APRIL 16, 2020 — Editor's note: The following message was sent via email today from Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy to all faculty and staff:
I am pleased to announce the launch of a new academic initiative—the Integrated Design Initiative—to further enhance the spirit of innovation that drives the academic enterprise at UTSA. This initiative aligns two colleges, the College of Architecture, Construction and Planning and the College of Engineering, to foster bold collaborations and partnerships within the unit and throughout UTSA that respond to workforce innovations, prepares our graduates to be leaders in their careers and advances the creation of new knowledge.
The College of Architecture, Construction and Planning has long been a model within the university for engaged learning, career readiness, and industry and community partnerships that prepare graduates to enter a dynamic workforce. Architecture, construction and planning professionals work in highly interdisciplinary fields in which all players in the design process collaborate to make decisions, assume risk and optimize processes through all phases of design, fabrication and construction.
Increasingly, universities around the world are responding to workforce trends in architecture, engineering, design and construction by creating synergistic programs and introducing interdisciplinary elements in their curricula. This initiative empowers UTSA programs to uniquely prepare our students to become leaders of innovation and design throughout their careers.
To fully leverage university expertise across architecture, construction, planning, historic preservation, interior design and engineering and optimally position UTSA on the cutting edge of transdisciplinary research, academic programming and workforce preparation for our students, an advisory task force will study and recommend multiple potential structures that bring the disciplines currently administered by COE and CACP under one administrative home. By aligning these programs with COE, this initiative underscores our commitment to supporting an infrastructure that allows CACP faculty, staff and students to build on past success and create new opportunities for growth, innovation and excellence in their respective fields of study.
The professional development and learning experiences of our students can be greatly enhanced by a closer association among engineering, architecture, construction and planning programs. As just one example, at our International Study Center at Urbino, Italy, UTSA engineering, construction and architecture students work collaboratively on senior design projects that are a close approximation to realistic integrated design-build projects. Through more regular and cohesive collaboration between these disciplines here in San Antonio, UTSA can offer many more students such authentic learning opportunities that will increase their competitiveness on the job market.
In addition to promoting student success through transdisciplinary curricular and experiential learning opportunities and preparing our students for the modern workforce, we believe exploring alternative structural models offers benefits to faculty as well.
A more collaborative organizational structure will increase UTSA’s ability to successfully compete for extramural funding opportunities to address grand challenges. It also will foster new collaborations for COE and CACP faculty—both internally with other campus units and externally with industry, nonprofits, other institutions of higher education and community organizations, particularly those that are invested in promoting sustainable, smart, connected cities and infrastructure and in supporting San Antonio’s distinctive cultural heritage and dynamic growth.
The advisory task force comprising faculty and staff from both colleges as well as other academic departments and a student representative from SGA, to infuse innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration into discussions, has been convened and will be chaired by JoAnn Browning, dean of the College of Engineering and interim dean of the College of Architecture, Construction & Planning.
The process for the initiative will very closely follow that utilized for the Human Health Initiative, which resulted in the establishment of the College for Health, Community and Policy. The task force will study the current landscape of academics, research, experiential learning and workforce development for these disciplines, and then recommend multiple notional organizational structures for consideration. As guiding parameters to this process, the proposed organizational structures developed by the task force must:
In addition to opportunities that the task force will provide for offering input, once the task force has completed its work this fall, there will be college- and campuswide forums and other meetings to allow faculty, staff, students and external stakeholders to provide input on the task force’s multiple proposed models. We look forward to engaging the larger UTSA community in this discussion and will provide regular updates on the progress of the task force.
In the meantime, we welcome your thoughts and ideas at IntegratedDesign@utsa.edu.
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The Secular Student Alliance is proud to present guest speaker Dave Troiano, Board Secretary for the Greater Houston Chapter Americans United for Separation of Church and State. This event will emphasize how reproductive health care is intertwined with separation of church and state.
Student Union, Willow (2.02.12)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 CampusAt 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 CampusRoadrunner 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 CampusCelebrate 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.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.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.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
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.
