The Texas State University System (TSUS) is a public university system in Texas. It was created in 1911 to oversee the state's normal schools. It has since broadened its focus and comprises institutions of many different scopes.
It is the only public university system in the state without a flagship university. The TSUS is composed of four comprehensive universities offering baccalaureate and graduate degrees: Lamar University in Beaumont, Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Sul Ross State University in Alpine, and Texas State University in San Marcos. The system also includes three two-year colleges offering associate degrees and professional certifications: Lamar Institute of Technology in Beaumont, Lamar State College–Orange in Orange, and Lamar State College–Port Arthur in Port Arthur.
The system owns and manages a property encompassing much of the Christmas Mountains located adjacent to Big Bend National Park in southern Brewster County. The remote tract is regulated under strict conservation easements ensuring preservation in its natural state. The property serves as an open-air classroom for the system's member institutions and a laboratory for their research efforts.
History
The Texas Legislature established the State Normal School Board of Regents in 1911, which would later become the present-day Texas State University System, for the control and management of the state normal schools for white teachers. The board originally assumed authority over North Texas State Normal College (founded 1890), Sam Houston Normal Institute (1879), Southwest Texas Normal School (1899), and West Texas State Normal College (1909).
The Legislature authorized the establishment of Sul Ross Normal College and the purchase of the private East Texas Normal College, founded in 1889, in 1917 That same year, the Legislature authorized the renaming of the system's normal schools to normal colleges. Political struggles for the creation of Stephen F. Austin Normal College and South Texas Normal College (Texas A&M-Kingsville) were resolved in 1921. Further legislation in 1923 renamed the system's members again to state teachers colleges while the board was renamed the Board of Regents, State Teachers Colleges.
Sul Ross and West Texas received name changes in 1949 becoming Sul Ross State College and West Texas State College. North Texas would leave the system the same year becoming independently governed North Texas State College. North Texas would later become the flagship campus of the University of North Texas System. Similar name changes would result in Southwest Texas State College in 1959 and Sam Houston State College in 1965.
The year 1965 also saw the incorporation of Angelo State College, founded as a junior college in 1928, into the system. With these changes, the board became titled the Board of Regents, State Senior Colleges. All of the system's components had their names changed from state colleges to state universities in 1969 while East Texas (Texas A&M-Commerce) and West Texas (West Texas A&M) left the system entirely in 1969 to become independent before settling on their present affiliations with the Texas A&M University System. Stephen F. Austin left the system the same year and continued to be an independent with its separate governing regents outside any of the state's other university systems, until 2023, when its regents elected to join the University of Texas System.
Sul Ross established upper-division and post-graduate study centers in 1973 on campuses of Southwest Texas Junior College in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, and Uvalde.
The Legislature conferred upon the system in 1975 its present designation as the Texas State University System. Angelo State University was re-designated as a member along with Sam Houston State University, Southwest Texas State University, and Sul Ross State University.
Southwest Texas State opened an extension center in 1996 housed in temporary buildings adjacent to a Round Rock high school. After a 2004 land donation, the permanent Texas State University Round Rock Campus was opened in 2005.
Sam Houston State opened The Woodlands University Center in 1998. The following year, the former Lamar campuses in Orange and Port Arthur were renamed Lamar State College Orange and Lamar State College Port Arthur.
In 2003, the Legislature changed the name of Southwest Texas State to Texas State University-San Marcos. The name was shortened to Texas State University in 2013.
Sam Houston State operated an additional branch, the University Park Campus at Lone Star College–University Park near Tomball from 2011 until it was discontinued at the beginning of 2016.
Membership timeline
<timeline>
DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:24
Period = from:1878 till:2030
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:0 left:0 bottom:50 top:0
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id:line value:black
id:bg value:white
id:TS value:rgb(1,0.498,0.314)
id:PI value:rgb(0.9,0.8,0.5)
id:PV value:gray(0.7)
id:NT value:rgb(0,0.6,0)
id:AM value:rgb(0.4,0,0)
id:TT value:rgb(0.8,0,0)
id:LU value:rgb(0.4,0.4,0.9)
id:LUS value:rgb(0,0,0.8)
id:UT value:rgb(0.96,0.47,0.125)
PlotData=
width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s
bar:1 color:PI from:1879 till:1911
bar:1 color:TS from:1911 till:end text:Sam Houston St. (1911–present)
bar:2 color:PV from:1890 till:1899
bar:2 color:PI from:1899 till:1911
bar:2 color:TS from:1911 till:1949 text:North Texas (1911–1949)
bar:2 color:PI from:1949 till:2003
bar:2 color:NT from:2003 till:end
bar:3 color:PI from:1899 till:1911
bar:3 color:TS from:1911 till:end text:Texas St. (1911–present)
bar:4 color:PI from:1909 till:1911
bar:4 color:TS from:1911 till:1969 text:West Texas A&M (1911–1969)
bar:4 color:PI from:1969 till:1990
bar:4 color:AM from:1990 till:end
bar:5 color:PV from:1889 till:1917
bar:5 color:TS from:1917 till:1969 text:Texas A&M-Commerce (1917-1969)
bar:5 color:PI from:1969 till:1996
bar:5 color:AM from:1996 till:end
bar:6 color:TS from:1917 till:end text:Sul Ross St. (1917–present)
bar:7 color:TS from:1921 till:1969 text:Stephen F. Austin St. (1921–1969)
bar:7 color:PI from:1969 till:2023
bar:7 color:UT from:2023 till:end
bar:8 color:TS from:1921 till:1929 text:Texas A&M-Kingsville (1921–1929)
bar:8 color:PI from:1929 till:1989
bar:8 color:AM from:1989 till:end
bar:9 color:PI from:1928 till:1975
bar:9 color:TS from:1975 till:2007 text:Angelo St. (1975–2007)
bar:9 color:TT from:2007 till:end
bar:10 color:PI from:1923 till:1983
bar:10 color:LUS from:1983 till:1995
bar:10 color:TS from:1995 till:end text:Lamar (1995–present)
bar:11 color:PV from:1909 till:1975
bar:11 color:LU from:1975 till:1983
bar:11 color:LUS from:1983 till:1995
bar:11 color:TS from:1995 till:end text:LSC–PA (1995–present)
bar:12 color:LU from:1969 till:1983
bar:12 color:LUS from:1983 till:1995
bar:12 color:TS from:1995 till:end text:LSC–0 (1995–present)
bar:13 color:LUS from:1990 till:1995
bar:13 color:TS from:1995 till:end text:LIT (1995–present)
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text:"Texas State University System Membership History"
</timeline>
<br />
Administration
The Texas Legislature has delegated administrative power and authority over the Texas State University System to its board of regents including the organization, control, and management of the system and each of its component institutions including employing and discharging the presidents, officers, and other employees of each member institution.
The board consists of nine voting regents, including its chair and vice chairs. Members of the board are appointed by the governor with Senate confirmation to staggered, six-year terms with three regents appointed every two years. In addition, a non-voting student regent is appointed annually. The chair and vice chair are elected by the membership of the board to one-year terms.
The system's administration consists of six offices. One office, the Office of Audits and Analysis, is independent of the chancellor and headed by a director appointed by the regents. The remaining five, Academic and Health Affairs, Finance, General Counsel, Governmental Relations, and Marketing and Communications, are led by vice chancellors under the authority of the system chancellor. In 2015, system regents approved the acquisition of O. Henry Hall from the University of Texas System. O. Henry Hall is a former U.S. post office and federal building and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This was done so that there was a single administrative building for the system. TSUS paid $8.2 million for O. Henry Hall.
The system headquarters was previously in the Thomas J. Rusk State Office Building, 200 East 10th Street, Suite 600, in Downtown Austin,
! Endowment (2015)
! Nickname
! Athletic<br />conference
|-
! colspan=17|Current universities
|-
| 120px<br />Lamar University
| Beaumont<br />118,296
| 1923
| 1995
| colspan=2|Current member
| 16,721
| $106,826,000
| Cardinals
| Southland<br />NCAA Div. I FCS
|-
| 120px<br />Sam Houston State University
| Huntsville<br />38,548
| 1879
| 1911
| colspan=2|Current member
| 20,762
| $94,419,903
| Bearkats
| Conference USA<br />NCAA Div. I FBS
|-
| 120px<br />Sul Ross State University
| Alpine<br />5,905
| 1917
| 1917
| colspan=2|Current member
| 2,119
| $17,087,787
| Lobos
| Lone Star<br />NCAA Div. II
|-
| 120px<br />Texas State University
| San Marcos<br />44,894
| 1899
| 1911
| colspan=2|Current member
| 38,759
| $167,116,848
| Bobcats
| Sun Belt<br />NCAA Div. I FBS
|-
! colspan=17|Former universities
|-
| 120px<br />Angelo State University
| San Angelo<br />93,200
| 1928
| 1975
| 2007
| Texas Tech University System
| 8,452
| $158,754,431
| Rams
| Lone Star<br />NCAA Div. II
|-
| 120px<br />Stephen F. Austin State University
| Nacogdoches<br />32,996
| 1921
| 1921
| 1969
| University of Texas System
| 12,484
| $74,316,267
| Lumberjacks
| WAC<br />NCAA Div. I FCS
|-
| 120px<br />East Texas A&M University
| Commerce<br />8,078
| 1889
| 1917
| 1969
| Texas A&M University System
| 12,302
| $19,924,955
| Lions
| Southland<br />NCAA Div. I FCS
|-
| 120px<br />Texas A&M University–Kingsville
| Kingsville<br />26,213
| 1921
| 1921
| 1929
| Texas A&M University System
| 9,207
| $20,803,959
| Javelinas
| Lone Star<br />NCAA Div. II
|-
| 120px<br />University of North Texas
| Denton<br />113,383
| 1890
| 1911
| 1949
| University of North Texas System
| 37,175
| $131,749,714
| Mean Green
| American Athletic<br />NCAA Div. I FBS
|-
| 120px<br />West Texas A&M University
| Canyon<br />13,303
| 1910
| 1911
| 1969
| Texas A&M University System
| 9,482
| $73,403,068
| Buffaloes
| Lone Star<br />NCAA Div. II
|}
;Note
State colleges
All three of the TSUS' two-year institutions offering associate degrees and professional certifications are located in the state's two most southeastern counties, Jefferson and Orange, in the Golden Triangle region where the Gulf Coast meets the Louisiana state line. All were formerly components of the now-defunct Lamar University System before the former system was incorporated into the TSUS. The three institutions, along with LIT's extension center in Silsbee located in Hardin County, are within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Official name
! Location<br />(Population)
! Founded
! Joined<br />system
! Enrollment<br />Fall 2015