Long ago, Northerners migrated down to South Texas and established a booming citrus industry in the Rio Grande Valley. They named it “the Magic Valley” after discovering you could grow almost anything in its nutrient-rich soils. But according to Dr. Robert Nelsen, president of the University of Texas–Pan American (UTPA), the real magic of the Valley lies within its people.
“The rest of the United States is going gray, but the average age in the Valley is 25 years old,” he marvels. “We have a mission to educate these youngsters. If we don’t get it right in South Texas where it’s 93 percent Hispanic, we’re not going to get it right in the rest of the U.S. We have a chance here, and the people are marvelous – the culture is rich.”
The culture of the Rio Grande Valley may be rich, but 34 percent of the families who live there are living in poverty. “Last year, we graduated 3,041 students,” Nelsen says. “That’s 3,041 families that will no longer be living in poverty. We’re doing it one family, one student at a time. We are creating jobs down here, as well as preparing the students who can be in those jobs.”
The university recently rolled out its first spin-off company, FibeRio Technology Corp., which specializes in nanofiber technology that can be applied to anything from textile and tissue engineering to drug delivery, energy storage and aerospace materials. Based on two UTPA professors’ invention of “force-spinning,” FibeRio utilizes a technology inspired by a cotton candy machine that can quickly and inexpensively spin material thinner than a human hair.
The company was established in a collaboration among UTPA and political and business leaders in the community. “Collaboration and community engagement – they are at the heart of what a university is, and not surprisingly, they are at the heart of what innovation is,” Nelsen says. “Without collaboration and without involvement in the community, we cannot succeed in what we are doing.”
Overcoming obstacles
When faced with an excruciating 17.76 percent budget cut, UTPA never faltered from its mission. “This university exists for one purpose only, and that is to graduate as many students as we can, as quickly as we can, and give them the best education we can give them,” Nelsen says. The organization was forced to make the difficult decision to eliminate 140 positions, “but the great news is we have as many seats open for students as we did last year.”
The University of Texas system has long held a reputation for being technologically savvy, and this has worked to UTPA’s advantage in tough economic times. For instance, it is moving toward electronic advisory services that enable students to manage their degrees online with minimal assistance from on-site staff.
“Instead of regular in-place servers, we’ve gone to virtual servers that allow people to use several different servers at the same time and saved almost $1.65 million,” Nelsen says. “When we no longer could keep our computer labs open 24/7, we created virtual computer labs where students can log on remotely as if they were still working in the lab.”
UTPA’s 740,000-square-foot space deficit, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, makes it challenging to grow its student body. “Because the Valley is so young and growing so fast, and because we need to find a way to get more students into classes, we are putting an emphasis on hybrid courses where students meet one day a week with a faculty member in a regular classroom and another day they meet online,” Nelsen says. “This allows us to serve almost twice as many students.”
Another challenge UTPA faces is the fact that state-issued tuition revenue bonds and permits to construct new higher education buildings in Texas are given only to universities that have 66 percent of the capital upfront via non-state or philanthropic funding. “In the Valley, that is very hard to do,” Nelsen admits. As a result, the university is focusing its efforts on renovating existing facilities to suit the needs of a growing student population.
In addition to retrofitting its power systems with sustainable replacements, UTPA has found a number of clever ways to convert old warehouses and storage facilities into office space. It is transforming an old Walmart it had purchased a few years ago for community engagement into a fine arts building. Its major construction project for 2012 is a brand-new performing arts center that will be equipped with an orchestra room, a band room, a chorale room and a mariachi room to maintain the area’s vibrant culture.
“The biggest challenge we face,” Nelsen reveals, “is keeping our tuition affordable for our students. Forty-one percent of our families with students on financial aid earn less than $19,000 a year, and 69 percent of our students are on grants. I read an article not too long ago that out of the colleges and universities that have over 5,000 students – we have 19,000 – we are the fifth-most-affordable institution in the United States. Our tuition and fee for our academic cost per semester is just $3,150.”
The man in black
Nelsen was appointed the eighth president of UTPA in January 2010. If you told him 30 years ago that he would someday be in charge of a major university, he probably would have laughed in your face. “Somehow I ended up a university president at a great university where I can do the things I want to do, which is help kids graduate and give them the same opportunity I had as a child,” he says.
Having grown up on a ranch in Montana, Nelsen expected to lead the life of a cowboy, herding cattle and riding on the open plain, but this was not his destiny. “I had some teachers in my high school that pushed me and were not happy that I didn’t push myself enough,” he recalls. “I fell in love with reading and had the opportunity to go to a university.”
With just six hours left to graduate, Nelsen dropped out college and moved to California with his new wife and baby to help a friend open a western clothing store. “My wife got bored with me and said, ‘You’re not the man I married. You’re not reading and writing anymore. Let’s go back to school,’” he says. Nelsen received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in political science from Brigham Young University in Utah and his doctorate from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
When he accepted the position to head the creative writing program at the University of Texas at Dallas and later serve as vice provost, Nelsen already was an accomplished writer and a social activist. With a nod to Johnny Cash, for almost 20 years, he only wore black “for the poor and beaten down, living in the hopeless, hungry side of town,” as the song, “Man in Black” goes.
Given the poverty levels in the Rio Grande Valley and the university’s commitment to graduate as many students as possible and bring more jobs to the community, the position of UTPA president was, quite frankly, perfect for Nelsen. “I used to say that when there are no more wars, domestic violence or people in prison, then I’ll wear white,” he quips. “It wasn’t until I interviewed for the presidency that I wore any colors, but inside, I still feel the same.”
