AUSTIN, Texas—Following two years of study and debate, a group of 218 prominent citizens will publish its recommendations regarding the future of The University of Texas at Austin on Thursday, Sept. 30.
A press conference, at which copies of the Report of the Commission of 125 will be available, is scheduled for 10 a.m., Thursday, in Room 212 of the Main Building at the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. A presentation ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m., Thursday on the Main Mall, during which the report will be formally presented to the president of the university.
The Commission of 125 is a group of citizens convened to express a vision of how The University of Texas at Austin can best serve Texas and the larger society in the next 25 years. The commission was proposed during the 2001-2002 academic year, 125 years after the Constitution of 1876 mandated that Texas establish “a university of the first class.” In the spirit of that mandate, the group was named the Commission of 125.
The commission examined topics such as the university’s enrollment size, admissions policies, the quality of undergraduate and graduate programs, research endeavors and many other areas.
This is the third time that the university has convened a commission of citizens for such purposes. The earlier work, undertaken on the occasions of the 75th and 100th anniversaries of the university’s founding, resulted in significant advances. The university’s graduate programs, libraries and collections were strengthened immensely in the decades after the work of the Committee of 75, which completed its report in 1958. The quality of the university’s faculty—and its national reputation—soared as the initiatives of the Centennial Commission were implemented in the 1980s. The Centennial Commission convened in 1981 and presented its recommendations in 1983. The work of the Centennial Commission resulted in the creation of 572 faculty endowments.
“A distinctive, perhaps unique, aspect of our university’s history has been the recurring call for special commissions of citizens to express a vision for the future of the university and to recommend standards and principles for working toward the vision,” said President Larry R. Faulkner. “Nearly all universities engage regularly in strategic planning, but rare indeed are those who place it so fully in the hands of citizens. I am confident that the Commission of 125 has given invaluable guidance for all who will lead the university into the 2020s.”
Commission members traveled from all parts of Texas and the nation at their own expense to participate. Two members live outside the United States. The ethnically diverse group represented almost all occupations, including business executives, poets, military officers, newspaper publishers, civic leaders, physicians, government officials and the former presidents of five major universities, including Texas AandM and Rice universities.
For more information contact: Robert D. Meckel, Office of Public Affairs, 512-475-7847.
