UTSA is rapidly advancing its efforts around AI, computing, cyber and data science, which is driven by strategic goals to achieve national recognition as a great public research university that is future-oriented and urban-serving. A new college focused on these fields will meet these evolving needs, consolidating programs that are currently distributed across four colleges.

The demand for expertise and multidisciplinary approaches in AI, cyber, computing, and data science is growing exponentially, and this trend is already being demonstrated by UTSA students’ interest in the professions that will make up the new college.

The new college will provide benefits to San Antonio and Texas:

• The new college will solidify UTSA and San Antonio’s status as the largest information security hub outside of Washington, D.C.
• As products of a Tier One, Hispanic Serving Institution, UTSA graduates are feeding the demand for technically advanced professionals in emerging fields.
• A robust UTSA presence downtown will greatly enhance the city’s reach with local and national organizations, accelerating San Antonio’s influence as a leader in producing a tech-centric workforce.

UTSA anticipates housing the new college at its downtown campus, primarily in San Pedro I and San Pedro II, which will enable the College to leverage opportunities and partnerships in downtown San Antonio.

UTSA does not anticipate removing any majors or minors. In fact, by creating this new college, UTSA will be able to more easily add majors in response to evolving trends and market demand.

Over time, it is possible that degree requirements will change. Students enrolled in a program with changing degree requirements will be able to elect whether to follow the existing program or study or switch to the new one. If this happens, ample notice will be given, and Advising will be able to work with students on choosing the best way forward.

Final decisions have not been made regarding relocating specific departments or faculty. Any future decisions will be made in coordination with College deans, department chairs, and faculty. 

We anticipate preparing throughout the 2024–2025 academic year, so that the new college is operational starting in Fall 2025, at the earliest.

UTSA has created new colleges recently, including the College for Health, Community, and Policy and the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design. While each college is different, UTSA has been able to develop some standard phases to help us approach this process thoughtfully and intentionally.

During the first phase, the Visioning Phase, the focus is on broad, conceptual considerations, including identifying the College structure. The outcome of this phase, based on research, benchmarking, data collection, and input received from the campus community, is recommending several possible notional models under which the new college could operate to University leadership.

University leadership reviews the models and, through additional input from Colleges and others on campus (town halls, surveys, etc.), selects a model for implementation. Depending on the models and the input received, the model may be similar to one of the models proposed by the Task Force, or it may include elements from multiple models.

During the Deliberative Planning Phase, a working group, which will include a combination of original Visioning Task Force members and new members, is convened to plan for the implementation of the new college. This group will likely be convened in Fall 2024, and additional details will be added to this web page as that phase progresses. There will be opportunities for additional input throughout this phase, which will be communicated via email and through updates to this page.

Currently, UTSA has several parking options available around the Downtown Campus and San Pedro I, and Via has routes that will take UTSA students and employees between campuses.

Additional parking and transit needs will be analyzed as a part of the Deliberative Planning Process mentioned in the question above, which will begin in Fall 2024.

Similar to parking and transit, needs related to housing, services, and safety will be analyzed as a part of the Deliberative Planning Process, which will begin in Fall 2024.

You are welcome to share your feedback or questions via the “Feedback” mechanisms provided below. If you are affiliated with UTSA, please use the feedback form; if you are not affiliated with UTSA, you can email us atprovost@utsa.edu. 

Additional opportunities to share your input include town halls and surveys. Please keep an eye on your email and the initiative web page for updates on these opportunities.