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AUSTIN, Texas – The University of Texas at Austin will become the world’s premier public university by bringing together and strengthening what sets UT Austin apart – its people, its location and its activities. That was the message from President Jay Hartzell at the annual University State of the Union address on Friday on campus.
The speech coincided with Hartzell’s inauguration as 30th President of the University, an event followed by an outdoor barbecue for the university community. Hartzell was named president last year, but his official inauguration has been postponed due to the pandemic. He was previously the 12th Dean of McCombs School of Business and has been a faculty member at UT Austin since 2001.
In his address, Hartzell, who was accompanied by faculty members, board members and regents, outlined a vision for the university that emerged from a campus-wide strategic planning process.
“There is no reason why we shouldn’t be one of the world’s leading academic engines for innovation, new businesses and future jobs,” he said. “When we combine our talent base, our strengths in STEM areas, our emerging healthcare expertise, our connections to both our alumni base and state and local ecosystems, we will have a tremendous impact that is difficult to predict. ”
The first part of his vision, he said, begins with investing in the people who work for UT and continuing to nurture a diverse and inclusive community.
“We achieve the greatest impact by focusing on our people, using our space and refining our efforts,” said Hartzell. “We can better use our breadth and size to help our employees find growth opportunities on our campus and in many cases stay here for their entire career.”
Going forward, Hartzell said, the university will pursue initiatives that provide employees with greater opportunities to learn, develop and add skills, update various HR and IT systems on campus, and work on a workable and ambitious plan for the to create an entire campus that focuses on the entire campus on “People, Place and Activities”.
Some aspects of this goal are already being achieved. This fall, the university is serving more students from historically underrepresented groups than ever before, after a record number of first-time applications from black and Hispanic students. With almost 9,400 students per year, first-generation students make up almost a quarter of the undergraduate students.
Austin is a location-based engine of the economy, an incubator for creativity, and a center for nonprofits and think tanks. Hartzell said the university will work to leverage these unique benefits even more. The university will also shortly unveil a new technology commercialization initiative that will include a new set of programs, practices, and resources for working with industry partners and alumni.
Finally, Hartzell outlined the types of research and teaching activities UT will pursue to maximize impact. Teaching activities include revitalizing campus life, core curriculum, and community engagement. UT will also involve its 550,000 alumni more closely to create additional mentoring and networking opportunities for students.
UT will be doubling down on immersive education with two big themes: investing in more interdisciplinary programs and better educating students to be more entrepreneurial. Hartzell pointed to some early examples: the Master of Arts in Design Health program, a collaboration between Dell Medical School and the College of Fine Arts, and entrepreneurial initiatives like a new entrepreneurship minor, the Kendra Scott Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute and the Harkey Institute for Entrepreneurship.
“It is not enough to think about how to teach – we have to continue to be innovative in what we teach,” said Hartzell. “We need more of these hubs – cross-functional, interdisciplinary and experience-oriented – so that we can train the next generation of leaders to solve the world’s next problems.”
Hartzell concluded with a discussion about research activities.
“From advanced materials to AI, we know that basic research will always underpin groundbreaking research. But I want us to be known for both, ”he said. “To use a baseball metaphor, we’re looking for a research and scholarship culture that produces more home runs, not just more singles and doubles.”
Woven in his remarks were the key themes of optimism about the unique benefits and opportunities of UT and boldness about the advancement of the university.
“I don’t want to wake up in 10 years and see that we haven’t done enough, haven’t gotten up, or haven’t taken enough risks,” he said. “We have an incredible opportunity to bring amazing, diverse talent together on a large scale, leverage Austin and Texas as we serve them better, and innovate in our classrooms and performance rooms, archives, libraries, and laboratories. If we can do that, I am confident that we will plan a course to become the most influential public university in the world. “
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