(March 21, 2018) – The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) President Taylor Eighmy today named two new interim vice presidents to serve on his senior leadership team. Rhonda M. Gonzales will serve as Interim Vice President for Student Success, and Lisa G. Blazer as Interim Vice President for Strategic Enrollment. Both appointments are effective April 15.
In an email to the campus community today, Eighmy noted the prioritization of UTSA’s efforts around student success and strategic enrollment as driving the organizational change. Gonzales and Blazer currently serve as chairs of two separate Presidential Initiatives on student success and strategic enrollment.
“Rhonda and Lisa are proven leaders doing exceptional work with their respective task forces, and these interim roles are logical extensions of their current responsibilities,” said Eighmy in his email. “Our progress in these two areas is paramount to UTSA’s future, which is why I believe it is important to have them reporting directly to me as president.”
The units that will report to Gonzales and Blazer will be confirmed in the days to come, and will be announced broadly to the UTSA community after all impacted employees have been informed.
About Rhonda Gonzales
Gonzales currently serves as Associate Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives, Director of PIVOT for Academic Success, and Professor of African and African Diaspora History at UTSA. Since 2015, Gonzales is the principal investigator (PI) on grants totaling more than $6 million to develop student success initiatives for UTSA students. These funds have been used to established First to Go and Graduate, a program in which first-generation faculty, first-gen peer mentor and first-gen students create familias to foster a sense of community and belonging for UTSA’s nearly 45% first-gen students. She has extensive experience in university leadership development and advancing student success initiatives. She is the co-founder of the Women’s Professional Advancement and Synergy Academy at UTSA, a former fellow of the American Council on Education, and a member of the UT System Chancellor’s Network for Women’s Leadership. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology and master’s and doctoral degrees in history, all from UCLA. Gonzales will continue to serve in her vice provost role while assuming the responsibilities of interim vice president.
About Lisa Blazer
Since starting at UTSA in 2001, Blazer has held a variety of roles in the Division of Student Affairs overseeing activities in enrollment management, financial aid and strategic planning. In her current role as Senior Associate Vice President for Student Affairs her many accomplishments include enhancing the recruitment and admissions process to increase the incoming student population, improving the new student orientation experience, implementing new recruitment scholarships for freshmen and transfer students, developing new awarding philosophy for financial aid, and creating a one-stop-shop for financial aid, admissions and the registrar. Blazer is a recipient of the Alan W. Purdy Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Missouri Baptist University. From 2016-17 she served as national chair of NASFAA. Blazer earned her bachelor's degree in piano performance from Missouri Baptist University. She received her master's degree in organizational development and her doctoral degree in education with a focus on organizational leadership, both from the University of the Incarnate Word.
Read President Eighmy’s email to the UTSA community.
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