Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

"On the Right Track"

Back in 1942, in the midst of WWII, my father attended the Texas College of Mines and Metallurgy in El Paso.  He was proud of his education there, where he developed the skills he needed to serve our country and, later, become a successful businessman.  

Through the years, the College of Mines has changed its name, first to Texas Western College, and then to the University of Texas at El Paso.  But, UTEP's mission has remained constant—developing great leaders for a great community.

Today, we know that at the heart of every great Southwestern city is a great university.  In the great tradition of our university, a group of dedicated UTEP students came together in 2005 to develop the UTEP 2015 "Plan for the Future."

A key challenge the students addressed was improving UTEP's graduation rate.  As many of us know, UTEP's graduation rate ranks among the lowest in the nation—3.9 percent of students graduate within four years—and UTEP has among the highest remediation rates in Texas.  Analisa Cordova, a leader in student government, led the team to identify best practices and develop the six-part plan.

The students' plan suggested: an online degree plan, to help students monitor their degree plans; a "contract for the future," to lock tuition for four years; an honors program modeled after UT-Austin’s successful program; 5,000 on-campus jobs; increased funding to TEXAS Grants; and "top draft," a program to keep El Paso’s best high school students at UTEP.

Soon after, the plan was presented to the UT Board of Regents, which passed a resolution focused on improving graduation rates system-wide.  UTEP set its four-year graduation rate goal at 20 percent by 2015.  In addition, Associate Provost Stephen Aley led a team to develop the UTEP "Student Success Plan."  Together, these initiatives have come together to reshape a new and improved UTEP, poised for the challenges of educating a 21st Century workforce.

An example of UTEP's path to success is its top research programs.  Research expenditures at UTEP have increased from $3.9 million in 1989 to $46.4 million in 2007.  In FY 2006, UTEP ranked second in federal research expenditures among the UT System's academic institutions and fourth statewide among public academic institutions.

Recently, I had the chance to tour UTEP's engineering and biomedical research programs.  On the tour, I met Dr. Ahsan R. Choudhuri, founding Director of UTEP's Combustion and Propulsion Research Laboratory.  I was so impressed by Dr. Choudhuri's dedication and the work of his students—almost all from El Paso.  I also met with Dr. Robert Kirken, the Deputy Director of the Border Biomedical Research Center and a leading researcher in molecular immunoregulation.  Under his leadership UTEP is conducting cutting-edge medical research, giving students learning opportunities never before seen in El Paso.

Today, UTEP is on the right track.  With Ft. Bliss, the Medical Center of the Americas, international trade and transportation, downtown renewal, and UTEP—we're on the verge of the best ten years in our community’s history.

Eliot Shapleigh 

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