Dear UTA campus community,

I hope that each of you had an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend and were able to relax with family and friends.

Since my arrival approximately a month ago, I have been so very warmly welcomed to the Maverick family. During this time, I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting nearly 4,500 students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, and supporters of UTA in more than 40 events, including one fabulous BBQ. Among many others, I’ve met with:

I have been sharing many of these engagements on my Twitter and LinkedIn accounts, as well as the presidential website. Along the way, I have shared countless examples of UTA pride, energy, and optimism for the future of our University.

In all of these interactions and meetings, I learned so much from you, and I appreciate the patience you’ve shown in answering my questions and helping me learn our UTA lingo. Our campus community asked for stronger communication, greater transparency in decision-making, and an increased focus on bolstering our reputation and visibility.

In my first-day message, I shared the following areas of strategic focus: People and Culture, Student Success, Research and Innovation, and Alumni and Community Engagement. The campus-wide listening and discussions I have embarked upon and will continue over the course of the summer will significantly define these and will assist us in identifying both near- and longer-term elements to enact or implement. In the first 30 days we have already begun to work toward making positive changes for our campus, including the examples below.

People and Culture

Our employees are one of our institution’s greatest strengths and assets, and for the University to achieve its goals and reflect its commitment to our people, we must invest in our employees.

As part of our collective efforts to focus on our people and the University’s culture, the following initiatives have been implemented or are planned:

Student Success

UTA has a long history of providing a quality education to a diverse population of students and providing access to that education throughout their lifetime. However, today’s students face a vastly different, rapidly evolving, and challenging educational landscape. For our students to succeed, we need to focus on helping them graduate and preparing them for success after graduation. To achieve these outcomes, we shall focus on:

Research and Innovation

As an R-1 and Texas Tier One university, much is expected of us. It is critically important that we build upon our University’s record of success by investing in our research capabilities and strengthening our high-impact research initiatives.

To help us chart substantive progress in achieving these goals, we shall begin with the following:

Alumni and Community Engagement

Our future successes will be underpinned by the support of our alumni and the vitality of our renewed and future external relationships. We should foster positive alumni and community engagement and create opportunities to connect to the University. We will be able to grow a more vibrant and broader Maverick community through:

Looking Forward

I am encouraged by what I learned and heard in my first 30 days. I am equally excited to expand and continue my listening and conversation tour during the summer months.

I ask for your ongoing help to chart together a path to where we will go next. Please share your ideas with me and visit the Office of the President website and my Twitter account, where I will be regularly providing updates on our progress.

Again, thank you so much for the warm welcome into the UTA family. I look forward to what we will do together to make UTA one of the nation’s most inclusive and impactful research universities. MavUp!