Monday, March 10, 2025
  Happenings, Around Campus, Community

By News and Internal Communications

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – MARCH 10, 2025 – As Spring Break approaches, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Police Department, along with Hidalgo County District Attorney Terry Palacios and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), would like to remind everyone to prioritize safety and recognize the dangers and consequences of drinking and driving. 

Image with information about UTRGV and community organizations hosting Spring Break Safety event
UTRGV and community organizations are collaborating to host the “Spring Break Safety: No Refusal Awareness” event on March 12, at the UTRGV Campus in Edinburg.
 

To help educate the UTRGV community, these organizations will collaborate to host the “Spring Break Safety: No Refusal Awareness” event on Wednesday, March 12, at the UTRGV Campus in Edinburg. 

The event will take place from 10-11 a.m. in the Plains Capital Bank Theater in the Student Union and will feature the following presenters:

  • Van Slusser, assistant chief, UTRGV Police Department
  • Hidalgo County District Attorney Terry Palacios
  • Representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)
  • Sean Carter, a survivor of a drunk driving accident

The program will include impactful remarks from the speakers, as well as a personal testimony from Carter, who runs a nonprofit organization with his mother called When Sean Speaks. He will share his life-altering experience as a passenger in a drunk driving incident. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with all speakers during a question-and-answer session.



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.