OCTOBER 7, 2022 — In January 2021, UTSA welcomed Rhonda BeLue, Ph.D., as the Lutcher Brown Endowed Distinguished Professor in the Department of Public Health and as first associate dean for community engagement and partnerships in the College for Health, Community and Policy (HCAP). As a professional committed to equity and inclusion, BeLue was thrilled to join UTSA’s newest college and to develop relationships within the San Antonio community.
“I thought that being part of HCAP and developing a new college was a great opportunity, and I also liked the idea of being at a school that’s accessible to multiple families. This is a state school and that means everybody in the community has an investment in UTSA,” BeLue said.
A professional committed to equity and inclusion, BeLue’s research is primarily focused on making health care and knowledge accessible to the community and on training the next generation of health care researchers and practitioners.
BeLue uses funds from her endowed position to hire undergraduate students to work on the research team in her SHARP (Safety-net Healthcare Advocacy, Research and Policy) Lab. This provides them with opportunities to gain competencies through training, collaborative scholarly products and by working with mentors or teams at safety-net or community-based organizations and to address urgent health care needs of the uninsured and other vulnerable persons.
“I really believe in training the next generation and creating future leaders, and my endowment has allowed me to do this by giving me the ability to hire students. I think this is some of my most important work,” expressed BeLue.
In addition to student training in the SHARP Lab, BeLue conducts applied research and community engagement activities in partnership with health care safety-net and community-based organizations to address health disparities in historically disenfranchised communities. For example, she recently worked with community-based organizations to provide COVID-19 vaccine education and improve vaccine updates among underserved communities that disproportionately suffered morbidity from the virus.
BeLue also uses her endowment to collaborate with people in other disciplines. In the College of Liberal and Fine Arts, for example, she is working with health communications faculty members to develop a toolkit to translate research, increase its accessibility and provide an opportunity for San Antonians to have input in what the university is working on. She explained that it is usually difficult to fully fund and sustain projects like this because grant funds typically support active experiments and not research translation.
“One of the things we are always concerned about in research is the continuity of funding. Sometimes, researchers need pilot funds to start a smaller project before we can apply for external fundings,” BeLue explained. “The endowment helps us by providing funds to start exploratory research. It gives me opportunities for growth in multiple ways.”
With UTSA’s new Tier One designation, BeLue believes the university must continue to go beyond doing research and writing scholarly journals that are only accessible to certain people. She plans to fulfill her personal mission by contributing to conversations around accessible health care for underserved populations and participating in research that is helping to improve the community-at-large for years to come.
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Archaeology 201 will briefly go over the foundations of archaeology and related skills, followed by a different topic over the course of this week (like skeletal analysis, global cultures, and more).
Center for Archaeological Research, UTSA Main CampusYou will get the opportunity to learn about the importance of psychopharmacology, common medications for pediatric populations, and best practices for collaborating with health care teams and families.
Virtual EventThe UTSA Veteran and Military Office will be holding a social event for our new military-affiliated students to come out and meet our office, staff, and other students.
MB 0.100, Ground Floor Lobby, Main BuildingThe Student Union invites you to join us for Kickback at the Union, a fun event designed to get you acquainted with all of the services available in the Student Union!
Student UnionInterested in learning more about the different fraternities and sororities in the Multicultural Greek Council? Come meet our organizations and enjoy free food and music.
Retama Galleria (SU 2.02,) Main CampusThe 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.