In Bill Powers' fifth State of the University Address, the president
evaluated the state of UT on it's 127th birthday in light of the recent
budget cuts.


On Wednesday, Powers stressed the importance of, what he called,
reinventing the ways that the university carries out its main goal of
educating students and performing research to be more efficient. Powers
said that though the university has already undergone a 5 percent
budget cut, it has been asked to map out a plan to cut the budget an
additional 10 percent.


With more cuts in the works, Powers called on the active input from the
faculty, staff and students to determine where to use the resources
available to UT that would promote long-term growth.


“In economic terms, we need to be extremely disciplined in allocating
our resources to areas that have the highest return, judged again an
enlightened view of our educational and research mission. The tendency
is always toward spreading our resources equally. We simply don't have
that luxury,” Powers said.


Throughout his address, Powers also focused on UT's education for
undergraduate students. He emphasized the need for UT to excel in
higher four-year graduating rates, to lower teaching costs without
tearing down the quality of education, to have more effective
standardized admissions tests, to help students solidify their major
and to incorporate technology in the classrooms.


Powers' address resonated with his audience in a time of uncertainty:

This attempt to achieve a balance between quality of education in the middle of cost will be an ongoing issue on campus.


“There is no single, silver bullet. But in every way we will need to
continue to ask this question: Which of our endeavors has the most
impact, and how can we organize them most effectively?” Powers said.