UTSA President Ricardo Romo honored by San Anto Cultural Arts

By Kevin Femmel, Student Writer, and Sonia Martinez, Special Assistant to the President

(July 31, 2013) -- San Anto Cultural Arts has announced the selection of UTSA President Ricardo Romo as King Huevo for its 2013 Huevos Rancheros Gala in October.

Each year, San Anto Cultural Arts crowns King and Queen Huevo, two outstanding individuals who have made an impact on the cultural and artistic vibrancy of the San Antonio community. In the 16-year history of the gala, local leaders and artists including Lila Cockrell, Rosemary Kowalski, Carmen Tafolla, Alex Rubio, Juan Miguel Ramos and Cruz Ortiz have been honored.

Romo will accept the award Oct. 5, along with San Anto Cultural Arts 2013 Queen Huevo Maria Lopez de Leon, executive director of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC).

In 2014, Romo will celebrate his 15th year as president of UTSA. Under his leadership, UTSA has become an emerging Tier One research institution. UTSA recently was recognized for the second consecutive year by Times Higher Education as one of the Top 100 Universities in the World Under 50 Years Old. Additionally, in just four years, UTSA has surpassed its $120 million initial financial goal for We Are UTSA -- A Top-Tier Campaign. Campaign gifts have supported student and faculty initiatives across the campuses including the creation of 135 student scholarship funds and 26 endowed faculty positions.

Since Romo joined UTSA in 1999, UTSA has become a university of first choice for students from Texas, across the nation including three U.S. territories and more than 90 countries. As a result, enrollment has grown 68 percent to more than 30,000 students.

Today, more than 58 percent of UTSA students are from underrepresented groups, and 55 percent are first-generation college students. Additionally, approximately 70 percent of UTSA graduates opt to stay in San Antonio, contributing more than $1.2 billion to the city's economy annually.

In addition to leading UTSA, Romo commits a great amount of time to community service. In 2011, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. He also serves as a board member for several nonprofits including Humanities Texas, United Way of San Antonio and the National Western Art Foundation.

Romo and his wife, Harriett, are avid art collectors. More than 60 prints from their collection recently were on display at San Antonio's McNay Museum in the exhibit "Estampas de la Raza." The traveling exhibit portrays the Latino experience in the United States through the work of 44 Mexican-American and Latino artists. These amazing prints are now on view at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and will continue to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, followed by the Vincent Price Art Museum in Los Angeles.

The 2013 Huevos Rancheros Gala will start at 9 a.m. Oct. 5 at Plaza Guadalupe. San Anto Cultural Arts hopes to welcome nearly 800 guests at this year's event, which is expected to raise $40,000. The group's mission is to foster human and community development through community-based arts.

>> Learn more about UTSA President Ricardo Romo.