President Eighmy recognizes employees’ contributions to advance UTSA’s mission

JULY 8, 2024 — Editor’s note: The following message was sent today via email from President Taylor Eighmy to all faculty and staff:

Last spring was an extraordinarily busy season for our community. You each played a critical role in the many initiatives and events across our campuses, and I want to express my deep gratitude for the work you do each day to make UTSA the special place that it is.

Today, I’m writing to recognize and celebrate your contributions that continue to advance our mission and progress toward achieving our three strategic destinations. Together, we’ve:

• Strengthened our emphasis on workforce development — It’s no secret the landscape of higher education is rapidly evolving, but our mission to become a model for student success remains steadfast. In that mission, our work to grow the professional workforce and generate upward mobility for our students and their families is critical. From creating new spaces that foster student innovation to expanding education outside the classroom through experiential learning opportunities, we’re heavily investing in career engagement initiatives to grow avenues of opportunity and success for our Roadrunners. Simultaneously, by growing the professional talent pipeline, we’re positioning UTSA as a key driver of the local and statewide economies, creating even more visibility for the exceptional work you do each day. I look forward to sharing more updates around this key area of focus as we progress.​​​​​​​

• Launched efforts on capacity building around civil discourse — Through various academic touchpoints, we empower our students to navigate complex discussions around challenging issues while cultivating a new generation of informed and engaged citizens. I was proud to see our faculty and students engaged with new workshops and experiential learning opportunities last spring and I look forward to many more initiatives to come. 

• Advanced progress with our Campus Experience Task Force — The task force’s executive sponsors recently updated the campus community with results from focus groups, representative committees and an online survey. They outlined eight areas of priority to continue refining recommendations and shared plans for an employee success center, enhanced infrastructure and services and flexible work modality resources. These efforts are so important as they serve to enhance our campus experience while advancing us toward our destination of becoming an innovative place to work, learn and discover.

• Reached great new heights in our Be Bold campaign — At just past the midway point of our comprehensive campaign, we've raised an incredible $411 million to support all facets of the university. We've received support from more than 51,300 individual donors who have made over 158,400 gifts and pledges. This impactful generosity has resulted in the creation of 100 new endowed scholarships and fellowships for our talented students, over $58 million raised for faculty and research support, more than $48 million raised for student-athlete scholarships and facilities, and much more across our campuses. The market value of our university endowment has also increased from $164 million at the start of the campaign to $300 million today. As the campaign continues, we are heavily focused on continuing to raise funds that will drive student support for professional workforce development and faculty support for research excellence.

• Expanded our downtown footprint — There is much excitement around the continued growth of our downtown campuses, especially around the construction of our newest building, San Pedro II, which will focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and career development for our students. Notably, our new college of AI, cybersecurity, computing and data science will bring together four programs under one college, also to be located at our San Pedro buildings. Further, we look forward to the exciting future of the Institute of Texan Cultures as it relocates to its temporary home at the Frost Tower in 2025.

We’ve accomplished so much, and I couldn’t be prouder of UTSA’s rising reputation as one of our country’s exemplary public research universities. I encourage you to take time this summer to celebrate milestones, recharge and prepare to embrace the upcoming fall semester with renewed focus and energy.