August 4, 2011

Ross Ramsey and Ryan Murphy

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has been at the top of the cash list in Texas politics for so long that it's not really that newsy any more. The incumbent Republican, who's got a run for governor in his sights if Rick Perry moves along, got to the end of June with $10.4 million in the bank.

He had more money than any other candidate — or any of the state's big political action committees. Among the candidates, Comptroller Susan Combs reached mid-year with $5.4 million in her accounts, followed by Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, at $4.8 million; House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, $2.6 million; and Perry, $2.1 million. Another 13 politicians — all but one of them (former state Rep. Steve Wolens, D-Dallas) still in office — had at least $1 million on hand as of June 30. In all, 18 candidates had at least $1 million cash on hand.

Rep. Dan Branch teams up with the University of Texas at Austin student government to welcome the school’s newest incoming students and to help kick-off the first meeting of the year. Branch urges students to become involved in student government and to seize the moment as Freshmen.

Rep. Branch was joined by CEO of Complete College America, Stan Jones, and fellow colleagues to discuss an award given to Texas from the Complete College America program.  Texas is one of 10 states to receive a the grant, which will help implement a program started at Texas State-San Marcos on a broader scale to encourage more students to get passed the finish line and complete a degree or other credential.  

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 25, 2011

STATEMENT FROM CHAIRMAN DAN BRANCH REGARDING THE RELEASE OF THE FRAMEWORK ACTION PLAN BY UT SYSTEM CHANCELLOR, DR. FRANCISCO CIGARROA

"Congratulations to Chancellor Cigarroa for developing a detailed action plan to further advance excellence and productivity throughout the UT System," said Chairman Branch. "In recent years, I have encouraged our university leaders to create dashboards of key indicators in order to keep our universities focused on increasing attainment and completion of our Closing the Gaps initiative. The UT Chancellor, presidents and regents are to be commended for this united effort to advance thoughtful improvements, prioritize key indicators of success and hold themselves accountable. I look forward to observing the Chancellor's implementation and seeing the results."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 15, 2011

STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN DAN BRANCH REGARDING POSTPONEMENT OF HEARING TO DISCUSS COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC CONFERENCE REALIGNMENTS

"The August 16, 2010 hearing of the House Higher Education Committee on collegiate athletics has been postponed.

"Yesterday, Dr. Bernie Machen, on behalf of the Southeastern Conference Presidents and Chancellors, stated that the member institutions have, at least for the time being, reaffirmed their satisfaction with the „present 12 institutional alignment.?

"While events may continue to evolve in the coming weeks, at this time, there is no immediate need to evaluate the merits of an athletic conference reconfiguration involving Texas A&M University and, potentially, other Texas public universities. If the current situation changes, our Committee is prepared to convene.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 15, 2011                  

STATEMENT FROM CHAIRMAN DAN BRANCH REGARDING

THE TEXAS A&M BOARD OF REGENTS NAMING JOHN SHARP

THE SOLE FINALIST FOR CHANCELLOR

"I congratulate the Honorable John Sharp on being selected as the sole finalist for Chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. John has a long history of service to the university and the state dating back to his days as an A&M student body president. He showed his commitment to transparency in government as our State Comptroller of Public Accounts with the creation of the Texas Window on State Government, and more recently, his willingness to reach across party lines as the Chairman of the Texas Tax Reform Commission. Once the waiting period is concluded, I look forward to working with him, and better understanding his vision for one of our state's most prestigious higher education systems."

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August 21, 2011    

Natalie Butler    

Whether you spent your summer taking classes, traveling the world, working at a new job or braving the Austin heat, it is time once again to buy our books and learn our syllabi for new classes. On behalf of the Student Government, it is my pleasure to welcome new incoming students to the University of Texas at Austin and to welcome returning students back to the 40 Acres for what should prove to be an exciting year.

While you were away, Student Government was working hard on many of the goals that Ashley Baker, our team and I shared with the campus last spring. I’m happy to say we’ve made progress.

August 29, 2011

Market Watch, The Wallstreet Journal

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Online university allocates part of grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help expand access to competency-based higher education in the state

WGU Texas, texas.wgu.edu, is one of three state subsidiaries that will be supported by a $4.5 million grant to Western Governors University from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The overall grant is aimed at leveraging Western Governors University's state subsidiaries in Texas, Indiana, and Washington to expand access to affordable, competency-based higher education. The investment in Texas will help support development and outreach for WGU's new subsidiary, WGU Texas.

August 31, 2011

Marisa Riley

In the recent legislative session, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 33, which aims to improve affordability of textbooks for students in higher education.

Effective Sept. 1, 2012, HB 33 will require faculty members and textbook publishers to adhere to new compliances. Among the changes are obligations to provide students with cost-sensitive information about textbooks for courses.

The bill requires professors to submit textbook information that includes the retail price, author, publisher, copyright date and ISBN (International Standard Book Number) to the institution 30 days before the first day of classes. The change is supposed to allow students time to explore alternative, cheaper textbook options.

August 31, 2011

Tim Bardin and Jordan Williford

Textbook affordability and availability are problems many college students face each semester, regardless of major, class rank or whether they are undergraduate or graduate students.

Through House Bill 33, legislators and educators are striving to increase student access to information that can help them find affordable textbooks.

"It has gotten better because of the ability students have to rent textbooks," said Amanda Allred, junior agricultural communications and journalism major, regarding the affordability of textbooks. "As to availability, students used to have to look up each textbook by professor through their website and syllabus, but now the MSC Bookstore website makes that a lot easier."