More than 5,000 Roadrunners celebrated a milestone in their academic journeys on May 17

MAY 18, 2024 — On Friday, UTSA hosted San Antonio’s largest Commencement ceremony at the Alamodome. More than 5,000 Roadrunners were eligible to graduate from UTSA, including students who crossed the stage on Friday and those expected to graduate this summer. In all, more than 4,100 students received a bachelor’s degree, more than 800 received a master’s degree and 90 received a doctoral degree.

While some of these students have enrolled in master’s or doctoral degree programs, many already have jobs waiting for them.

From creating new spaces that foster student innovation to expanding education outside the classroom through experiential learning opportunities, UTSA is investing in workforce development programs to grow San Antonio’s talent pipeline.

Through a combination of industry-relevant courses, projects and involvement in student organizations, UTSA undergraduate Conrad Finos nurtured his passion for cybersecurity and prepared for a career as a cyber professional. The graduate’s choice to attend UTSA was calculated, influenced by the university’s top-ranked cybersecurity program and the strategic opportunities it offered close to home.  

Finos graduated with a bachelor’s degree in cyber security from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business at UTSA.

Up next for Finos is an international internship in Panama with the U.S. Department of State, followed by a full-time position with the agency's office in Washington, D.C., as a diplomatic information specialist this fall.

Meanwhile Ayleen González is remaining in San Antonio. The UTSA education student was recently hired as a full-time teacher at San Antonio Independent School District’s Irving Dual Language Academy, where she completed her student teaching this past year.

She credits UTSA’s reputation of preparing educators of the highest standard for impacting her career choices. González graduated from the UTSA College of Education and Human Development (COEHD) with her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies EC-6 and a Bilingual Education Supplemental Certification.

Key to González’s preparation was COEHD’s Signature Residency Model, which provides cohorts of teaching candidates more opportunities to teach, learn and interact with students, fellow teachers and administrators. Its goal is to ensure these future teachers are ready to lead their own classrooms come the first day of school. 

“UTSA offers practice exams and study sessions for us to get that degree,” Gonzalez said. “The Academy of Teacher Excellence and the workshops provided by UTSA have supported and prepared me for the challenges and requirements needed to be an educator.”

Institutional data from UTSA shows that, in the last three years, 88% of UTSA’s graduates have stayed and worked in Texas, where they are eagerly sought after by employers in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

UTSA held two Commencement ceremonies to celebrate its more than 5,000 spring and summer graduates. The morning ceremony honored graduates from the College of Education and Human Development, the College for Health, Community and Policy, the College of Sciences and University College. In the afternoon, UTSA celebrated graduates from the Alvarez College of Business, the College of Liberal and Fine Arts, and the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.

UTSA is a Tier One research university and a Hispanic Serving Institution specializing in cyber, health, fundamental futures and social-economic transformation. The university aspires to become a model for student success, a great public research university and an exemplary for strategic growth and innovative excellence.

— Ari Castañeda