MARCH 7, 2025 — More than 40 UTSA students, faculty and staff learned about artificial intelligence applications and had an opportunity to connect with industry leaders at a Lunch & Learn event presented recently by Rackspace. This was the second year Rackspace hosted the event, in collaboration with University Technology Solutions’ (UTS) Bold Careers Interns and Ambassadors Program (Bold Careers).
The UTS Bold Careers program connects students with internships and ambassador opportunities around campus and through a network of state and national partners. Its goal is to help students establish professional relationships, learn about industry trends and explore employment opportunities.
Rackspace, a hybrid multi-cloud service pioneer, founded in San Antonio, has a long history of supporting UTSA and its students.
“UTSA is heavily involved in educating their students, staff and faculty on how to understand the complexities of artificial intelligence. Today’s event offered a vision in applying AI in business and cloud,” said Jason Wicker, chief architect for Rackspace Technology. “San Antonio is in a unique place for artificial intelligence research because of the triumvirate with academic, military and technology companies.”
The keynote focused on the responsible and practical use of AI. This stems from the company’s recent AI adoption, The Foundry for AI by Rackspace (FAIR), which aims to help facilitate the use of generative AI in all industries. The conversation touched on multiple topics, such as Rackspace’s FAIR AI principles, which emphasize the ethical and sustainable use of AI to promote ingenuity and decision-making. It also expanded on security, the pros and cons of open-source, and the optimization of AI.
The responsible use of AI is significant because of the inevitable integration into business’ core operations.
Pitman Kennedy, an innovation program manager with the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center and a partner of Joint Base San Antonio, discussed how events like this week’s Lunch and Learn are important for his workflow.
He states that “having the ability to network and understand who the capability owners are — who has what — in an effort to solve your requirements and fill your operational gaps. Hopefully by the end of the event you can merge and fill the gap.”
“Our experiential learning partnership with Rackspace has served as an outstanding opportunity for our students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community to explore not only the current technology trends but delve far into the future,” said Vanessa Hammler Kenon, UTSA associate vice president of Technology Compliance and Community Engagement. “Programs like this one expand on the UTSA mission in both the areas of experiential learning as well as community engagement.”
By 2028, UTSA aims to have 75% of its students participate in one or more experiential learning opportunities. Initiatives such as the UTS Bold Careers Program are helping the university reach that goal.
This program is also aligned with UTSA’s Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation, recognition that validates its commitment and positive impact on the economy and surrounding communities.
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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.
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