UTSA Associate Professor Arturo Vega
UTSA associate professor earns distinguished faculty award
(Feb. 12, 2003)--Arturo Vega, UTSA associate professor of public administration, received the 28th Texas Association of Chicanos in Higher Education (TACHE) Distinguished University Faculty Award Jan. 30 at the annual conference in Austin.
TACHE, which includes UTSA as an institutional member, is a professional association committed to the improvement of educational and employment opportunities for Hispanics in higher education.
Vega was nominated for the award by Rodolfo Rosales, associate professor of political science and geography, and Louis Mendoza, associate professor of English, classics and philosophy.
Nominees must be an active member of TACHE, have taught the last five years in a Texas university, demonstrated a consistent pattern of excellence and innovation in teaching, have a record of scholarly publications or presentations, demonstrated a consistent pattern of service to the community, demonstrated a consistent pattern of support of Chicano/Latino programs and students, promoted postsecondary and graduate education, and demonstrated a consistent pattern of mentoring. The award includes a $1,000 stipend.
Vega teaches and researches legislative politics, public policy, public health disparities, the American presidency, the U.S. Congress and Texas, Mexican-American and ethnic politics.
He received his doctoral degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1990, where he served as a fellow at Carl Albert Congressional Research Center. As part of the fellowship, Vega served as an American Political Science Association congressional fellow in the U.S. Congress in 1987. While in Washington, he worked with California Rep. Esteban Torres and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. In 1993, he was a legislative assistant to Texas State Senator Frank Madla. He earned M.A. and B.A. degrees in political science at St. Mary's University.
Since the early 1990s, Vega has been a faculty associate of UTSA's Survey Research Lab, which has undertaken annual surveys of attitudes and perceptions of San Antonians. He has been a faculty associate of the university's Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute since its inception and served as its interim director from December 1999 to December 2000.
Vega has participated in more than a dozen community research projects, evaluations and community needs assessments. He has conducted program evaluations for the City of San Antonio, Department of Neighborhood Action, the City Sweeps Program, Hispanas Unidas, Inc., and the Escuelitas Project, an after-school intervention program for Latina elementary and middle school youth.
TACHE, which has grown from a
membership of less than fifty in 1974 to nearly 600 members today, advocates
for programs and legislation to increase the representation of Hispanic students,
faculty and administrators in Texas colleges and universities.
----------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------
© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2003