Snapshots Announcements Spotlight UTSA Athletics

June 2013, Issue 6



Spotlight

Sam Gonzales, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs and Associate Vice President for Administration and Student Services

Sam Gonzales When reflecting on the areas included in Administration and Student Services, I am reminded of a quote by Mahatma Gandhi: “The best way to find you is to lose yourself in the service of others.” For these areas, providing service to our students is a daily habit and they do it well. Our students (and departments) utilize their services to remove barriers to student success.

In addition to the excellent service to students, the staff members in Administration and Student Services are industry leaders in their field from Student Affairs to their specific content area. UTSA benefits from their expertise and we are able to reach new heights because of their involvement in accreditation and technology efforts.

They are consistently working on programs, services, events and “big picture” initiatives some of which are described below. Others are included in the Points of Pride section. From reviewing this list, it is obvious that their work is central to the welfare and holistic development of our students.

Campus Recreation: Construction of the Recreation Field Complex addition will include the practice facility for varsity football and the marching band along with the multi-purpose fields for Informal Recreation, Intramural Sports and Club Sports. The projected completion date for the field construction is August 5, 2013. Design is underway for the remodeling of the Recreation Center Swimming Pool.

University Career Center: As the summer starts to heat up, so does the activity in the University Career Center! This month, they are hosting two student externship site visits to two partner employers. One is a visit for students to the San Antonio Toyota Manufacturing plant to tour the facility, speak with professionals in the field and learn about how to apply to the internship and co-op programs at the San Antonio location. On the jobs outlook, there are plenty of summer work study and non-work study positions in the job bank for eligible students as well as hundreds of entry level and mid-level professional jobs listed.

Counseling Services: Counseling Services was awarded $100,000 from the University of Texas System to build a Student Recovery Program. The program is modeled after UT Austin’s Center for Students in Recovery, and it will be led by an assistant director, and implemented in the fall 2013 semester. Counseling Services also received reaccreditation by the International Association of Counseling Services for 2012-2013.

Student Disability Services: Student Disability Services ended the spring 2013 semester by successfully proctoring and administering 243 accommodated finals at both the Main and Downtown campuses, which resulted in a total of 2,155 exams given for the 2012-2013 academic year. In addition, staff produced a total of 2,936 accommodation letters and 272 electronic documents for over 780 registered students.

Student Health Services: Student Health Services (SHS) has implemented the Point and Click Electronic Health Record system, an electronic software program that facilitates student appointments, treatment and follow-up care while providing clinical and administrative staff with a tool as well as processes to provide efficient services. SHS earned awards in multiple areas this past semester including The Richard S. Howe Award for Excellence in Service to Undergraduate Students for the efforts of its accreditation team.

Budgets and Financial Services: The staff in this area work diligently to serve all of the departments in Student Affairs providing accurate and timely information regarding our financial and business picture. This act of providing superior stewardship of our students’ fees is noted in each teaching moment offered to staff, business processes update and Student Affairs conference presentation.