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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. June 2002 San Antonio has a more educated population
today than it did in 1990, a sign that efforts to urge people to attend
college and the changing nature of today's economy are overcoming barriers
to higher education, according to local business and education leaders.
Census 2000 data shows more than one in five residents who are 25 years
old or older have bachelor's degrees or graduate degrees representing
a gain of almost four percent or 51,472 college graduates. "The
message still need to get out that if we are to be competitive, we have
to consistently reinforce the notion of getting a higher education,
said Richard Diem, education professor at the University of Texas at
San Antonio. Volunteers painted, stapled, hammered,
and sweated in preparation for the 31st Annual Texas Folklife Festival
at the Instititute of Texan Cultures. The four-day festival celebrates
more than 45 cultures with food, entertainment and crafts. Groups, including
churches and community organizations, from 59 Texas counties will participate
this year. The festival will span 15 acres this year. The University of Texas at San Antonio has received
federal funding to help graduate students majoring in public administration.
The Housing and Urban Development Work Study Program will distribute
$2.9 million to 28 universities nationwide and two area-wide planning
organizations, including the North Central Texas Council of Governements.
UTSA's $85, 278 will provide three full-time students with full tuition
and fees and a $9,000 work stipend as part of an internship placement. The University of Texas at San Antonio
recently added an automatic notification system that can be used to
contact emergency officials and to spread the word on campus concerning
a dangerous situation. The system, called the Notifier, can make more
than 1,000 phone calls in less than 15 minutes. "Following the
incidents of 9/11, we created an office for emergency preparedness and
wanted technology that allowed us to be in touch with the greatest number
of people in the shortest amount of time," said George Powers,
chief of police at UTSA. The Univesity of Texas at San Antonio
and U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez are teaming up to find ways to prop up
Mexico's industrial base and to steer the country away from its independence
on providing cheap labor. Some of the ideas that have surfaced include
assisting businesses in Mexico in improving the manufacturing processes
and productivity with the use of technology. Rodriguez is also working
to identify ways of attracting new forms of foreign investment from
developed Asian nations like Japan, and collaborating with San Antonio
leaders to form new businesses in support of emerging industries. Conservation workers at Mission Concepcion are restoring
delicate frescoes that haven't been seen in decades, and archaeology
students are sifting through soil, reclaiming artifacts and revealing
rooms that disappeared more than a century ago. Steve Tomka, an archaeology
professor at UTSA, said the students will work throughout the month
to uncover more answers about the mission's past. Tomka said the dig
is bridging the student's study from the textbook to the actual. Delegates for the Pan American Sports Organization,
on a whirlwind tour to determine if 5,000 athletes will compete in the
Alamo City in 2007, were greeted by droves of San Antonians cheering
at the top of their lungs. Community officials from all walks of life
made themselves available. By bringing together such a big welcoming
party, which included rally cries from University of Texas at San Antonio
President Ricardo Romo and State Rep. Jose Menendez, the bid committee
set out to show the PASO representatives that it's not only dignitaries
who are willing to make the effort to get the games. A decision on who
hosts the games, either San Antonio or Rio de Janeiro will be made in
late August. A University of Texas at San Antonio
professor is one of two researchers awarded a $2.25 million grant to
study cloned mice. John McCarrey's laboratory will focus on epigenetics--the
mechanisms that affect genetic programming without changing DNA structure--and
particularly on the programming of germ cells. The study hopes to produce
new insight into the efficacy and safety of cloning.. Throughout the 1980's and '90s the
widespread lament among those involved in San Antonio's economic development
was that the city lacked the graduate degrees that companies sought
when relocating. Well times have changed and new UTSA College of Engineering
dean Zorica Pantic-Tanner recently discussed the changes at a breakfast
sponsored by the law firm of Cox and Smith. Pantic-Tanner detailed and
updated the news about three doctoral engineering degree programs that
will start soon at UTSA. One is electrical engineering that begins this
fall, the others will be in biomedical engineering and environmental
science and engineering that will begin in fall 2003, if the final approvals
are acquired as expected.. Comments or
questions to Kris Rodriguez
(krodriguez@utsa.edu)
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