Author Archives: Bill Hobby

Is not voting a civic sin or a rational decision? Is low voter turnout an indication of apathy–or satisfaction? There’s more than one view about those questions. Only about nine per cent of Texas voters came out last November 4, … Continue reading →

Texas has a new telescope, a 10-meter giant light bucket that this month started peering into the dark skies of west Texas. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope, officially dedicated and open for business at the University of Texas at Austin’s McDonald Observatory … Continue reading →

Foxhunting in Ireland is a jewel with many facets–humor, beauty, thrills.  And, as a fine jewel shimmers in the light, the recollections of an Irish foxhunting holiday shimmer in the memory. Nothing in the literature of foxhunting really prepares the … Continue reading →

We are looking into the future and the view is enlightening. One of the interesting enterprises we have under way at the University of Houston System is a Vision Commission. We have asked 19 national and local leaders in education, … Continue reading →

We’ve read a lot about job training programs that don’t work. This is about one that does. With manufacturing jobs migrating offshore at a rapid rate, structural unemployment has become one of the most difficult barriers to economic prosperity. For … Continue reading →

Barbara Jordan was the most revered public official I have ever known. She had a presence that permeated the classroom in which she taught the most popular course at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University … Continue reading →

We are in the midst of a national debate about responsibility for health care. Congress has vowed to give states more responsibility, more flexibility and less money to provide care for those without health insurance. It provides more evidence that … Continue reading →

Like a good steward, the state of Texas has been cautious with debt. Until the mid-1980’s, the state paid cash. Most of the bonds issued were self-supporting—like the veterans land loan programs–and didn’t require taxpayer dollars for payment. That was … Continue reading →

This is a story about what one person has done to change the world. Jim Ketelsen was chairman of the Board of Tenneco Inc., from 1978 to 1992, when he retired. He is a director of several major corporations and … Continue reading →

Recently I was asked to become interim chancellor of the University of Houston System, and I shall do so on September 1. Why did I take the job? The University of Houston has had its share of problems in the … Continue reading →