With the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this to hear an affirmative action case against the University of Texas, the university’s policies are once again poised to become a flashpoint in national discourse about the proper role of race in college admissions. Full Story
Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp is launching a $5 million effort to bring Nobel laureates and other prominent scholars to College Station. He says he plans to adopt a similar approach throughout the university system. Full Story
UPDATED: University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers has responded to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear an affirmative action case that argues the university's race-conscious admissions policy violates the rights of white students. Full Story
The director of the University of Texas at Austin's Center for Community College Student Engagement on the latest research identifying how to boost lagging success rates at two-year institutions. Full Story
Aaronson interactively charts the legal wrangling between Texas and the feds, Aguilar on what Obama's budget means for the border, Galbraith on congressional ambivalence about a wind tax credit, Grissom on cuts to crime victims services, Hamilton on UT-Austin's plan to boost graduation rates, Ramsey on our woefully low voter turnout, Ramshaw on a new Super PAC targeting incumbents of both parties, Root on conservative opposition to the Keystone pipeline and M. Smith on cash-starved school districts in the advertising game: The best of our best content from February 13-17, 2012. Full Story
UPDATED: UT-Austin President Bill Powers says some of the new recommendations for boosting the university's four-year graduation to 70 percent will be implemented immediately, while others require further review. Full Story
An early morning drug bust led to a record number of student arrests on the TCU campus in Fort Worth. Law enforcement officials indicate that the investigation is ongoing and more arrests could still be made. Full Story
Aguilar on an environmental battle in South Texas, Galbraith on the impact of the drought, Grissom on the latest in the Michael Morton case, Hamilton and Theobald on plans for greater scrutiny of faculty performance, Murphy on Rick Perry's campaign donors and expenditures, Ramsey on where we stand on redistricting, Ramshaw on the intense interest in stem cell rules, Root on a congressman's controversial pipeline holdings, M. Smith on the backlash against student testing and Tan on the fight for a new medical school in Austin: The best of our best content from February 6-10, 2012. Full Story
State Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, is on a mission to build a standalone medical school in Austin, and he's taking an unconventional route to get there. Full Story
Under the new rules, tenured UT System faculty members will receive two kinds of post-tenure reviews: yearly reviews and “comprehensive reviews” that will occur at least every six years. Full Story
When the University of Texas System regents meet in San Antonio today and Thursday, accountability will be back on the agenda, in the form of more frequent performance reviews for tenured professors and criminal record checks for certain employees. Full Story
The University of Texas at Arlington unveiled more than just a new basketball stadium this week. Its new $78 million, 7,000-seat venue is also a key part of an effort to become a top-tier institution. Full Story
The new president of the University of Houston-Victoria on whether the institution will remain in the UH System, its plans to play a major role in the state's higher education landscape and its response to Texas' workforce needs. Full Story
University of Texas President Bill Powers says he supports President Obama's recent push toward performance-based funding, but he says the devil will be in the details. Full Story
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board today approved a new rule that would force universities to remind undocumented students of their promise to take steps toward permanent resident status. Full Story
Texas State University President Denise Trauth expects the institution's new emerging research classification to enhance its reputation and help in the recruitment of students and faculty. Full Story
Amid calls for greater emphasis on vocational training that meets the needs of Texas employers, the state's higher education czar says universities should also remain focused on providing a “solid academic foundation." Full Story
Texas cut nearly 8,000 state jobs over the last year, according to a new report from the state auditor's office. Use this interactive to compare how the $15 billion in cuts passed by lawmakers in the last session has affected state-funded organizations within each article of the budget. Full Story
With a push being made to better align the state's higher-education output with its workforce needs, we’ve put together interactive graphs and a database of what those needs will actually be in the year 2018. Full Story
Tan and Root on the Texas presidential candidates returning to the state where Rick Perry started his campaign, Philpott on Perry's swipes at Mitt Romney, Ramshaw on Griffin Perry's tweets, M. Smith on the next round of fights over student testing, E. Smith's TribLive interview with Michael Quinn Sullivan, yours truly on the sliding primary election calendar, Hamilton on higher-education efforts to bolster the Texas work force, Grissom's interview with John Raley, Galbraith on the greenhouse gas wars and Aguilar on making it easier for immigrants to return to the U.S.: The best of our best content from January 9 to 13, 2012. Full Story