Jim Davis (university administrator)
American university administrator
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James E. Davis[1] is an American university administrator. He has served as the 31st president of the University of Texas at Austin since 2025.
Jim Davis | |
|---|---|
| President of the University of Texas, Austin | |
| Assumed office February 19, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Jay Hartzell |
| Personal details | |
| Education | |
Davis started his career as a cryptologist for the United States Navy. He received a bachelor's degree in history from UT Austin in 1996 and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1999. He worked as a briefing attorney for Alberto Gonzales on the Supreme Court of Texas and spent 14 years practicing law for Locke Lord.[1][2] He worked for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as a deputy attorney general for civil litigation before joining UT Austin as vice president for legal affairs in 2018.[3] He was later promoted to senior vice president and chief operating officer in 2023.[2]
Following the announcement of Jay Hartzell's departure to become president of Southern Methodist University, Davis was named the university's interim president in February 2025, several months before Hartzell's planned departure.[2][4] He was named the sole finalist for the full-time position in July and became the university's president in August.[5][6] Davis is the first president at UT Austin in over 100 years to come from a non-academic path.[7]
