Art Markman, former senior vice provost for academic affairs, was terminated from his administrative position mid-September in the latest sudden removal of a university administrator.
HANDOUT/Marsha Miller
Art Markman started at the University of Texas 27 years ago as a psychology professor. After taking on several leadership roles, he rose in the ranks to oversee academic affairs at the acclaimed institution, which offers nearly 400 undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
Even as top leadership turned over in recent years and conservative lawmakers extended their influence into state colleges and universities, Markman remained in the post for four-and-a-half years.
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University of Texas President Jim Davis at a news conference at UT in Austin, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. Davis was named interim president in February 2025 and was officially appointed to the role in September through an alternative process that did not involve a national search.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman
The University of Texas Tower.
Sara Diggins/American-Statesman
But in mid-September, the university fired him from his position as senior vice provost for academic affairs “due to ideological differences,” he told colleagues in an online post Tuesday.
The quiet removal of the university leader marks yet another departure from UT due to differences in vision as new leadership aims to reshape the university. Six of 18 dean positions are held by interim or soon-to-be departing leaders, a reflection of the tremendous turnover the university has grappled with over the past two years.
Since the start of 2025, the UT System named a new chancellor, and the flagship Austin campus installed a new president and provost. All three leaders were announced as finalists without faculty input or a national search.
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“We’re at an inflection point,” said Cal Jillson, a political science professor who studies political interference in higher education. “The conservative political leadership of the state, I think, has become impatient.”
Markman’s departure from the administrative role comes as the UT System audits gender identity courses for compliance with the law and leadership’s “priorities,” and “enthusiastically” reviews a compact offered by the administration of President Donald Trump that would give UT special funding benefits in exchange for agreeing to certain demands. Students say these developments spark fear that allegiance to conservative priorities could impede their education, such as a professor’s ability to teach about or recognize the existence of transgender people.
William Inboden, UT’s new provost and second-in-command, oversaw Markman. Inboden assumed the role Aug. 1 as a vocal critic of higher education determined to restore trust with the American public, particularly with conservatives, who studies show feel more distrustful of the industry. In an article he authored last month, Inboden accused academia of breaking the public’s trust by prioritizing identity politics over traditional western education and quieting conservative views.
Panelist, William C. Inboden, former director of the Clements Center at University of Texas-Austin, at an event held at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, September 16, 2015. Inboden is now provost of the institution and said he intends to repair trust in higher education.
Rodolfo Gonzalez/Austin American-Statesman
“Taken together, these several trends — of universities’ failing to uphold academic freedom, of their increasing ideological imbalance, of some departments’ adopting a posture of relentless criticism of the United States, of entire disciplines’ succumbing to esoterica — have eroded higher education’s fulfillment of its part of the social contract,” he wrote. “Repairing the damage will not be easy.”
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Inboden said UT and the University of Florida, where he worked previously, “are addressing these criticisms through a theory of reform that begins with reviving liberal education” and making universities more ideologically balanced.
The University of Texas declined to comment about why Markman was stripped of his duties overseeing academic programming, stating they do not comment on personnel matters. Markman also declined comment. His university web page indicates he continues to serve as a professor of psychology, and the administrative position is now held by an interim leader.
UT is under tremendous pressure to represent the political perspective of state Republican leadership, Jillson said. But succumbing to political pressures has historically hurt the university’s function, prestige and stability, he added.
“There’s a great deal of tension right now as the political leadership of the state leans into its expectation that it controls the public universities of the state,” said Jillson. “Those political purges of the leadership of our top universities take a major toll.”
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‘Next Chapter’ in Changing Leadership
Markman is not alone in losing his post: this fall, College of Education Dean Charles Martinez told faculty he would not be renewed as dean, a role he has served in since 2019, making him the longest serving dean currently at the institution. The dean before him served 28 years.
A dean’s term typically lasts six years with the potential to renew, but administrators serve at the pleasure of the president and provost and work in tandem to advance the mission of the university and college.
Inboden wrote to faculty that Martinez “decided to conclude his tenure as dean,” and a national search would determine his replacement. But Martinez, who led the college to significant success in rankings, enrollment and research, said he expressed interest in continuing.
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“Although I have expressed my commitment to continue serving as your dean as we work to mature and sustain the success we have achieved over these past seven years, it is important to acknowledge this time of significant change in higher education,” Martinez said in an email to faculty. “With new leadership in place at UT, our president and provost are working to build the team they need to advance their vision and priorities within this changing landscape.”
Gov. Greg Abbott talks with interim University of Texas President Jim Davis during a session Thursday at the University of Texas Law School. Abbott signed Senate Bill 37 into law this year, empowering regents, whom he appoints, to have more control at universities in core curriculum, hiring and programs.
Mikala Compton/American-Statesma
Martinez wrote he is confident Davis and Inboden will consult faculty “input and perspectives as they guide UT into its next chapter.”
In an interview, Martinez told the American-Statesman he is tremendously proud of his tenure at the university and the impact the college has had on Texas. Under his leadership, the college refined graduate degree programs to align with changing workforce needs, increased student enrollment by 40% in six years, aimed to increase teacher retention state-wide through a new teacher mentoring program and developed a program to tailor research to the most pertinent needs of the state, he said.
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Despite Martinez’s success and popularity as College of Education dean, the conservative online outlet Texas Scorecard accused Martinez of promoting “far left content” in the college, citing a symposium for LGBTQ scholars and courses centered on diversity. But faculty say Martinez was dedicated to eliminating health and education barriers for all of Texas and empowering the college to create real impact in the state.
Though he declined to comment on specifics around his nonrenewal, Martinez said the college’s success and momentum is unequivocal. He is hopeful the college’s impact and service-driven work to tackle the teacher shortage and other persistent education barriers will continue beyond his term.
“Even with a little bit of surprise and sometimes lack of what feels like clarity in this process, the college’s success we’ve achieved together is so strongly recognized across the campus and out of the campus, and certainly by our president and provost,” Martinez said. “That will continue to be the strength and the foundation for the future.”
‘People are leaving’
As the UT leaders look to fill vacancies, a new law has reshaped who will have a say in leading the institution going forward. Senate Bill 37 empowers governor-appointed regents, who now have the authority to approve and veto all leaders at the dean level and higher and to review core courses, programs and degrees.
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One-third of the university’s 18 dean positions are currently in flux, including the top role at the College of Liberal Arts, where leader Ann Stevens was not renewed last year by former President Jay Hartzell over differences in vision. McCombs School of Business Dean Lillian Mills announced she will retire from her post next May, and UT is searching for a dean for the Jackson School of Geosciences. Interim deans lead the School of Information, the College of Liberal Arts and the Moody College of Communication.
Both Davis and Inboden declined repeated interview requests at the beginning of their appointments to discuss their priorities in the role.
The University of Texas, founded in 1883, has had a profound influence on the history of Austin. The UT Tower houses the top leadership of the school, including the president and provost’s offices.
Aaron E. Martinez / American-Sta
And turnover isn’t only impacting administrators. Stephen Russell, a former UT professor in child development with a focus on LGBTQ youth, started a new job at the University of Arizona this year.
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After the 2023 passage of the Senate Bill 17, a law that restricts diversity, equity and inclusion offices and support staff, recruiting talent to come to the university grew difficult for the first time since he’s been at the university, he said. Russell thought Austin would be his home forever, but last year the political turmoil, impending passage of SB 37 — and the turnover — pushed him to leave, he said.
“Part of the story (of why I left) was the turnover of the university administrators — people I had worked with and known and respected for many years,” he said. “People are leaving. I think it’s going to be really hard to rebuild a great university.”
Education Dean Martinez’s non-renewal, is “chilling” for the future of the university, Russell said in an interview before Markman’s termination became public. The child development professor noted that the move contradicts the success the school and the university have had without political interference, he said.
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“What is so wrong with this university that it needs to be reformed?” Russell said. “Unless you’re from the perspective of the university is nothing but a ‘wokefest’ and needs to be completely changed — that is bananas when you look at UT and how successful UT was in the last 60 years and in the last 10 years.”