PRESIDENT’S NOTE 100,000 Strong This year’s spring commencement is a wonderful occasion for the UTSA community to pause and celebrate yet another milestone in our university’s history—the graduation of 100,000 students since UTSA was established. Forty years ago, the first graduating class of 82 students fit comfortably in the frame of a single photograph. Today, we couldn’t fit them onto a single stage! That first class may have been small in number, but the hopes and dreams of its graduates were just as large as the aspirations of those who received their diplomas this May. To mark the occasion of 100,000 graduates, this issue of Sombrilla takes us to the past and looks to the future. It allows us to relive that first graduation, on Aug. 18, 1974, and tells the stories of some who were there. With the knowledge and skills they acquired at UTSA, these graduates went on to achieve great things in their professional and personal lives. In the process, they have changed the world.
Of course, the story would not be complete without an introduction to some of our most recent graduates. We get to know about their families, their triumphs and challenges, and their future as educators, entrepreneurs and engineers. Throughout its history, that’s what UTSA has been all about—cultivating the future. Just imagine how that future is being changed by 100,000 Roadrunner alumni! Our students come from around the world, and then they go out and remake it. While 100,000 graduates is a great milestone on the road to Tier One designation, it is much more than just a single achievement for UTSA. It represents a multitude of achievements for every graduate who dared to build a better life and every parent who sacrificed in that pursuit. So on this historic occasion, congratulations are in order for all UTSA grads and their families—every class from then to now. Together, we have accomplished more than awarding 100,000 academic degrees. We have fulfilled hundreds of thousands of dreams.
The Sombrilla reflected in the fountain.
‘‘ ’’ The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. —Eleanor Roosevelt
And of course, there’s more to come.
Saludos
President Ricardo Romo stands in front of the iconic and now refurbished Sombrilla fountain.
Ricardo Romo
spring 2014
Sombrilla
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