Editor's note: 2018 was an incredible year for UTSA students, faculty, staff and alumni. It was a year of intense momentum as the university moved forward to become a model for student success, a great research university, and an exemplar for strategic growth and innovative excellence.
Join us as we look back at the top ten news stories of 2018, and experience our biggest accomplishments once again. These stories set a rapid pace of accomplishments going into 2019 and our 50th Anniversary celebration. Here's number nine.
(Dec.22, 2018) -- On Monday, The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) will open a new Dreamers Center to provide support to the university’s DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients and other undocumented students. The center represents a physical expansion of the Dreamers Resource Center website that launched last September, soon after the Trump administration announced its decision to end DACA.
“Given recent indications that DACA may not be resuscitated by Congress, it’s imperative we escalate the support we offer our Dreamers,” said President Taylor Eighmy. “We must do everything we can to ensure they have the right resources and information in the months to come.”
Originally scheduled to open in early February, Eighmy made the decision to accelerate the center’s launch in order to fast-track service delivery. The status of DACA students remains uncertain as negotiations regarding the program’s future continue in Congress.
The university is currently searching for a permanent, full-time Dreamers Center Program Manager to coordinate services, programming and community partnerships. Until that position is filled, Courtney Balderas-Jacob, UTSA assistant director for international student services, will serve as the center’s interim program manager.
“Courtney has been involved from the very beginning in our work to establish the Dreamers Center,” said Elvira Jacquez, assistant vice president for strategic initiatives. “She is a great resource for students seeking referrals and legal assistance, and I know she will do a wonderful job with getting the center up and running. Providing our students with timely, accurate information is the most important thing we can do in our current climate.”
The Dreamers Center will assist undocumented UTSA students with services ranging from legal to financial to emotional. One of the center’s first projects will be to establish a formal agreement with the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES), a local nonprofit that collaborated with UTSA last fall to offer DACA-renewal workshops.
In addition to legal referrals, the center will provide students with referrals and information regarding counseling services, peer mentoring and funding opportunities, as well as educational programming for students, faculty and staff.
The center’s program manager will also work with designated UTSA faculty and staff in departments and offices throughout campus, cultivating a campus-wide referral network for Dreamers.
UTSA’s Dreamers Center will be located in the UTSA Student Union within the Student Center for Community Engagement and Inclusion (UC 2.01.04). Inquiries and appointment requests can be made by calling (210) 458-7777 or emailing dreamers@utsa.edu.
The Dreamers Center will hold an open house for the UTSA community on Monday, January 22 from 10-11 a.m.
Learn more about the UTSA Dreamers Center.
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Archaeology 201 will briefly go over the foundations of archaeology and related skills, followed by a different topic over the course of this week (like skeletal analysis, global cultures, and more).
Center for Archaeological Research, UTSA Main CampusCraft a comic to create your own narrative and find your voice through storytelling. Participants will learn to create characters that are self-reflective and through a community lens.
REGSS Community Room (DB 3.202,) UTSA Downtown CampusJoin the Student Involvement Center and the Whataburger Resource Room (Food-Pantry) for a service project! Help us prepare for the Roadrunner Days Move-In Market on Thursday, July 25 from 11 AM - 2 PM by assisting us with the following volunteer needs. We are preparing for UTSA's largest garage sale, but everything is free for our students!
BK Lot 5 Building (Next to Campus Garden), Main CampusCome enjoy a discussion on art as a self expression in the age of moving technology and telling your story with a community.
REGSS Community Room (DB 3.202,) UTSA Downtown CampusThe UTSA Veteran and Military Office will be holding a social event for our new military-affiliated students to come out and meet our office, staff, and other students.
MB 0.100, Ground Floor Lobby, Main BuildingThe Student Union invites you to join us for Kickback at the Union, a fun event designed to get you acquainted with all of the services available in the Student Union!
Student UnionInterested in learning more about the different fraternities and sororities in the Multicultural Greek Council? Come meet our organizations and enjoy free food and music.
Retama Galleria (SU 2.02,) Main CampusThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.