TYLER, Texas — The University of Texas System Board of Regents formalized the leadership of a unified UT Tyler by voting unanimously to name kirk A. Calhoun, M.D., president.
According to The University of Texas System, UT Tyler and UT Health Science Center are merging to create a single, integrated university that will more comprehensively serve the educational, health and economic needs of East Texas. The merged university will be called UT Tyler.
Calhoun has served as president of UT Health Science Center at Tyler since 2002 and is chairman of UT Health East Texas, the 10-hospital health system that serves the region. Calhoun will officially become president of UT Tyler on Jan. 4, 2021.
Board Chairman Kevin P. Eltife said that the integration of the Tyler institutions would not have been possible without the outstanding cooperation of Calhoun and Michael V. Tidwell, Ph.D., currently the president of UT Tyler.
“From the beginning, both presidents have been fully committed to the vision to grow the mission and impact of the University of Texas in Tyler,” Eltife said. “Dr. Calhoun and Dr. Tidwell have navigated the process to bring two great institutions together with great focus and collegiality.”
Over the past year, the Board of Regents has invested $95 million in new educational and clinical facilities at the Tyler institutions and announced plans to establish the first medical school in Tyler, pending additional authorizations, according to The University of Texas System.
The East Texas Medical Center Foundation has already gifted $80 million to help fund the medical school.
“Today’s action by the Board of Regents is an exciting milestone in the development of the new, consolidated UT Tyler,” Chancellor James B. Milliken said. “I want to add my thanks to Presidents Calhoun and Tidwell for helping bring us to this important stage, and we all look forward to the transformational impact of the new UT Tyler.”
Under the plan approved by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the UT Health Science Center at Tyler will retain its status as a health-related institution but will administratively become an instructional unit of UT Tyler.
The unified university will have a total enrollment of about 10,000 students, more than 400 full-time faculty and about 1,700 health care professionals, researchers and support staff, according to The University of Texas System.