Messages &
Speeches

…Due to the high probability of severe winter weather arriving overnight, our campus will close at midnight tonight. We will reopen when conditions are determined to be safe.

Let me start with a thank you for your role in our community’s response to the surge of the coronavirus omicron variant and the resulting changes to the start of our spring semester.

Welcome to the spring 2022 semester! Today, we launch another semester, working together to fulfill the mission of this great university as we seek to have the greatest impact possible on our city, state, nation and world. Thank you for your contributions — as researchers, teachers, writers, project managers, administrators, counselors, custodial workers, technicians and in a plethora of other roles, we all play a role in this important effort.

It’s great to welcome you all back to the Forty Acres for the spring 2022 semester! I hope that you enjoyed the winter break and were able to spend time recharging and reconnecting with friends and family after a busy fall.

First and foremost, I am proud this week to stand by our veterans and thank them for their service and sacrifice. I’m also proud to announce that according to U.S. News & World Report, UT Austin has been ranked the state’s No. 1 university for veterans.