The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) has been an NCSE Member for three years. Created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas, this transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, located along the U.S.-Mexico border in one of the most underserved regions of the country. UTRGV has been named a CollegeNET Social Mobility Innovator for its success in making college affordable, advancing economic opportunity, and providing opportunities for its students to make a positive impact in their lives and on their community, such as through various research centers including those for nanotechnology, space, coastal and climate change research, and entrepreneurial and economic growth. A new School of Medicine, which will graduate its first class in 2020, also contributes to the health of the region’s populace and advances research on diabetes and infectious diseases that disproportionately affect the Rio Grande Valley. Across the Rio Grande Valley, students and faculty wholeheartedly engage in applied community-engaging and sustainable development research to the extent that the university was awarded the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for 2020.
Coordinated by the UTRGV Office for Sustainability, UTRGV offers a Sustainability Fellowship program in which masters students carry out impactful sustainability and community resilience projects. UTRGV also recently launched a new Sustainability Graduate Student Leadership program in partnership with the Office of Professional Education and Workforce Development which aims to scale the impact students make towards communities’ sustainable development, providing leadership training and support for collaboration. Sustainability Faculty Fellows contribute their expertise to these programs.
Did You Know? The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is an AASHE designated International Center for Sustainability Across the Curriculum and one of only five universities in Texas to receive an AASHE Gold Rating for overall efforts to integrate sustainability across the university. UTRGV’s commitment to maintaining a sustainable environment on campus is also evident through its Tree Campus USA and Bee Campus USA designations, both informed by their faculty and student researchers.