University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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id New center [ Gen. George H a lunatic r ' s Center in stum visit. The Ol President Flawn announces resignation as work to revive the oldest section of campus continues despite work delays by MICHAEL SUTTER But even as the Little Campus began to take on its new role at the University, a familiar face on the main Forty Acres had decided to step down. President Peter Flawn announced in December that he would resign his office effective August 1985. The position of president is very demanding, he said in a letter to Board of Regents Chairman Jon Newton. It con- sumes all the time and energy that the occupant has. After five years as president of the University of Texas at San Antonio and six years as the president of the University of Texas at Austin, I want to pursue other interests while I have the years to do so. I appreciate the strong support I have had President Peter Flawn tips his mortar board to the thunderous applause from the audience during Honors Day ceremonies held on April 13 in the Per- forming Arts Center. The day-long celebration was one of the last chances for him to recognize student achievement. Photo by Kevin Gutting from the Board of Regents during my tenure as president. In reply, Newton summed President Flawn ' s impact on the University. We regard him as the finest university president in the United States, and his leadership of the University of Texas at Austin will be cited as crucial in the development of that institution to international academic and research standing. Personally, I feel that Peter Flawn is the best thing that has happened to UT Austin since Santa Rita 1. Santa Rita gave us the fuel for greatness, but Dr. Flawn has given us the flame and the light and the courage. Indeed, Flawn had piloted the University through its Centennial and pushed it toward world-class status. After six years of leading his war on mediocrity, the resignation of Peter Flawn as president of the Univesity of Texas at Austin leaves a difficult gap to fill. Here Flawn welcomes alumni loan Ex -Students ' Association reception honoring life membership. Photo by Robert Cohen Opening 13

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.... ..... BflHMBBl HHH HHHH HH Hi A beginning and end Everything about the newly-restored Little Campus sug- gested a sense of permanence. From the outside, the buildings looked like something from a fairy tale, with spires of red, yellow and blue emerging from neatly-corniced square bases with lots of windows. Inside, varnished wood floors, brass chandeliers and antique furniture suggested that the two main structures had not aged in 100 years. But the bare offices of the main building gave the complex a sense of usefulness in modern times. The larger building - all office space and meeting rooms would house additional facilities for the admissions and personnel offices. The The renovation of the buildings of the Little Campus was supposed to be completed months before a Nov. 30 reception for former residents of the dor- mitories housed in the complex from 1926-1962. The delayed completion of the restoration, caused in part by an early contractor ' s bankruptcy, failed to hamper the spirit of the reunion. Color photos by Michael Sutler smaller building was arranged more like a home and would house the Arno Nowotny Visitors ' Center. The new center had, for three months in 1865, been the home of Gen. George Custer. It had also housed a school for the blind, a lunatic asylum and a school of military aeronautics before becoming a UT men ' s dormitory from 1926 to 1962. From general ' s quarters in 1865 to the Arno Nowotny Visitor ' s Center in 1985, the Custer building attracts a former resident for a return visit. The building, Gen. George Custer ' s house for only three months, was transferred permanently to the University in 1926. Staff architect Carl Happel and site work design manager Ed Croslin ex- amine the new floor plan of the restored Custer Building. A restored study room in the Custer Building lets visitors see what the former residents of the dormitory might have seen while studying. . ,:- -:- V I 12 Opening

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Author plans Texas In a year when the University stunned the academic world with endowments in science, engineering and business, it also scored an academic coup in another area creative writing. UT president Peter Flawn announced Oct. 12 that James Michener, America ' s best-read and most influential novelist, had established a permanent affiliation with the University, and Michener was expected to play a major role in the professional program in creative writing the University was developing. Michener ' s contribution was a possible creative writing With great anticipation, John Kings, assistant to Mr. Michener, James A. Michener, novelist and UT professor emeritus, George Lenox, associate director of the UT Press, Charles Shaw, illustrator, and John H. Kyle, direc- tor of the UT Press, review Shaw ' s work-in-progress for the UT Press il- lustrated edition of Michener ' s Texas. Photo by Sandy Wilson. Photos c 1985 by the University of Texas Press center, which would serve as a practical professional program,! said Romeo Hinojosa-Smith, professor of English and| member of the planning group for the center. Referring to Michener, he said, He will have a central role in the center - which is both important and desirable because of the prestige he ' ll bring to it. He will give the program his full participation. Hinojosa-Smith said the center would involve an inter- disciplinary program, bringing in RTF department lecturers addressing screen and scriptwriting as well as traditional] English lecturers, for example. It would also provide pro- grams in the production side of writing. The program would sponsor workshops and speakers on editing, agents, and other problems writers encountered. With the name of Michener and the full support of the University and the regents, this program promises to be a bright spot in the University ' s future, Hinojosa-Smith said.