Brownsville, TX — David E. Pearson, an Army veteran and distinguished sociologist, offers a compelling insider’s perspective on one of Texas’s—and America’s—most ambitious educational experiments with his new book, Partnership Affairs: The Fall of a Community University. Drawing on over a decade of experience at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College (UTB/TSC), Pearson examines the rise and dramatic fall of this innovative “community university,” located at the southern tip of Texas.
UTB/TSC represented a bold partnership between a university and a community college, blending the accessibility of local education with the rigor and resources of a university. Yet just two decades after its establishment, this celebrated institution collapsed amid suspicion, acrimony, and divisiveness. While the proximate cause appeared to be a power struggle between a president reluctant to share authority with her elected board of trustees and a board that insisted she do so, Pearson reveals that the structural flaws inherent in the partnership itself ultimately doomed the institution.
Partnership Affairs chronicles the intersection of organizational management, leadership challenges, and Texas politics. Pearson’s unique vantage point as the vice president for partnership affairs, the administrator located precisely on the fault line between the institution’s two components, allows for an unparalleled insider’s view into UTB/TSC’s triumphs and troubles. His office oversaw capital construction, real estate transactions, facilities management, campus master planning, and everything involving the Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees, placing him at the very center of the events that would define the institution’s fate.
This book will resonate with many audiences: residents of the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Texas more generally, individuals and organizations involved in higher education, and those concerned with organizational innovation, leadership, and management. It provides a cautionary tale for leaders navigating complex institutional partnerships and political landscapes.
Pearson, who is now emeritus professor and former dean of San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley Campus, brings not only firsthand experience but also scholarly rigor to this account. With three previous books and numerous articles to his credit, he blends narrative storytelling with analytical insight to present the truth behind UTB/TSC’s remarkable rise and fall.
