After four years as head of the Texas Tech University System, former state lawmaker Robert Duncan announced Monday that he would retire as chancellor effective Aug. 31.
Shannon Najmabadi
Shannon Najmabadi was a reporter at the Tribune from 2017 to 2021, most recently covering women's health. Her stories — on higher education and other topics — have prompted lawmakers to change three state laws, including one involving a very narrow definition of the word “pickle.” She is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University.
Posted in
Higher Education
UT regents approve $175 million upgrade to Longhorns’ football stadium
The project, funded without tuition or taxpayer dollars, will add exclusive suites, clubs, new coaches’ offices, loge boxes and seating to the south end zone of the Royal-Memorial football stadium, according to UT System documents.
Posted in
Health care
Doubts aside, Sam Houston State pushes for a new medical school
The university says the school will give the state more rural doctors. Critics say it’s unnecessary and too expensive. An oversight board could provide approval this month.
Posted in
Higher Education
James Milliken named the sole finalist for UT System chancellor
After a months-long search, the board of regents went outside Texas and tapped the former chancellor of the City University of New York for the system’s top appointed position. UT’s chancellor oversees eight academic institutions and six health institutions.
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Families Divided
Chaos at Port Isabel: Kids held overnight and parents in limbo
The government’s primary “reunification and removal” site also went on lockdown for several hours Sunday after losing track of a male migrant, according to two lawyers and a Salvadoran woman released from the facility Monday.
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Families Divided
Incommunicado in South Texas: Migrant parents await reunification in seclusion
On the brink of being released from detention and reunited with children separated from them sometimes months ago, migrant parents are held at a South Texas facility in a sort of limbo — not free to leave, but without access to phones or commissary accounts that regular detainees get.
Posted in
Higher Education
Two Texas chancellors among the country’s best-paid public university executives
Former University of Texas System Chancellor Bill McRaven was the third highest paid. Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp ranked fifth.
Posted in
Families Divided
“A very cruel punishment”: A family split by “zero tolerance” won’t try to cross again, mom says
Since they crossed the Rio Grande and requested asylum, a father has been held in a detention center near Houston while his 6-year-old daughter was shipped to an Arizona shelter. Back in Honduras, the girl’s mother says she fears her daughter will be traumatized by the ordeal.
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Families Divided
Detained migrant parents have to pay to call their family members. Some can’t afford to.
Detainees trying to contact their family members are stymied by long wait times, confusing instructions, dropped calls and sometimes per-minute phone charges that critics say are exorbitant.
Posted in
Families Divided
Border official says agency isn’t referring immigrant families for prosecution
Another federal official did say, however, that two Texas military bases will be used to house migrants.
