Message from UT System Chancellor McRaven

November 6, 2015

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

This morning I laid out my vision for The University of Texas System to the Board of Regents, and I wanted to reach out to you — the people that devote their time and talents doing the important work of our institutions — to both give you the broad strokes of my presentation and provide links to more information.

One theme that ran through every aspect of my presentation this morning was the need to use our size, our talent and our diversity to collaborate in ways never done before. I harkened back to my experiences over the past 14 years in combat and how the Special Operations community built a “Team of Teams” to tackle complex problems.

First, I shared our draft Mission Statement, one we believe captures the essence of what a great university system should provide the people it serves. I also shared our operating concept, which defines how we will function as a system in order to achieve our goals and our new decision process, which details the disciplined approach we take to our daily, weekly and monthly collaboration.

I discussed what we learned during our strategic assessment, our view of the terrain – both as it exists today and as we think it will exist five, 10, 20 years from now.

Finally, based on what we learned from the strategic assessment and what we know from the great work of previous chancellors, I outlined some bold initiatives and “Quantum Leaps” in our ability to provide the citizens of Texas the very best in higher education, research and health care. These Quantum Leaps will, I believe, make us the envy of every system in the nation.

The entire presentation can be viewed here. If you prefer, you can read the script. But I know how busy you are, so for now let me give you a summary of what we call our Quantum Leaps.

Texas Prospect Initiative

Working with our campus leadership, civic leaders, the legislature, community colleges, the school districts, and other primary and secondary education constituents, we will use our size and our regional access to actively engage with leaders in pre-K through 12 in ways never before envisioned in higher education.

We will work aggressively to ensure that our college preparatory programs – dual-credits, early college high schools, math and science academies – meet the standards necessary to ensure their students can enter higher education. We will develop a program to focus on dramatically improving elementary level literacy through a UT Literacy Institute — a reading version of the highly successful UTeach program — and offer this program first to the largest, urban school districts.

We will work with the state’s independent school districts to help high school counselors find the resources they need to provide advice and direction to each potential college student. And we will shine a spotlight on our schools of education to ensure we are graduating the best teachers in the nation.

The American Leadership Program

Because we’re preparing the future leaders of Texas, we will create The American Leadership Program. Over the next several years we will begin to implement a one-hour upper and lower division course that will be required by all students attending a UT institution.

We will leverage the large veteran population, business and civic leaders and a host of others across our system to teach the men and women of our state. But, we will not stop there. Our senior administrators across the system, state and nation need leadership education as well.

In the future, we will look to build a brick and mortar leadership institute that can provide executive level leadership training to all those who desire to improve the skills necessary to run today’s complex organizations. We will be known nationwide for developing great leaders.

Winning the Talent War

The UT System Board of Regents has shown a willingness to invest in bringing world-class scholars, teachers and researchers to the UT System. The wisdom of investing in world-class talent is more than apparent. Our $100 million investment in the Science and Technology Acquisition and Retention (STARs) program has yielded a phenomenal return – more than $650 million to date.

But because we operate in an environment every bit as competitive as the private sector, we cannot afford to be complacent. So we are going to make an unparalleled investment in pursuit of the next generation of outstanding faculty. Not just those faculty who have established reputations in the National Academies, but those who have the greatest potential for stardom — for excellence in their field — both rising faculty and post-doctoral candidates.

With the approval of the Regents, we will increase the STARs investment and we will recommend a rising stars program that looks to hire clusters of great faculty — as well as an incentive program to retain our best post-doctoral candidates. There is a war for talent, and we intend to win it.

Enhancing Fairness and Opportunity

The UT System can and must do a better job of driving equal opportunity and fairness in our hiring and promotion processes. This is particularly disappointing because education is all about opportunity. Making sure our faculty and staff reflect the changing look of Texas is not just about fairness. It’s also about effectiveness.

We need faculty, administrators, campus leaders who understand the people they’re serving, who come from the same kinds of places. So we are going to implement a “Rooney Rule” — similar to what exists in the NFL for hiring head coaches — for higher education and health care. This will ensure that qualified women and minorities have an opportunity to be considered for every senior level position from dean and above. Additionally, to ensure fairness in faculty compensation, each campus will submit a plan to the Chancellor to close the gender gap within five years.

The UT Health Care Enterprise

Any fair assessment of the health of our state can only conclude that we are not as healthy as we ought to be. Compared to other states, we rank very poorly in some very important health categories. However, we have unquestionably some of the finest health care institutions in the nation – and in the world. We will improve the health of Texas by putting the collective power of our institutions to work.

We will develop a collaborative Health Care Enterprise that will leverage our size and expertise, and connect our regional capabilities to ensure we provide Texas, the nation and the world with the finest health care possible. In practical terms, this means collaboration among our health institutions along all lines of major health care functions – such as shared clinical information, shared service lines, clinical trials and telehealth.

We will incentivize and, where necessary, drive partnering so that we take full advantage of the phenomenal talent and expertise that exists around the enterprise – so that every doctor, every patient, every caregiver, knows that the quality care they give and the quality of care they receive is equal, regardless of their status or location.

Leading the Brain Health Revolution

Neurological illnesses and mental disorders inflict a lot of human suffering every year, and the problem is growing. Fortunately, there is magnificent work going on in the neurosciences and we are already a big part of it. We have more than a dozen excellent programs, spread across five of our institutions, focused in some form or fashion on brain health. But we don’t want to just participate in this revolution, we want to lead it. So we are going to launch an effort akin to the Manhattan Project to understand, prevent, treat and cure the diseases of the brain.

We will make an unprecedented investment in leveraging and connecting all the cutting edge science ongoing at UT institutions. We will drive collaboration, incentivize partnerships and demand scientific and clinical cooperation. Where possible, we will expand our efforts in brain health so that more talent can be applied against this growing demand.

The UT Network for National Security

The security threats confronting the United States cry out for the brightest available minds to convene and collaborate in search of solutions. The UT System is uniquely positioned to establish itself as a leader in this space, because scattered among our institutions, there are great minds thinking and working on our national security problems. In fact, we have more than 40 centers and institutes focusing on national security issues today.

We will seize the opportunity to take the work being done all around our system and leverage it into something of international value. We will establish the UT Network for National Security, a systemwide alliance that will address the most vexing problems — raise them to national prominence, convene world forums, write, discuss, debate and present solutions. The UT System will be the national authority on scholarly activities in national security.

UT System Expansion in Houston

To broaden access to more of Texas’ brightest students while taking advantage of the talent and expertise of the state’s most populous and international city, we are going to expand our footprint in Houston. This effort will be decades in the making, but will provide a venue for UT institutions across the state to have a presence in Houston, which is the brain hub of so many critical industries, such as energy, finance and health care. We are completing the acquisition of over 300 acres of real estate off Buffalo Point, just 3.5 miles from the Texas Medical Center. This will be a game changer, in a very positive way, for Houston, for the UT System and for the state of Texas.

This expansion of the UT System into the state’s most international city — where sectors such as energy, technology, health care, arts and culture fuel the economy — will provide extraordinary opportunities for research and partnerships. It will also address the need to make a UT education possible for a growing and changing population. At the beginning of 2016, I will convene a task force of civic leaders, legislators, academic and health presidents, faculty, students, regents and other constituents to begin planning for the development of the Houston property.

Conclusion

I closed my presentation this morning by noting that every organization needs an ethos, a culture of quality and dedication, if it is going to reach its full potential.

Since this note is already longer than you would probably prefer, I will only include the last line here: We will exceed all expectations and be the most responsive and dedicated university system in the nation.

That’s a tall order, to be sure. And the fact is we can’t do any of it without your continued efforts. I hope you are as excited about the future of the UT System as I am. Please know that it is the honor of a lifetime being the Chancellor of The University of Texas System, and to serve as the leader of such a magnificent team.

Thank you,

William McRaven,

UT System Chancellor

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