Nelsen: Rio Grande Valley is biggest education lab in U.S.

Nelsen: Rio Grande Valley is biggest education lab in U.S.
Posted: 12/16/2009
Author: Rio Grande Guardian

EDINBURG, Nov. 18 - Robert Nelsen says the Rio Grande Valley is the biggest education laboratory in the United States, which is why he wanted to be president of UT-Pan American.

Nelsen will become UTPA’s eighth president on Jan. 1, 2010. He explained how humbled and thrilled he was to be taking the new position in a brief but passionate speech to students, faculty and staff in the Student Union auditorium on Wednesday afternoon. He has big ambitions for the university.

“I am humbled and thrilled to have this opportunity to partner with you to make UTPA the shining star of education, in the Valley, in Texas, in the nation,” Nelsen said. “We will be the university that everybody else wants to emulate. We will be the one that they will say, ‘we got it right,’ because we will do it together.”

Among those listening to Nelsen’s speech were UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa, UT System Regent Janiece Longoria, and UTPA Interim President Charles Sorber. Longoria was on the search panel that recommended Nelsen to the UT System Board of Regents. She described him as “formidable, articulate and charismatic.” She said he spoke compellingly “from the heart.”

Nelsen threw out a lot of statistics in his speech showing just what a challenge the university and the region face. The Valley covers 116 square miles and has a population of 700,000 people, he said. The region is slated to grow by 15 percent by 2015, he pointed out.

Nelsen said nine out of ten kids in the Valley want to go to college. The good news about those entering UTPA is that 80 percent arrive college-ready, he said. The “sad part,” though, is that 42 percent of them will end up in developmental education class. The Valley is also socio-economically challenged, he explained, stating that 66 percent of its people earn less than $30,000 a year.

“At UTPA last year $100 million went in financial aid to these students. Eighty percent of the students were on aid. Fifty eight percent of the students needed Pell grants. We are reaching out there and offering opportunities to a generation that is going to be able to change this Valley and this world and we are doing it because we care about them,” Nelsen said.

Nelsen said that when he was asked why he wanted to be the president of UTPA, the first answer he gave was because it was in the middle of the Rio Grande Valley. “It was in the middle of the biggest lab there is for education in the United States. It was an opportunity to come to that lab and see education blossom and see people’s lives change.”

He said he wanted the job also because of the students. “Because of the chances and opportunities they will have and because of all of the other children in the Valley and in Texas,” he said.

Nelsen said there is no more important a region than the Valley when it comes to education.

“As the Valley goes, so goes Texas. I’ve heard that so many times and I really believe it. But I also believe something else. And that is if we don’t get it right in Texas we aren’t going to get it right anyplace. And if we don’t get it right in the Valley, we aren’t going to get it right anyplace whatsoever,” Nelsen said.

Nelsen said he and the faculty and staff will make UTPA the nation’s “shining star” through collaboration, cooperation and partnerships. “They will be the road to our success and they will be the road to getting it right in South Texas. Instead of building walls we need to be building bridges,” he explained. He then went on to describe where those bridges are needed.

“We need to build bridges to the industries, we need to build bridges to families, we need to build bridges to politicians, we need to build bridges to school districts, we need to build bridges to the community colleges, we need to build bridges to moms and dads out in the Valley so that their kids want to come here,” he said.

“And we as faculty members need to be building bridges amongst the various disciplines, tearing down silos, creating new and exciting things that are out of the box; that are going to allow those students to have opportunities.” There was applause from the audience after that line. “These bridges are the pathways to our success and to the students’ success,” he added.

Nelsen was accompanied by his wife Jody, who is also in higher education. He explained that he was born and raised in a Valley, but one very different to the Rio Grande Valley. In the Montana Valley he grew up in, there were 30 kids in his senior class. That was the highest number the school had seen, he said. Everybody worked on ranches and dreams were hard to come by, he said. He said he got good at tests and was “lucky” to get out of his Valley.

There has been a lot of lip service paid to the Rio Grande Valley over the years, Nelsen said, but there has also been ...

Full Story

Local University Makes Forbes "Best Public Colleges" List | NAI Rio Grande Valley

Forbes Ranks UTPA as One of the Best Public Colleges in the Country

Posted: 09/16/2009

Author: UTPA Office of University Relations

Forbes has rated The University of Texas-Pan American as one of country’s Best Public Colleges in its recently published “America’s Best Colleges 2009” rankings.

"As I have said before, UTPA is a jewel in our midst and a lot of people don’t appreciate that. This is a sterling example of the importance and value of UTPA to the region," Dr. Charles A. Sorber, UTPA interim president said.

UTPA ranked No. 32 in the top 100 list for “America’s Best Public Colleges” category. Overall, the Edinburg campus was listed at 218 in the complete list of “America’s Best Colleges” rankings, which profiled 600 universities and colleges from across the nation.

Taking the No. 1 spot in the overall and public colleges categories was the U.S. Military Academy. Other Texas universities that made the public colleges list included The University of Texas at Austin (No. 19), Texas A&M University – College Station (No. 23), Texas Tech University (No. 55), The University of Texas at El Paso (No. 72), and The University of Texas at Arlington (No. 84).

The second annual rankings were collected by Forbes and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity and were based on student evaluations of courses and faculty, post-graduate success, average student debt after four years, and four-year college graduation rates.

To read more about the Forbes’ “America’s Best Colleges” rankings, visit http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/02/best-colleges-ratings-opinions-ranking-2009_land.html.

NAI Rio Grande Valley, McAllen, TX South Texas