Rep. Branch spoke to a group of leading scholars at UT Dallas in the Old Supreme Court room at the State Capitol.  The McDermott Scholars represent the best and brightest at UT Dallas, and are supported by Mrs. Eugene McDermott in support of her husband's dream. The McDermott Scholars program provides select UTD students with a rigorous and personalized education as well as intensive extracurricular activities.

March 30, 2011

Jim Vertuno

AUSTIN — When state lawmakers created the popular TEXAS Grant financial aid program, the goal was to help poor students get to college and create a future for hundreds of thousands who could not afford a higher education on their own.

A decade later, trends show about half of those using the money don’t graduate within six years. To improve those rates, two key lawmakers are now trying to put the most academically accomplished of those students at the front of the line.

March 29, 2011

Reeve Hamilton

Calls For University "Entrepreneurship" At UT

Before his controversial hiring as a special adviser to the University of Texas System, Rick O’Donnell was a largely unknown quantity in the Austin higher education community. What could be determined through his available public writings, which questioned traditional models of academic research and accreditation, sparked an uproar that, in the words of House Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch, “shook the foundations of UT.”

March 29, 2011

Reeve Hamilton

Before his controversial hiring as a special adviser to the University of Texas System, Rick O’Donnell was a largely unknown quantity in the Austin higher education community. What could be determined through his available public writings, which questioned traditional models of academic research and accreditation, sparked an uproar that, in the words of House Higher Education Chairman Dan Branch, “shook the foundations of UT.”

March 29, 2011

Jim Vertuno

AUSTIN, Texas — When state lawmakers created the popular TEXAS Grant financial aid program, the goal was to help poor students get to college and create a future for hundreds of thousands who could not afford a higher education on their own.

A decade later, trends show that about half of those using the money don't graduate within six years. To improve those rates, two key lawmakers are now trying to put the most academically accomplished of those students at the front of the line.

March 29, 2011

Jim Vertuno

AUSTIN, Texas — When state lawmakers created the popular TEXAS Grant financial aid program, the goal was to help poor students get to college and create a future for hundreds of thousands who could not afford a higher education on their own.

A decade later, trends show that about half of those using the money don't graduate within six years. To improve those rates, two key lawmakers are now trying to put the most academically accomplished of those students at the front of the line.