[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 90 (Monday, June 8, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E849-E850]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECOGNIZING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM FOR THEIR OUTSTANDING 
                              ACHIEVEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. LAMAR SMITH

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, June 8, 2015

  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, graduation season is once again upon 
us, and congratulations go to all who have accomplished the outstanding 
goal of attaining a high school diploma or college degree. I also want 
to recognize the hundreds of thousands of teachers in my home state, 
the great state of Texas--from pre-K to post-grad.
  One of the great higher education systems in the nation is the 
University of Texas System, which just happens to be headquartered in 
my district. Each year, UT System institutions confer more than one-
third of Texas' undergraduate degrees and educate two-thirds of the 
state's health care professionals. Overall, the UT System includes more 
than 210,000 students across the state, a group of young Texans that 
includes first generation Americans striving to improve their place in 
society, engineers, computer scientists, historians, educators, 
inventors, and future doctors.
  The UT System is also one of the largest employers in Texas. Across 
its fourteen campuses, the System employs more than 90,000 faculty, 
staff, and administrators, all focused on three aligned objectives: 
educate the future leaders of our nation, innovate and create the 
discoveries and tools of tomorrow, and advance scholarly knowledge 
beyond current boundaries.
  The UT System family includes three of the nation's 68 National 
Cancer Institute cancer centers--one of which, the UT Health Science 
Center in San Antonio, is located in my district. In addition, the UT 
Health Science Center in San Antonio is one of the four UT System 
medical centers to have received continuous Clinical and Translational 
Science Awards from the National Institutes of Health for their proven 
success in quickly delivering to patients the drugs and therapies they 
discover.
  UT San Antonio was the first university in Texas, and twenty-third 
nationwide, to be recognized by the NSA as a national leader in the 
emerging field of cybersecurity research and training and designated a 
Center for Academic Excellence.
  UT's MD Anderson Cancer Center, located at the Texas Medical Center 
in Houston, is often recognized as the top cancer center in the world. 
It conducts more cancer clinical trials than any institution across the 
globe, receives more National Cancer Institute funding than any other 
institution, and is responsible for more than one-third of all new FDA-
approved cancer drugs.
  UT Austin is home to more than 200 members of the National Academies 
and 12 recipients of the National Medal of Science. And it has 43 
academic programs considered to be in the Top 10 nationally; 50 in the 
Top 25.
  The UT Medical Branch is home to the Galveston National Laboratory, 
the only operational BioSafety Level 4 National Lab on a university 
campus in the United States. Scientists there are playing a leading 
role in researching and developing treatments and vaccines for global 
infectious diseases, and were recently included in the group of Ebola 
fighters Time Magazine chose to represent their Person of the Year.
  Last year, UT El Paso was selected by Washington Monthly as one of 
the top 10 universities in the nation, grouped with Stanford, Harvard, 
UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC San Diego and ranked #1 for the third 
consecutive year among all U.S. universities in the social mobility 
category for its success in helping students achieve the American 
Dream.

[[Page E850]]

  The UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas is home to six Nobel 
Laureates--a distinction no other medical school in America can claim.
  UT Arlington is the largest producer of baccalaureate educated nurses 
in Texas and the largest not-for-profit college of nursing in the 
nation, training nearly 8,000 on-line and in-person students.
  The extraordinary emergency care doctors of UT Health Science Center 
Houston who manage the world's busiest Level 1 Trauma Center at 
Memorial Hermann Hospital were featured this year in the Lifetime 
Network series ``Life flight: Trauma Center Houston.''
  UT Dallas was ranked 15th in the 2014 Times Higher Education magazine 
list of the world's most outstanding young universities. One of the 
criteria contributing to this ranking is the high standing of the 
university's students. The average SAT score for incoming freshman 
consistently is the highest among public universities in Texas.
  UT Health Science Center Tyler, northeast Texas' only university 
medical center, is ranked by Axial and Becker's Hospital Review as one 
of the top 100 hospitals in the country for patient healthcare, 
including quality, patient satisfaction, and communication.
  UT Tyler is a leading innovator for providing students with multiple 
options to complete a degree from remote locations. It is the only 
university in Texas to offer three distance-learning campuses where 
students can take classes close to home. In addition, the UT Tyler 
Houston Engineering Center provides a seamless pathway to a four-year 
degree in civil, electrical, or mechanical engineering in partnership 
with Houston Community College. Students can take lower-division 
courses at HCC and upper-division courses from UT Tyler at the Alief-
Hayes Road Campus in Houston.
  The University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB) has created Early 
College High Schools with several West Texas school districts at which 
at-risk high school students have the opportunity to earn a high school 
diploma and up to sixty college credit hours. The first UTPB Early 
College High School within the Presidio Independent School District was 
the first in Texas where college courses are delivered online.
  But, Mr. Speaker, the UT System is not resting on its laurels. In 
fact, it is preparing for the future on several fronts.
  It is in the process of opening what will become the second-largest 
Hispanic-serving institution in the nation. UT Rio Grande Valley will 
incorporate multiple locations throughout South Texas and will have a 
transformative effect on the health, economy and overall well-being of 
the region. When UTRGV opens its doors, the UT System will also become 
the only university system in America to open a new university with a 
medical school in the 21st century.
  In fact, the UT System is the only university system in the country 
currently building two new medical schools--in addition to UTRGV, the 
System is creating the new Dell Medical School as a part of UT Austin's 
growing presence.
  Mr. Speaker, as you can see I am proud to represent the University of 
Texas System, which rightfully has been recognized as one of the great 
university systems in the U.S.

                          ____________________