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Jay Hartzell
Interim President Jay Hartzell has been named the sole finalist for the university presidency, the University of Texas System Board of Regents announced at a special meeting held via Zoom on Wednesday.
"UT Austin needs strong continuity, stability and innovation from its senior leadership, especially as UT provides education in a variety of in-person and remote ways to 50,000 students," Chairman Kevin Eltife said in a statement after the meeting. "Jay Hartzell has performed admirably since being named interim president. The regents, chancellor and I have received countless votes of confidence in his abilities from faculty, staff, students and the Longhorn nation."
Eltife added that with the upcoming Texas legislative session in 2021, Hartzell will be a leader that understands UT Austin's budgetary needs in academics, research and athletics. Hartzell responded after the meeting concluded.
"Leading The University of Texas as interim president has been an incredible honor, and I am equally honored to be named the sole finalist to lead this great university into the future," Hartzell said. "I look forward to serving my alma mater any way I can as we seek to overcome today's challenges.
Before being named interim president, Hartzell served as the dean to UT Austin's McCombs School of Business.
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Police are searching for a man described as wearing a yellow shirt on a bike after two were shot near Republic Square Park in downtown Austin.
The Austin Police Department responded to a call at Fourth and Guadalupe streets just before 7:45 a.m. According to Austin-Travis County EMS, both were taken to the hospital. One person sustained life-threatening injuries while the other did not.
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(Shutterstick)
Samsung might soon be making more moves in the Austin metro.
The tech giant, which made waves as it announced plans to build a $17 billion chip plant in Taylor in late 2021, might be looking to expand in the Northeast Austin area, according to an Austin Business Journal report.
ABJ said the South Korean company is seeking more tax breaks from nearby Taylor and Manor school districts. The company filed documents requesting Chapter 313 incentives related to the breaks Saturday, and ABJ said each district will review the requests separately on Tuesday.
"While we do not have specific plans to build at this time, the Chapter 313 application process is part of our long-term planning to evaluate the viability of potentially building additional fabrication plants in the U.S.," Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC.'s director of communications, Michele Glaze, told the ABJ.
But Samsung has made headlines for more than just the $17 billion plant: In early 2022, the company caught heat for two separate spills of millions of gallons of wastewater into tributaries near its semiconductor plant.
While no expansion is promised, ABJ speculates that expansions could occur at the 1,200 acre planned Taylor factory or near the chipmaking factory on Austin's East Parmer Lane. Both expansions could bring even more revenue and job opportunities to Samsung's Texas home.
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