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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. August 2002 The Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Kraft
Foods, H.E. Butt Grocery Co. and several local Spanish radio stations
are joining in an effort to help provide scholarships to local students.
In a campaign Kraft is calling "Kraft Foods+Educacion=El Futuro,"
the company is contributing $10,000 to the local Hispanic Scholarship
Fund (HSF) office and $40,000 to the group's national office. Local
students will have an opportunity to register to receive a $500 scholarship
through a $10,000 donation being made by local radio stations, KROM,
KCOR and KLEY, as well as H-E-B and Kraft Foods. It began as a project to put a greenhouse
on Mars. Then engineering students at UTSA became pioneers in space
research. With funds from the Texas Space Grant Consortium, students
are working with NASA to build a robot that could help sustain agricultural
production on the red planet. Three years ago, the consortium announced
an opportunity for professors and students to propose research in a
competitive selection process. Students vied for further research funding
by developing a presentation detailing the research and delivering it
to the judges. Out of the 15 schools competing for the funds, UTSA impressed
judges the most, according to Keith Henderson, a life-support scientist
at the Johnson Space Center. The national engineering honor society,
Tau Beta Pi, is coming to the University of Texas at San Antonio. The
Texas Mu Chapter of the society was officially installed in a spring
ceremony. Engineering student Lori Nerio was named president and the
first officers and advisers were selected in a formal election. UTSA
was chosen for the new chapter after meeting the society's requirements.
The university must have at least three accredited engineering programs
with a minimum of 40 engineering graduates a year. An infectious group of visionary business
people are convinced that an emerging high-tech sector is the surest
way to expedite economic growth and prosperity. They see an exciting
future featuring a host of lucrative jobs within our collective reach,
if we create the right economic climate. The local economy is already
much more sophisticated than most people give it credit for. For instance,
the biomedical industry is the largest industry segment in the San Antonio
economy, providing more than 96,000 jobs, or nearly 14 percent of the
total workforce, with wages totalling almost $3 billion--including many
of the best paying jobs in the city. The total economic impact is a
robust $8.1 billion. The University of Texas at San Antonio's civil,
mechanical and electrical engineering undergraduate programs are ranked
among the top 50 in U.S. News and World Report. Three doctorate
engineering programs will start soon in fall 2003, if final approvals
proceed as expected. We are leading in cybersecurity. A Center for Infrastructure
Assurance and Security in UTSA's College of Business is positioning
San Antonio to become a national training center for homeland security
initiatives. The Center is partnering with the Air Intelligence Agency
at Lackland Air Force Base and private security companies to leverage
infrastructure strengths and bolster research and educational initiatives. For three decades, the University of
Texas at San Antonio was arguably comfortable with its quiet space in
the universe. Then in 1999, Dr. Ricardo Romo, a visionary with equally
strong roots in San Antonio and Austin replaced Samuel Kirkpatrick as
UTSA president. Like a bull in a rodeo, Romo busted out of the shoots
with a determined agenda: to help UTSA kick up some dust and create
an identity that would reshape the university forever. What has happened
since, is that a hidden campus is now seeing the fruits of its labor.
Its all part of more than $175 million in expansion projects that will
include a new science building Romo says will be one of the most advanced
in Texas. The University of Texas at San Antonio has
appointed Dan Gelo as interim dean of the College of Liberal and Fine
Arts. His research in symbolic anthropology includes works in religion,
social organization, language, folklore, music and other fields. Gelo
is a recipient of the Chancellor's Council Outstanding Teaching Award
and the President's Distinguished Achievement Award for Creative Activities.
Gelo is replacing Alan Craven UTSA professor of English. The University of Texas at San Antonio has received
approval to offer a bachelor's of business administration degree in
actuarial science beginning this fall. An actuary applies statistics
and mathematical models to problems of insurance and finance and develops
ways to evaluate the financial applications of uncertain future events.
The new degree program will be the first of its kind in the San Antonio
and South Texas region. UTSA's College of Business has more than 4,800
students enrolled in 35 different graduate and undergraduate business
programs. Frances Colpitt of UTSA has organized a pair of
exhibits inspired by the most pervasive light of our times--the ghostly
shimmering, bluish glow emanating from TV's and computer screens. "Glow:
Aspects of Light in Contemporary American Art" features 11 artists
from across the country whose work is bathed in frilly colors and glossy
finishes. Effervescent and more humorous than not, this art seems to
combine minimalism's clean lines with pop art's candy colors. With a gain of about 2,000 students,
the University of Texas at San Antonio will smash its enrollment record
and is on pace to become the state's fastest-growing university, said
UTSA President Ricardo Romo. Although the enrollment figure is tentative,
the fall count is likely to approach 22,000, which would be considerably
more than the 19,883 students who officially enrolled at the beginning
of the 2001-2002 school year. In all, 5,000 freshmen are enrolled at
the university this fall, an increase of about 30 percent from a year
ago. Comments or
questions to Kris Rodriguez
(krodriguez@utsa.edu)
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