Post by west-texan on Apr 28, 2009 20:23:41 GMT -5
>>>> Says a state fund is being started...but I wonder where the fund money is coming from?
But I'm still wishing that WTAMU would get its act together about moving up a level.
A WT president wanted to do that back in the 80's...but the small town WT faculty rebelled.
As the article states...moving a university up benefits the local and state economy.
WTAMU stuck in small town Canyon may never be a Tier 1 university...but WT moving up a level would greatly benefit the Amarillo area economy.
WTAMU funding in the last 25 years or so...has been a problem of WT not asking for more money.
lubbockonline.com/stories/042409/loc_432344996.shtml
Home Local News
042409 LOCAL NEWS 3 A-J AUSTIN BUREAU
AUSTIN - Texas Tech and six other leading universities in the state aiming to get the prestigious tier-one designation have one less hurdle to overcome.
Tech gets step closer to tier one
By Enrique Rangel | A-J AUSTIN BUREAU
Friday, April 24, 2009
Story last updated at 4/24/2009 - 2:08 am
AUSTIN - Texas Tech and six other leading universities in the state aiming to get the prestigious tier-one designation have one less hurdle to overcome.
The Texas Senate Higher Education Committee has voted out two bills that would put the seven schools in the same league as the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M, as well as privately funded Rice University in Houston, the only higher education schools in the state with the title of national research institutions, more commonly known as tier-one or flagship universities.
Senate Bill 9 by Committee Chairwoman Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Senate Bill 1560 by Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, have been sent to the full Senate for consideration, Zaffirini and Duncan said Thursday.
The committee's votes on SB 9 and SB 1560 are the latest in a series of legislative moves to help Tech and the six other schools get tier-one designation.
Two weeks ago, the Senate unanimously approved Senate Joint Resolution 35, a proposed constitutional amendment that, if Texas voters approve in November, would create a state fund needed to finance the process of giving the schools the tier-one designation. The Legislature estimated last year that it would cost nearly $500 million to give the schools the highly coveted title. Tech Chancellor Kent Hance has said the university would need between $40 million and $60 million of that money.
Three bills in the House, all by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, have also been filed, and today on the House floor one of those bills, HB 51, of which Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, is a co-sponsor, will incorporate part of Duncan's proposal, Isett said.
Duncan, who along with Shapiro also authored SJR 35, said he is encouraged with the way all legislation is moving and is happy that his SB 1560 was finally sent to the full Senate for consideration. SB 1560 and SB 9 had been pending in committee since being laid out on March 25.
"Now we've set up the criteria for the universities to meet before they get into the fund," Duncan said. "This legislation provides the vision for higher ed for the seven emerging research institutions and would provide the vision for these universities to be able to compete nationally and internationally in research and academic competition."
Besides Tech, the other six so-called emerging research universities are the University of Houston, the University of North Texas (in Denton) and the University of Texas campuses at Arlington, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio.
As some witnesses said at the March 25 Senate Higher Education Committee hearing for the bills, tier-one universities are not only listed among the elite schools in the nation but are usually first in line to get government research grants. The schools also attract major research contracts from innovative industries and are a big boost to local and state economies.
Shapiro said two weeks ago before the Senate passed SJR 35 that Texas, the second-largest state, needs more flagship schools because it is way behind California with nine and New York with seven.
To comment on this story:
walt.nett@lubbockonline.com l 766-8706
enrique.rangel@morris.com l (512) 673-7553
TEXAS TECH/Senate committee clears two bills paving way for seven universities to attain flagship status
But I'm still wishing that WTAMU would get its act together about moving up a level.
A WT president wanted to do that back in the 80's...but the small town WT faculty rebelled.
As the article states...moving a university up benefits the local and state economy.
WTAMU stuck in small town Canyon may never be a Tier 1 university...but WT moving up a level would greatly benefit the Amarillo area economy.
WTAMU funding in the last 25 years or so...has been a problem of WT not asking for more money.
lubbockonline.com/stories/042409/loc_432344996.shtml
Home Local News
042409 LOCAL NEWS 3 A-J AUSTIN BUREAU
AUSTIN - Texas Tech and six other leading universities in the state aiming to get the prestigious tier-one designation have one less hurdle to overcome.
Tech gets step closer to tier one
By Enrique Rangel | A-J AUSTIN BUREAU
Friday, April 24, 2009
Story last updated at 4/24/2009 - 2:08 am
AUSTIN - Texas Tech and six other leading universities in the state aiming to get the prestigious tier-one designation have one less hurdle to overcome.
The Texas Senate Higher Education Committee has voted out two bills that would put the seven schools in the same league as the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M, as well as privately funded Rice University in Houston, the only higher education schools in the state with the title of national research institutions, more commonly known as tier-one or flagship universities.
Senate Bill 9 by Committee Chairwoman Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Senate Bill 1560 by Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, and Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, have been sent to the full Senate for consideration, Zaffirini and Duncan said Thursday.
The committee's votes on SB 9 and SB 1560 are the latest in a series of legislative moves to help Tech and the six other schools get tier-one designation.
Two weeks ago, the Senate unanimously approved Senate Joint Resolution 35, a proposed constitutional amendment that, if Texas voters approve in November, would create a state fund needed to finance the process of giving the schools the tier-one designation. The Legislature estimated last year that it would cost nearly $500 million to give the schools the highly coveted title. Tech Chancellor Kent Hance has said the university would need between $40 million and $60 million of that money.
Three bills in the House, all by Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, have also been filed, and today on the House floor one of those bills, HB 51, of which Rep. Carl Isett, R-Lubbock, is a co-sponsor, will incorporate part of Duncan's proposal, Isett said.
Duncan, who along with Shapiro also authored SJR 35, said he is encouraged with the way all legislation is moving and is happy that his SB 1560 was finally sent to the full Senate for consideration. SB 1560 and SB 9 had been pending in committee since being laid out on March 25.
"Now we've set up the criteria for the universities to meet before they get into the fund," Duncan said. "This legislation provides the vision for higher ed for the seven emerging research institutions and would provide the vision for these universities to be able to compete nationally and internationally in research and academic competition."
Besides Tech, the other six so-called emerging research universities are the University of Houston, the University of North Texas (in Denton) and the University of Texas campuses at Arlington, Dallas, El Paso and San Antonio.
As some witnesses said at the March 25 Senate Higher Education Committee hearing for the bills, tier-one universities are not only listed among the elite schools in the nation but are usually first in line to get government research grants. The schools also attract major research contracts from innovative industries and are a big boost to local and state economies.
Shapiro said two weeks ago before the Senate passed SJR 35 that Texas, the second-largest state, needs more flagship schools because it is way behind California with nine and New York with seven.
To comment on this story:
walt.nett@lubbockonline.com l 766-8706
enrique.rangel@morris.com l (512) 673-7553
TEXAS TECH/Senate committee clears two bills paving way for seven universities to attain flagship status