UT Regents to Integrate Talent and Assets of UT Tyler and UTHSC at Tyler

TYLER –Just weeks after The University of Texas System Board of Regents invested $95 million in new educational and clinical facilities for UT Tyler and UT Health Science Center at Tyler, the Board doubled down on its commitment to East Texas. On Monday they unanimously authorized a new arrangement so that the two Tyler institutions will permanently come together under one administrative structure to best serve the needs of the state of Texas.

At the conclusion of a Regents’ special called meeting Monday, Board Chairman Kevin Eltife announced that he will soon appoint an advisory committee composed of university and community members to work promptly with Chancellor James B. Milliken and the Board on an implementation plan, complete with timelines for essential approvals, to ensure a strategic and thoughtful realignment transition. “With two great UT institutions situated only miles apart in the same city, it just makes sense for both to come together as a unified institution, scale their missions, and significantly increase their combined capacity to respond to the educational and health needs of a dynamic and growing region of Texas,” Board Chairman Kevin P. Eltife said. The Regents will seek additional authorizations from the Texas Higher Educating Coordinating Board and appropriate accrediting and licensing agencies to finalize a new structure that will move the UT Health Science Center at Tyler into UT Tyler as an administrative unit of the university.

Dr. Michael Tidwell, president of UT Tyler, echoed Eltife’s and Calhoun’s sentiments. “The positive outcomes of this move will be immeasurable,” Tidwell said. “A single, unified institution helps provide a clear path for service to East Texas. Our students will benefit from more programmatic and research opportunities, employers will benefit from highly-educated graduates, and the community benefits from combining the intellectual capital of two great UT institutions into a single UT brand.”