Leadership provides update on campus growth initiative

Editor's note: The following message was sent today via email from Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley and Interim Vice President for Business AffairsMary Hernandez to all faculty and staff:

AUGUST 15, 2024 -As we prepare for the new academic year, we are excited to share an update regarding UTSA's campus master planning efforts. Since 2019, we have been engaged in a thoughtful campus master planning initiative, which serves as a roadmap to guide the university's strategic growth in alignment with our academic mission.
Today, we are pleased to share information about our new district planning initiative to support the university's ongoing growth. This exciting process will continue our development in San Antonio's urban core, while also examining space utilization at the Main Campus and Park West. Through our district planning, we will focus on ensuring students, faculty and staff have the academic, research and infrastructure support necessary for success.

Looking ahead to the next five years, efforts to develop the Downtown Campus will continue to play a major role in the university's growth and campus planning vision. Through the integration with the Southwest School of Art in 2022, the opening of San Pedro I in January 2023, and the development of San Pedro II scheduled for completion in 2026, UTSA has doubled its acreage in downtown San Antonio. We also recently announced the intent to purchase One Riverwalk Place, which will further facilitate academic college growth and support services for students. UTSA continues to make these significant investments downtown to advance the university's mission to develop career-ready graduates aligned with regional workforce needs.

Equally important over the coming years will be our focus on space utilization at the Main Campus and Park West. As enrollment has increased, we have responded with new infrastructure to support student needs. The Science and Engineering Building and the Roadrunner Athletics Center of Excellence opened in 2020, followed by Guadalupe Hall in 2021, with Blanco Hall in development and scheduled to open in 2025.

In 2023, the Park West Fieldhouse opened followed shortly thereafter by the new UT Health at Kyle Seale facility. Enrollment is anticipated to grow over the coming years alongside research expenditures, and our space management team will evaluate needs at the Main and Park West Campuses to ensure adequate infrastructure to support demand.

Also included in the district planning process is allocating space for the new College in AI, Cyber, Computing and Data Science. Plans for the new college were announced in January 2024, and the planning task force has worked diligently through the spring semester. More information will be shared soon regarding next steps in the college planning process.

District planning will engage the full UTSA community. This fall, the Real Estate and Property Management team will reach out to each college to learn more about space and infrastructure needs. Information gathered during this discovery phase will be used to map future district plans for the university.

We are excited to have our entire community actively involved in the district planning process, which promises to guide our future strategic growth as an institution. We will update you on our progress throughout the fall and spring semesters.