March 2011, Issue 6
Message from the Vice President
Dr. Gage E. Paine
As educators and members of an academic community, we say we value life-long learning. We say we try to share that value with students. Do we practice life-long learning? I hope so. Do we share what we learn with others? Clearly we do – look at the wonderful presentations at round one of the Third Annual Student Affairs Conference. If you weren’t able to attend yesterday, I highly encourage you to join in on April 5th. It will be worth your time. For more information click Student Affairs Conference.
In the spirit of sharing our learning, here are a few things I’ve learned as I’ve gone about my way the past couple of weeks.
• UTSA staff from many departments have done, and are continuing to do, an amazing amount of work dedicated to making sure that for 6 days this fall the Alamodome will be the place to be in San Antonio. For a taste of the fun you might consider going to the spring football scrimmage on April 9th.
• The Higher Education Coordinating Board has begun an initiative to create a college-going culture in Texas in one generation. Called Generation Texas, it has a local affiliate, GenTexSA. I expect we’ll see a number of ways UTSA will partner with them in the future. http://gentx.org/
• You can scream and yell – a lot – for your basketball team and no one will complain, even if you are in a hotel room. I was attending the NASPA conference when the Men’s Basketball Team played for and won the Southland Conference Tournament. I watched on TV from Philadelphia! Go Runners!
• The Liberty Bell and Independence Hall are nowhere near the Philadelphia Museum of Art (where Rocky ran up the steps). But you can walk it, if you’re prepared for a full afternoon. (see photos)
• UTSA staff members do great conference sessions on the road as well as at home. UTSA was very visible at NASPA showcasing the great work we are doing. (see Announcements)
• If you want to fly from Philadelphia to Dayton, Ohio, your choices are to go through Washington, DC, Newark, Chicago or Detroit. I chose Detroit and made it in time to join a small but loud group of fans in cheering the Basketball team on to their first win an NCAA Tournament.
• It’s a 3 and ½ hour bus ride from Dayton to Cleveland. Students can stay awake the entire time – even if, or maybe because, the trip started at 11PM.
• St. Paddy’s Day is very big in Cleveland and Cleveland is the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame located near Lake Erie. (It’s located there because Cleveland claims to be the birthplace of Rock and Roll or at least of the term.)
• With a little downtime between basketball games, even I can learn to use Twitter. I now have two accounts, one for all things UTSA (UTSA_VPSA) and one for my random thoughts and interests (leadersdance).
• Last, but certainly not least, I continue to learn of the many amazing things our students and alumni do. Players, band members and cheerleaders were great ambassadors on the road. Alumni from New York, Ohio and San Antonio were willing to make the trip to Ohio to cheer for their alma mater. Other students and alumni quietly represent us just as well whether it’s through their art (go by Gallery 23 in the UC to see what I mean) or their academic projects as presented at the Alvarez Expo this week. We are privileged to work with great people every day. I hope I’m lucky enough to share my learning with some of them. I know I’m lucky to have the opportunity to learn from students and colleagues every day I’m at UTSA.
What have you learned in the last couple of weeks?
Best wishes,
Gage