You have a long-standing connection to UT. How has it shaped you?
The University of Texas is my home. I grew up here, my wife Teresa and I attended as undergraduates together, and now both of our children are on campus. I have a reverence for this place. My time as a student was formative to so much of what matters to me now. I learned how to seek the truth and how to understand complexity and uncertainty, commitment and change, tradition and progress. It is an honor to now serve as the 31st president, and only the second president who received an undergraduate degree from UT Austin.
What are your top priorities for the coming year?
I described five charges in October during my first State of the University address. First, we will be a model of public trust in higher education, and we are making great progress there. We will prepare the next generation to thrive in a complex future, which starts with ensuring that our curriculum has value, balance and completeness. One of our areas of focus is our core curriculum. We should have a focused common learning experience shared across all majors so that all Longhorns are ready to lead, ready to be great citizens and ready to be positive contributors to society. In addition to the core curriculum, we will also invest in research and teaching at the frontiers of science, combining our strengths across multiple fields to expand the limits of what we can accomplish, and creating a new shared focus on materials science. We will build an integrated academic medical center that will unite the Dell Medical School and the world-class cancer care of MD Anderson with UT’s research engine. We are designing the hospital of the future — a living laboratory where every patient interaction drives discovery, and every breakthrough transforms medical practice. Finally, we will restore the Tower, returning it to its original glory and preparing it to be the everlasting beacon to Longhorns of the future. Just as we restore public trust, revitalize our academic commitment and reimagine our missions in research and medicine, we are doing the same for that great symbol of our University.
We are in the final year of our record-breaking What Starts Here campaign. What impact do donors have on our students and our University?
Our supporters are the caretakers of the University. They create opportunities for students, they enable our faculty to conduct research that changes the world, and they preserve and improve our physical campus to support our academic mission. It is because of our donors that we have great facilities where our students and faculty can push the frontiers of science. Everything we are building upon was first built by our alumni.