Major Leaps Forward
The 2000's – leading up to present day – have been marked by UTSA leadership in research, athletics, and plans for the future. In 2009, the Texas Legislature passed Proposition 4, designating UTSA as an emerging research university. This significant achievement, based on the university's pursuit of innovative discovery, was followed by another in 2014 when
UTSA's cybersecurity program was ranked the best in the nation. Outside the classrooms and labs, UTSA's campus life continued to develop, offering new opportunities for Roadrunners to lead the way. In 2011, UTSA Athletics took a major leap forward when the first Roadrunner football team took to the field, cheered on by a sea of fans wearing orange, blue, and white.
One of the most recent series of leadership steps taken have revolved around plans for the Downtown Campus. In 2017, the campus celebrated its 20th anniversary in a ceremony overseen by the then newly appointed UTSA President Eighmy. At the event, Eighmy announced a
new vision for the future of the Downtown Campus, imagining it as a model urban-serving university and discussing plans to broaden the UTSA Downtown Campus' footprint to include more buildings to house students. In support of this initiative,
Graham Weston provided a $15 million gift and parcels of land downtown for construction of a new School of Data Science and National Security Collaboration Center. These facilities broke ground in 2020 and – once complete – will serve as a major connector between the university and the local community.