It took decades to get Texas lawmakers to allow students to sit on each university system’s board of regents — and only on the condition that they can’t vote. But most other states with student regents do grant voting privileges.
Higher Education
Coverage of universities, colleges, student issues, and education policy shaping Texas’ campuses, from The Texas Tribune.
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Higher Education
The Graduation Gap
For years, Texas universities have focused on getting more students onto to their campuses. The hard part, it turns out, is getting them to leave in no more than six years.
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Higher Education
Of Mice and Men
When Gov. Rick Perry announced the establishment of the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, a public-private partnership between the Texas A&M University System and Lexicon Genetics, he said the $50 million high-level mouse laboratory, paid for through the Texas Enterprise Fund that he controls, would “attract millions of dollars for medical research and lead to the development of life-saving medical treatments and therapies” for everything from diabetes to cancer. Five years later, depending on who you ask, TIGM has either been a massive taxpayer-subsidized boondoggle or a blessing to scientists across the globe.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Diane Wouldn’t
Barack Obama will apparently name his solicitor general, Elena Kagan, the former dean of Harvard Law School, to replace the retiring John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court, once again bypassing UT Law grad Diane Wood, who has now been on the president’s short list twice.
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Higher Education
Stolen Bases
If you’re wondering about the economic impact of the federal military base realignment and closure effort, look only as far as Texas, where two cities with shuttered bases are struggling to keep residents employed and spirits up, while one city with an expanded base is booming.
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Higher Education
Inman Inside
Every Friday since a blast at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 miners, graduate students at UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs have been treated to an insider briefing. The name of their course is Managing Crises, and their professor, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman, is dealing with a big one.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: UT System Leaving Northern Mexico
The University of Texas System is recalling students, faculty and staff participating in university-sponsored programs in seven northern Mexican states.
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Higher Education
TribBlog: Hotze, Perry and Gay Jesus
For a one-time-only performance that would have been under an hour, the saga of Tarleton State University’s “gay Jesus” play sure has been a long one. In the latest plot twist, a Tarleton State journalism student has uncovered a conservative activist’s allegation that Gov. Rick Perry and his chief of staff were somehow involved.
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Higher Education
The Old Community College Try
At the Texas Capitol today, lawmakers will begin to look at how the state’s community college system fits into the overall picture of higher education. The House Higher Education Committee will review ways to increase the role of community colleges — not only in getting kids to stay in school but in graduating them more quickly and efficiently. Ben Philpott of KUT News and the Trib reports.
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Higher Education
Borrow and Mend
New federal student loan reforms, passed along with controversial health care reform legislation, will shore up Pell Grants for tens of thousands of college students in Texas — and save the feds a projected $68 billion by cutting private banks out of financial aid.