(June 6, 2019) -- Carmen Tafolla, professor emerita in the UTSA Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies and the 2015-2016 Texas Poet Laureate, wrote a poem to celebrate the past and future dreams discovered by the many who call UTSA home. Tafolla read “rippling through these feathers” at the 50th Anniversary Commemoration in front of the Alamo on June 5, 2019. Everyone in attendance received a feather lapel pin to commemorate the significant moment in UTSA history.
Because this poem is not only me
Because this poem is not only you
Because we breathe air breathed out by another
And our atoms are built from the atoms of others
Because we scrape the skin of our dreams
to find inside them the dreams of others
This poem will require that you write it too
That you fill it with
the depth of your meanings
That you soar through its spaces
with the strength of your wings
That the rich tone of colors
rippling through these feathers
sing the various verses
of changing the world 
A plume scratched on white paper Fifty years ago
A feather danced in ceremony Five hundred years ago
A crown of feathers shivered on the bright and prescient mind
Twelve thousand years ago
All witnessed by this ground beneath our toes
and the crumbling huesos of the camposanto within it
They call us here to search horizons
boundless dreams rippling through these feathers
Insert here: Your vision, your moment of highest flight
of happiest reach of things imagined
The coolness of the wind inspiring your breath
each feather a sky strong
All of us move forward, a País of Paisanos
Unique and United, Growing as we Learn
Pride ripples like delicious wind
supports these wings we’ve shaped together
Hope and Power
rippling through these feathers
Audience whisper:
rippling through these feathers
rippling through these feathers
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The UTSA Office of Undergraduate is proud to celebrate National Undergraduate Research with an annual event sponsored by the (OUR) featuring students will showcase undergraduate student research and creative endeavors from all disciplines across campus.
Various LocationsDía en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza and Central Plaza, Main CampusFiesta Arts Fair features contemporary art from more than 100 artists from across the U.S., Fiesta favorite foods, drinks, live music by local and regional performers, and a Young Artists Garden providing opportunities for budding artists to learn, explore and express their creativity.
UTSA Southwest CampusJoin the PEACE Center and Wellbeing Services for Denim Day, a day of learning about the importance of consent and why we wear denim on the last Wednesday of the month each April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Stop by our Denim Day display to take a photo in front of our Denim Wall, spin the "Is It Consent?" Wheel, and get a Concha or goodie.
Student Union Window Lounge, Main CampusLearn to use Zotero®, a citation manager that can help you store and organize citations you find during your research. Zotero can generate bibliographies in various styles, insert in-text citations and allow you to share sources with collaborators.
Virtual EventThis event is to achnowlege the graduating seniors and induct the new cohart of scholars to our program.
North Paseo Building (NPB 5.140,) Main CampusCelebrate the accomplishments of College of Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Sciences and University College.
AlamodomeThe 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.
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We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
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.
