Due to their ability, talent, skills and being all around AWESOME at motivating their residents to attend Kickback at the UC, Resident Assistants Charleston West, Marlee Westerman, and Lummy Too-Chiobi have won a pizza party for their residents!

Submitted by —
Courtney R. Allen, M.Ed.
Complex Coordinator, Housing & Residence Life

Click images to enlarge

The Office of Orientation and Family Programs began a new tradition called the Welcome Windows Contest to really welcome new students and their families to UTSA during the Fall 2015 Orientation sessions this summer. They invited various departments on campus to participate by decorating their office windows and showcasing their UTSA spirit and pride!

The goal of the Welcome Windows Contest was to showcase UTSA spirit and give a warm and inviting welcome to the incoming Class of 2019.

Over 17 departments participated in the first Welcome Windows Contest, and it was an amazing sight to see so many colorful and creative windows on campus welcoming the new students and their families.

Orientation and Family Programs appreciates all the participants and hope you consider participating in next year’s contest as well! As promised, below are the winners for the first annual Welcome Window Contest! Winners will be notified in order to receive their respective items and take a photo with the Orientation and Family Programs Staff.

• Best Overall Window: The Student Life Office
• Most Creative Window: The Welcome Center (Downtown Campus)
• Most Spirited Window: The University Center

Once again, thank you to all of those who participated!

Submitted by —
Cassandra Delgado
Program Coordinator, Orientation & Family Programs

Thank you for all your hard work and dedication to your residents and their families.

Your sincere service needs all our encouragement and appreciation. You managed the summer to fall turns with positive attitudes, and put in a lot of time to ensure we were ready to greet all our new and returning residents to UTSA Housing!

I appreciate all you do for our residents!

Submitted by —
Kim Ellicks Center
Associate Director, Housing & Residence Life

To Kevin Price:

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with your staff in Housing and Residence Life as well as the University Center.

Family Orientation Check-in was located at Chap Village this year and all of the Professional Staff (particularly Courtney Allen, Yolanda Amescua, and Kim-Ellicks Center) were so patient with all of my questions and provided the upmost UTSA customer service to our guests (even to the not so nice guests). The three of them consistently provided information to our Family Orientation team in a timely manner and were always so courteous to our customers’ needs – I wish everyone on campus embraced their amazing communication styles.

I can’t even think of words that are high enough to match the level of the UC Staff – from Herb, Jana, Nikki, Alyx, Robbie, and Orlando, to the Student Staff– everyone is just amazing . I feel they treat our office like family and I’m so grateful for their passion to help serve us and our UTSA families/students.

You lead a wonderful group of humans.

Submitted by —
Jessica Avalos-Alvarez
Assistant Director,
Orientation & Family Programs

On behalf of The Office of Housing and Residence Life and our RA Trainees, we would like to send a special THANK YOU to all of our campus partners that presented during Fall 2015 RA Training. This year our RA team is comprised of many new RAs and they all have stated how training was crucial in helping them prepare for their role. The campus partners that participated during training were:

• Cory Watkins and Hazel Lane, Counseling Services
• Jan McKinney, Office of The Vice President for Student Affairs
• John de la Hunt, Environmental Health, Safety and Risk Management
• Joseph LoBrutto, University Police Department
• Barry McKinney, Student Activities
• Evelyn Betancourt-Martinez, Admissions Office

Thank you all so much!!!

Submitted by —
Derek Bell
Complex Coordinator, Housing & Residence Life

The UTSA University Center was featured in the July/August 2015 issue of The Bulletin, the Association of College Unions International (ACUI) magazine.

Submitted by —
Jana Schwartz
Associate Director, University Center — Communication & Programs

UTSA Triathlon Club member, Leah Taylor, participated in the 2015 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships, held at the Milwaukee Art Museum and Discovery World. The two days of competition is one of the largest triathlon events in the country with approximately 5,000 registered athletes.

She set new personal records by cutting 2.5 minutes from her swim and 4.5 minutes from her bike.

Congrats, Leah!

Submitted by —
Leigh Darilek
Assistant Director, Communications, Campus Recreation