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.  

Karen and I joined the UT System at almost exactly the same time, a little more than two years ago, which may say something less than flattering about both of us.   I’ve learned you’re supposed to say you got to Texas as quickly as you could.  Karen is making up for lost time!

I know there are things about Texas, and the UT System, that were appealing to both of us.   I know Karen was attracted in part because of the possibility for and commitment to interdisciplinary education and research – exemplified, of course, by the Oden Institute, which she now leads. 

One of the things I told people upon arriving was that the things impress me most about Texas are the confidence – in other parts of the country, they might call it swagger – the ambition, and most of all the sense of optimism.   The combination of these is powerful. 

Interdisciplinary education and research is not easy. Much of how higher education is organized conspires against it, including structures and practices that date back, literally, centuries.  And it’s even harder across institutions than it is across disciplines. 

The world has changed.  Much of the new knowledge to be created is in the interstices between disciplines, and the pace of change and the need for interdisciplinary work is increasing at a rapid pace.  

Its importance is obvious; it represents higher education—and society’s--best hope for tackling today’s – and tomorrow’s – grand challenges.

I don’t think it’s controversial today to saying we must invest more in crosscutting interdisciplinary research; but we must also improve our ability to offer a new generation of students crosscutting interdisciplinary education.

We need to prepare students for a complex world. And we need to prepare leaders of tomorrow who are adaptable and trained across traditional disciplines.  In a world where work will be increasingly impacted by machine learning, we need our graduates to be ready for human work—which involves in the integration of knowledge from multiple spheres. 

The nation needs this at all levels across higher education – community college, undergraduate, graduate, and continuing/professional education.

Texas is in an enviable position as an unquestioned leader in both cancer research and care and advanced computing.

I’m confident that in combining those strengths, this initiative will save and improve lives.

Our ability to leverage and combine our various strengths will be key to meeting the grand challenges we face.

I expect this collaboration will provide a wonderful example of what’s possible when some of the most talented people in the world work together.

That’s a tall order, but I think we’re up to the task.  To turn a Texas saying on its side, I’d say this is all about “Big hat, lots of cattle.”

Thank you, for your hard work, for working together in new ways, and for all you do for Texans.