Published: October 30, 2008 03:37 am      

UT Tyler Palestine campus expansion focus of Dewhurst talk at Rotary

PALESTINE — Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst paid a special visit to the Palestine Rotary Club Wednesday as part of a celebration of the progress of the University of Texas at Tyler’s Palestine campus expansion project.

Dewhurst, according to state representative Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, was one the key players in gaining the legislature’s approval of the issuance of $6.3 million in tuition revenue bonds for the project in 2006.

“I believe in public education,” Dewhurst said during his address Wednesday. “I believe that the future is formed each day in our classrooms. But we have a job to in showcasing higher education to students.”

Dewhurst gave an overview of the actions being taken at the state level to promote higher education, including the designated $4.6 billion for college financial aid and a recent increased of $145 million to that fund.

“Tuition costs continue to go us and we have to make higher education more affordable,” he said. “One way to do that is to create more incentives for students.”

During the past legislative session, Dewhurst reported lawmakers setting aside $100 million to motivate community colleges and public universities to entice more graduates in the areas of engineering, math, science, nursing and in education.

“We continue to have shortage in those areas and need to see increases to graduates in those fields and those teaching those subjects,” he said. “We lose 40,000 teachers a year in Texas, which leaves us with an increasing shortage.”

In 2003, Dewhurst introduced the “Be On time” program, which issues zero interest loans to students for expenses and, if the students graduate in five years with a 2.5 or higher GPA , that loan can be erased.

“In the next session, I want to see more championing for higher education,” he said. “We need to do as much as possible to keep our colleges and universities growing and graduating people to fill our growing workforce requirements.”

Dewhurst praised the people of Palestine for their efforts in making higher education a priority in the community, and one that would only serve to give Palestine a bright future.

“Palestine has a good thing going in the UT Tyler Palestine campus,” he said. “I have seen what happens to communities that don’t offer quality higher education — their students go away to college and don’t come back.

“You will grow this region by having a fine school such as UT Tyler Palestine to educate students and keep them working in this area.”

To kick off Monday’s program, UT Tyler Palestine’s “Paving the Way” campaign co-chairman David Barnard reported on the committee’s progress in raising funds for the new UT Tyler Palestine campus an announced the official start of the final phase of fundraising — the community campaign.

“We had agreed to raise $2.6 million in local funds and have received pledges totaling about $2.2 million so far,” Barnard reported. “We have about $367,000 left to reach our goal — which we hope to raise through the community campaign.”

UT Tyler president Dr. Rod Mabry, who also was in attendance Wednesday gave a brief presentation UT Tyler’s progress and on the future of the Palestine campus.

“UT Tyler has the smallest student-to-faculty ratio in the UT system,” Mabry said, “and is one of the fastest growing as well, with a 41 percent growth in the last two years.

“Almost 40 percent of our students have earned an ACT of 24 or higher, and we have a 97.4 percent nursing test passing rate,” he added. Ninety percent of UTT grads have jobs within a year of graduation.”

Mabry then gave a brief report on the Palestine campus, stating that plans were well under way to break ground on the campus site, with the naming of a contractor expected sometime in February.

“The state funding provides moneys for the basic structure of the campus,” the university president said. “And funds from local contributors and the community help fund those extra amenities that will make UT Tyler Palestine a state of the art facility in terms of the education it provides its students.

“So many people put big amounts of money, time and effort into this project,” he said. “We want to thank everyone for every contribution made to make this happen.”

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In addition to addressing higher education, Lt. Gov. Dewhurst also offered comments about other issues that have been important to Texans of late.

Hurricane Ike:

“Texans response to Hurricane Ike showed me once again that ‘Texans help Texans,” he said. “Patients were efficiently moved from three hospitals, over 3,000 people were rescued by helicopter from flooding homes or cars and millions of Texans have been fed.

“I was extremely proud of the effort made by Texans to help their fellow Texans.”

The Economy:

“Things are going to be up and down for a little while, but Texas is one of a few states who have a surplus budget,” he said. “While much of that surplus will be dwindled by Hurricane Ike assistance and the new gross receipt tax, we will have a balanced budget when the legislature convenes in 2009.”

We will have to tighten our belt to be balanced for 2011.

Legislation:

“The state of Texas continued to kick down more and more road blocks for our citizens, passing more pro-growth and pro-family legislation in the last six years than in the state’s history,” Dewhurst said. “We have placed AED’s in our public schools and 16 students lives, including that of a 5-year-old, have been saved.”

Final Words:

“Texas is a great state, and we are making progress,” he said. “It is my hope that we continue to work together to keep Texas growing.”

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Mary Rainwater may be reached via e-mail at mrainwater@palestineherald.com