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List of presidents of the University of Texas at Austin

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The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) is a public university in Austin, Texas, and the flagship university of the University of Texas System. The university has been led by 31 presidents since the office of the president was founded in 1895. The current officeholder is Jim Davis, who has served as president since 2025.[2][3]

Inaugural holderLeslie Waggener
Formation1895 (1895)
Websitepresident.utexas.edu
Quick facts President of the University of Texas at Austin, Inaugural holder ...
President of the University of Texas at Austin
Incumbent
Jim Davis
since February 19, 2025 (2025-02-19)[1]
University of Texas at Austin
Inaugural holderLeslie Waggener
Formation1895 (1895)
Websitepresident.utexas.edu
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The position did not exist when UT Austin was established in 1883. Its founders followed the system established at the University of Virginia and gave control to the faculty, under a board of regents, through a chairman of their choosing. John William Mallet served as the first chairman of the faculty for most of the 1883–1884 academic year, with William Leroy Broun serving briefly at the end of the year. Leslie Waggener received the position in 1884 and served for ten years; Thomas Scott Miller took the role in 1894. By 1895, due to the need for a full-time executive, Waggener became the university's first president on an interim basis.[4][5][6][7]

Many presidents early in the university's history had relatively short tenures.[8] Tensions with the Board of Regents led to the removals of Homer P. Rainey in 1944 and Stephen H. Spurr in 1974; Rainey's firing over academic freedom and interference from regents particularly harmed the university's reputation for several years after and earned censure from the American Association of University Professors.[9][10][11] In 1950, a separate chancellor position for the University of Texas System was established; that office assumed the responsibilities of the UT Austin president from 1963 to 1967.[4][6]

Harry Yandell Benedict is the longest-serving president, as well as the first UT Austin alumnus to become president.[12] Lorene Rogers became the university's first female president and has been called the first woman to lead a major state university.[13] Peter T. Flawn served two separate terms as president, the only individual to do so.[14] Several buildings on the UT Austin campus are named for past presidents, including Battle, Benedict, Calhoun, Mezes, Rainey, Painter, and Waggener Halls; the Larry R. Faulkner Nano Science and Technology Building; the Peter T. Flawn Academic Center; the Norman Hackerman Building; the William C. Powers Student Activity Center; and the Harry Ransom Center.[15]

Presidents

More information No., Name ...
Presidents of the University of Texas at Austin
No. Name Term start[a] Term end[a] Notes[b] Ref.
1 Leslie Waggener September 7, 1895 June 30, 1896 Interim president; president of Bethel College (1877–1883);[17] chairman of the faculty (1884–1894)[6] [18][19]
2 George Tayloe Winston July 1, 1896 September 15, 1899 President of the University of North Carolina (1891–1896);[20] president of North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts (1899–1908)[21] [22][23]
3 William Lambdin Prather November 4, 1899 July 24, 1905 President of the Texas Bar Association (1895–1896);[24] chairman of the Board of Regents (1899–1900)[25] [26][27]
4 David Franklin Houston September 1, 1905 September 1, 1908 President of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (1902–1905);[28] chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis (1908–1913);[28] United States Secretary of Agriculture (1913–1920);[29] United States Secretary of the Treasury (1920–1921)[29] [30][31]
5 Sidney Edward Mezes September 1, 1908 December 15, 1914 Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1902–1908);[32] president of the College of the City of New York (1914–1927)[32] [33][34]
6 William James Battle November 16, 1914 June 30, 1916 Acting president; dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1908–1911);[35] dean of the faculty (1911–1917)[35] [36][37]
7 Robert Ernest Vinson July 1, 1916 June 30, 1923 President of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (1908–1916);[38] president of Western Reserve University (1923–1933)[38] [39][40]
8 William Seneca Sutton July 1, 1923 July 31, 1924 Interim president; dean of the School of Education (1909–1926)[41] [42][43]
9 Walter Marshall William Splawn August 1, 1924 September 1, 1927 Dean of the American University Graduate School (1929–1934);[44] member of the Interstate Commerce Commission (1934–1953)[45] [46][47]
10 Harry Yandell Benedict September 1, 1927 May 10, 1937 Earned BS and MA from the university (1892, 1893);[48] dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1911–1927)[48] [49][50]
11 John William Calhoun June 1, 1937 May 31, 1939 Interim president; earned BA from the university (1905);[51] comptroller (1925–1940)[51] [52][53]
12 Homer Price Rainey June 1, 1939 November 1, 1944 President of Franklin College (1927–1931);[54] president of Bucknell University (1931–1935);[54] president of Stephens College (1947–1952);[55] fired by the Board of Regents[54] [56][57]
13 Theophilus Shickel Painter November 2, 1944 August 31, 1952 Acting president from November 1944 to May 1946; acting chancellor of the University of Texas System (1950)[58] [59][60]
14 James Clay Dolley September 1, 1952 January 31, 1953 Acting president; vice president (1945–1953);[61] vice chancellor for fiscal affairs of the University of Texas System (1955–1966)[62] [63][64]
15 Logan Wilson February 1, 1953 August 31, 1960 Earned MA from the university (1927);[65] dean of Newcomb College at Tulane University (1944–1951);[66] vice president and provost of the Consolidated University of North Carolina (1951–1953);[66] chancellor of the University of Texas System (1954, 1960–1961);[67] president of the American Council on Education (1961–1971)[68] [69][70]
16 Harry Huntt Ransom September 1, 1960 May 31, 1961 Interim president; dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (1954–1957);[71] vice president and provost (1957–1960);[71] chancellor of the University of Texas System (1961–1971)[72] [73][74]
17 Joseph Royall Smiley June 1, 1961 June 30, 1963 Dean of the University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (1954–1958);[75] president of Texas Western College / the University of Texas at El Paso (1958–1960, 1969–1972);[76] vice president and provost (1960–1961);[77] president of the University of Colorado (1963–1969)[77] [78][79]
– — July 1, 1963 November 1, 1967 Office abolished; duties assumed by chancellor Harry Ransom [4]
18 Norman Hackerman November 1, 1967 September 1, 1970 Acting president; vice president and provost (1961–1963);[80] vice chancellor for academic affairs (1963–1967);[80] president of Rice University (1970–1985)[80] [81][82]
19 Bryce Jordan July 1, 1970 July 1, 1971 Interim president; earned BM and MM from the university (1948, 1949);[83] vice president for student affairs (1968–1970);[84] president of the University of Texas at Dallas (1971–1981);[85] president of Pennsylvania State University (1983–1990)[84] [86][87]
20 Stephen Hopkins Spurr July 9, 1971 September 24, 1974 Dean of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources (1962–1964);[88] dean of the University of Michigan Rackham Graduate School (1964–1971);[88] fired by the Board of Regents and chancellor Charles LeMaistre[9][89] [90][91]
21 Lorene Lane Rogers September 25, 1974 August 31, 1979 Interim president from September 1974 to September 1975; earned MA and PhD from the university (1946, 1948);[92] vice president (1971–1974)[93] [94][95]
22 Peter Tyrrell Flawn September 1, 1979 August 31, 1985 Vice president for academic affairs (1970–1972);[96] executive vice president (1972);[97] president of the University of Texas at San Antonio (1973–1977)[96] [98][99]
23 William H. Cunningham September 1, 1985 August 31, 1992 Dean of the College and Graduate School of Business (1983–1985);[100] chancellor of the University of Texas System (1992–2000)[100] [101][102]
24 William S. Livingston September 1, 1992 December 31, 1992 Acting president; vice president and dean of Graduate Studies (1979–1995);[103] senior vice president (1995–2007)[104] [105][106]
25 Robert M. Berdahl January 1, 1993 June 30, 1997 Dean of the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences (1981–1986);[107] chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley (1997–2004);[108] president of the Association of American Universities (2006–2011);[109] interim president of the University of Oregon (2011–2012)[110] [111][112]
26 Peter Tyrrell Flawn July 1, 1997 April 12, 1998 Interim president; second term as president [98][99]
27 Larry R. Faulkner April 13, 1998 January 31, 2006 Earned PhD from the university (1969);[113] dean of the University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (1989–1994);[113] interim chancellor of the University of Texas System (2018)[114] [115][116]
28 William C. Powers Jr. February 1, 2006 June 2, 2015 Dean of the School of Law (2000–2006);[117] chair of the Association of American Universities (2013–2014)[117] [118][119]
29 Gregory L. Fenves June 3, 2015 May 31, 2020 Dean of the Cockrell School of Engineering (2008–2013);[120] executive vice president and provost (2013–2015);[120] president of Emory University (2020–present)[121] [122][123]
30 Jay Hartzell June 1, 2020 February 18, 2025 Interim president from June to September 2020; earned PhD from the university (1998);[124] dean of the McCombs School of Business (2016–2020);[124] president of Southern Methodist University (2025–present)[125] [126]
31 James E. Davis February 19, 2025 – Interim president from February to August 2025; earned BA from the university (1996);[127] vice president of legal affairs (2018–2023);[2] senior vice president and chief operating officer (2023–2025)[2] [128][129]
Close
  • Black-and-white portrait of Waggener
    Leslie Waggener
  • Black-and-white portrait of Winston
    George Tayloe Winston
  • Black-and-white portrait of Prather
    William Lambdin Prather
  • Black-and-white portrait of Houston
    David Franklin Houston
  • Black-and-white portrait of Mezes
    Sidney Edward Mezes
  • Black-and-white photo of Battle working
    William James Battle
  • Black-and-white portrait of Vinson
    Robert Ernest Vinson
  • Black-and-white photo of Sutton working
    William Seneca Sutton
  • Black-and-white portrait of Splawn
    Walter Marshall William Splawn
  • Black-and-white portrait of Rainey
    Homer Price Rainey
  • Black-and-white image of Hackerman speaking
    Norman Hackerman
  • Color portrait of Jordan
    Bryce Jordan
  • Color portrait of Faulkner
    Larry R. Faulkner
  • Color portrait of Powers
    William C. Powers Jr.
  • Color portrait of Fenves
    Gregory L. Fenves
  • Color portrait of Hartzell
    Jay Hartzell

Notes

  1. [a]
    Start and end dates and interim/acting titles are based on the list from the University of Texas System.[16] The dates and titles listed on the UT Austin website differ slightly.
  2. [b]
    Positions are within UT Austin unless stated.

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