FEBRUARY 21, 2025 — This week, UTSA celebrated teaching excellence and innovation during the third annual Celebrate Teaching Week, hosted by the Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars (ADTS) in collaboration with partners across Academic Affairs.
The week’s highlights included a student panel on transformative teaching practices, a teaching showcase and several other events recognizing UTSA’s commitment to teaching excellence.
“Faculty dedication and innovation are key elements of UTSA’s student-centered culture,” said Heather Shipley, UTSA provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “Celebrate Teaching Week recognizes their pivotal role in student success, while providing an opportunity to explore new approaches to teaching, exchange ideas and reinforce our shared commitment to excellence in education.”
UTSA’s dedication to teaching excellence has earned recognition at the state and national levels, with faculty and programs consistently honored for their contributions to student learning. The university is home to four recipients of the prestigious Piper Professor Teaching Award and nearly 40 recipients of the UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award. Additionally, the university recognizes exceptional faculty each year for teaching excellence and core curriculum teaching.
Driven by UTSA Academic Innovation, the university fosters a dynamic culture of faculty development, empowering instructors to enhance their teaching and support student success. On average, 40-60% of UTSA faculty engage in professional development opportunities, compared to the national average of 25-30%. Academic Innovation helps faculty connect with nationally recognized certifications and microcredential courses through the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE). More than 100 instructors across all colleges have earned ACUE Teaching Fellow certification and actively apply evidence-based teaching practices to promote student success.
Additional faculty development opportunities include workshops and faculty learning communities, like the Faculty Champions, GenerativeAI Peer Learning Network and the Civil Discourse Faculty Learning Community, all of which contribute to a more engaging and effective learning environment. Faculty-driven experiential learning initiatives — such as community-based projects and hands-on research — further bridge classroom knowledge with real-world applications, preparing students for success in today’s workforce.
Throughout the week, faculty had opportunities to share experiences, explore new strategies, and engage in conversations about effective teaching practices. Celebrate Teaching Week serves as a reminder that teaching excellence is a shared value at UTSA — one that continues to transform lives and empower the next generation of leaders.
The UTSA Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars provides institutional leadership in advancing teaching excellence across the university. Established in 2012, the ADTS recognizes outstanding faculty who have received prestigious honors such as the UT System Regents' Outstanding Teaching Award or the Piper Professor Teaching Award. Members serve as long-term advocates for innovative and effective instruction, mentoring faculty, hosting forums on teaching strategies and student engagement, and advising the provost on matters related to teaching and learning across the university.
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Día en la Sombrilla, formerly Fiesta UTSA, is a festival hosted each spring as a part of Fiesta® San Antonio events. Sponsored by Roadrunner Productions, the event features music, food, confetti, games, event t-shirts, and more.
Sombrilla Plaza, Main CampusCovidence is a systematic & scoping review tool used to streamline the process of screening and reviewing articles. Using this software, research teams can easily import studies, perform automatic deduplication, and extract data using templates. This workshop will show attendees how to start a review in Covidence, add collaborators, and get started on screening.
Virtual (Zoom)In this workshop, attendees will be introduced to Pandas, a Python tool for working with data easily. It makes it simple to organize and analyze information when data is organized and categorized, like spreadsheets or tables.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryEach fall and spring semester, students convene at the Main Campus at UTSA with booths, ideas and prototypes. A crowd of judges, local organizations, students, faculty and sponsors walk around and talk to the students about their projects and ask questions. Students get the real-life experience of "pitching" their project with hopes of getting funding or support to move to the next level.
UTSA Convocation Center, Main CampusJoin the doctoral candidates for the Doctoral Conferreal Ceremony and celebrate their accomplishments.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusCelebrate the graduates from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
AlamodomeCelebrate the graduates from the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
AlamodomeThe 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, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
