State university research funding

The impact on UTPB remains unclear after Gov. Rick Perry signed an ambitious bill designed to make Texas more competitive by adding to the number of research universities in the Lone Star State.

Only one provision could have a direct impact on UTPB, though other West Texas institutions like University of Texas at El Paso and Texas Tech University could benefit by all pieces of the bill.

UTPB could receive more money through a provision of the bill called performance incentive funding, which rewards success for graduating at-risk students in critical fields of math, engineering and science. The bill provides $80 million over two years, and any university in the state can qualify.

"I think as we build science, technology and engineering, we will see more of those incentive funds, though I don't have details on possible amounts," UTPB Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Bill Fannin said.

He said incentives for math and science areas is not new, so the bill simply further defined the program.

Still, the other two provisions allowing the search for some specific research funding only apply for UT-El Paso and Texas Tech in West Texas. Those two schools are named in the bill as "emerging research universities," meaning they have the potential to reach tier one status with more funding of research and development of scholarly activity.

"That really won't affect UTPB," Fannin said.

He said UTPB would not lose anything by not being included and that he wasn't concerned about losing students to other West Texas schools because students may prefer a more applied focus rather than a heavy research environment.

"There are only two schools in West Texas who qualify, and each school already has a different mission and emphasis," he said. "This will just tend to focus what's already there."

Perry said the research money available to UT-El Paso and Texas Tech will give the state an edge at a time when public universities in other states are struggling financially.

Texas currently has three tier-one schools - Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at Austin and Rice University - fewer than other large states like California, which has nine such universities.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.