UTRGV Unsung Heroes
Letty Hernandez, assistant athletic director for Academic Services, knows that continuing to follow safety protocols to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 are necessary precautions to take, but she still misses seeing her student-athletes regularly. Some of her fondest memories from her more than 12 years on campus include when men’s basketball won second seed in the WAC tournament. “The basketball game was exciting, and they had a great crowd,” she said, recalling the cheering of the crowd watching. She hopes to return to large, live games soon but is happy that her student-athletes are staying healthy to compete in front of smaller crowds.
Using gratitude as a tool for his personal and professional success, Greg Kuras, student-athlete advisor within the UTRGV Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, looks at each day as a new opportunity to help his student-athletes. Whether it’s checking in on them to make sure they are both physically and mentally healthy, or hearing about new accomplishments they have achieved, Kuras feels fortunate to have so many special memories within his time working in Athletics. “Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness,” is his mantra, and this reflects in the rapport he’s created with his many student-athletes and within his UTRGV family.
What happens after graduation is a factor that Mario Torres, program manager for the Employer Relations Department at UTRGV, takes seriously.
Elizabeth Goldberg, a UTeach science master teacher, spends her days focusing on helping math and science majors become some of the most important individuals in their communities – teachers.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, UTRGV took the necessary protective measures to help keep the community safe. Those measures included closing certain departments, such as the Child Development Center, to help keep employees and children safe. Employees who worked in this department had to adapt to different roles to help mitigate the spread of the virus.
