Tuesday, September 8, 2020
  Around Campus

By Victoria Brito

(UTRGV Photo by Paul Chouy)
(UTRGV Photo by Paul Chouy)

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – In preparation for the 2020-2021 academic year, UTRGV hosted numerous virtual convocations from colleges and departments to help launch the fall semester.

From his home library, UTRGV President Guy Bailey remotely welcomed students, staff and faculty to a fall semester unlike any other because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have all been stuck at home, sheltered in place since March, but you know what, we have kept the university going,” Bailey said. “All of us working together.”

Bailey also commended the perseverance of the UTRGV community in providing students with an uninterrupted path to their degrees. Due to these unprecedented times, the university offered students options with a variety of course modalities for the semester.

“This is a time for us to celebrate, it is one of the most difficult times we have ever had,” he said. “I have never experienced a team of people pull together more and get more accomplished.”

Remarks were also provided by:

  • Janna Arney, deputy president and interim provost.
  • John Krouse, executive vice president for health affairs and dean of UTRGV School of Medicine.
  • Rebekah Sepulveda, Staff Senate president and assistant director of Student Services Centers.
  • Michelle Alvarado, Women’s Faculty Network chair and assistant vice president of Strategic Enrollment.
  • Cynthia Paccacerqua, Faculty Senate president and associate professor of Philosophy.
  • Victoria Lozano, Student Government Association president.

The following colleges held convocations in August: Aug. 19 – College of Education and P-16 Integration; Aug. 20 –  College of Sciences, Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship and College of Fine Arts; and Aug. 21 – College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Convocations scheduled in September include the College of Liberal Arts (Sept. 9), Division of Research (Sept. 18), Graduate Studies (Sept. 18), and New Program Development (Sept. 18), and the Division of Strategic Enrollment (Sept. 18). 

For more information on UTRGV’s Commitment to Safety and Success, visit utrgv.edu/commitment.



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.