UTSA Announces Administrative Realignment For Four Centers
(Aug. 16, 2001)--Changes are under way for four education and research components of the University of Texas at San Antonio. UTSA Provost Guy Bailey announced the changes, which will impact the Center for the Study of Women and Gender, the Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute, the Hispanic Research Center and the Institute for Studies in Business.Due to budgetary constraints, the Center for the Study of Women and Gender is being reclassified as a program within the history department in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts, while the Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute is merging with the Hispanic Research Center in the new College of Public Policy. The Institute for Studies in Business will be dissolved, with related activities moving to the College of Business or the UTSA Institute for Economic Development. All professional and administrative staff affected by the administrative realignments will be transferred to other areas, according to Bailey.
"As do most state-supported universities, UTSA operates with very little discretionary money, and we frequently must make difficult choices in allocating our resources," said Bailey. "In making these choices, our students are always our major priority. As a result, during the last two years, more than $300,000 formerly used for administration has been reallocated for various kinds of instructional support." The reorganization of the three centers and the closing of the Institute for Studies in Business continues this effort and will provide an additional $250,000 for instructional support, according to Bailey.
Another crucial factor influencing the reorganization of the UTSA centers was the need to bring them into compliance with institutional policies, which require that they be supported with primarily external funds, he said. "There is considerable competition for external funding, and while each of the centers have successfully brought in some research monies, the amounts were not enough to sustain them as required under University of Texas System policies," Bailey explained. Furthermore, these changes in no way reflect a decreased commitment on the part of the university to any of the disciplines involved nor do they represent a loss of confidence in the directorship of these individual areas," Bailey stressed.
Key activities of the Center for the Study of Women and Gender will continue intact, most notably the Archives for Research on Women and Gender Project and the organization of the university's annual observance of Women's History Week held each spring in conjunction with national Women's History Month.
The UTSA history department will also explore the feasibility of developing a degree program in women's studies. A minor concentration in the field is already offered. Research activities of the Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute will also continue under the auspices of the Hispanic Research Center.
"Although the reorganization is a response to budgetary constraints and System-wide policies, we believe that it will also provide expanded opportunities for student involvement in the Study of Women and Gender," said UTSA President Ricardo Romo. "In fact, we believe that the reorganization will help insure the long-term success of these efforts by integrating them into our normal academic structure and by reducing the administrative costs associated with them."
Click here to see Guy Bailey's Memorandum download
the form.
Click here to see President Romo's letter regarding the reorganization
download the form.