Posted on August 4, 2021 by COLFA
As you know, in 2020-21 35 COLFA faculty, staff, and students, along with colleagues from across the UTSA community served on the COLFA Tactical Visioning Team. The goal of the team was to gather input from COLFA faculty, staff, students, the UTSA community, and the wider San Antonio community about the identity – perceived, lived, and aspirational – of COLFA and possible directions following our move from 11 departments to 9.
The team distributed surveys, conducted focus groups, and held public forums in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. One of the goals was to find a common vocabulary to express our new identity and to gather the information necessary to create informed, collaborative decisions on ways to advance the incredible work of our faculty, best serve our students, and establish ourselves as a model for a “college of the human experience” in all of the wonderful ways that “the human” expresses itself.
The team is to be commended for the hard and time-intensive work that they put into this project, one that will no doubt allow us to continue our excellent work and further articulate the COLFA mission.
MEMBERS
Andrea Aleman, Lecturer III, Department of Political Science and Geography
Richard Armendariz, Professor, Department of Art and Art History
Nazgol Bagheri, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and Geography
Mark Blizard, Associate Professor, Design, Department of Architecture
JoAnn Browning, Dean, College of Engineering/Interim Dean, College of Architecture, Construction and Planning
Tracy Cowden, Department Chair/Professor, Department of Music
Patrick Crowley, UTSA Student Government Association
Jennifer Dilley, Lecturer III, Department of History
Jill Fleuriet, Acting Dean, Honors College/Department of Anthropology
Jenna Gonzales, Senior Grant Development Coordinator, COLFA-Dean's Office
Jerry Gonzalez, Associate Professor/Director of the Mexico Center, Department of History
Dean Hendrix, Dean of Libraries
Annie Herrera, Assistant Dean for Academic Administration, COLFA-Dean’s Office
Seok Kang, Associate Dean for Research/Professor, Department of Communication
Shamshad Khan, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication
Chad Mahood, Associate Professor, Department of Communication/Faculty Senate Chair
Lisa Montoya, Vice Provost, Global Initiatives
Sharon Navarro, Professor, Department of Political Science and Geography
Jamal Rhadbane, Lecturer II, Department of Political Science and Geography /PSG Alumni
Nathan Richardson, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies/Professor and Department Chair, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Libby Rowe, Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History
Sonia Saldivar-Hull, Interim Department Chair/Professor, Department of English
John Santos Sr., Distinguished Lecturer, Honors College
Tricia Schwennesen, Senior Communication Specialist, COLFA-Dean's Office
Scott Sherer, Professor, Department of Art and Art History
Stephen Skinner, Director of Development & Special Projects, University Development
Tara Thompson, Program Coordinator, COLFA-Dean's Office
Mario Vela, Executive Director, Career Center, University Center
Ethan Wickman, Associate Professor, Department of Music
Jessica Wright, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Classics
Jason Yaeger, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs/Professor, Department of Anthropology
FACILITATORS
Sean Kelly, Interim Dean, College of Liberal and Fine Arts; Dean, Honors College
Shannon Heuberger, Assistant Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives
Debbie Howard-Rappaport, Senior Manager of Administrative Support Operations, Academic Affairs
Terri Reynolds, Administrative Services Officer III, College of Liberal and Fine Arts
We cannot thank the members of this committee enough for the time that they dedicated to this important project. Their report can be found here. In the spirit of creativity and interpretive freedom, the committee also constructed a Miro board based upon the feedback that it received from its stakeholders.
These findings will no doubt allow for transformations that will greatly enhance our impact, both with our local communities and beyond. The foundational principle that COLFA is the college dedicated to exploring, metabolizing, and representing the human experience in the totality of its diversity, in the contexts of its environments, and in the arc of its history will serve as our starting point as we advance the tactical visioning process into its second phase. Please take a look at the report, the Board and provide your input and feedback.
As your incoming Dean, I am particularly excited to pick up this effort up again in the coming weeks to chart our course ahead together. I plan to assemble the Phase II Tactical Visioning Team and will share the charge widely among our COLFA community. Your ongoing input and feedback is critical as we embark on this next stage of collectively imagining COLFA’s future and envisioning our unique role in helping our university arrive at its strategic destinations.
Glenn Martinez, Ph.D., MPH
Dean, College of Liberal and Fine Arts
Professor of Spanish Linguistics
Sean K. Kelly, Ph.D.
Dean, Honors College
Professor of Philosophy
— COLFA
