AUSTIN, Texas—The presidents of Texas AandM University and The University of Texas at Austin will trade jobs for the day on Friday (June 28) to the probable surprise of diehard Aggies and Longhorns.
Dr. Larry R. Faulkner, president of The University of Texas at Austin and Texas AandM President Ray M. Bowen said the idea is to underscore that the two institutions, while competing fiercely in athletics, have much in common in their academic and related aspirations and face many of the same challenges, fiscal and otherwise.
Both presidents will start off the day with late-morning meetings with the vice presidents and other executive staff members at the "other" university. They will then have sessions with deans, other faculty members and student leaders to the extent that schedules allow. It will not be all business for the two presidents. “We expect to have some fun while getting a taste of how the other guy lives,” Bowen and Faulkner said in a joint announcement.
Faulkner and Bowen will hold a videoconference at 3 p.m. Friday to share their experiences and impressions of spending a day at each other’s university. The videoconference will be in the KAMU-TV studio at Texas AandM University and in Room 2.302 of the Applied Computational Engineering and Sciences (ACES) building at The University of Texas at Austin. The video conference will also be available on The University of Texas at Austin homepage through a live Webcast feed beginning at 3 p.m. (www.utexas.edu). The presidents will be available for interviews at the conclusion of their scheduled activities.
News media representatives interested in covering any portion of the Austin and/or College Station activities are requested to contact Robert D. Meckel in the Office of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, 512-475-7847, or Lane Stephenson, Office of University Relations, Texas AandM University, 979-845-4662.
