INTRODUCTION

Thank you, Chairman Eltife. And thank you, Madame Chairman and members of the Senate Finance Committee. I am JB Milliken and it is my honor to join you on behalf of The University  of Texas System.

The people of the state of Texas, through their elected leaders, have made significant investments in public higher education, which has been key to our state’s success. Last session, your support of funding formulas, along with enrollment growth, was critical. Your creation of new mission specific formulas that recognize the success of our health-related institutions was another important move. And your strategic investment in the Child Mental Health Consortium has been a game changer.

As you know, Monday is the national holiday honoring Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the true heroes of American history.  Dr. King’s life was, in many ways, uniquely American.  But the impact of his message – and more importantly, his actions – transcends national boundaries, which is why his birthday is observed in countries around the world.

Dr. King knowingly put his life on the line, enduring harassment, threats, beatings, imprisonment, bombings – and ultimately paying the highest price – trying to bring our country closer to the ideals upon which it was founded. 

Thank you, Chairman Archer, for being part of this important ceremony – and more so for conceiving of and creating this program and supporting it for so many years.

I know this is a proud day for you, and the future accomplishments of today’s graduates add to your rich legacy of service to Texas, and the nation.

It’s also a proud day for Katie and Team Archer, all of whom are so committed to this outstanding program and so key to its success.  To them, I say thank you, and I know days like today are so affirming to all of you.   And thank you to Regent Perez, for your commitment to the program and your strong support. 

Thank you, Howard (Grimes, CyManII CEO).  And congratulations to you, President Eighmy, and all of your colleagues at UT San Antonio.

CyManII has my enthusiastic support, and that of UT System Board of Regents.  Thank you all for being a part of it.

Thanks in particular to our outstanding national laboratories who got behind this effort early, and were a magnet for many of the partners that followed.  And, I want to add my thanks to the Texas congressional delegation, and all the public officials who endorsed CyManII.  Your support is – and will continue to be – important and much appreciated.

Good afternoon.   I am J.B. Milliken, Chancellor of The University of Texas System, and I am pleased to present the 2022-2023 budget priorities of the UT System Board of Regents. 

It has been two years since I sat before you—in person—as a new Chancellor (and Texan).  I am happy to be back with you, but like you, wish we were all in person again.  These are unusual and unprecedented times, but I could not be more proud of how our leadership, faculty, staff and especially students have risen to the challenge of operating effectively, if not perfectly, during this global pandemic.  Our institutions have successfully continued to provide education, research and health care to serve the people of Texas.

Thank you, President Hartzell.  I know you and President Pisters are as excited as I am about this novel collaboration linking two world-class UT institutions.

In response to questions about the virtues of university systems – and surprisingly, there have been some – I’ve always said that to be successful a university system needs to be more than simply the sum of its parts.  Thank you all for providing proof for my claim! 

I especially want to thank Karen Willcox and David Jaffray their leadership in helping make this partnership possible. 

I’m delighted…honored…to be a small part of what looks to be a very impressive agenda.  Thanks to everyone for your presence today.