The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kn ...

with multiple campuses throughout the

Rio Grande Valley The Lower Rio Grande Valley ( es, Valle del Río Grande), commonly known as the Rio Grande Valley or locally as the Valley or RGV, is a region spanning the border of Texas and Mexico located in a floodplain of the Rio Grande near its mouth. Th ...

region of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and is the southernmost member of the

University of Texas System The University of Texas System (UT System) is an American government entity of the state of Texas that includes 13 higher educational institutions throughout the state including eight universities and five independent health institutions. The UT& ...

. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 after the consolidation of the University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College and the University of . In 2019 The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley enrolled in the fall 29,619 students, making the public university the ninth-largest university in the state of Texas and the fourth largest (student enrollment) academic institution in The University of Texas system. In 2018, UTRGV is also one of the largest universities in the U.S. to have a majority

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

student population; 89.2% of its students are Hispanic, virtually all of them Mexican Americans. It was classified in 2020 among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

History

On December 6, 2012, the University of Texas System Board of Regents approved a proposal to merge, eliminating both The University of Texas–Pan American and The University of Texas at Brownsville/Texas Southmost College, and create The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in their place. The new institution was planned to include a medical school and have access to the Texas

Permanent University Fund The Permanent University Fund (PUF) is a sovereign wealth fund created by the State of Texas to fund public higher education within the state. A portion of the returns from the PUF are annually directed towards the Available University Fund (AU ...

(PUF). Texas

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Rick Perry signed SB 24 into law, approving the creation of the new university in June 2013. In December 2013, the UT System Board of Regents voted to name the new institution The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). Dr. Guy Bailey was selected as the founding university president. Dr. Bailey, in turn, selected Dr. Havidan Rodriguez as the founding Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs (EVPAA), and Dr. Janna Arney as Deputy President. In late August 2017, Dr. Havidan Rodriguez resigned his position as Provost/EVPAA to become the 20th President of The

University at Albany, SUNY The State University of New York at Albany, commonly referred to as the University at Albany, UAlbany or SUNY Albany, is a public research university with campuses in Albany, Rensselaer, and Guilderland, New York. Founded in 1844, it is one ...

. After his resignation was approved, Dr. Bailey appointed Dr. Patricia Alvarez McHatton as the interim provost and vice president for academic affairs. In November 2014, the UT System Board of Regents approved the "Vaqueros" as the athletic nickname for University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. They also approved the official colors of blue, green, and orange. The university officially opened on August 31, 2015, with UT System chancellor

Bill McRaven William Harry McRaven (born November 6, 1955) is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral who served as the ninth commander of the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) from August 8, 2011 to August 28, 2014. From 2015 to 2018, ...

, U.S. Representative

Rubén Hinojosa Rubén Eloy Hinojosa (born August 20, 1940) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for , from 1997 to 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district stretched from Seguin (east of San Antonio), to McAllen ...

and Texas State Senator Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa attending the flag-raising ceremony. McRaven said, "One hundred years from now, Texas will look back and say that this day changed Texas forever." To honor the largest donation in the history of higher education in the Rio Grande Valley, the College of Business and Entrepreneurship was named Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship. Robert C. Vackar, CEO of Bert Ogden Auto Group donated $15 million in the form of an endowment to the college.

Campuses and buildings

The university's property totals 550 acres. UTRGV owns 105 buildings; some of the properties include: * Brownsville, Texas ** The Brownsville Campus (REGIONAL) ** Casa Bella ** Cueto House ** Lucerna House ** Resaca Plaza ** Vaquero Plaza ** Stargate * Edinburg, Texas ** The Edinburg Campus (MAIN CAMPUS) ** Alumni Center ** Community Engagement and Student Success Building ** Visual Arts Building ** Advanced Tooling Engineering Center *

McAllen, Texas McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...

** McAllen Teaching Site * Harlingen, Texas ** Academic and Clinical Research Building ** Pump House ** Clinical Education Building *

Rio Grande City, Texas Rio Grande City is a city in and the county seat of Starr County, Texas. The population was 14,411 at the time of the 2020 census. The city is west of McAllen. The city also holds the March record high for the United States at . The city is c ...

** UTRGV at Starr County *

South Padre Island, Texas South Padre Island is a resort town in Cameron County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Brownsville– Harlingen Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,066 at the 2020 census. The town is located on South Padre Island, a ba ...

** Coastal Studies Lab Students and employees with dependent children may live in the Village Apartments in the Edinburg Campus or the Casa Bella Apartments in the Brownsville campus. The Village Apartments is zoned to: the following Edinburg CISD schools: De La Viña Elementary School, B. L. Garza Middle School, Edinburg North High School.

Academics

Rankings

UTRGV offers 64 bachelor's, 49 master's, and 4 doctoral programs (in addition to 2 cooperative doctoral programs). For the Academic Year 2015–2016, 92.7% of enrolled students came from the Cameron,

Hidalgo Hidalgo may refer to: People * Hidalgo (nobility), members of the Spanish nobility * Hidalgo (surname) Places Mexico * Hidalgo (state), in central Mexico * Hidalgo, Coahuila, a town in the north Mexican state of Coahuila * Hidalgo, Nuevo Le� ...

, Starr, and Willacy counties. The ethnic enrollment is 89.2%

(Fall 2017). In 2017, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine has ranked UTRGV 3rd in the country in awarding bachelor's degrees to Hispanic students.

Financial aid

In 2017, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was ranked No. 6 (out of 56 Texas Universities) for lowest student loan debt in the state of Texas.

Colleges and schools

Eleven colleges and schools formed the academic foundation for UTRGV, including:

Academic accreditation

UTRGV inherited the academic accreditation of its legacy institutions. The university is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UTRGV was notified on December 6, 2016 that it was being placed on a 12-month probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The reason why UTRGV was placed on probation because of the complexity of a transition that involved the separation of UTB/TSC, the separate accreditation of TSC, and the formation of UTRGV. UTRGV will learn of the probation-removal decision by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees in December 2017. The SACSCOC Board of Trustees on December 11 announced it removed The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley from probationary status. The decision by the board to remove UTRGV from probationary status was based on the university successfully addressing the Statewide Single Audit for FY 2017 conducted by the Texas State Auditor's Office. The UTRGV School of Medicine received preliminary accreditation from the

Liaison Committee on Medical Education The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is an accrediting body for educational programs at schools of medicine in the United States and Canada.''Glossary.'' ACGME website. The LCME is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Co ...

in October 2016. In May 2016, the School of Medicine received accreditation from the

Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is the body responsible for accrediting all graduate medical training programs (i.e., internships, residencies, and fellowships, a.k.a. subspecialty programs) for physicians in the ...

(ACGME) to offer a medical residency program in psychiatry.

Proposed expansions

Legislation to establish a law school in UTRGV was introduced by representative Eddie Lucio III in November 2014 but did not pass in the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...

. On May 21, 2019, the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

approved House Bill 103 during the 86th Legislative Session, whose author was Representative Armando Martinez, that calls for the establishment of a public law school in the Rio Grande Valley.

Student life

Prior to the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election, on February 22, 2008, then-Senator

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

visited the UTRGV Edinburg Campus (then known as the

University of Texas-Pan American A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

) to talk to college students about better paying jobs and tuition assistance.

Athletics

The merged university inherited UTPA's Division I membership; most of the athletic facilities are located in Edinburg. They have membership with the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to mos ...

. On November 19, 2016, the UTRGV Women's Volleyball Team defeated the Utah Valley Women's Volleyball team, making them the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Volleyball Champions of 2016.

Mascot

The choice of a new university nickname was met with some contention from members of the communities of the two merged schools. UTPA supporters, the larger of the two merged schools, argued for keeping the UTPA nickname, Broncs, while UTB supporters wanted a nickname new to both merged schools. UTPA Alumnus Alex Del Barrio created a petition to "Say No To Vaqueros" that garnered over 11,000 signatures after the announcement was made. Several local city councils also passed resolutions in support of one option or the other. President Guy Bailey recommended a new nickname,

Vaqueros The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

, to The University of Texas System Board of Regents on November 5, 2014. The suggestion for Vaquero was inspired by the UTPA student Studio Art projects, where the Toro and Vaquero were the most popular projects. Bailey also recommended school's athletic colors be UT System orange, green (formerly the secondary color of UTPA), and blue (formerly the secondary color of UTB). The announcement to the decision generated a swift and mainly negative reaction from some UTPA supporters on social media. These supporters, displeased that the Bronc was being moved to the wayside, determined the name was culturally insensitive, racist, and sexist. Nevertheless, the UT System Board of Regents approved the recommendation the following day, making Vaqueros the fifth NCAA Division I nickname that is a Spanish language word after the

Cal State Northridge Matadors The Cal State Northridge Matadors (branded as the CSUN Matadors) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Northridge in Northridge, Los Angeles, California. The Matadors field 17 teams in nineteen sports. The Matadors ...

UC Santa Barbara Gauchos The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos are the intercollegiate athletic teams who represent the University of California, Santa Barbara. Referred to in athletic competition as ''UC Santa Barbara'' or ''UCSB'', the Gauchos participate in 19 NCAA Division I ...

San Diego Toreros The San Diego Toreros are the 17 teams representing the University of San Diego of San Diego, California in intercollegiate athletics. The Toreros compete in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) of the National Collegiate At ...

, and

New Mexico Lobos The New Mexico Lobos are the athletic teams that represent the University of New Mexico, located in Albuquerque. The university participates in the NCAA Division I in the Mountain West Conference (MW) since 1999, after leaving the Western Athlet ...

. Bailey considered the decision "final" following the approval by the board of regents. About 500 students protested against the Vaquero mascot on the UTPA campus on 13 November 2014. A petition calling for Bailey's immediate resignation garnered more than 700 signatures. Articles of impeachment were filed against the Student Government President Alberto Adame and Vice-President Carla "Fernanda" Pena by Jonathan Lee Salinas (Senator at Large '14–'15) partly for their roles in the mascot committee, though, the impeachment process was ended due to insufficient evidence. Following the protests, the UT System issued a press release supporting the "Vaquero" decision. At the height of the controversy in November 2014, Texas legislator

Terry Canales Terry Canales is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives, serving since 2013. Terry Canales was born in Hidalgo County and is a native of South Texas. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2012 to represent Distri ...

suggested he was considering filing a bill requiring UTRGV to abandon the Vaquero nickname. Canales submitte
HB901
in January 2015. If passed, the legislation would require UTRGV to hold a student election for the athletics nickname, with "Broncs" and "Ocelots" on the ballot. The mascot design was revealed in February 2015. The logo features an orange faced rider in green on a navy blue and green horse. The logo features an outline of Texas in the negative space between the legs of the horse. In June 2019 the new design for The Vaquero Mascot was revealed. The new costumed version of the mascot was voted on and created by UTRGV students.

Notable alumni (including UTPA and UTB/TSC)

Pablo Almaguer Pablo Javier Almaguér (born 1971) is an American lawyer from Texas. He is a former chair of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors. Biography Almaguer was the first legal aid lawyer to serve on the State Bar of Texas Board of Director ...

: Chair of the State Bar of Texas Board of Directors *

Gloria Anzaldúa Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkin ...

: Novelist, Educator, Cultural Theorist * Jose Luis Betancourt, Jr.: Retired Rear Admiral of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Mike Brisky Michael Charles Brisky (born May 28, 1965) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. Brisky attended Pan American University (now called the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley) where he was a st ...

: Former member of the PGA. * Minerva G. Carcaño: Bishop * Oscar Cásares, writer *

Mire Chatman Mire De Juan Chatman (born October 24, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. Standing at 1.87 m (6'2"), he played at the point guard position. He is a Texas Pan American University alumnus who as an American became the all-t ...

: Euro Basketball player * Kika de la Garza: Former U.S. Congressman *

Dan Firova Daniel Michael Firova (born October 16, 1956) is an American professional baseball catcher and coach. He is the quality control coach for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball. As a player, he caught 17 games: 13 in and three in for the ...

: Former MLB baseball player and current Mexican League Manager. * William Garrison: Retired Major General of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

* Apple Green: Retired NBA player * Greg Guy: Former

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

basketball scoring champion * Jim Hickey: MLB Pitching Coach * Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa: Texas State Senator * Perry Hill: MLB Assistant Coach *

: U.S. Congressman *

Lucious Jackson Lucious Brown Jackson (October 31, 1941 – October 12, 2022), also known as Luke Jackson, was an American professional basketball player. A power forward and center, he played for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association ...

: Olympic Gold Medalist and NBA player * Rossy Evelin Lima: Poet * Eddie Lucio: Texas State Senator *

Glenn Martinez Glenn Martínez (born November 30, 1981, in Auburndale, Florida) is a former American football wide receiver. He was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football at Saginaw Valley State Universi ...

: Dean, College of Liberal and Fine Arts, University of Texas San Antonio * Otto Moore: Retired NBA Player * Javier Palomárez: President & CEO,

United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC) is the largest Hispanic business organization in the United States. It was founded in 1979 and is headquartered in Washington, DC. The chamber promotes the economic growth and development o ...

Marshall Rogers William Marshall Rogers III (January 22, 1950 – March 24, 2007),William Marshall Rogers III

: Former NCAA Basketball Scoring Champion * Rogelio Sáenz: Dean, College of Public Policy, University of Texas San Antonio * Paul Michael Stoll (born 1985): American-Mexican basketball player * Fred Taylor: Retired NBA Player * Jim Tyrone: Retired MLB Player and Member of UTPA College World Series Team * Wayne Tyrone: Retired MLB Player and Member of UTPA College World Series Team * George Williams: Retired MLB Catcher *

Jaime Zapata Jaime Jorge Zapata (May 7, 1978 – February 15, 2011) was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent who was ambushed and murdered by the Mexican criminal group Los Zetas in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. ...

, U.S. Homeland Security special agent * Valente Rodriguez: American Actor

References

Notes

External links

*
UTRGV Athletics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Public universities and colleges in Texas

Education in Brownsville, Texas Education in Edinburg, Texas Education in Harlingen, Texas Buildings and structures in Brownsville, Texas Buildings and structures in Edinburg, Texas Buildings and structures in Harlingen, Texas 2015 establishments in Texas Educational institutions established in 2015 Universities and colleges formed by merger in the United States