Task Force studying UT System presence in Houston to give update

HOUSTON—The co-chairs of The University of Texas System’s Houston Advisory Task Force, Carin Barth and Paul Hobby, will be available for questions from news media at 10 a.m. Monday (June 13) and will provide an update on the processes of the task force to date.

The Houston Advisory Task Force, convened by UT System Chancellor William H. McRaven, has been meeting for the past few months to identify and explore new opportunities for the UT System, its institutions and other institutions in Texas and from around the nation to partner and collaborate with Houston’s academic, medical and business sectors as well as other public and private organizations. The UT System has purchased more than 300 acres in southwest Houston, just 3.5 miles from the Texas Medical Center and near downtown, with the vision of using the property as ground zero for new research, collaboration and education opportunities to build and enhance Houston’s reputation as one of America’s top intellectual and innovation hubs.

In forming the task force, McRaven consulted with a number of Houston’s education, business and local and state government leaders, convening a group of Houstonians to help chart a course for the property’s future. The task force was charged with working from a blank canvas to seek bold ideas that will address the city and state’s greatest opportunities and challenges and is expected to deliver recommendations to McRaven by the end of 2016.

The media availability will be held on the third floor of UT MD Anderson’s T. Boone Pickens Academic Tower (also known as the Faculty Center Tower) in Room 2.

Parking for news media is available at the Mendelsohn Faculty Center at 1400 Holcombe Blvd. (Pickens Academic Tower is immediately behind the Mendelsohn Faculty Center.) Media may park in the circular drive in front of the Mendelsohn Faculty Center. 

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking basic, applied and clinical research, and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. With 14 institutions and an enrollment of more than 221,000, the UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates almost two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public institutions in Texas. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $16.9 billion (FY 2016) including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With more than 20,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates – and nearly 80,000 health care professionals, researchers, student advisors and support staff, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.