A Message from the President
August 6, 2015
Dear Faculty and Staff,
With less than a month to go before we officially open our doors and welcome our first students to UTRGV, I want to thank you for your commitment to ensuring a bright future for the students of the Rio Grande Valley.
Our journey began 14 months ago, and your hard work, patience and persistence over the past year have been remarkable – and greatly appreciated. Because of that dedication, we will have a successful opening and exciting new opportunities for students, faculty and staff.
I especially want to thank UTB/TSC ad interim President Dr. William Fannin and UTPA ad interim President Dr. Havidán Rodríguez for their leadership during this important time of building UTRGV. Their efforts and talents have been instrumental in leading the teams on the legacy campuses while always focusing on the road ahead. To work alongside them this past year has been an honor. Please take a moment to extend a word of gratitude to each of them.
- We continue to register students for the inaugural fall semester. To date, we have enrolled more than 25,000 students and, so far, we have more than 3,500 entering freshmen. I look forward to officially welcoming them as Vaqueros at Roundup on August 28 and 29. Currently, UTRGV has sent out financial aid offers to more than 20,678 students, for a total of more than $213 million dollars for the coming academic year.
- I am pleased to report 97 percent of the faculty and staff at our legacy institutions have been hired at UTRGV. At this time, we have successfully hired 1,627 staff and 860 faculty members. We continue to fill positions, and we also are conducting active searches for 114 faculty positions and 109 staff positions. View a complete list of all faculty and staff hires.
- Dr. Fannin and Dr. Rodríguez will be hosting meetings for all faculty and staff. Please join us at 1 p.m. Tuesday, August 11, at El Gran Salón in Brownsville and at 10 a.m. Wednesday, August 12, at the Performing Arts Complex in Edinburg. We will provide an update on the official opening of UTRGV and the events celebrating our inaugural year with our students.
- Called “UTRGV’s Best Week Ever,” the Office of University Events and the Office of the Associate Vice President for Student Life & Dean of Students have been busy planning for the first week. Our signature event, “The Stomp,” will bring the campuses and the communities of the Valley together in a festive environment on August 31. I also hope you will come out and support our Vaqueros, as our men and women’s soccer teams kick off their seasons August 28.
This hasn’t been an easy journey, but you should be proud of what you have achieved. People all around the state and nation have been amazed at what you have done, and I am honored to work alongside you.
Guy Bailey
President