Giving

Matching Funds for Maximum Benefit

By Taylor Bird

Pat Semmes is an invaluable supporter of the College of Sciences.

Achieving Tier One status is just the beginning; we must continue attracting and retaining the best and brightest minds to the College of Sciences. The Semmes Foundation Distinguished Chair in Cell Biology and the Semmes Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Neurobiology—two endowed positions— empower the college to do just that.

“Endowments help to hire and keep great people. They provide a reliable source of funding above what is normally available to help enhance faculty’s ability to do research. Endowments protect funding to be used in a special way,” Pat Semmes explained.

Semmes has witnessed UTSA transform into a Carnegie R1 university, otherwise known as a Tier One research institution. Her first introduction to the College of Sciences was in 1978 as a mathematics professor, a position she held until 1981.

“I take pride in having been there in 1978,” Semmes said.” I see what was; I see what is today; and I think about what it can become in the future. ... We are on a path of greatness.”

Semmes recognized that matching funds—from the state and other philanthropists—provide major incentives for donors to invest in research and endowments.

“Matching funds from the state, like the Texas Research Incentive Program (TRIP), have been an important motivator for philanthropy at UTSA, as well as matching funds from private donors,” she said. These funds are reinvested in the College of Sciences research enterprise, further funding transformational discoveries and training the next generation of scientists.

“The research [in the college] is important for the future of humanity. It is not one study but the culmination of research over time by many people that leads to breakthroughs,” Semmes said.

In 2020, the Semmes Foundation made a $1 million gift to support graduate students who are training in the College of Sciences Brain Health Consortium to become the next generation of brain health scientists.

“[UTSA brain health scientists] are instilling confidence in students to try something new, to go off on a path that someone has not tried before, to believe in yourself and be unafraid,” Semmes explained. “If you did what everyone else did, then you would get the same results everyone else got, and you wouldn’t have any progress.”

Philanthropic investment in research, like that from the Semmes Foundation, is leveraged for additional funding, allowing UTSA scientists to make life-changing research advancements.

“Donors want to feel like they are making a difference,” said Semmes, “and what better place can they know that than by giving to UTSA.”

To learn more about giving and matching funds or to make a gift, contact Taylor Bird (taylor.bird@utsa.edu) from the College of Sciences development team, or give online at utsa.edu/sciences/giving.