The latest higher education news from The Texas Tribune.
Which public university in Texas has the lowest average student SAT scores? Which is the whitest? Which has the highest graduation rate? Starting today, the answers can be found easily in a new almanac. Full Story
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Despite the dramatic tenor of the current debate, there appears to be near public unanimity in support of the broad concept of academic research. Drill down into specific types of research, however, and a deeper split is revealed. Full Story
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State Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, hoped to bring up his campus carry bill today after a false start on Thursday. But the search for votes is proving more difficult than he anticipated. Full Story
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An influential band of the 62,500 or so residents of Victoria, home of the University of Houston-Victoria — a smaller, more rural member of the University of Houston System, about 130 miles from the main campus — is leading a movement to part ways with the parent system. Full Story
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Tan on the budget standoff between the House and Senate, Ramsey on budget cuts that cost us money, Philpott on Hispanics and redistricting, Stiles visualizes speed limits by state, Grissom on a liberal social justice organizer who became a conservative hero, M. Smith on even more student social security numbers at risk, Ramshaw on whether family planning equals abortion, Aguilar on what circumcision has to do with citizenship, Murphy on how much Texas university adminstrators are paid, Hamilton on the latest in the higher ed reform saga and Galbraith on Texas energy lessons from the 1970s: The best of our best content from April 4 to 8, 2011. Full Story
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House Speaker Joe Straus was interviewed eariler this week by Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, government prof and half of the Tribune's polling team, about the session so far, the budget, gambling, rewriting state taxes, federal stimulus money and what he thinks about the tempest over research and teaching at the state's top universities. Full Story
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A bill that would change the system for distributing TEXAS Grants — the state's primary need-based aid program — by creating a new priority system passed the Senate today by a vote of 24-7. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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How much were Texas public university administrators paid in 2009-10? Check out our visualization, using data generously provided by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Full Story
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The Texas House started with a $164.5 billion budget and ended with the same total. But lawmakers spent the better part of a weekend making changes inside the budget for 2012-13 before giving it their approval, 98 to 49. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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Using the Legislature-directed Invest in Texas campaign as a model, the president of UT's Senate of College Councils intends to begin lobbying the University of Texas System Board of Regents in support of academic research. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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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. Full Story
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M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont's school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson's Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD's missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story
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Responding to a warning by the president of the Texas Exes that an anti-research mindset "would do irreparable damage" to UT-Austin, the UT System's Board of Regents insisted today that research is "extremely valuable." Full Story
The outspoken former UT dean and Boston University president on higher education's past, present and future — including his opinion of U.S. News & World Report rankings, and Howard Zinn and online degree programs. Full Story
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The outspoken former UT dean and Boston University president on higher education's past, present and future — including his opinion of U.S. News & World Report's rankings, Howard Zinn and online degree programs. Full Story
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The University of Texas System leadership has officially reassigned controversial new hire, Rick O'Donnell, to a new position — one that will only exist for a matter of months. Full Story
This week's episode of the TribCast features Evan, Ross, Reeve and Ben talking mostly about the budget, but also a bit about redistricting and academic research. Full Story
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