2024
Messages &
Speeches

On September 18, 2024, President Jay Hartzell spoke about how we continue to advance excellence and innovation at UT Austin and create the most comprehensive and impactful academic experience for our students.

I am pleased to announce that Moody College of Communication Dean Rachel Davis Mersey will serve as Interim Provost, effective Sept. 1.

I am writing to inform you that Sharon Wood will be leaving her position as Executive Vice President and Provost and returning to the faculty of the Cockrell School of Engineering, effective Aug. 31.

Fall is always a special time on the Forty Acres, as our students and the energy they bring return to campus. As the new school year approaches, people frequently ask me as president, “How’s it going?”

Dan Jaffe has let me know that he will step down from his role as Vice President for Research in August of 2025. At that point, he will have served for almost 10 years, longer than almost any current VPR in the Association of American Universities.

It is my pleasure to announce that we have hired Jim Zook as our new Vice President for Marketing and Communications. Jim, who will join us Sept. 16, is a talented and experienced communications and marketing professional with more than 30 years of experience spanning higher education, professional services, the federal government and the news media.

Today, I want to highlight three initiatives that are important tools to provide a vibrant, inspirational campus experience by increasing access and affordability.

Beginning this fall semester, the University will require almost all staff members to work on site full time. This will be a significant change for some members of our community, so it is important to take a step back and explain why requiring in-person work best supports our culture and reinforces the teaching and research mission of our University.

The week of graduation is one of my favorite times of the year. And it is perhaps even more special for the Class of 2024.

Published in the Houston Chronicle May 2, 2024

There is a long, proud history of protest at The University of Texas at Austin. I am grateful to work at a university where students, faculty and staff care deeply enough about community, national and world events to rally around those causes.

Yesterday was clearly a rough, divisive day for our campus. As the push to disrupt top universities spreads across the country, many campuses such as ours are facing similarly difficult challenges.

This has been a challenging day for many. We have witnessed much activity we normally do not experience on our campus, and there is understandably a lot of emotion surrounding these events.

Soon after the passage last year of Senate Bill 17 — which prohibits many activities around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) — the University embarked on a multiphase process to review campus portfolios and end or redesign the policies, programs, trainings, and roles affected by the new law.

Cole Camplese will join The University of Texas at Austin in this role, reporting to me, effective March 11 as vice president and chief information office (CIO).

In our 10-year strategic plan, our answer to “What Starts Here?” is clear and unwavering … Change Starts Here.

On Monday, April 8, The University of Texas at Austin will experience Austin’s first total solar eclipse since 1397 and the last until 2343.

I am writing to share with you that Soncia Reagins-Lilly, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, has made the decision to retire from the University.

Today, as we remember and celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it is an opportunity for us to think as a community about where Dr. King said we should go, how we get there, and our actions along the way.