House Resolution 479
UTRGV’s CHAPS Program team at the Capitol building in Austin on the floor of the 85th Texas State Legislature as they were honored by the presentation of House Resolution No. 479. Pictured are (bottom row left to right) Russell K. Skowronek, CHAPS Executive Director and Associate Dean of Interdisciplinary Programs and Community Engagement, Juan L. Gonzalez, Co-Director of the CHAPS Program and Associate Professor of Earth Sciences, Walter Diaz, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts (top row left to right) Texas State Representative (Starr County) Ryan Guillen, Christopher Miller, CHAPS Co-Director and Professor of History and Roseann Bacha-Garza, CHAPS Program Manager.
On Wednesday, April 13, 2017, the CHAPS (Community Historical Archaeology Project with Schools) team was present on the floor of the 85th Texas State Legislature as Starr County Representative Ryan Guillen formally read House Resolution No. 479 to his fellow elected officials and to the attending members of the public in the gallery. This resolution, forever maintained by the Legislative Reference Library and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, honors the CHAPS Program team at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley for their work to raise awareness of the region’s rich cultural and natural history. CHAPS was also honored for “forging relationships with local and county institutions as a true community engagement entity”.
Since its inception in 2009, the CHAPS Program has accomplished a tremendous amount in a short time. They have embarked on several successful projects that include curriculum and lesson plan development for regional K-12 students and educators. Their “Native American Peoples of South Texas” project and “The Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail” project have both produced lesson plans with accompanying traveling trunks to better serve independent school districts with hands-on items and activities to coordinate with TEKS aligned lesson plans.
The CHAPS Program has also earned several awards that include two awards from the Texas Historical Commission which include the Award of Merit for preserving the cultural and historical resources of Texas and the Chairman’s Award for Community Education for the Rio Grande Valley Civil War Trail project. CHAPS was also awarded the prestigious Daniel G. Roberts Award for Excellence in Public Historical Archaeology for the Society for Historical Archaeology. As stated in the resolution, “CHAPS has proven to be a dynamic and innovative educational endeavor, one that is enlightening and inspiring countless young people throughout the Rio Grande Valley”.
Video Transcript:
85th Texas State Legislature House Resolution 479.
The Chair lays out the previously adopted Resolution 479 and recognizes Represen Guillen .
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Members, today I'm proud to recognize the CHAPS Program at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, for the great work that it's doing throughout the Rio Grande Valley.
CHAPS has been honored by the Texas Historical Commission and The Society of Historical Archeology, for the exemplary and important work it's doing in The Valley.
From Laredo to the Gulf Coast, high-level scholars from the fields of anthropology, archeology, geology, history, climate science, economics and business development have begun work that would transform our views of the past and guide the development of the future in this part of Texas.
The results of their ongoing research is being used today to teach students from kindergarten to college about the changes to both the land and the people of that region over the past twenty-thousand years.
The program also teaches students of all ages the importance of preserving and supporting local historical and archeological sites in the Rio Grande Valley.
CHAPS does this through numerous initiatives including focused research projects, college classes at UTRGV, and community engagement.
The interdisciplinary aspect of the CHAPS Program and it's success stems from engaging people with wide ranging interests to come together to unveil projects like the rich Civil War history of South Texas and the creation of the new Civil War tourism trail.
It's efforts include sharing the still-developing information on the area in lesson plans in the schools and the tourism organizations enhancing interests from visitors who visit them all over the world.
With us on the House floor are five talented individuals, who've been instrumental in the success of the CHAPS program.
Ms. Roseann Bacha-Garza, Project Manager of CHAPS, will you raise your hand?
Dr. Walter Diaz, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts,
Dr. Juan L. Gonzalez, Associate Professor of Geology, in the school of Earth, Environmental and Marine Sciences, and also the Academic Coordinator for Environmental Sciences and Co-Director of the Program,
Dr. Christopher Miller, Professor of History and Co-Director of the Program,
and Finally Dr. Russell Skowronek, Associate Dean for the School of Interdisciplinary Programs and Community Engagement, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, Professor of Anthropology and History, and the Houston Endowment Chair for Civic Engagement and the Executive Director of the CHAPS Program.
Members, please join me in commending the work of the CHAPS Program and it's staff for their astounding work in the Rio Grande Valley.