Wednesday was “Orange & Maroon Day” at the Texas Legislature — an opportunity to bring together the alumni and friends of The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University who work to boost support for these great institutions.

About 100 alumni volunteers from each university made the rounds at the Texas Capitol to advocate for public higher education and the impact it has on our state. I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak to those dedicated volunteers, as well as legislators and legislative staff, at a reception Wednesday evening.

I expressed then — and I’ll reiterate now — that I am extremely proud to be a UT Austin alum and to now be at the helm of the UT System. I look forward to working with Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp to advance both the UT and A&M systems as we work to make Texas the undisputed capital for excellence in higher education, research and discoveries.

I’ve already had a glimpse at how hard everyone is working under that pink dome — from our elected officials, who are truly public servants, to their dedicated staff members putting in long hours to get the work of the state done, to those folks like our extraordinary alumni who spend so much time advocating for what they believe in.

From my perspective, the efforts of our engaged alum are critical to demonstrate to our elected officials and their staffs the importance of higher education and its impact on our state and beyond. I told those gathered Wednesday evening that together all of us will work to advance UT and A&M to their rightful places as the best public university systems in the nation.

Texas deserves no less.