A panel of state lawmakers is set to reconsider the complicated way Texas funds its public colleges and universities on Wednesday after an attempt to overhaul the system failed last year.
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
Criminal Justice
Filing claims Baylor officials may have destroyed emails; university says documents weren’t related to sexual assault scandal
Baylor University officials pushed back forcefully Wednesday night against a brief filed in federal court earlier in the day that claims school leaders urged staff to destroy emails and other evidence related to a wide-ranging sexual abuse scandal.
Posted in
Higher Education
“Costly and unsustainable:” After spending $75 million, a troubled UT System technology institute shuts its doors
The University of Texas System has closed its Institute for Transformational Learning, a startup-like technology initiative. The system spent tens of millions of dollars on the project, but struggled to develop a business plan.
Posted in
Texas Elections 2018
In San Antonio race, a Texas House firebrand guns for his old seat
A veteran Democratic lawmaker known as a brash tactician, Trey Martinez Fischer is mounting a primary challenge against incumbent Diana Arevalo for the House District 116 seat he used to hold.
Posted inState Government
After reports of internal dysfunction, Hilderbran out as Facilities Commission director
Former state Rep. Harvey Hilderbran is out as executive director of the Texas Facilities Commission, the billion-dollar agency that builds and maintains state office buildings.
Posted inState Government
Kevin Eltife joined the UT System as an outspoken critic. Now he might reshape it.
As the search for a new chancellor gets underway, Kevin Eltife – a University of Texas regent and former state senator – is heading a task force that could broadly reshape what the UT System looks like.
Posted in
Higher Education
After Cruz raises worries about “propaganda,” UT says it won’t accept money from Chinese foundation
After months of internal uproar and a letter from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the University of Texas at Austin said Friday its China center will not accept funding from a Hong Kong-based foundation that Cruz said helps spread Chinese government propaganda abroad.
Posted in
Higher Education
Baylor won’t say which coaches are to blame for its sexual assault scandal. How are other schools vetting them?
Football coaches who worked at Baylor University during a major sexual assault scandal are looking for new jobs at new colleges, but Baylor still won’t publicly say whether those coaches did anything wrong while in their old jobs.
Posted in
Higher Education
Ray Keck to step down as president of Texas A&M University-Commerce
Texas A&M University-Commerce President Ray Keck announced Thursday that he will step down from his position effective Aug. 31. He was previously president of Texas A&M International University in Laredo, a post he’d held since 2001.
Posted in
Environment
The Texas coastline is slowly disappearing. Here’s how one community is coping.
The Lone Star State’s shoreline is experiencing one of the highest rates of land loss of any coastal area in the country thanks to a combination of subsidence, sea level rise and storm surges.
