Message from the Vice President
At the Student Affairs Awards ceremony this spring, Student Affairs staff gave me a wonderful book called Roadrunner's Dance. Many of you had an opportunity to see it as it was passed around so it could be signed. It is a gift I will always cherish.
I thought about Roadrunner's Dance as I sat down to write this. If you didn't see it or don't remember, the book is written by Rudolfo Anaya and illustrated beautifully by David Diaz. Briefly the book tells the story of Rattlesnake who was being a bully, scaring people and animals, and not letting them use the road. So the animals went to Desert Woman for help. Desert Woman said, "If you help me, together we can make a guardian of the road…. I will form the body and each of you will bring a gift for our new friend." Blue Jay brought a long tail, Deer brought two slender mesquite branches so he could run fast, Eagle gave feathers from his own wings, Heron gave a long beak and Coyote gave sharp eyes. Together they created a rather funny looking bird who, at first, struggled to even walk. But following the guidance of Desert Woman, who told him to practice, Roadrunner began to walk, then run and even dance. With his new abilities he challenged Rattlesnake and finally convinced him to share the road with all of the animals and the people.
For the past several days, all of the people of UTSA have come together to create our own Roadrunners' Dance though we call it Roadrunner Days. It took gifts from everyone to put the entire series of events together. And it took a lot of hard work for it all to come together, but come together it all did. It was a wonderful welcome for our newest Roadrunners and great fun for all the returning students.
And everyone really was involved, though like the animals we all brought different gifts and performed different tasks. Some people answered literally thousands of phone calls or answered just as many questions at front desks all across the campus. Your part may have been toting TV's, boxes, suitcases, and more stuff than could possibly fit into a residence hall room. Perhaps it was setting up tables at a fair or handing out water or braving the line of crazed people wanting t-shirts. For some it was making sure our facilities were clean or that registration went smoothly, handing out popcorn or swiping ID cards at Convocation. It doesn't really matter – all of us contributed something toward creating our Roadrunners' Dance/Day.
And for all of that hard work, all of that work done very well, all of the creative energy, and most of all, the boundless positive attitude shown to our students and each other, I thank you. Our opening events were wonderful. Students were welcomed and know they are part of an exciting, dynamic, community - and that's what it's all about.
It looks like we're going to grow again this fall and it certainly feels like it in the parking lots and hallways. So our work isn't done yet. Like the new creature Roadrunner sometimes it takes us a little while to get our legs under us. Sometimes all the parts don't move together in perfect harmony. But, like Roadrunner, if we just keep practicing soon we'll be walking, running, spinning and I know we'll all keep dancing as fast as we can to make this a wonderful place for all the people and the animals.
Again, thank you for all you did to make Roadrunner Days a success and for all you do each and every day.
Best wishes,
Gage
Welcome New Staff to Student Affairs
The University Career Center is pleased to welcome a new career counselor! Serena Chen will be joining the staff on September 1 as a Generalist career counselor. She is a recent grad from UTSA with a Master of Arts degree in Community Counseling. Serena completed a one-year internship in the Career Center at Texas State University and this past spring, she won the San Antonio College & University Career Centers Consortium "Graduate Student Achievement Award". Serena also volunteers as a counselor at SAHELI for Asian families in Austin and works as an interpreter (Mandarin and Taiwanese). We are thrilled that she will be joining our team at UTSA!
Announcements/Departmental Events
Campus Recreation:
Effective Friday, September 4, 2009 Campus Recreation will be opening its doors to all Faculty & Staff members for FREE Fridays. Faculty & Staff are encouraged to come to workout at the Rec free of charge every Friday for the Fall '09 semester. In order to take advantage of this great opportunity, all you have to do is:
1. Complete your Rec Waiver found on ASAP
2. Bring your valid UTSA Card
3. Have FUN!
4. Have a great workout!
Volunteer Opportunities Fairs – It's time to SERVE!
The Fall 2009 Volunteer Opportunities Fairs are a great time to find ways to get involved with community service and volunteerism on and off campus. This year's events are:
Main Campus: Wednesday September 16th – 10:00am – 1:00pm, University Center 1st floor Corridor
Downtown Campus: Thursday September 17th – 10:30am – 1:00pm, Frio St. Commons
Opportunities working with children, elderly, the environment, homeless, and many other social issues are available! Big Brothers Big Sisters, KLRN, The Children's Shelter, and UTSA VOICES will be there with dozens of other agencies and organizations. Door prizes will be given out throughout the events.
For more information, please contact Jennifer Lilly at Jennifer.Lilly@utsa.edu or 458-4770, or stop by the ICE Center front desk.
UCPC Plans Fun for Fall
Magic, music, food and fun are coming to the University Center this fall as the University Center Program Council plans some great September activities for all UTSA students.
First off, the UCPC welcomes magician Justin Kredible for the Outta Control Magic Show on Thursday, September 17, from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the UC Retama Auditorium. A brief reception to greet Justin, along with food, will take place in the Retama Galleria immediately following the performance. Kredible has a dynamic mix of comedy and magic that has quickly established him as one of America's premier performers. No stranger to college crowds, he has been named as Entertainer of the year by Campus Activities Magazine 3 years in a row.
Masters of the spoken word will descend upon the UC for a Poetry Jam on Thursday September 24, at 8:00 p.m.—also in the Retama Auditorium. This event starts a new Poetry Jam series for the UCPC and begins with Jon Goode and Joaquin Zihuatanejo. Poetry Jam events will continue each month and will showcase other nationally recognized slam poets that have all been featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam.
Students can finish their first month back at UTSA with a late night food and live music on Saturday, September 26 from 9:00 p.m. until midnight on the UC Lawn—the curving lawn area surrounded by the MS building, South Parking Garage and the back of the newest University Center addition. Be sure to check the new UC Programs Web site for updated information of this activity, which is part of Roadrunners Late Night.
These fun activities join the weekly cavalcade of events already brought to you by the UCPC. This fall, students can enjoy acoustic singer songwriters on Wednesday nights at 9:00 p.m. On Thursday nights they can express themselves at one of the many planned Open Mic nights. Finally they look forward to all of the summer's blockbuster movies—Transformers, GI Joe, Terminator: Salvation and others— as part of UCinema Nights on Friday's at 9:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 7:00 p.m.
The UCPC is also actively looking for students to join the organization to help plan these and other great activities. To learn more about the organization or to join, stop by their office in UC 1.02.08 or visit the UCPC Web site.
Leader Summit 2009 - Saturday, September 19
Leader Summit is a FREE, one day leadership conference that provides an opportunity for UTSA students to gain invaluable personal development and leadership skills though educational sessions, peer-to-peer interactions and a keynote presentation. We strongly encourage student organizations to send at least five members to this free event. Leader Summit 2009 will be held on Saturday, September 19th from 9:00 am – 4:30 pm at the UC III Ballroom on the 1604 Main campus. The deadline to register is Wednesday, September 9th by noon. The conference is free for UTSA students. Those that register and do not show will be charged $25.
The registration form can be found at http://utsa.edu/sa/leadersummit.html
If you have any questions, please contact Student Activities at (210) 458-4160 or by email.
16th Annual Babcock Road Clean-up – Drivers Needed!
The 16th Annual Babcock Road Clean-up will take place Friday September 25 from 10:00am – 3:00pm. Students, faculty, and staff are invited to be part of this tradition! STUDENT AFFAIRS STAFF DRIVERS ARE NEEDED! 1 hour shifts are available from 10:00am-3:00pm. Participants can come to the Convocation Center for a ride to and from project stops along the route. For more information or to sign up as a driver, email Jennifer.Lilly@utsa.edu or call 458-4770.
Student Affairs and COEHD Publication Collaboration
Shirley Rowe and Stefanie Cisneros of the University Career Center collaborated with Dr. Shane Haberstroh of the COEHD to write "Implementing Virtual Career Counseling and Advising at a Major University" which was published in the July-September 2009 issue of Journal of Cases on Information Technology.
The PDF of the publication may be found here.
New Student Involvement Fair Success!
The Office of Student Activities kicked off the new year by holding the annual New Student Involvement Fair. The Fair is an opportunity for new students to learn about UTSA Student Organizations and allows them to become engaged in the University community through involvement in a Student Organization. There were over 75 organizations present with more than 2000 students participating. This event always has a theme and this year's theme was an 80's theme, My Involvement: Unplugged. It was a take-off of the MTV show of the same name. Students enjoyed getting to know one another, learning about student organizations, and the Office of Student Activities staff enjoyed the event as well.
Pictured in the photo from left to right are Office of Student Activities Staff Members: Francisco Lugo, Gary Handy, Keri Shiplet, Carol Hogan, Misty Kelley, Kelsey Bratcher, Tiffany Carifee, Barry McKinney, John Montoya, Valentina Fridman, Keith Pilger, Michelle Montanio and in front are student assistants Michael Martinez and Alberto Escalante.
Comedian Seth Meyers Entertains Students
Saturday Night Live Head Writer and Anchor of the Weekend Update performed for an audience of almost 3,000 on Wednesday evening. Meyers was one of the highlights of Roadrunner Days and certainly is one of the biggest names to appear at UTSA. This is the sixth year in a row that the major entertainment event has been held on campus. Meyers not only entertained the crowd for almost 70 minutes, he also signed autographs and took time to meet the students after the show. Meyers humor was topical to college students and was well received. Meyers recently has a deal with MTV to develop an animated television show and he is also developing a movie called Key Party. This fall he will anchor Weekend Update on Thursday nights during Primetime and on Saturday Night Live. Immediately after the event, SGA President Matt DeLeon said, "This is the best Roadrunner Days ever!" This event was coordinated by the Office of Student Activities and the Campus Activities Board. The Campus Activities Board plans and produces several events throughout the school year including Best Fest in October and FIESTA UTSA in April.
Photos of the event
Photo Galleries
Rowdy Spirit Welcome Dinner - August 21, 2009
Late Night at the Rec - August 22, 2009
Dive into the UC - August 23, 2009
During the Dive into the UC event The Office of Student Judicial gave students the opportunity to pin the gumdrop on the gingerbread man, but with a twist. Students wore goggles that simulated different levels of alcohol impairment. The purpose of this activity was to help students understand how alcohol impacts their spatial perceptions, especially when driving a car.
Photos
Convocation - August 24, 2009
Vendor Fair - August 25, 2009
Cultural Connections - August 25, 2009
President's Picnic in the Sombrilla - August 26, 2009
Howdy Rowdy Bash - August 27, 2009
Howdy Rowdy Bash was held as part of Roadrunner Days. This year, a new concept was introduced which allowed for members of the UTSA community to compete against either the coaches or our student athletes in a sports activity amongst all of our sports.
The event started with a "Knock-Out" competition between students and the basketball coaches, including head men's basketball coach, Brooks Thompson. One lucky student has the bragging rights to say that she beat the UTSA coaches.
Other highlights included Rowdy's entrance with Women's Basketball Coach, Rae Blair. After the "competitive" events, participants enjoyed free ice cream and had the opportunity to meet the student athletes during a meet and greet. This event was a collaboration between the Campus Activities Board, the Office of Student Activities, the Athletic Department, and the Music Department.
Photos
President's BBQ - August 27, 2009
Fajita Fest - August 27, 2009
The annual Fajita Fest, hosted by the fraternity and sorority community, was a great success with twenty four fraternity and sorority organizations and over 1000 students present. Attendees were able to grab a fajita to eat, learn more about the four Greek Councils and meet the members that make up the fraternity and sorority chapters. Each council had a representative introduce the council, their chapters and upcoming events. Events can be found on the Greek Life website.
This event served as a great way to welcome new and current students back to school and introduce them to the fraternity and sorority community. This fall semester the community also has four fraternities and sororities expanding to the UTSA campus. These organizations include Delta Xi Nu Sorority, Inc., Iota Nu Delta Fraternity, Inc., Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, and Zeta Tau Alpha women's Fraternity.
Photos
Athletics
All Sport Schedule - Area Events
| Tue, Sep 8 | VB | Cal State Bakersfield | San Antonio, Texas | 6:30 p.m. |
| Fri, Sep 11 | WS | Utah State | San Antonio, Texas | 7 p.m. |
| Sun, Sep 13 | WS | Rice | San Antonio, Texas | 1 p.m. |
Business Procedures Tips
Budgeted positions must be fully funded with permanent dollars prior to creating and routing the appointment in DEFINE.
Have a Business Procedures Tip to share? Please send it to Bob Miller.
For previous Business Procedures Tips, please visit the archive.
Wellness Tips
Exercise CAN help you control stress. Here are just four ways that it can help:
1) Exercise can help decrease anxiety-science has proven this!
2) Exercise can relax you- one exercise session generates 90-120 minutes of relaxation response.
3) Exercise can help your self-esteem-feelings of self-worth contribute to stress relief.
4) Exercise can help you eat better-Good nutrition helps your body manage stress better AND those
who exercise regularly tend to each more nutritious foods.
Also remember that the primary factor in choosing an exercise activity is whether or not you enjoy it because that will determine whether or not you stick with it!
Heather Stark
Assistant Director of Fitness & Wellness
Campus Recreation
heather.stark@utsa.edu
Thank You Rowdy
Thank You Rowdy has a special mission in Student Affairs - to travel across UTSA recognizing the good work of staff members. Within the Division of Student Affairs, Thank You Rowdy is presented from one Student Affairs staff member to another in recognition and appreciation of work done well - taking extra assignments to provide support, offering unsolicited assistance, or completing tasks in a unique way. Whatever the situation, contributions like this are made every day and Thank You Rowdy helps us recognize them.
Thank you Rowdy reflects UTSA's spirit of community and reminds us to remember it takes everyone to make UTSA a great place to work and to learn.
- Gage Paine
Thank You Rowdy is presently visiting with
David Longoria and Alejandra Gonzalez
See past Thank You Rowdy Recipients
To: David Longoria and Alejandra Gonzales, Office of Financial Aid - ESC
From: Aida Trujillo, Office of the Registrar
As I take a look at the work I process for residency, it requires I research and analyze documents submitted by students before I can determine their residency status. Many times I've called upon the assistance of my fellow Student Affair employees, David Longoria and Alejandra Gonzales who are always willing to assist me, although many deserve the honor, it gives me great pleasure to pass "Thank You Rowdy" to these two well deserving individuals who always go beyond the call of duty by providing excellent customer service to others and me. They take the extra step by providing me with copies that were scanned in their area and walk the documents over to our department.
David and Alejandra are always willing to assist me by looking up documents the students turn in at the Enrollment Service Counter, and never get received in our area. They take time off their busy schedule to make a print of the document(s) and walk it over to me. There have been times when I needed to verify if the student applying for residency is being claimed as a dependent by the parent on Income Tax documents. So, before I determine residency for a student, I make certain all documents have been reviewed and his file updated. This process could not be done without the assistance of employees like David and Alejandra who take pride in their work in helping others to complete their work.
Thank you both for the assistance and help.
Aida
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Alejandra and David receive Rowdy from Aida. |
Kudos
To: Kim Ellicks-Center- Associate Director of Housing
From: Jeff Mayo- Assistant Director of Admissions
RE: ACCI Thanks
Kim,
It is hard for me to believe that ACCI started just over a month again, but time seems to fly as we prepare for the fall. Although delayed, I wanted to thank you and your staff for helping to make ACCI a success. The participants reported that they were overwhelmingly satisfied on the post-event surveys. And despite a few people contacting me about keys expiring early, the only comments I heard about the facilities were filled with awe over how nice the rooms were in Laurel Village. With nearly 120 admissions and high school counselors in attendance, such praise will help students across the state learn what we already know; that UTSA is a welcoming campus with beautiful, new facilities. Also, please let your front desk students, RA's and their supervisors know how much we appreciated their hard work and kindness. They were always courteous when any of the guests, including myself, needed anything during the day or after business hours.
I am sure that we are not even close to the largest group you had this summer. But, we are grateful for the time and resources dedicated by your staff for ACCI. Please pass this message along to your supervisor and anyone who helped with the event.
Thanks again for your all your help!
Jeffrey Mayo
To: Barry McKinney; Francisco Lugo Carmona; Gary Handy; John Montoya; Keith Pilger; Kelsey Bratcher; Keri Shiplet;
Michelle Montanio; Carol Hogan; Carol J Lee; Tiffany Carifee; Valentina Fridman
From: Misty Kelley- Associate Director of Student Activities
RE: Thank you!!
Thank you all so much for stepping up and helping out today at the New Student Involvement Fair. Every one pitched in where needed and asked how they could help. It was nice to know that someone was only a call away to do something. Today, we worked like a well-oiled machine; a sign of a great team. Without you all this event would have not been as successful as it was.
Again, thank you!!
Misty
To: Marisol Scheer and the Rowdy Spirit Welcome Dinner committee
From: John Kaulfus- Associate Dean of Students
RE: Employee Recognition
Kudos to Marisol Scheer and her Rowdy Spirit Welcome Dinner committee for an outstanding Roadrunner Days opening night program! We had over 500 housing residents and their families enjoy dinner at the Roadrunner Café on the first day of move-in along with meeting the cheerleaders and learning about school spirit, pride, and traditions. The students and their parents were very appreciative after a long, hot day of moving in and unpacking.
John Kaulfus
To: Karen Ivy and Tiana Terry
From: Susan Dollar- Director of Career Services
RE: University Career Center kudos
Another one of our career counselors, Karen Ivy, was recently invited to attend an Educator's Orientation Visit hosted by the U.S. Navy in San Diego, California. Not only did Karen learn a great deal about the programs and education that the Navy provides, she was the only guest to complete the 12 mile run with the hosting officers! Way to go, Karen!
Thanks to Tiana Terry, our Events Coordinator, and our Employer Relations team, the University Career Center hosted two hugely successful job fairs on Thursday, August 27. Twenty-six employers attended the Part-Time Job Fair and talked to the several hundred students that came through the morning fair. In the afternoon, the Work Study Job Fair had 27 campus departments that participated, along with over 1000 students! Employers were thrilled with the turnout of students and hopefully, our students will be thrilled with the jobs they secured!
To: Charlin Jones, Martha LaRoque, Tammy Casas
From: Kelsey Bratcher
RE: Banner Questions
Thank you Charlin for connecting me with Martha and Tammy for the banner number questions! Martha and Tammy, you made my day with your expertise in excel and I was able to complete my project with success! If it weren't for you…I would still be working on it!
Thank you again for all your help!
To: Student Life Staff
From: Lynn Hickey
RE: Howdy Rowdy Bash
Thanks to all of you for your hard work and support of the event last night. Please pass our appreciation on to the rest of your staff. It was a major step forward in both how organized it was and how you were able to get more students involved. I have heard very positive comments from our staff and student-athletes.
We look forward to meeting with you and visiting about how we can continue to make this event grow. Thank you for being so supportive and caring for our program. We are going to have some great opportunities in the next few years to continue to grow campus life and athletics wants to be a very vital part of those efforts. So please keep us involved and let's keep "testing the waters" to figure out the best way to increase student involvement.
Thank you for all your efforts to grow Roadrunner Pride and Traditions – you all are helping to make history!
To: Kelsey Bratcher– Assistant Director of Student Activities for READ
From: Keri Shiplet– Assistant Director of Student Activities for Greek Life
RE: Thank You
Thank you for all you did with the card swipes for Roadrunner Day's. The countless hours and computer reboots it took for you to get them ready for each event and produce detailed information for each event organizer that utilized them was greatly appreciated.
~Keri
To: Zwisel Gandia– Residence Hall Coordinator
From: Keri Shiplet– Assistant Director of Student Activities for Greek Life
RE: Thank You
Thank you for your continued support of the Office of Student Activities events and programs. You actively pitch in as a staff member if needed and your visibility is important to the students.
Sincerely,
Keri
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NOTE:
Please submit all newsletter entries by 5:00 pm, Tuesday, September 8, 2009, to
VPSAmedia@utsa.edu