Message from the Provost: Celebrating our faculty for their instructional excellence

Dear Colleagues,
I am so pleased to help kick off an exciting week of activities honoring our outstanding UTSA faculty during our 2023 Celebrate Teaching Week.
This week is particularly significant because of the important and pivotal role our UTSA faculty play in the success of our students and in advancing the university’s mission.
Teaching is the foundation of all we do at UTSA. The instructional excellence by our faculty fosters excitement for the topic and the accompanying deep learning that provides the solid foundation of knowledge that enables our students to excel in their careers.
Our UTSA faculty strengthen the student experience through the countless ways in which they also connect with students as mentors and advisors. They demonstrate daily their dedication to education by inspiring, motivating and challenging our students.
As educational visionaries, our faculty understand that teaching is not limited to the classroom. Through innovative, transformational learning experiences, both in and out of the classroom UTSA faculty prepare our students with the knowledge and skills to chart their bold futures.
The application of classroom learning — enriched through learning by doing in the many classroom to career experiences offered at UTSA — is the formula that gives our students a valuable advantage to surpass the competition in the job market and attain career success.
Outstanding educators, to be sure.
Indeed, UTSA faculty are second to none. Our educators hail from the finest institutions around the world. And they bring that knowledge and expertise, along with the best educational practices, to benefit our students through impactful research, engaging curricula and deep collaboration.
I’m proud of our efforts to recruit, hire and retain faculty from diverse backgrounds. In particular, UTSA is second among HSI R1 institutions in percentage of Tenured and Tenured-Track faculty who identify as Hispanic and Latino. With unique perspectives and experiences, UTSA’s diverse educators serve as powerful mentors and role models for our students, offering them a direct opportunity to see what is possible to achieve through the power of an education.
I am honored to count among our ranks:
- 3 National Academy of Engineering members,
- 2 National Academy of Medicine members,
- 3 Piper Professors,
- 35 current UT Regents Outstanding Teaching Award Recipients, and
- 3 UT System Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars.
We are grateful, as we mark our first year as a Carnegie R1 university, for our faculty’s hard work and dedication to academic and research excellence. Their many contributions were vital to our success in reaching this important milestone in our UTSA history.
And just as our faculty support our students’ success, in Academic Affairs, we remain deeply committed to supporting our faculty. Whether through opportunities in professional development, course enhancement and digital tool integration in our new Academic Innovation Center or through renovated classrooms and learning environments with innovative instructional technologies to address teaching and learning needs, we will continue to provide new opportunities for our faculty to enhance their curricula, explore new technologies and elevate the educational experience provided to our students.
I want to thank the UTSA Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars for their vision to host Celebrate Teaching Week. I’d also like to thank my Academic Affairs colleagues in the divisions of Academic Innovation, Faculty Success and Student Success who have joined forces with ADTS to support this week’s festivities.
As your chief academic officer, I encourage everyone in our UTSA community to show support for our educators by participating in the activities planned from February 20-24 during Celebrate Teaching Week.
Once again, thank you to our faculty for the impact you make every day on the lives of our students, you are the heart of our UTSA community!