About the First Lady
First Lady Peggy Eighmy is a first-generation Irish American and a first-generation college student. She has worked in child welfare and advocacy roles in Texas, Tennessee, and Massachusetts. She believes deeply in the potential of young people with experience in foster care and in higher education as the strongest path toward breaking cycles of poverty and involvement with the child welfare system.
Building a Brighter Future for Students and Foster Youth
Peggy is a founder of the Bexar County Fostering Educational Success (BCFES), an initiative dedicated to improving college enrollment, retention, and graduation rates for students with a history of foster care. BCFES also works to ensure that children and youth currently in foster care know that college is within reach and have the support necessary for long-term success.
Peggy successfully advocated for funding from the Texas Legislature to establish BCFES, making Texas the only state to dedicate appropriations specifically to improving college outcomes for students with foster care experience. BCFES funding supports campus programs at UT San Antonio, Texas A&M San Antonio, and the Alamo Colleges, providing trauma-informed wrap-around services—including housing—as well as pre-college programming for youth still in foster care, such as the College Bound Docket, a partnership with the Bexar County Children’s Court and Child Advocates San Antonio.
Since BCFES’ founding in 2019, more than 1,200 foster youth and college students have received services, contributing to an 82% increase in college enrollment among students with a history of foster care in Bexar County.
Serving Locally
Peggy serves on the Executive Committee of Bexar County Fostering Educational Success, the Advisory Council for the UT Health San Antonio Charles E. Cheever Jr. Center for Medical Humanities & Ethics, and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County’s Ready Children Impact Council. Her past board and advisory roles include service on Senator José Menéndez’s Blue-Ribbon Task Force on Child Abuse Prevention, Texas CASA, the Najim Charitable Foundation, Roy Maas Youth Alternatives, ChildSafe, the City of San Antonio’s NXT Level Youth Reengagement Center Advisory Council, the Child Welfare/Foster Care Workgroup of the South Texas Trauma-Informed Care Consortium, the UT San Antonio Veteran & Military Affairs Advisory Board, and the UT San Antonio Libraries Advisory Council.
Personal
Peggy and her husband, President Taylor Eighmy, Ph.D., have one daughter, Hannah, a pediatric nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital, and are proud grandparents to Maeve Elizabeth.
Updated November 2025
Videos
The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), Texas A&M-San Antonio (A&M-SA), the Alamo Colleges District (ACD), Bexar County Children's Court and Child Advocates San Antonio is a collaborative pilot program that aims to improve college graduation rates for foster care alumni.
Peggy Eighmy speaking at Rotary San Antonio on October 4, 2023.