Bill Text: TX HR999 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: In memory of William C. "Bill" Powers Jr., former president of The University of Texas at Austin.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-04-10 - Reported enrolled [HR999 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HR999-Introduced.html
Bill Title: In memory of William C. "Bill" Powers Jr., former president of The University of Texas at Austin.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-04-10 - Reported enrolled [HR999 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-HR999-Introduced.html
86R20692 BPG-D | ||
By: Howard | H.R. No. 999 |
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WHEREAS, Texans lost a tireless champion of higher education | ||
with the death of former University of Texas at Austin president | ||
William C. Powers Jr. on March 10, 2019, at the age of 72; and | ||
WHEREAS, A member of the UT School of Law faculty for more | ||
than four decades, Bill Powers took the helm of the university in | ||
2006; he implemented sweeping reform of the undergraduate | ||
curriculum, including the creation of mandatory signature courses | ||
for freshmen, and he guided the establishment of both the School of | ||
Undergraduate Studies and the Dell Medical School, the first new | ||
medical school at a tier one public university in decades; his | ||
commitment to increasing the four-year graduation rate brought a | ||
dramatic improvement, from about 50 percent to nearly 70 percent; | ||
and | ||
WHEREAS, Mr. Powers strived to make the university more | ||
efficient and accountable while also raising $3.1 billion through | ||
his eight-year Campaign for Texas; in addition, he launched the | ||
ESPN-owned Longhorn Network, which is expected to generate $300 | ||
million over 20 years, much of that for the endowment of faculty | ||
chairs; under his leadership, the construction of 13 major | ||
buildings was commenced or completed; he established a vice | ||
presidency to oversee diversity and community engagement, and he | ||
was a stalwart advocate for the use of race and ethnicity as one | ||
factor in admissions, pursuing the Fisher affirmative action case | ||
all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and winning a landmark ruling; | ||
moreover, he was a fierce defender of the academic values and | ||
world-changing research that made his institution a "university of | ||
the first class"; he enjoyed a sterling reputation in the higher | ||
education community, and in 2013, he was elected chair of the | ||
Association of American Universities, which represents the top | ||
research universities in the U.S. and Canada; when he stepped down | ||
as UT president two years later, his administration ranked as the | ||
second-longest in UT history; and | ||
WHEREAS, Born in Los Angeles in 1946, Mr. Powers was the son | ||
of Mildred Rose Powers and William Charles Powers Sr.; he grew up in | ||
Southern California and earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry | ||
from the University of California, Berkeley; after serving in the | ||
U.S. Navy for three years, he graduated magna cum laude from | ||
Harvard Law School, where he was managing editor of the Harvard Law | ||
Review; he clerked for a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the | ||
Ninth Circuit and taught at the University of Washington, the | ||
University of Michigan, and Southern Methodist University before | ||
joining the UT Law faculty in 1977; and | ||
WHEREAS, Mr. Powers became one of the nation's foremost | ||
experts on torts, and he was appointed by the prestigious American | ||
Law Institute as Reporter for Restatement (Third) for Torts, the | ||
most important text for practitioners in that field; his | ||
outstanding work then prompted the ALI to name him the R. Ammi | ||
Cutter Reporter; the author of numerous other articles and books on | ||
tort law and legal philosophy, he was much in demand as a consultant | ||
on a wide range of complex tort cases, and he argued 50 cases before | ||
the Texas Supreme Court; at the same time, his teaching and | ||
mentorship influenced generations of attorneys; and | ||
WHEREAS, While serving as dean of the law school, Mr. Powers | ||
was appointed to Enron's board of directors to lead an internal | ||
probe of the company's financial dealings and its ultimate | ||
collapse; his exhaustive report became a road map for more than a | ||
dozen congressional and executive branch investigations of | ||
corporate malfeasance, and it resulted in criminal prosecutions; in | ||
the wake of the scandal, Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to | ||
strengthen financial and securities regulations; and | ||
WHEREAS, After leaving UT, Mr. Powers became of counsel to | ||
the Jackson Walker law firm, where he generously shared his | ||
knowledge with newly minted attorneys and seasoned professionals | ||
alike; he was the recipient of many accolades, among them the Robert | ||
B. McKay Award from the American Bar Association and the French | ||
Order of the Légion d'Honneur, and he was selected as the 2014 | ||
Alumnus of the Year by UC-Berkeley; and | ||
WHEREAS, Bill Powers was a brilliant attorney, leading legal | ||
scholar, and visionary standard-bearer for higher education, and | ||
although he will be deeply missed by all who were privileged to | ||
share in the richness of his life, he has left an indelible imprint | ||
on both the practice of law and the educational landscape; now, | ||
therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Bill Powers and | ||
extend sincere sympathy to the members of his family: to his wife of | ||
36 years, Kim Heilbrun; to his children, Matt, Kate, Allison, | ||
Annie, and Reid Powers; to his sister, Susan Powers; to his six | ||
grandchildren; and to all who mourn his passing; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be | ||
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of | ||
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Bill | ||
Powers. |