Root's scoop on Rick Perry's working retirement, Aaronson maps poverty in Texas, Aguilar on a voting rights warning shot from the U.S. Attorney General, Galbraith on the disclosure of chemicals used in fracking operations, Grissom on the drop in executions, Hamilton and M. Smith on UT-Austin President Bill Powers' rough year, Murphy and Tan and Dehn on the shortage of psychiatrists and Ramshaw on the federal refusal to exclude operators like Planned Parenthood from family planning programs: The best of our best content from December 12 to 16, 2011.

It's been a year marked by high profile wars waged by UT President Bill Powers — to some, the university’s Dumbledore; to others, a bee in the bonnet of higher education reformers. The latest drama is unfolding in the law school he used to run. 

Who knew about the $500,000 payment Larry Sager received from the University of Texas School of Law’s foundation — and when — are among the many questions swirling after his surprise ouster as dean last week.

After months of bubbling discontent among professors over the law school’s faculty compensation practices, University of Texas School of Law Dean Larry Sager was forced to resign his position Thursday.

University of Texas President Bill Powers isn't mincing words in his State of the University address. He takes head-on the controversy that has dogged the state's higher education community for several months.

Randy Diehl, the dean of the University at Texas at Austin’s College of Liberal Arts, has released a response to the so-called "seven breakthrough solutions" for higher education, calling them "the wrong approach.”

Earlier this week, we published a quiz to see if readers could distinguish between comments made about higher education by Gov. Rick Perry, University of Texas President Bill Powers, and others. It turns out: They (sometimes) can’t!

One certain result of the 82nd Legislative Session is that the University of Texas at Austin will lose a signfiicant amount of funding in the 2012-2013 budget. Nathan Bernier of KUT News interviewed UT-Austin President Bill Powers on the effects of that cut and other session-related matters.

Of the new University of Texas System regents, none has received more scrutiny than Alex Cranberg. After months of controversy, he said the time has come to “push a reset button” on the relationship between the regents and the leadership at UT.

At the end of a turbulent week in Texas higher education, the circumstances of the chancellors of the state’s two largest university systems stand in stark contrast.

Aaronson on the latest attack on Planned Parenthood, Aguilar previews the sanctuary cities debate, Grissom on a death row inmate's unsuccessful appeal, Hamilton on the UT System's faculty "productivity" data dump, Philpott on the prospect of lawsuits over education cuts, Ramsey on puppies and other distractions, Ramshaw on a tobacco fight, my interview with the presidents of UT-Austin and Texas A&M, M. Smith on a former State Board of Ed member who may have violated state ethics law, Stiles interactively displays the effects of House redistricting and Tan on the Senate budget end game: The best of our best content from May 2 to 6, 2011.

At last Thursday's TribLive conversation, I interviewed Bill Powers and Bowen Loftin, the presidents of the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, respectively, about the need for higher education reform, the impact of budget cuts, the predicament of middling graduation rates and more.

No time to follow every twist and turn of the Texas Legislature? We've made it easier for you with our weekly recaps of the action under the dome.

At a panel hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation today, Bill Powers, the president of the University of Texas, and Robert Strawser, an accounting professor at Texas A&M University and the speaker of its faculty senate, responded to the conservative think tank's proposed higher education reforms.

This morning, Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune is sitting down with Texas A&M University President R. Bowen Loftin and University of Texas President William Powers, Jr. — and we live-blogged the whole thing.

One week ago, Rick O’Donnell’s employment at the University of Texas System came to an abrupt end after 50 days marked by tension and confusion in the higher education community — especially at the University of Texas at Austin. So what happens now that he’s gone?

University of Texas President Bill Powers has been hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism.

An early look at the 25 people the magazine deems the most powerful in Texas.