Campus Enhancements Update
Dear UTRGV Family:
As mentioned in Provost Arney’s March 3 message, UTRGV remains committed to enhancing our campus facilities.
To help ensure that all space — current and forthcoming — is strategically and efficiently utilized based on university priorities and goals, the Division of Finance and Planning and the Office of the Provost have created a new Office of Strategic Space Planning.
The office is led by Gerry Rodriguez, a familiar face in a different but related role. He now serves as the Assistant Vice President for Strategic Space Planning.
The Office of Strategic Space Planning is charged with maximizing the use of existing space, identifying new space for growth and, most recently, because of the pandemic, repurposing space that was vacated by employees who are now working remote or hybrid.
All requests for space may be emailed to the Office of Strategic Space Planning at spacemanagement@utrgv.edu. For more complex requests, the office will enlist the guidance of the Space Governance Committee, which is comprised of 12 individuals representing different areas of the university and charged with overseeing the use of university space. The committee convened and held its first meeting in December of 2021.
Expansion to the Rec Center Swimming Pool
As an update to the enhancement of our campus facilities and based on feedback we received regarding the importance of having an additional swimming pool on campus, we are prioritizing an expansion of the swimming pool area at the Recreational Center in Edinburg.
The expansion will add a new five-lane lap pool that will be heated and covered to help ensure it can be used year-round for classes and recreation. This will provide an additional on-campus swimming option in Edinburg as we move to repurpose the indoor swimming pool (HPE1) to a practice gym.
The expansion project is expected to begin early next year and be completed before start of Fall 2023.
Please note that the HPE1 indoor pool will remain open for classes and recreation during construction and will close only when the new lap pool at the rec center is operable.
Access to the City of Pharr Natatorium
As an additional option, the Division of Finance and Planning is also working with the City of Pharr to finalize a lease agreement that will provide all UTRGV students, faculty, and staff free access to the state-of-the-art natatorium.
As you may remember, the natatorium is shared by the City of Pharr, UTRGV, and the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District, so negotiations regarding usage have been complex. Nonetheless, we are excited about the free access our campus community will be granted to this state-of-the-art facility, and we will provide updates as negotiations are finalized.
What is confirmed now is that the natatorium will serve as the future home of the UTRGV women’s swimming and diving program. In advance of welcoming our first women’s swimming and diving program, UTRGV Athletics and the City of Pharr will be co-hosting the 2023 Western Athletic Conference Swimming and Diving Championships on Feb. 22-25. This is a great opportunity to showcase the state-of-the-art natatorium to 12 universities from across the country in front of what is expected to be a capacity-crowd of 1,200.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding this email, please feel free to contact me at svpfp@utrgv.edu.
Sincerely,
Michael Mueller
Senior Vice President for Finance and Planning.