Established 1911 Number of students 82,462 (Fall 2015) Color Pewter, bronze, red, blue Academic staff 41,866 (2014) | Chancellor Brian McCall Founded 1911 Type of business State university system | |
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Former names State Normal School Board of Regents (1911–1923)
Board of Regents, State Teachers Colleges (1923–1975) Budget $2.85 million (system office, 2013-15 biennium)
$659.5 million (system office and all institutions, 2013-15 biennium) Address Thomas J. Rusk Office Bldg., Suite 600, 200 E. 10th St., Austin, Texas, 78701-2407, U.S. Colors Pewter, bronze, red, blue Headquarters Austin, Texas, United States Subsidiaries Texas State University, Sam Houston State University, Lamar University, Lamar State College–Port Arthur Profiles | ||
Texas state university system responds to whistleblower lawsuit
The Texas State University System (TSUS) was created in 1911 to oversee the state's normal schools. Since its creation it has broadened its focus and comprises institutions of many different scopes. It is the oldest and third largest university system in Texas. The other systems of state universities are the Texas A&M System, the Texas Tech System, the University of Houston System, the University of North Texas System, and the University of Texas System.
Contents
- Texas state university system responds to whistleblower lawsuit
- Texas state university system salaries
- History
- Administration
- Comparison of present and former component institutions
- Universities
- Community and technical colleges
- Branch campuses and extension centers
- References
The system is unique to Texas because it is the only horizontal state university system in Texas; the System does not have a flagship institution and considers each university to be equal partners receiving the same level of support from the system. The TSUS is composed of four comprehensive universities offering baccalaureate and postgraduate degrees: Lamar University in Beaumont, Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Sul Ross State University in Alpine, and Texas State University in San Marcos. In addition, Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College, offering courses in Castroville, Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Uvalde, offers upper-division courses and postgraduate degrees and, despite being administratively part of Sul Ross St., is often described separately as a system component. The system also includes three two-year colleges offering associate degrees and professional certifications: Lamar Institute of Technology in Beaumont, Lamar State College-Orange in Orange, and Lamar State College-Port Arthur in Port Arthur.
Angelo State University in San Angelo, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas A&M University-Commerce in Commerce, Texas A&M University-Kingsville in Kingsville, West Texas A&M University in Canyon, and the University of North Texas in Denton were former members of the system. The Texas State University System saw its largest growth in 1995 when the Lamar University System with its four institutions was incorporated into the TSUS.
The Texas State University System is headquartered in Austin. The system is governed by a nine-member Board of Regents appointed by the governor of Texas. The administration is headed by a Board-appointed chancellor based in Austin.
The system owns and manages a 9,269-acre (3,751 ha) property encompassing much of the Christmas Mountains located adjacent to Big Bend National Park in southern Brewster County. The remote tract is regulated under strict conservation easements ensuring preservation in its natural state. The property serves as an open-air classroom for the system's member institutions and a laboratory for their research efforts.
Texas state university system salaries
History
The Texas Legislature established the State Normal School Board of Regents in 1911, which would later become the present-day Texas State University System, for the control and management of the state normal schools for white teachers. The Board originally assumed authority over North Texas State Normal College (founded 1890), Sam Houston Normal Institute (1879), Southwest Texas Normal School (1899), and West Texas State Normal College (1909).
The Legislature authorized the establishment of Sul Ross Normal College in 1917 and the purchase of the private East Texas Normal College founded in 1889. That same year, the Legislature authorized the renaming of the system's normal schools to normal colleges. Political struggles for the creation of Stephen F. Austin Normal College and South Texas Normal College (Texas A&M-Kingsville) were resolved in 1921. Further legislation in 1923 renamed the system's members again to state teachers colleges while the Board was renamed the Board of Regents, State Teachers Colleges. South Texas left the system in 1929 to be governed independently as Texas Arts and Industrial College (Texas A&I) before eventually joining the Texas A&M University System as Texas A&M-Kingsville.
Sul Ross and West Texas received name changes in 1949 becoming Sul Ross State College and West Texas State College. North Texas would leave the system the same year becoming independently governed North Texas State College. North Texas would later become the flagship campus of the University of North Texas System. Similar name changes would result in Southwest Texas State College in 1959 and Sam Houston State College in 1965. West Texas State College became West Texas State University in 1963.
The year 1965 also saw the incorporation of Angelo State College, founded as a junior college in 1928, into the system. With these changes, the Board became titled the Board of Regents, State Senior Colleges. All of the system's components had their names changed from state colleges to state universities in 1969 while East Texas (Texas A&M-Commerce) and West Texas (West Texas A&M) left the system entirely in 1969 to become independent before settling on their present affiliations with the Texas A&M University System. Stephen F. Austin left the system the same year but continues to be an independent with its separate governing regents outside any of the state's other university systems.
Sul Ross established upper-division and post-graduate study centers in 1973, later to become Rio Grande College, on campuses of Southwest Texas Junior College in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Uvalde.
The Legislature conferred upon the system in 1975 its present designation as the Texas State University System. Angelo State University was re-designated as a member along with Sam Houston State University, Southwest Texas State University, and Sul Ross State University.
In the most transformative change to the TSUS in its history, the Lamar University System was abolished in 1995 and its four members were incorporated into the TSUS: Lamar University (founded 1923), Lamar Institute of Technology (1995), Lamar University-Orange (1969), and Lamar University-Port Arthur (1909).
Southwest Texas State opened an extension center in 1996 housed in temporary buildings adjacent to a Round Rock high school. After a 2004 land donation, the permanent Texas State University Round Rock Campus was opened in 2005.
Sam Houston State opened The Woodlands University Center in 1998. The following year, the former Lamar campuses in Orange and Port Arthur were renamed Lamar State College-Orange and Lamar State College-Port Arthur.
In 2003, the Legislature changed the name of Southwest Texas State to Texas State University-San Marcos. The name was shortened to Texas State University in 2013.
Angelo State University left the system to affiliate with the Texas Tech University System in 2007 in the most recent change in system membership.
Sam Houston State operated an additional branch, the University Park Campus at Lone Star College–University Park near Tomball from 2011 until it was discontinued at the beginning of 2016.
TSUS members Private institution Public independent Lamar Univ. component Lamar System member
North Texas System member Texas A&M System member Texas Tech System member
Administration
The Texas Legislature has delegated administrative power and authority over the Texas State University System in its Board of Regents including the organization, control, and management of the system and each of its component institutions including employing and discharging the presidents, officers, and other employees of each member institution.
The Board consists of nine regents including its chair and vice chair. Members of the Board are appointed by the governor with Senate confirmation to staggered, six-year terms with three regents appointed every two years. In addition, a non-voting student regent is appointed annually.
The chairman of the Board of Regents is Jaime R. Garza, a surgeon who also serves as a professor and assistant dean at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Garza's term on the Board expires in 2017.
The chief executive officer of the university is the chancellor, who also serves as secretary to the Board of Regents without being a member of the Board. The chancellor is appointed without a fixed term by a majority of the Board of Regents and serves at the pleasure of the Board. The chancellor has ultimate authority and responsibility over all system components including recommending the hiring and firing of the presidents of system institutions, maintaining the permanent records of the system, and advising, assisting, and representing the Board in administrative matters.
The current chancellor of the Texas State University System is Brian McCall, a former legislator in the Texas House of Representatives.
The system's administration consists of six offices. One office, the Office of Audits and Analysis, is independent of the chancellor and headed by a director appointed by the regents. The remaining five, Academic Affairs, Contract Administration, Finance, General Counsel, and Governmental Relations, are led by vice chancellors under the authority of the system chancellor.
The system headquarters is currently in the Thomas J. Rusk State Office Building, Suite 600, 200 East 10th Street in Downtown Austin. In 2015, system regents approved the acquisition of O. Henry Hall from the University of Texas System with the intention of leasing the hall back to the UT System until that system finishes construction of a new office building expected in 2017. Once the UT System facility is completed, the TSUS, whose 24 full-time staff members are presently working in three different office buildings in Austin, expects to consolidate its operations in the hall. O. Henry Hall is a former U.S. post office and federal building and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Comparison of present and former component institutions
The member institutions of the Texas State University system are separate and distinct institutions, have their own local presidents and administration, confer their own degrees, and establish their own criteria and requirements for admission.
Universities
The TSUS does not have a flagship university. All of its comprehensive universities are regarded as stand-alone institutions equal in stature under system administration. Sul Ross State University Rio Grande College is often treated as a separate institution for statistical purposes despite being administratively under the authority of the Sul Ross president and staff. Unlike the system's other state community colleges and technical institute, Rio Grande College confers graduate and postgraduate degrees. Rio Grande College also does not offer freshman and sophomore level coursework redundant with the offerings at the Southwest Texas Junior College campuses in or near where RGC holds classes.
The University of North Texas and West Texas A&M University were founding members of the Texas State University System along with Sam Houston State and Texas State.
Community and technical colleges
All three of the TSUS' two-year institutions offering associate degrees and professional certifications are located in the state's two most southeastern counties, Jefferson and Orange, in the Golden Triangle region where the Gulf Coast meets the Louisiana state line. All were formerly components of the now-defunct Lamar University System before the former system was incorporated into the TSUS. The three institutions, along with LIT's extension center in Silsbee located in Hardin County, are within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area.
Branch campuses and extension centers
Branch locations of the system's comprehensive universities only offer upper-division (junior and senior) undergraduate and graduate coursework.
Sam Houston State formerly operated the Sam Houston State University Park Campus at Lone Star College-University Park near Tomball.