Transfer student’s achievements among many to be celebrated
Every person who crosses the stage has a story to tell of how they got there. Inevitably, some stories bubble up to the surface and attract a little extra attention.
This weekend, as UTSA graduated more than 3,000 students, I was delighted to read this San Antonio Express-New article about College of Business graduate Mario Telles. Mario, 34, is one of our nontraditional students. In his case, he decided to pursue higher education after being laid off from a comfortable job. In my mind, that alone makes his story one worth sharing.
But Mario further distinguished himself by being one of only 12 graduating seniors in the U.S. to be offered a job with the FDIC. What an achievement!
However, it’s worth noting Mario is typical of UTSA graduates in one significant aspect: he was a transfer student. We know that more than half (51 percent in 2010-2011) of UTSA’s graduates began their higher education at another institution; in Mario’s case, he began his college career at SAC.
Although the university plays an important role in the success of these students, they do not contribute to our four- and six-year graduation rates, which only track students who start at UTSA as freshmen. As a consequence, most of the successful student outcomes produced at UTSA are not captured by this metric.
The week prior to this month’s commencement exercises, we put the finishing touches on the university’s Graduation Rate Improvement Plan (yes, we call it the GRIP), which details a multi-pronged approach aimed at improving UTSA’s four-year graduation rate, currently at 9.6 percent. The drafting of the plan has been two months in the works, and when we come back from the holiday break in January the GRIP team will begin assessing how to implement the plan. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, there are 3,000 success stories to be celebrated.
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

I’ve held faculty forums for each of the colleges this fall, and at each one, I’ve ended my presentation with the image you see above. It is without a doubt my favorite photograph of the university.
On Thursday, Professor Emerita Marian Martinello put the final signature on a memorandum of understanding that formally establishes the UTSA Retired Faculty Association. This is an effort that has been in the works since January, when we first convened 