Leadership provides update on campus growth initiative

Editor’s Note: The following message was sent today via email from the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley and Acting Vice President of Commercial Affairs Maria Hernandez To all teaching and administrative staff:

AUGUST 15, 2024 — As we prepare for the new academic year, we are pleased to share an update on 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 continued growth of the university. This exciting process will continue our development in San Antonio’s urban core, while also examining space utilization on the main campus and Park West. Through our district planning, we will focus on ensuring that 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 an important role in the university’s growth and campus planning vision. Through the integration with the Southwest School of the Arts 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 square footage in downtown San Antonio. We also recently announced the intent to purchase One Riverwalk Place, which will further facilitate university academic growth and student support services. UTSA continues to make these significant investments in downtown to advance the university’s mission of producing career-ready graduates in line with regional workforce needs.

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

In 2023, the Park West Fieldhouse opened, followed shortly thereafter by the new UT Health center at Kyle Seale. Enrollment is projected to increase in the coming years along with research expenses, and our space management team will assess needs at both the main and Park West campuses to ensure adequate infrastructure to meet demand.

The district’s planning process also includes allocating space for the new College of AI, Cyber, Computing and Data Sciences. Plans for the new College were announced in January 2024 and the planning task force worked diligently throughout the spring semester. More information about the next steps in the College’s planning process will be shared soon.

District planning will involve the entire UTSA community. This fall, the property and real estate 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 out the district’s future plans for the university.

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