Texas State University System Endowment

Daniel Harper, Vice Chancellor and Chief Financial Officer of TSUS, chairs the Investment Advisory Committee that governs the endowment. Valarie Van Vlack, Director of Investments and Treasurer, handles day-to-day management of both endowment and operating fund portfolios. Chancellor Brian McCall provides executive oversight.

The endowment operates as a unitized pool, meaning all seven component institutions participate in a single investment vehicle. Each campus owns shares in the pool rather than managing separate endowments, which provides access to institutional-grade managers and asset classes that individual campuses could not access independently.

Confirmed allocations include public real estate, listed infrastructure, private real assets (including mixed-use developments), and midstream energy. A Diversifying Strategies bucket provides hedge fund and absolute-return exposure. The portfolio blends global public-market holdings with direct, in-state real assets.

Lamar University and Sam Houston State University are confirmed participants. The pool serves all seven component institutions within the Texas State University System, though not all participating campuses are publicly named in investment disclosures.

The Texas State University System Foundation and the Texas State University Development Foundation handle philanthropic fundraising separately from the investment management function. Gifts flow through the foundations and are later transferred into the unitized endowment pool as permanent capital.

Yes. The portfolio holds a commercial property at 1619 Sam Houston Avenue in Huntsville, Texas, and maintains exposure to midstream energy — a sector concentrated in the state. These direct, in-state investments coexist with global public-market allocations across real estate and infrastructure.

Valarie Van Vlack serves on the board of the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers (SACUBO) and the Treasury Institute for Higher Education. She is also a NACUBO Fellow, placing her in key peer networks for endowment management and higher-education treasury policy.