University of Texas at Austin
PAE-2: Strategic Plan

The University must consistently make the best use of its facilities, especially its classroom and laboratory space and off-campus properties, while maintaining a superior campus environment. New facilities should be designed and built more efficiently, with better coordination among academic, facilities planning, operations, and fundraising divisions. [The Commission suggests that the University] Develop techniques to cut the cost of construction, operation, and maintenance without compromising quality. Adopt energy and environmental policies that conserve resources; and
Use landscape architects on all capital projects to create environments that are beautiful, efficiently maintained, and ecologically sustainable.(Recommendation 6, supporting text)

- A holistic approach should be used for the admission of all undergraduate applicants. Factors should include SAT or ACT scores, class rank, socioeconomic background, race, high school curriculum, extracurricular activities, leadership, community service, honors and awards, work experience, special talents, geography, and extenuating circumstances...To recruit the best, The University must expand its financial aid program. No qualified student should be prevented from attending The University for financial reasons.(Recommendation 3, supporting text)
- Support for graduate students should be a high priority. If increased stipends cannot be provided for all programs, they should at least be offered for programs receiving special emphasis. It is important that UT’s graduate programs include students from racial and ethnic minorities. (Recommendation 12, supporting text)
- The University should serve Texas by marshaling its expertise, programs, and people to address major issues confronting society at large. The culture of the institution should convey to students, as well as to faculty and staff members, that a commitment to service is intrinsic to a University of Texas education. (Recommendation 14, main text)
- The University of Texas has a responsibility to serve the state from border to border and to provide value to citizens even if they are not students or alumni. In addition, citizens can rightly expect this flagship university to:
• Provide expertise and information resources for the people, businesses, and institutions of Texas and beyond.
• Extend educational opportunities and access by new methods, including those afforded through new technology.
• Enhance the quality of life.
• Serve as a major engine for economic progress.
• Actively address pressing public problems of Texas, the nation, and the world.
The Commission believes that UT students, to whom so much is given, bear a responsibility to give back to The University, to Texas, and to society. The University can make them more aware of this responsibility through the curriculum and student life.
Faculty members also share a responsibility to serve the society that supports their research and scholarship. The faculty should embrace opportunities to enlist their expertise to help solve major issues facing society. (Recommendation 14, supporting text)
- The University must provide the broadest and most effective access to its knowledge and collections in order to share its assets with Texas and the world at large. (Recommendation 15, main text)

- [The Commission of 125 recommends that the University] Build financial strength and develop new public and private resources to support academic excellence. The University’s academic strength rests on a financial foundation that includes state appropriations, the Permanent University Fund, endowments, tuition, citizen and alumni support, research grants, commercialization of intellectual property, and other sources. That foundation must be strengthened to accommodate future growth. (Recommendation 7, main and supporting text)
- The University of Texas has a responsibility to serve the state from border to border and to provide value to citizens even if they are not students or alumni. In addition, citizens can rightly expect this flagship university to:
• Provide expertise and information resources for the people, businesses, and institutions of Texas and beyond.
• Extend educational opportunities and access by new methods, including those afforded through new technology.
• Enhance the quality of life.
• Serve as a major engine for economic progress.
• Actively address pressing public problems of Texas, the nation, and the world.
(Recommendation 14, supporting text)

The material for this credit is taken from Part II of the Commission Report, the sixteen Operational Recommendations submitted by the commission's committees.

The Commission of 125 Report is the closest thing that the University of Texas at Austin has to a strategic plan. The 218 members of the Commission convened to express a vision of how The University of Texas can best serve Texas and society during the next 25 years. The Commission recommended one imperative: "The University of Texas must create a disciplined culture of excellence that will enable it to realize its constitutional mandate." The imperative alludes to the Constitution of the State of Texas, which states, "The Legislature shall...establish, organize, and provide for the maintenance, support, and direction of a University of the first class."