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Message from Dean Mario Torres
Greetings COEHD faculty and staff,
 
This is Mario Torres, your new Dean of the College of Education and Human Development. I hope you found time over the summer months to relax and recharge. First, I want to express to each of you what a privilege and honor it is for me to serve as your dean. I am thrilled to be joining a college and institution that prioritizes to an equal degree inclusiveness, respect, and high caliber scholarship. In the coming weeks, I look forward to meeting and working with each of you as we continue charting the course to becoming the standard-bearer for research-intensive/Hispanic serving/urban serving universities. As an alum of UTSA, I naturally feel a deeper sense of connection and obligation to this institution and as such pledge to each of you my support in helping you realize your academic/professional goals and aspirations.
 
As you are well aware, the dominant storyline continues to be the “virus” or “viruses” and how they are affecting our way of life. Recently, university leadership (President Taylor Eighmy, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly Andrews Espy and Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President for Business Affairs Veronica Salazar Mendez) announced temporary measures in teaching/working modality to protect the safety and health of our Roadrunner community.
 
Some items of note included the following:
  • Most courses will be held online for the first three weeks of the semester.
    We will begin our semester with most scheduled classes meeting online from August 23 to September 12. This temporary change directly impacts the face-to-face instruction portion of those classes scheduled for traditional in-person or hybrid modality, which will be held online at their regularly scheduled times as listed in ASAP.
     
  • A mandatory COVID-19 testing requirement will be put into place for students, faculty and staff.
    This testing program will be an important step to manage the risk of transmission and help reduce the spread of COVID-19 among the Roadrunner community. More information about the testing requirement will be released soon, including phased scheduling, policies for asymptomatic and symptomatic testing, testing locations, self-reporting, and more.
  • Work Modalities
    Supervisors may consider limiting on-campus personnel to only those employees who are needed to provide in-person services during the modified fall operations period. Departments will determine appropriate on-campus staffing levels according to service and staffing needs, and supervisors will inform employees if they are needed on campus. Wherever possible, departments should continue to offer virtual services.

Telecommuting agreements that were originally set to expire on July 31 have been extended through this period of modified operations. New Work Modality Conditions & Agreement forms that were recently executed will become effective on September 13, pending any extension to these operational modifications.

To read these items in full, please visit: https://www.utsa.edu/today/2021/08/story/modified-fall-semester-operations.html

In closing, I wish to extend my deepest appreciation for the role each of you has played in managing this difficult situation; offering assistance and solutions, being flexible and accommodating, and helping your peers and students cope with struggles of different kinds. Your compassion and commitment are a tribute to the wonderful character of this institution.
 
I realize this has been a trying time for us all but I remain hopeful we will be able to reconvene in person again soon. I’ll keep you posted on any new developments and will be in communication with you regarding upcoming college planning, initiatives, and activities. In the meantime, stay safe. Best wishes for a productive fall semester.
GO RUNNERS!
 
Sincerely,
Mario Torres