Dear Alumni and Friends:

Welcome to a new academic year at The University of Texas-Pan American. We hope that 2009-2010 is as eventful as the previous one as UTPA has plenty to be proud of.

Over the past year UTPA has celebrated several distinctions that have put us on the map, including being ranked for the first time by Forbes magazine as one of country’s best public colleges in its “America’s Best Colleges 2009” listing. Being ranked 32nd out of 600 colleges and universities nationwide by this major publication shows us UTPA is making waves in the world of academia. You should be very proud of the recognition.

Another highlight this past year was the awarding of the University’s 50,000th bachelor’s degree during summer commencement. What an achievement that was. Since our inception in 1927, UTPA has come a long way from a two-year college to the 10th largest public institution of higher education in Texas. To commemorate the many lives we have changed and will continue to change in the future, UTPA created a Web page for our alumni to share how UTPA has made a difference in their lives. We really want to hear from you and hope you share your story with us at ur.utpa.edu/graduation.

This summer UTPA saw its fiscal year 2010 operating budget approved for more than $243 million by The University of Texas System Board of Regents. Resources will be directed to the most essential needs of UTPA, including investing in new academic programs, retaining faculty and staff and enhancing services provided to students and the community. I believe higher education fared much better than most of us expected going into the legislative session, as we were all committed to balancing the budget without any negative impact on our core activities of teaching, research and service. This is a great start to the 2009-2010 academic year.

If you have not heard about it already, UTPA has expanded its outreach to the community
and opened a McAllen Teaching Site, which opened its doors to more than 200 students this fall. Offering 12 graduate-level courses in 14 sections, this facility should make life easier for some of our students to accomplish their educational goals. We are not done yet; next summer we look forward to opening our permanent Starr County Upper-Level Center, which will save students in that area travel time and money.

With the fall 2009 semester underway, I hope that we continue to maintain the
momentum we have created and move forward to a brighter future for UTPA.

Sincerely,

Charles A. Sorber
Interim President
The University of Texas-Pan American