University of Texas System

The University of Texas System (UT System) is a Public university system in the U.S. state of Texas. It includes nine universities and five independent health institutions. The UT System is headquartered in Downtown Austin. Its total enrollment of nearly 240,000 students is the largest university system in Texas. It employs 21,000 faculty and more than 83,000 health care professionals, researchers and support staff. The UT System's $30 billion endowment (as of the 2019 fiscal year) is the largest of any public university system in the United States.^[3]

The University of Texas System

Motto	Disciplina Praesidium Civitatis
Motto in English	A cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy.^[1]
Type	Public university system
Established	1876
Endowment	$31.9 billion (2020)^[2]^[3]
Budget	$20.1 billion (FY2020)^[4]
Chancellor	James B. Milliken
Academic staff	21,000
Administrative staff	83,000
Students	240,000 (2018)
Undergraduates	167,028^[4]
Postgraduates	54,309^[4]
Address	210 West 7th Street , Austin, Texas, U.S.
Website	www.utsystem.edu

Component institutions

 

 

UT Arlington

 

UT Austin

 

UT Dallas

 

UT El Paso

 

UT Rio Grande Valley

 

UT San Antonio

 

UT Tyler

 

UT Permian Basin

 

UT Southwestern

 

UTMB - Galveston

 

UT HSC - Houston

 

UT HSC - San Antonio

 

UT MD Anderson

 

SFA

Institutions

University of Texas System (Texas)

Academic institutions

The University of Texas System has nine universities that each confers its own degrees.

Official name	Official abbreviations	Location	Estab.	Joined system	Enrollment (Fall 2017 except as noted)	Nickname	Athletic conference	Refs
Stephen F. Austin State University	SFA	Nacogdoches	1923	2023	11,946 (in 2021)	Lumberjacks & Ladyjacks	WAC NCAA D-I FCS	^[5]^[6]
The University of Texas at Arlington	UTA UT Arlington	Arlington, Fort Worth	1895	1965	41,933	Mavericks	WAC NCAA D-I (non-football)	^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]
The University of Texas at Austin	UT UT Austin	Austin	1883		51,525	Longhorns	Big 12 (Southeastern Conference in July 2024) NCAA D-I FBS	^[11]^[12]^[13]
The University of Texas at Dallas	UTD UT Dallas	Richardson, Dallas	1961	1969	27,642	Comets	American Southwest NCAA D-III (non-football)	^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]
The University of Texas at El Paso	UTEP UT El Paso	El Paso	1913	1967	25,078	Miners	Conference USA NCAA D-I FBS	^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21]
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	UTRGV UT Rio Grande Valley	Edinburg, Brownsville	2015		29,619	Vaqueros	WAC NCAA D-I (football beginning in 2025)	^[22]^[23]
The University of Texas at San Antonio	UTSA UT San Antonio	San Antonio	1969		34,742	Roadrunners	American Athletic Conference NCAA D-I FBS	^[24]^[25]^[26]^[27]^[28]
The University of Texas at Tyler	UTT UT Tyler	Tyler	1971	1979	10,527	Patriots	Lone Star NCAA D-II (non-football)	^[29]^[30]^[31]^[32]
The University of Texas Permian Basin	UTPB UT Permian Basin	Odessa	1973		7,628	Falcons	Lone Star NCAA D-II	^[33]^[34]^[35]

•  

  Stephen F. Austin

•  

  UT Arlington

•  

  UT Austin

•  

  UT Dallas

•  

  UT El Paso

•  

  UT Rio Grande Valley

•  

  UT San Antonio

•  

  UT Tyler

•  

  UT Permian Basin

Addition of Stephen F. Austin State University

On November 29, 2022, the Board of Regents of Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) announced their decision to accept an invitation to join the UT System. This decision occurred following an announcement at the start of the fall semester by SFA President Steve Westbrook that the board was considering joining a system. At the time, Stephen F. Austin was one of two independent public universities in Texas, alongside Texas Southern University. The Texas A&M University System, the Texas Tech University System, and the Texas State University System all extended invitations as well. The decision to join the UT System was made following a process that included faculty, staff, student, and alumni input.^[5] Stephen F. Austin's addition to the UT System was approved by the Texas Legislature during the 2023 session. The identically worded House and Senate bills that would formally add SFA to the UT System specified that SFA would retain its name, but with the phrase "a member of The University of Texas System" appended to the legal school name. They also stated that SFA would be technically dissolved and then immediately reconstituted as a member of the UT System.^[36] The Senate unanimously passed its bill on April 16, 2023,^[37] and the House passed its version on April 26.^[38] Governor Greg Abbott signed the measure into law on May 10.^[39]

UT Brownsville and UT Pan American (UTRGV) merger

Main article: University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

On June 14, 2013, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a law officially approving the creation of a new university in South Texas within the UT System and replacing UT Brownsville and UT Pan American. The initiative resulted in a single institution, including a medical school, spanning the entire Rio Grande Valley, with a presence in each of the major metropolitan areas of Brownsville, Edinburg, Harlingen, and McAllen. On December 12, 2013, the UT Board of Regents voted to name the new university the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.^[40] The new university began full operation in the 2015–16 school year.

Official name	Official abbreviations	Location	Founded	Joined system	Merged	Refs
The University of Texas at Brownsville	UTB UT Brownsville	Brownsville	1973	1991	2015 (merged to form The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley)	^[41]^[42]
The University of Texas–Pan American	UTPA UT Pan American	Edinburg	1927	1989		^[43]^[44]

UT Tyler and UTHSC Tyler merger

Main article: University of Texas at Tyler

In December 2019, the UT System Board of Regents unanimously agreed to merge The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHSCT) under The University of Texas at Tyler (UTT), creating a single unified institution.^[45] Two months later, the UT System formally announced its intention to establish a new medical school that will be added under the new unified UT Tyler administration.^[46] It will be the first medical school in the East Texas region.

On December 8, 2020, The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Schools approved a plan to merge UT Tyler and UTHSCT. UTHSCT will retain its status as a health-related institution but will now come under the administration of UT Tyler. The UT System Board of Regents met in late December 2020 and took action on the implementation of the merger which began on January 1, 2021.^[47]

On January 4, 2021, the Board of Regents installed Kirk A. Calhoun, M.D. as president of the newly aligned UT Tyler and UTHSCT. As of January 4, these two institutions are officially one. On January 15, 2021 the institution publicly named the new line of executive leadership for the merged institution.^[48]

The medical school is expected to open in 2023.

Official name	Official abbreviations	Location	Founded	Joined system	Merged	Refs
The University of Texas at Tyler	UTT UT Tyler	Tyler	1971	1979	2021 (merged as The University of Texas at Tyler)	^[49]^[32]
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler	UTHSCT UT Health Tyler	Tyler	1943	1977		^[50]^[51]

Health institutions

The University of Texas System has 5 independent health institutions. None are officially associated with any of the 4-year academic institutions, though some may have close relationships or special joint programs with them due to geographical location (Dallas–Fort Worth area institutions & San Antonio institutions) or historical relationships (UT Austin & UT Medical Branch at Galveston).

UT MD Anderson Cancer Center is one of the six schools at UT Health Science Center at Houston. Despite being officially associated under UT Houston, the UT System lists MD Anderson as a separate health institution due to its unique specialization.

Additionally, there are medical schools at UT Austin and UT Rio Grande Valley that are not directly affiliated with any of the independent health institutions.^[52] The third medical school organized under an academic institution in the UT System will open in 2023 under the UT Tyler administration.

Independent UT Health institutions

Official name	Official abbreviations	Medical school	Location	Estab.	Refs
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	UTHSA or UTHSCSA UT Health San Antonio	Long School of Medicine	San Antonio (main), Laredo	1959	^[53]^[54]
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston	UTH UTHealth or UT Houston	McGovern Medical School	Houston	1972	^[55]
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center	UTMDACC MD Anderson	N/A (associated with UTH)	Houston (main), Katy, League City, Memorial City, Sugar Land, The Woodlands	1941	^[56]
The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston	UTMB UT Galveston	John Sealy School of Medicine	Galveston	1891	^[57]
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center	UTSW UT Southwestern	UTSW Medical School	Dallas (main), Fort Worth, Frisco, Irving, Richardson	1943	^[58]^[59]

Medical schools within academic institutions

Medical school	Academic institution affiliation	Location	Estab.	Refs
Dell Medical School	UT Austin	Austin	2013	^[60]
UTRGV School of Medicine	UT Rio Grande Valley	Harlingen (main), Brownsville, Edinburg	2013	^[61]
UT Tyler School of Medicine* (*In Development, Projected Opening 2023)	UT Tyler	Tyler	2023	^[62]

•  

  UT Health Science Center - Houston

•  

  UT Health Science Center - San Antonio

•  

  UT MD Anderson Cancer Center (Houston, TX)

•  

  UT Medical Branch at Galveston

•  

  UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas, TX)

Attempted academic and health institutions and mergers

Dallas–Fort Worth

In 2001 the 77th Texas Legislature proposed HB 3568, which would have merged all Dallas–Fort Worth UT System institutions (UT Dallas, UT Arlington, and UT Southwestern) under the name "The University of Texas at Dallas". UTD's Richardson campus would have been designated as the main campus, UTA's Arlington campus would have become a satellite campus, and UTSW's Dallas campus would have become the merged university's medical school.^[63] The purpose was to help the metroplex gain one unified flagship-level university, but the House Bill ultimately failed to pass due to objections from UT Arlington (which wanted to retain its identity as a separate university) and the lack of time to properly explain the complex process to state representatives.^[64]

San Antonio

Nine years later, in 2010, a study was commissioned to explore the possibility of merging UT San Antonio and UT Health San Antonio.^[65] Officials ultimately decided against it, citing significant costs, administrative challenges, and different university cultures.^[66] In 2016, an op-ed published in the San Antonio Express-News urged the UT System Board of Regents to reconsider their decision, but no further actions from the UT System have been taken since.^[67]

Houston

In 2015, the UT System purchased 300 acres of land in the Houston area for $215 million for the development of a research campus, spearheaded by then-Chancellor William H. McRaven.^[68] While the UT System publicly denied plans to build a new university on the land, the land acquisition drew criticism from the University of Houston System and several Texas State Senators, notably John Whitmire, focusing on the UT System encroaching on the UH System, given the UT System's access to the Permanent University Fund, as well as the process by which the land was purchased.^[69] In 2017, the UT System announced it would be cancelling plans for the Houston campus.^[70][71]

Students

Racial and/or ethnic background (2015)

	Students^[72]	Texas^[73]	United States^[74]
Asian	11%	5%	6%
Black	7%	13%	13%
Hispanic (of any race, includes Tejanos and White Hispanics)	39%	39%	18%
Non-Hispanic White	30%	43%	61%
International student	9%	N/A	N/A
Other races or unknown	4%	3%	N/A

Administration

 

Headquarters

The administrative offices are in Downtown Austin.^[75] The UT system approved moving the system headquarters in November 2012.^[76] Bonds from the UT System's endowment funded the construction of the new 19-story, 330,000-square-foot (31,000 m²) headquarters, which had a price tag of $102 million. The UT System planned to lease a portion of the facility for shops and other offices, with the approximately 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m²) remaining portion used for its own employees.^[77] The system headquarters opened on August 1, 2017.^[78]

In July 2018, the Pentagon announced it had selected the UT System administrative building as the headquarters for the Army Futures Command, a new organization committed to coordinating modernization efforts and integrating innovation across the Army.

The University of Texas System was previously headquartered in O. Henry Hall in Downtown Austin.^[79] The system headquarters complex previously included multiple buildings, which had 550 employees in 2014.^[77] These facilities included O. Henry Hall, Claudia Taylor Johnson Hall (named after Lady Bird Johnson), Ashbel Smith Hall, the Colorado Building, and the Lavaca Building,

In 2013 the UT system approved the demolitions of the Colorado Building and the Lavaca Building,^[76] and the new UT System headquarters was built where these buildings previously stood.^[77] The Texas State University System purchased O. Henry Hall in 2015 for $8.2 million;^[76] the UT System leased it and continued using it as its administrative headquarters prior to the 2017 completion of the UT System's current headquarters.^[80] The UT System leased the land containing Claudia Taylor Johnson Hall and Ashbel Smith Hall to Trammell Crow^[76] which is constructing a commercial property on the site that uses the facade of Johnson Hall. Ashbel Smith Hall was imploded on March 25, 2018.^[81]

Coordinated Admissions Program

The Coordinated Admissions Program (CAP) offers some UT Austin applicants the chance to attend the university if they complete their freshman year at another system school and meet specified requirements.^[82] Each institution in the University of Texas System sets its own admissions standards, and not all schools may accept a particular CAP student.^[82]

UT Dallas does not participate in the CAP program, and University of Texas at San Antonio, the largest recipient of CAP students, has stated that it will be phasing out the program within the next ten years.^[83][84]

See also

• Permanent University Fund
• Education in Texas
• University of Texas at Austin admissions controversy
• List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment over $1 billion

References

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External links

 

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