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Student assistant cashier Reinette Cottingham had her hands full the first week of classes at UTSA. The students who enrolled in the university’s 70 graduate courses purchased over 1,400 volumes from the bookstore.

Day One

Everything gets off to a smooth start on UTSA’s very first day of classes

[ This article was originally published in the UTSA newsletter The Discourse in June 1973 ]

June 5, 1973, was a historic day at UTSA as more than 50 faculty members and 671 graduate students attended the university’s first classes.

Seventy courses—on such varied subjects as quantitative methods in business, studies in Renaissance drama, pre-Columbian art and architecture of Mesoamerica, bicultural foundations of learning, and environmental and population biology—got off to a fast start. Students and faculty members began on the first day to tackle the enormous amount of material that must be covered during the first summer session, which ends July 13.

The students who enrolled in UTSA’s first classes were of diverse backgrounds. They varied considerably in age as well as in educational and occupational experience.

The largest number of students—243—enrolled in the advanced studies in education degree program. There are 67 students in the business administration program and 52 in environmental management.

Sixty-one percent of UTSA’s 671 students are working toward a master of arts, master of science, or master of business administration degree. And 30% registered as post-baccalaureate students (not seeking a degree at this time) and 9% are transient students.

“I am pleased with the first two weeks of operation,” President Peter T. Flawn says. “I have talked with some of the students and they have not encountered any serious problems in the start-up. Our faculty and staff worked very hard to get the doors open. I especially appreciate the long hours put in by our registrar, Richard Lewis, and our library staff headed by Michael Kelly.”