Durango Building, UTSA Downtown Campus
UTSA celebrates opening of Culture and Policy Institute
(March 24, 2003)--The University of Texas at San Antonio announces the creation of the Culture and Policy Institute (CPI) at the UTSA Downtown Campus. The new institute combines the Hispanic Research Center and the Metropolitan Research and Policy Institute.
A dedication ceremony followed by a reception will be at 3 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in the Durango Street Building Southwest Room at the Downtown Campus. For more information, call Christina Montoya at (210) 458-2650.
The CPI fosters relationships among researchers, community practitioners, analysts, governmental units and other organizations to conduct research that facilitates public awareness and understanding of community and societal problems and solutions.
The institute combines and expands the missions of the former research centers and focuses on culture and its impact on community development, healthcare, the environment and literacy. An institute goal is to further develop professional relationships with institutions throughout the Western Hemisphere with an emphasis on urban and diverse cultures, and policy development and analysis.
Additionally, CPI will engage UTSA faculty members in research, promote sponsored research experiences for graduate students and pursue learning opportunities in the use of public data sets and grant proposal development and management.
Professor Raymond T. Garza, a member of the UTSA psychology faculty since 1991, has been named executive director of the institute.
"The aim of the Culture and Policy Institute is to contribute to the stock of knowledge in the relationship between culture and other aspects of society, and to translate research results for practical uses by community leaders, applied professionals and policy makers," said Garza.
Garza, who served as senior adviser to the UT System vice chancellor for academic affairs, provided input on programs and policy issues designed to enhance the quality of educational services system-wide with particular emphasis on achieving the UT System's goal of attracting a representative student body. He served as UTSA provost and vice president for academic affairs during the 1990s.
Before joining UTSA, Garza was a graduate school administrator at the University of California-Riverside. His research interests include cross-cultural psychology, personality theory and interethnic relations. The South Texas native earned undergraduate and master's degrees at Texas A&I and a doctorate at Purdue University, all in psychology.
For more information, contact the Culture and Policy Institute at (210) 458-2650.
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Culture and Policy Institute Areas of Concentration
Culture, Society and Community Development
This area of concentration identifies and examines cultural benefits to society
with particular focus on how public policies maintain, sustain or change the
cultural meanings and values of a community. The focus rests on the interactions
of culture, society, leadership and community development. Areas of research
are economic and governmental institutions, behaviors and practices, social
and community participation/activism, family relationships, religious practices,
artistic expression, changes in patterns and attitudes that accompany cultural
and subcultural changes. Policy analyses of issues such as housing, poverty,
education and community economic development will complement this research
area.
Culture and Healthcare
This focuses on the culture of medicine, health problems and care. Medical
practices and treatments of health, health disparities and their effects on
cultural definitions of disease, illness and wellness are explored across
social groups and subcultures. Topics of research include how to prepare future
health providers to work with diverse social groups and subcultures and the
role of culturally informed practices, consumption, service, treatment and
health care delivery. This concentration will serve as a data and research
archive on population demographics, births, deaths and morbidity. Attitudes
and perceptions toward medical profession and health institutions and practices
will also be examined.
Culture and the Environment
Ecological issues have redefined priorities and practices across most societies
over the past two decades. Research issues include those associated with land
and water uses, natural resource management, environmental protection and
degradation, environmental policy development and enforcement, urban sprawl
and inner city development, waste management and disposal, environmental racism,
environmental consciousness, regional and transborder environmental problems,
global and cross-cultural governance and practices, comparative cultural attitudes
and perceptions, and the integration of diverse cultures in management approaches
and practices.
The CPI is currently leading the nation in the integration of diverse cultures in the management of natural resources by collaboratively implementing the Hispanic Leadership Program in Agriculture and Natural Resources (HLPANR) with the Texas A&M University (TAMU) System.
Culture and Literacy
Education is one of the most important formal socialization processes in an
individual's life and one of the most important in the development of a nation.
Closing the educational achievement gap between ethnic minority and dominant
populations is imperative for maintaining the nation's economic position in
a world economy and for promoting civic participation in a stagnating democracy.
Research that addresses the relationship between culture and literacy will
comprise the core research areas of the CPI. Currently, CPI has a proposal
under review by faculty from the UTSA College of Education and Human Development
that focuses on this area among students in the San Antonio area.
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© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2003