Published May 2018Dell Medical School’s business is health and health care. University Federal Credit Union’s is finance. Upon the first meeting between UFCU President and CEO Tony Budet and Clay Johnston, inaugural dean of Dell Medical School, 2014-2021, the conversation quickly turned to the intersection of health care and finance — America’s broken healthcare system.

“It’s a disaster,” Budet remembers Johnston saying. “We’re setting out to fix that intersection. Would you be willing to help us do that?”

It didn’t take long for Budet to answer.

“When someone like Dean Johnston has that kind of a vision and invites you to participate in their work, you have to say yes,” Budet said.

That first meeting set the tone for the relationship between UFCU and Dell Med, The University of Texas at Austin’s new medical school. Since then, the credit union has become an active partner with the medical school, first giving $50,000 to the Department of Pediatrics, then $50,000 to support an important summit in population health. With the gift to Pediatrics, UFCU became a member of the school’s Founders Circle, which recognizes early investors to Dell Med who give $50,000 or more.

Now UFCU is again stepping up to help the medical school, this time with a $1 million gift that will go toward scholarships, space in the school’s new Health Learning Building and its Department of Population Health.

The gift to Dell Medical School reflects UFCU’s larger commitment to The University of Texas at Austin. The credit union was born in Garrison Hall in May 1936 when about 30 UT faculty and staff members pitched in to deposit $873. The not-for-profit cooperative has since grown to $2.5 billion in assets under management and serves 217,000 members in Central Texas and Galveston County. The way Budet sees it, UT’s success is UFCU’s success.

“Our focus has always been on the universities we serve,” he said. “Higher education is what we’re all about.”

“Higher education serves Austin in a number of ways,” said John Martin, vice chairman and incoming chairman of the UFCU Board of Directors. “It provides Austin a position of leadership through education, it provides a good employment base for our local economy, and it really keeps us forward-thinking and people-focused.”

Founded on a vision to strengthen the local higher-education community through shared values and high-impact relationships, University Federal Credit Union has been a frequent partner with The University of Texas at Austin through the years. From public radio to UT Libraries, UFCU has worked with the university to demonstrate its commitment to support local causes important to the community.

Supporting higher education benefits everyone, Budet said — universities produce graduates who offer their talents to the community, fill positions at local businesses, and contribute to vitality and growth of the economy.

“It’s an ever-improving thing when we reach out and help elevate other people,” said Ellen Wood, chairman of the UFCU Board of Directors.

Of the $1 million gift, $700,000 will go toward retiring intra-UT System debt on the Health Learning Building, resulting in elimination of interest expenses totaling about $250,000 over five years. Under a plan approved by Johnston, the cost savings will be directed to population health initiatives. The remaining $300,000 will go to student scholarships.

UFCU has backed population health at Dell Medical School since early 2016, when it funded a critical multidisciplinary summit to help shape priorities for Dell Med’s Department of Population Health, which is playing a key role in the school’s mission to revolutionize how people get and stay healthy. Dell Med is one of only eight medical schools in the country with a population health department. Led by Chair Bill Tierney, the department focuses on improving the overall health and well-being of the people of Travis County — especially low-income and uninsured residents and those suffering from disparities — through better care, access to care, and health promotion and disease prevention.

“We feel that when the community is strong, we as an organization are strong,” Wood said.

The scholarship portion of the gift, which will be administered through Texas Exes, will pay all four years’ tuition for three medical students who are members of groups traditionally underrepresented in medicine. Preference will be given to students who want to remain in Central Texas and practice medicine here.

Published May 2018