Tuesday, October 20, 2020
AUGUST 31, 2020 — For UTSA’s Rhonda M. Gonzales, her definition of leadership is a simple one: It’s creating pathways of success for others.
“We’re educators,” said Gonzales, who is chair of the Department of History, part of UTSA’s College of Liberal and Fine Arts, and a professor of African and African diaspora history. “We’re trying to prepare people to walk through doors that they otherwise wouldn’t be prepared to walk through.”
Gonzales will join 25 other fellows from across the country in spending the next year exploring leadership in higher education as part of the second cohort of La Academia de Liderazgo, the leadership academy of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. HACU’s academy is designed to increase the number of individuals who aspire to leadership positions at the executive and senior levels of Hispanic Serving Institutions and Emerging HSIs.
As a fellow, Gonzales will spend a year participating in an array of leadership development activities, including three seminars, the first slated for October, in conjunction with HACU’s 34th annual conference, “Fostering Excellence and Social Justice.” The second seminar will be held in conjunction with HACU’s 26th Annual Capitol Forum on Hispanic Higher Education in April 2021. And the final seminar, later in 2021, will focus on international collaborations.
Mentorship with a university president is a key component of the program, as is a project designed to have an impact at the fellow’s current institution.
“I’m excited to join a network of my colleagues who are concerned about Latinos in education, who are truly dedicated to leading institutions and building institutions that are focused on serving students—Latino students— in higher education,” Gonzales said. “This is a journey I’ve been on for some years, and I look forward to continuing to advocate for students and working with people who are committed and optimistic about reimagining and reenvisioning Latinos in the higher education landscape and looking at what equity and diversity really mean. I’m a big proponent of this type of work.”
“Congratulations to Dr. Gonzales! We are proud to have a UTSA representative selected for HACU’s leadership academy,” said Kimberly Andrews Espy, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “La Academic de Liderazgo is meeting a critical need in higher education: University faculty and administrators serve a pivotal role as mentors and models of student success, and it is important—particularly for our nation’s Hispanic and other students from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education—to see themselves reflected in university leadership. As an HSI research university, UTSA is pleased to sponsor and support this leadership development program and the investment in the advancement of our faculty.”
⇒ Explore the work of Rhonda M. Gonzales at UTSA.
Gonzales has been with UTSA for 16 years and previously served as associate vice provost for strategic initiatives and the director of PIVOT for Academic Success. As a first-generation college graduate, she is passionate about envisioning and implementing programming and best practices to support the success of underrepresented minorities, first generation, transition, low SES, and STEM students through to graduation.
She was the recipient of a $3.25 million Department of Education Title V Grant that has initiated four student success programs at UTSA: First to Go and Graduate, the Roadrunner Transition Experience, Alamo Runners and Math Matters as well as $3.6 million to build out an Emporium delivered core math and the development of a LEAD I and II summer bridge experiences for UTSA freshmen and sophomores.
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UTSA Main Campus will serve as a designated polling station during the early voting period, today through October 30, and on Election Day, November 3.
H-E-B Student Union Ballroom (HSU 1.104)The First Generation and Transfer Student Center (FGTSC), Transfer and Transition Student Success Services (T2S3), and Alamo Runners invite you to join the virtual fun as we celebrate National Transfer Student Week. UTSA is enriched by transfer students who bring their diverse experiences, backgrounds, and assets to our campus. National Transfer Student Week seeks to celebrate, empower, and support transfer students with events and workshops specifically designed for transfers.
Virtual EventJoin Student Health Services as we discuss Intellectual Wellbeing with TRC - Academic Success Coaching.
Virtual EventAre you missing our Roost Tournaments? We will be having our UFC 3 tournament and our tournaments are now back to Wednesdays! Sign up and show us your skills. See if you have what it takes to be our champion.
Virtual EventDr. Mo. Jamshidi is an Endowed chaired professor at the University of Texas-San Antonio. He is a Persian Native, born in Shiraz, Iran in 1944. He was an advisor to NASA for 10 years (including with the first MARS Mission and seven years with NASA Headquarters (Washington, DC), among other organizations. He has over 800 technical publications including 74 books in English and 5 foreign languages. For the past 20 years, he has been collecting data on Persian Scientists and Poets from 1000 BC to 2021 AD. This presentation will be about the book written by Dr. Jamshidi that collects information on Persian scientists and poets.
Virtual EventJoin this informative, interactive webinar with practical tips on how to plan your charitable giving now and for the future. Michael Perkins, member of the UTSA Alumni Association and the UTSA College of Business Accounting Advisory Board, is no stranger to gift planning. As managing partner and CEO of Slattery Perkins Ramirez P.C. (“SPR”) his primary areas of focus include counseling business owners, executives, and other high net worth individuals on personal financial issues, including estate planning, wealth transfer, and income tax planning techniques. Michael also practices philanthropy himself – establishing an endowed scholarship at UTSA as well as supporting numerous charitable causes throughout San Antonio.
Virtual EventUTSA Main Campus is a voting poll for Election Day on November 3.
H-E-B Student Union Ballroom (HSU 1.104The 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 ending generations of discrimination and inequity. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.
