BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – MAY 23, 2019 – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Department of Public Affairs and Security Studies hosted its first Borderland Security Conference, “On the Border by the Sea,” May 23-24 at the PlainsCapital Bank El Gran Salón on the Brownsville Campus.

The conference featured a variety of speakers from universities around the world to address border security and immigration issues relevant to the current political climate. Those attending the event had the opportunity ask questions of the guest speakers.

Dr. Terrance Garrett, UTRGV professor and chair of Public Affairs and Border Security, moderated. He said the goal of the conference is to spread awareness.

“Homeland security is an important topic for this area,” Garrett said. “We have a set of diverse activists, scholars and documentarists who have knowledge on our area in general. This event is all about our region and promoting homeland security and how it affects us.”

The event is sponsored in part by support from the Texas National Security Network and the University of Texas System.

The event continues tomorrow, May 24, in the same location.

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.