UT at Austin President
Bill Powers
Notes from Evan Smith
"He's the big man on campus at the University of Texas -- well, he's that other big man, the one who didn't just single handedly win the Rose Bowl. But even if he's a little less famous at the moment than Vince Young, Bill Powers has plenty of reasons to feel he's scored in a big way. Just installed as the 28th president of UT in its august history, the 59-year-old is finally realizing his longtime dream: to lead one of the nation's largest academic institutions, and to preside over its upward climb to greatness. Or so he hopes. For nearly 30 years, Powers has been a fixture on the Austin campus, first arriving at the law school as a visiting professor in 1977 and working his way up the ladder until he was named dean in 2000. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School, a veteran of the Navy, a former court of appeals clerk and late-in-the-game Enron board member, he's known for his commitment to diversifying the student body and poaching star faculty from other schools, as well as for his easy-going personality, high energy, and intellectual curiosity. He has inherited the top job at a time when the athletic department is going great guns, but academic programs are fighting to improve their own rankings, when relations with the Legislature are strained, and when money is tight -- when isn't it? Powers takes these and other challenges seriously, but doesn't seem daunted by them. If cautious optimism is the name of the game, he's national championship material." - Evan Smith, Texas Monthly Talks, Broadcast 2.2.06
