MAY 2019 Commencement


  Tuesday, May 7, 2019
  Community, Awards and Recognitions, Around Campus

By Maria Elena Hernandez

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – When UTRGV graduate student Griselda Muñoz walks across the stage May 10 to accept her master’s degree in business, she knows the sources of her strength will be sitting in the audience – her 13-year old twins, Christian and Dominic Peña.

The Brownsville resident, who enrolled in the UTRGV master of business administration program in 2013, already had twins and a full-time job, and was involved in the community. So she took one class a semester.

The challenges didn’t stop there, though.

While she was working on her degree, she fell ill and suffered from bad headaches. In 2015, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was benign, but any sort of brain treatment is a serious challenge to day-to-day routines and functions.

“I was very weak and there were days I couldn’t even get up,” she said.

But her drive to survive, to move forward with her life, never wavered as she looked to the twins as her inspiration. She fought not only to regain her health, but also kept working toward her MBA.

“And now, I want to be their inspiration,” Muñoz said. “My kids. Obviously, I knew I had to do it for them. I knew I had to get better for them.”

Muñoz also credits her faith in God for helping her overcome her health issues, and said UTRGV faculty supported her when she most needed help.

“Sometimes, I was not able to meet the deadlines because I was sick in bed,” she said.

She recalled contacting UTRGV management professor Dr. Jennie Johnson, now retired, to ask for an extension and for help with completing an assignment.

“Dr. Johnson was the main one who supported me. She helped me to finish the semester,” Muñoz said.

She had surgery to remove the tumor, and returned to her classes the next semester.

“No more tumors. Everything has been perfect,” Muñoz said. “I’m super healthy now.”

And she’s more than ready for commencement.

“I feel so accomplished. I cannot even express it. I’m very happy, very excited,” she said, as she proudly displayed her UTRGV class ring. “Everything, with passion and dedication, can be accomplished.”

She already anticipates her children following in her footsteps.

“At least a master’s, just like me. Or a Ph.D.!” she said. “Actually, I’m planning to do a Ph.D. later.

“I was very lucky to have had very good professors at this university, and I want to go share my knowledge one day with students.”

Grisekda Muñoz
UTRGV graduate student Griselda Muñoz will walk across the stage May 10 to accept her master’s degree in business. While working on her degree, she fell ill and suffered from bad headaches. In 2015, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It was benign, but any sort of brain treatment is a serious challenge to day-to-day routines and functions. She fought not only to regain her health, but also kept working toward her MBA. (UTRGV Photo by David Pike)

Muñoz, now the human resources manager at CK Technologies, already is helping fellow UTRGV students and graduates, as the company, come summer, will be working with the university’s engineering programs on internships.

“I always feel that in order to be successful, not only education is important, but also experience,” she said. “I had the opportunity to work while I was going to school, so I feel like I should give that back to the community.”

She also recently hired two UTRGV graduates for full-time positions at CK Technologies, and hopes to continue to grow the local workforce.

“I’m so happy to have this university in our backyard,” she said of UTRGV.

Muñoz will walk the stage to get her master’s degree on Friday, May 10, at the TSC Jacob Brown Auditorium in Brownsville. You can find more information about the UTRGV commencement ceremonies at utrgv.edu/commencement.



ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.