Integrated Design

Current StatusOperationalized

Charge

Through the Integrated Design initiative, the university will fully leverage scholar expertise across architecture, construction, planning and engineering, to optimally position UTSA on the cutting edge of transdisciplinary research and academic programming and forge innovative partnerships that facilitate growth and success. The Advisory Task Force will perform outreach and research, and then use those findings to develop notional models for an organizational structure within a new, to-be-named college that contains the disciplines of Architecture, Construction Science, Historic Preservation, Interior Design, and Urban and Regional Planning, co-housed with the College of Engineering. Gathering broad input from faculty, staff, students, and external stakeholders is a key part of this process.

View the Initiative Brief


  • Enhance student success, though promoting cross-disciplinary curricular and experiential learning opportunities
  • Prepare students for the modern integrated, collaborative workforce, and particularly take active steps to prepare our first-generation, Hispanic and other underrepresented minority students for prosperous futures
  • Increase UTSA’s ability to successfully compete for extramural funding opportunities to address grand challenges
  • Promote cross-cutting collaborations internally with other campus units, potentially through exploring joint faculty appointments or other means
  • Promote external collaborations with industry, non-profits, and other academic institutions, including those seeking HSI partners
  • Promote community collaborations, particularly in sustainable, smart, connected cities and infrastructure that also support our distinctive cultural heritage and future

Contact

Please feel free to submit questions or input to the   Integrated Design Task Force.

Strategic Plan Midpoint Update (Fall 2022)

Beginning in 2018, the Integrated Design Initiative Task Force, chaired by Dean JoAnn Browning, undertook a highly engaged process to develop a plan to leverage the scholarly expertise housed in the Colleges of Engineering and Architecture, Construction & Planning. In consultation with faculty, staff, students, and other stakeholders, the Task Force proposed seven notional models to unite these programs to better support students, enhance research excellence, and promote outreach to the greater San Antonio region and the world. Extensive discussions with all stakeholders resulted in a structure for the new College of Engineering and Integrated and Design to leverage the tremendous talent within the disciplines and creates new opportunities for our constituents. 

In September 2021, this effort resulted in the launch of a new college: The Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design (Klesse College).

Klesse College houses five schools and departments, including: The School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and Construction Management; Department of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering; Department of Mechanical Engineering; Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering; and School of Architecture & Planning. This administrative reorganization has already yielded numerous benefits, including a fully-integrated vision, new transdisciplinary research partnerships, numerous joint hires, and a joint mentorship program to support student and faculty success. In future years, Klesse College is poised to set a new national standard for innovative research discoveries and better prepare students with the cross-disciplinary skills to thrive in a changing workforce.

Klesse College Homepage


This Initiative Supports Strategic Destinations