Geoffrey Orsak, dean of the Bobby B. Lyle School of Engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, has been appointed the 18th president of the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. He will assume his new position on July 1.

Chuck DeVore, a former state legislator from California, is joining the Texas Public Policy Foundation, where he'll work on fiscal policy.

Jason Embry, the Austin American-Statesman’s Capitol bureau chief, has left his post to join the communications team of Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio. Embry will lead communication efforts jointly with another new hire: Erin Daly, who most recently served as communications director for U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash.

Houston-based Strategic Public Affairs adds Marilee Covey, who'd been at a Fortune 1000 company; she will work on government affairs and political action committee management for clients of the firm.

Arrested for alleged barratry: State Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City. Harris County prosecutors accused Reynolds and two others of steering clients from a chiropractor to Reynolds' law firm. He denied the charges, saying he'd been "personally and politically ambushed."