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“UTSA
in the News” is a synopsis of items that have appeared in periodicals
mentioning UTSA, its faculty, staff, students and programs. April 2002 At the last Women's Final Four Basketball
pregame party at the Institute of Texan Cultures, a bagpipe and drum
corps greeted partygoers as they walked into the building. Even before
the party, the city had a buzz and it wasn't from too much hot sauce
and margaritas. Throughout the tournament, the city has performed on
a national stage and it seems to have done well. Local business and health care officials
have confirmed that San Antonio is in the running for a comprehensive
world-class sports science institute. The facility, say sources, would
likely be located next to the NBA San Antonio Spurs' new practice facility
under construction near the South Texas Medical Center. One of the hurdles
still remaining is for officials pushing the proposed sports research
institute to gain approval from the University of Texas System Board
of Regents. That's because it would be a joint effort of the University
of Texas at Austin, the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University
of Texas Health Science Center. San Antonio leaders are quietly putting
together a plan to conduct local cyberterrorism exercises as a way to
gauge the public and private sectors' preparedness for any future strike
by hackers. Dubbed "Dark Screen," the exercise will involve
private businesses and units of local, state and federal government.
The goal is to test the community's ability to meet the challenges of
detecting, preventing, and deterring such an attack. In the wake of
a letter urging local participation by U. S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez, the
University of Texas at San Antonio and the Air Intelligence Agency based
at Lackland Air Force Base, have organized meetings to help plan the
Dark Screen exercise. Local artists are donating artwork for an auction
to benefit the Sen. Gregory Luna Scholarship Fund at the University
of Texas at San Antonio's Buena Vista Building Meeting Assembly Room
at the Downtown Campus. Viewing and silent bidding will take place with
part of the fund set aside to benefit Lanier High School graduates.
The scholarship was established in November 1999 by family, friends,
former legislative colleagues and constituents of the late Texas legislator. The soon-to-be-completed, $19.325-million recreation
center at the University of Texas at San Antonio, which will have its
grand opening in January 2003, will offer students, faculty, and staff
state-of-the-art facilities devoted entirely to their recreational,
fitness and wellness needs. The new 65,945-sq.-ft rec center, when completed,
will house a 16,600-sq.-ft gymnasium for basketball and volleyball,
a climbing wall, cardiovascular and strength-training rooms, aerobic
rooms, racquetball courts, locker rooms, a 9,300-sq.-ft. Student Health
Services Center, as well as pre-function space on the first floor and
administrative offices. When City Public Service gave Jenna Terrez an assignment
to coordinate a tree-planting program in San Antonio, she thought she'd
be dealing with dirt and spades. Instead, the mission has evolved into
a high-tech survey that will tell San Antonians where the city is heading
environmentally. Stephen Brown, assistant professor in the Department
of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of Texas at San
Antonio, said the survey is a big undertaking, but it's needed because
the information gleaned from the study is vital to understanding location,
growing conditions and other facts about trees in the region. UTSA is
providing technological assistance for the study. William Morrow, founder and chief executive
of Grande Communications Inc., and wife Traci Morrow, have donated 100,000
shares of Grande stock to the UTSA College of Business. Grande is a
San Marcos-based telecom firm. The gift marks the first time the University
of Texas at San Antonio has received stock in a privately held firm
as a donation. In a press release, alumnus Morrow said he plans "to
recruit approximately 20 gifts of privately held stock over the next
few years, reaching out to fellow entrepreneurs and UTSA alumni. Grande
also gave $7,500 to the business school. During the annual Bowie Street Blues
concert, the grounds of the Institute of Texan Cultures becomes blues
central, celebrating the breadth and depth of Texas blues while helping
bring Fiesta to a rousing finale. Bowie Street presents the spectrum
of the blues from gospel to blues/rock. This year's lineup, in order
of appearance, includes the Jerusalem Gospellaires, Eddie & the
All-Niters, Rocky Benton, Murry Woods and Tangled Blue, and the Texas
Johnny Brown & the Quality Blues Band. University of Texas at San Antonio officials have
announced that the school has received approval to provide a new doctor
of philosophy degree in English beginning this fall. The program will
combine traditional literary studies with Latina/Latino studies. The
new Ph.D. will be housed in the Department of English, Classics, and
Philosophy in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. "This new doctoral
program represents a major step forward for UTSA and Texas. It's an
innovative program addressing both national and regional trends in research
and teaching," said Ricardo Romo, President of UTSA. With employers expected to hire 20 percent fewer college
graduates this year and starting salaries down in some cases as much
as 7 percent, many local undergrads are opting to stick with the books
rather than pound the pavement. In Texas, enrollment in master's, doctoral
and professional programs at public universities has grown from about
77,700 four years ago to more than 83,200 today. UTSA hopes to add three
new doctoral programs in the fall, nearly doubling the number it currently
offers. (San Antonio Express-News 4/28/02 19N) Comments or
questions to Kris Rodriguez
(krodriguez@utsa.edu)
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