Spring 2022 semester brings bold new opportunities for UTSA

JANUARY 18, 2022 —  Classes begin today at UTSA, where more than 34,000 students are pursuing bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in a variety of disciplines. The new semester begins on the heels of the university’s announcement last month that it has attained the prestigious Carnegie R1 classification, the highest designation for U.S. research institutions.

Due to rising local infection rates caused COVID-19’s Omicron variant, UTSA is taking several public health measures to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the Roadrunner community. Most students will take their spring classes online for the first three weeks of the semester before shifting to their scheduled teaching modality. Faculty and staff will work remotely during the same time frame.

UTSA continues to encourage Roadrunners to roll up their sleeves and get their vaccines and boosters. This spring, the university will host on-campus clinics throughout the semester to make it as easy as possible for students, faculty and staff to protect themselves and others against COVID.

At the same time, mandatory COVID-19 testing requirements will continue for students, faculty and staff who have symptoms of COVID-19 and/or have had a high-risk exposure to someone with COVID-19. Convenient and fast testing will remain available on the Main Campus to all Roadrunners while the self-reporting tool makes it easy to notify the university if you have been exposed to COVID, have symptoms or test positive. To date, more than 30,000 COVID tests and 6,000 COVID vaccines have been administered at UTSA clinics.

Although most courses will be held online for the first three weeks of the semester, UTSA’s campuses will remain open to students, faculty, staff and campus visitors. The university is continuing to highly encourage social distancing and face coverings on campus. Visit the Roadrunner Roadmap website for the latest information about safety protocols.

Student health, counseling and mental health services will continue to be offered in-person and virtually and the university’s transit system, The ’Runner, will offer normal routes and hours this semester.

To prevent the spread of COVID, the Libraries, the Student Union, Campus Recreation, the Rowdy Campus Store and UTSA Dining will be open with modified hours and public health protocols.

To ensure that students develop a sense of belonging within the UTSA community, UTSA will offer Roadrunner Days from January 14 to 29. This series of events is designed to help new and returning students make friends, learn about academic success resources, experience campus traditions, and find new ways to get involved in the UTSA community. In-person and virtual options are available to accommodate students living on campus and those taking classes remotely. View the complete Roadrunner Days schedule online.

This spring semester will also see continued progress on many key campus construction projects.

Notably, UTSA will complete work on its long-awaited School of Data Science (SDS)/National Security Collaboration Center (NSCC) at the Downtown Campus. The 167,000-square-foot, six-story structure on 506 Dolorosa St. will anchor UTSA to the city’s prospering high-tech corridor and serve as a catalyst for workforce development and job creation. The university is on schedule to complete construction this fall and to fully welcome students, faculty and the community to the building by January 2023.

The SDS, the first of its kind in Texas, is a cornerstone in UTSA’s long-term plan to inspire and prepare a generation of diverse data scientists who can make our world more equitable, informed and secure. The new school will bring together multiple degree programs and include research labs dedicated to artificial intelligence, cloud and edge computing, data engineering, digital humanities and health analytics.  

The NSCC, which will be co-located in the SDS, is an ecosystem that includes more than 60 federal, academic and industry officials collaborating on research, education and workforce development in the cyber and national security sector, including their intersections with bioscience, policy and data science.

UTSA is also making progress on its Heart of the Campus project, a comprehensive upgrade to the third floor of the John Peace Library that is slated for completion this summer. When complete, the north and south portions of the area will boast large floor-to-ceiling windows that will brighten up the third floor. 

— Tricia Lynn Silva