(June 14, 2018) -- In an email sent today to UTSA faculty and staff, President Taylor Eighmy announced new information sessions for the UTSA community to learn more about the UTSA Presidential Initiatives. Additionally, Eighmy provided updates on the presidential, strategic, tactical and operational initiatives underway to support the university’s strategic vision.
Table Talks: The Downtown Campus Experience
Thursday, June 21 | 2 – 3 p.m. | Frio Street Building Commons Area | Downtown Campus
Enjoy aguas frescas and chat with members of the Downtown Campus Initiative Task Force about changes taking place as the Downtown Campus grows and transforms to offer a comprehensive living and learning experience. Table topics will include curriculum changes, orientation updates, transportation, food and living options.
New Budget Model: A Panel Presentation
Tuesday, June 26 | 1 – 3 p.m. | Business Building Richard Liu Auditorium (BB 2.02.02) | Main Campus
Hosted by the Finance and Budget Modeling Task Force, this informative session will feature panelists from four universities sharing their experiences with incentive-based budgeting. Panelists will talk about the lessons they learned while implementing new budget models, and the benefits incentive-based budgeting brought to their campuses. Questions may be submitted to the panelists in advance by emailing budgettaskforce@utsa.edu.
Downtown Campus Task Force
Plans continue to prepare for the anticipated increase in enrollment at the Downtown Campus this fall. Arrangements are now in place to offer housing to students taking classes at the Downtown Campus. Block class scheduling will enable students to take classes Mondays–Thursdays, freeing up Fridays for work or study. Freshmen who choose to live at the Main Campus will have the option of taking a free shuttle to the Downtown Campus for their block classes. The Campus Experience working group has created small teams to address transportation, dining and internal communications.
Finance and Budget Modeling Task Force
The task force has been busy arranging meetings with deans to discuss the new budget tool and key decision points. Other activities underway this summer include college academic financial portfolio reviews and engagement sessions with leadership and department chairs to gather additional input on the budget tool.
Strategic Communications Task Force
The Strategic Communications task force met on June 1. Task force members reviewed a new brand position for UTSA and provided feedback about creative concepts for a new advertising campaign. The new advertising campaign will be tested on June 27 and 28 in focus groups at the Main and Downtown Campuses. The focus groups will include current and prospective students, faculty and staff, alumni and members of the San Antonio business community. Additionally, the task force is developing a proposal for a consultant to conduct an audit of UTSA’s overarching web presence and its effectiveness in communicating the UTSA brand.
Student Success Task Force
The task force has determined focus areas for 2019 and beyond, which include advising, academic support, student hiring hub, LEAD and SOAR summer programs, peer mentoring and more. Early discussions are taking place regarding the goal to create a system-based campus-wide coordinated care network—similar to the health professions—that maintains a record of students’ academic histories to ensure they receive needed support. Additionally, the task force revisited their draft of a student-centered definition of student success and will convene a focus group of students later this month to gather their input.
Strategic Enrollment Task Force
The task force finalized a list of Phase 1 strategies to be implemented in the 2018-19 year, impacting enrollment beginning in fall 2019. The implementation plan will be finalized this summer, as will a comprehensive strategic enrollment report that will be shared with the UTSA community. A Strategic Enrollment Leadership and Steering Committee will be created to transition from strategic enrollment planning to strategic enrollment management, continuing to build out Phase 1 strategies and begin developing Phase 2 strategies. Efforts to optimize weighted student credit hours are already producing results, thus far exceeding targets for the summer sessions.
Data Governance and Integrity Council
The Data Governance Council has met and reviewed the institutional performance indicators that were identified last spring. Performance indicators have been categorized as Key Performance Indicators (KPI), Operational Performance Indicators (OPI) and Compliance Key Performance Indicators (CPI). The council will complete the mapping of KPI/OPI/CPI to vice president units and will identify the source data in order to build dashboards for operational awareness. At the end of June, the council will also identify the technical points of contact for direct access to the source data and establish the Data Governance Technical Task Force.
SACSCOC 2020 – Racing to Reaccreditation
The UTSA Racing to Reaccreditation 2020 Team has been grouped into 21 sub-teams based on topics important to accreditation. Meetings are underway with each sub-team to address any remaining action items and identify where collaboration is needed across standards. These race checkpoints will continue through the summer as the team works toward the fall deadline for first drafts.
National Security Collaboration Center
President Eighmy led a UTSA delegation to Washington DC on June 5-6 to meet with lawmakers, educational leaders, policy experts, industry leaders and national cyber experts to promote the university’s leadership in cybersecurity and the National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC). UTSA and Idaho National Laboratory entered into a three year agreement to facilitate collaborative research programs in cyber and critical infrastructure protection. This partnership will be a major component within the NSCC.
Sexual Violence Prevention and Support Task Force
Jessica Muniz, director and prevention coordinator for the Office of Student Advocacy, Violence Prevention & Empowerment (formerly called Title IX Services), has hired Ashlee Duval as the office’s new confidential advocate. Work is underway to evaluate existing campus prevention programs using data from CLASE and other sources. The office is actively consulting with the Behavior Intervention Team and the Campus Climate Team, as well as establishing partnerships with the offices that oversee faculty orientation, new student orientation, and trainings for student athletes. Now that the office is fully established and staffed, this initiative is closed.
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The UTSA Office of Undergraduate is proud to celebrate National Undergraduate Research with an annual event sponsored by the (OUR) featuring students will showcase undergraduate student research and creative endeavors from all disciplines across campus.
Various LocationsDía en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza and Central Plaza, Main CampusFiesta Arts Fair features contemporary art from more than 100 artists from across the U.S., Fiesta favorite foods, drinks, live music by local and regional performers, and a Young Artists Garden providing opportunities for budding artists to learn, explore and express their creativity.
UTSA Southwest CampusJoin the PEACE Center and Wellbeing Services for Denim Day, a day of learning about the importance of consent and why we wear denim on the last Wednesday of the month each April during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Stop by our Denim Day display to take a photo in front of our Denim Wall, spin the "Is It Consent?" Wheel, and get a Concha or goodie.
Student Union Window Lounge, Main CampusLearn to use Zotero®, a citation manager that can help you store and organize citations you find during your research. Zotero can generate bibliographies in various styles, insert in-text citations and allow you to share sources with collaborators.
Virtual EventThis event is to achnowlege the graduating seniors and induct the new cohart of scholars to our program.
North Paseo Building (NPB 5.140,) Main CampusCelebrate the accomplishments of College of Education and Human Development, College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Sciences and University College.
AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
