A Message from UTSA President Ricardo Romo, August 2015

UTSA President Ricardo Romo

Aug. 24, 2015

Dear Friends,

This is such a great time to be at UTSA. Last week, the fall semester began with nearly 29,000 students arriving on campus. More than 5,000 of them are freshmen -- the Class of 2019 -- coming to college for the first time. You can feel the energy and excitement all across the university. These students are ready to take on the world.

We're also welcoming 40 new faculty members to UTSA. They come from the nation's best universities including Harvard, Yale, Rutgers and Purdue. They come from top universities across the world including Argentina, China and Italy. These faculty members joined UTSA because they share our passion for excellence and commitment to student success.

This week, Chancellor William McRaven comes to UTSA to sign a memorandum of understanding between the UT System and Mexico's National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT). CONACYT is Mexico's equivalent of the National Science Foundation, and the agreement will foster greater collaboration in academic and research programs with all UT System institutions. UTSA already has a long-standing relationship with CONACYT for research initiatives, economic development and energy studies, and funding of graduate student programs. This collaboration has strengthened UTSA's standing as a world-class research university.

This fall, we will continue working on UTSA's new strategic plan, UTSA 2020 Blueprint, which will guide us over the next five years in our journey to Tier One status as a research institution. The plan emphasizes student success, research and discovery, and community engagement and public service – all pillars of our university. I look forward to sharing more about the plan in the coming days.

Also this fall, we'll wrap up the university's first-ever capital campaign. When we launched it in 2009, our goal was to raise $120 million for undergraduate scholarships, graduate fellowships, endowed faculty positions, research support and more. Community response was overwhelming, and we reached that goal in three years. So we raised the goal to $175 million and, when the final numbers come in shortly, I am confident we will celebrate yet another milestone in the history of UTSA.

Thanks to your support, we are making a world-class education a reality for all of our students and building a top-tier university for San Antonio.

Go 'Runners!

Ricardo Romo
President, The University of Texas at San Antonio

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Events

Friday, May 3, 11:30 a.m.

McNair Scholars' Spring Celebration

This event will acknowledge graduating seniors from the McNair Scholars program at UTSA before inducting the new cohort of scholars into the program.

North Paseo Building (NPB 5.140), Main Campus

Wednesday, May 15, 6:00 p.m.

Doctoral Conferral Ceremony

At this memorable celebration, UTSA graduates will be introduced one-by-one to cross the stage and accept their doctoral degrees.

Arts Building Recital Hall, Main Campus

Thursday, May 16, 3:00 p.m.

Roadrunner Walk

Roadrunner Walk is an event for graduating students to have a memorable walk on campus to celebrate an important milestone and their achievements. Graduates will walk along the Paseo while being celebrated by the UTSA community, friends, and family members.

Student Union Paseo, Main Campus

Friday, May 17, 10:00 a.m.

Commencement: Ceremony One

Celebrate the accomplishments of College of Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Sciences and University College.

Alamodome, 100 Montana St.

Friday, May 17, 4:30 p.m.

Commencement: Ceremony Two

Celebrate the accomplishments of Alvarez College of Business, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.

Alamodome, 100 Montana St.

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Spotlight

UTSA’s Mission

The University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.

UTSA’s Vision

To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.

UTSA’s Core Values

We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.

UTSA’S Destinations

UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .

Our Commitment to Inclusivity

The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.