UTSA community attends official launch of first UTSA Capital Campaign

Top photo: Mascot Rowdy and UTSA President Ricardo Romo at campaign launch
Bottom photo: Event attendees view the campaign video
(Photos: Mark McClendon)
>> Read more about We Are UTSA -- A Top-Tier Campaign and see the campaign video at the UTSA Giving website.

By Tim Brownlee
Associate Director of Internal Communications

(April 13, 2012) -- The UTSA community attended the official launch of the university's first-ever capital campaign Thursday morning, April 12 in the University Center Ballroom on the Main Campus. The biggest announcement was that $94.3 million -- or 78 percent of the $120 million goal -- already has been raised.

More than 300 faculty, staff and students learned about their role in We Are UTSA -- A Top-Tier Campaign. The event kicked off the public phase of the initiative that will facilitate UTSA's ascension to premier research status.

"All of us will benefit from this campaign -- students, faculty and staff," said Marjie French, UTSA vice president for university advancement. "It is crucial to spread the word and get everyone involved."

"The best is yet to come," said President Ricardo Romo. "By aspiring to Tier One research status, it means simply that we are focused on supporting our students in all fields of study. The people of Texas deserve access to excellence, and this campaign is an opportunity to forever change the university and the region."

Romo said the campaign will improve services to students, build research efforts, increase faculty hires and strengthen engagement with the community. He expressed his gratitude to faculty and staff for their efforts and asked for their continuing support.

The faculty-staff campaign co-chairs -- Alan Shoho, professor of educational leadership and policy studies; Barbara Centeno, associate vice president for human resources; and John Kaulfus, associate dean of students -- asked other faculty and staff members to join the effort. The Thursday event culminated a series of smaller information sessions presented recently across the university to outline the campaign goals and benefits to each college and department.

Romo introduced the We Are UTSA campaign video featuring testimonials from faculty, staff and students about UTSA research and projects that could change the world.

In the video, Doug Frantz, assistant professor of chemistry, described his research on cells that could stimulate the production of new tissue to aid recovery after a heart attack. Misty Sailors, associate professor of interdisciplinary learning and teaching, discussed her research study working with the government of Malawi in southeast Africa to create and distribute books to schoolchildren. For these projects and many more, both professors emphasized the importance of a successful capital campaign.