At a meeting of the University of Texas System Board of Regents in Austin Thursday, UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa won unanimous support after laying out his “framework for advancing excellence throughout the university system.”

On Wednesday, The University of Texas System Regents unanimously approved Dr. Ronald A. DePinho as the sole finalist for the position of president of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers delivered a speech today — two days before the University of Texas System Board of Regents gathers in Austin for a highly anticipated meeting — outlining the university's budget concerns and plans for innovation.

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.

Aguilar and Weber on a subdued debate over homeland security, Galbraith on rising concern about natural gas drilling, Grissom on a controversial psychologist, Hamilton on the aftermath of the Rick O'Donnell episode, Philpott on the comptroller's apology, Ramshaw with more on the statewide database of child abusers, E. Smith interviews Lance Armstrong, M. Smith on what House budget cuts would mean for school districts, M. Stiles on how redistricting would change things for each House member, Tan on the Senate's wobbly attempts to approve a budget and my interview with David Dewhurst: The best of our best content from April 25 to 29, 2011.

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.

Aaronson on a freshman lawmaker's rogue antics, Aguilar on how cartel violence affects tick eradication, Galbraith on Midland's water woes, Hamilton on the exit of a higher ed reformer, Murphy maps voting age by county, Philpott on the data breach at the Comptroller's office, Ramsey on why Susan Combs needs to eat crow, my TribLive interview with U.S. Sen John Cornyn, Ramshaw on Cornyn's refusal to take the "nickel tour" of Planned Parenthood, M. Smith annotates the contracts of superintendents, Stiles on a GOP-friendly redistricting map and Tan on a possible Rainy Day Fund raid: The best of our best content from April 18 to 22, 2011.

The former vice chancellor at the University of Texas and former commissioner of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board on his new book, how the tensions of the 1970s are echoed in today's battles between politicians and academicians at the state's major universities, and on what he thinks is at stake.

One University of Texas student leader who recently visited Arizona State University as part of a university system task force was not encouraged by the excursion — and let the regents know in a new letter.

With few exceptions, most hiring decisions at the University of Texas System go largely unnoticed. That has not been the case with Rick O'Donnell. Find key details of his hiring in our annotated collection of internal system documents.

Much has been made about higher education reformer Rick O'Donnell's opinions on academic research. The controversial UT System adviser recently elaborated on them himself in a letter he wrote to a UT regent.

Tan's wall-to-wall coverage of the budget (with more from the rest of the Trib crew, interviews with some of the freshmen seeing this up close for the first time and a map of how it works), Philpott on the similarities between budget worries in Texas and those elsewhere, M. Smith explains school finance, Ramshaw on the dwindling insurance options for orphans, Grissom on legal fights over the drugs used for state executions, Aguilar on the run-up to the debate over sanctuary cities, Stiles maps the diversity of Texas counties, Galbraith on efforts to recycle plastic bags and Hamilton on calls for "entrepreneurship" at the University of Texas: The best of our best content from March 28 to April 1, 2011.

Mansour O. El-Kikhia, chair of the political science department at the University of Texas at San Antonio, cited the threat to perhaps 50,000 of his fellow countrymen — including members of his own family.

In the face of possible changes, the University of Texas community has taken a strong stance in favor of academic research. But prominent reformers acknowledge that public research universities need to change, and one UT professor thinks he has a way.

After running a gantlet of concerned legislators, Gene Powell, the chairman of the University of Texas System Board of Regents, took steps last week to assuage concerns over his direction of the system.

Grissom on threats to re-entry programs for criminals, Hamilton on the tempest over the direction of UT, E. Smith's interview with Joe Straus, Stiles and Chang's new lobbying app, M. Smith and Weber on where state officeholders send their children to school, Aaronson on allowing new nuclear power plants, Aguilar on how Hispanic Republicans are handling immigration issues, Ramshaw talks abortion with Planned Parennthood's Cecile Richards, Tan and Dehn on tapping the Rainy Day Fund and Galbraith on San Antonio and its water: The best of our best content from March 14 to 18, 2011.

The recent hiring of Rick O’Donnell as a special adviser to the board of regents at the University of Texas System has some observers — worried about the implications for the University of Texas at Austin — playing connect the dots.

Prominent University of Texas alumnus Gordon Appleman says recent changes at the UT System Board of Regents "seemed important enough to where I ought to do something rather than sit by and watch it happen."