Southmost, has refused to grant the federal government permission to enter campus property to conduct surveys and environmental studies. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said it intends to sue to gain access.
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