The Academic Affairs Committee (A subsidiary of the Student Government Association) hosted a Meet the Deans event last Wednesday at El Grand Salon on the Brownsville campus and Thursday at the Ballroom on the Edinburg campus.
The event occurs once every semester and is intended to give students the opportunity to interact with the deans of their respective colleges.
Deans of each college are seated at labeled tables where students can take a seat and engage with each other face to face in a casual manner.
While this is the first Meet the Deans event to be held in person since the beginning of the pandemic, some of the deans chose to attend virtually.
Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee and SGA member Carlos Mata describes the importance of having an informal gathering of students and faculty.
“It allows them to be more direct with their student body. Instead of being isolated from the student body it allows them to interact directly and help create a better rapport with the students”
Senior Associate Dean at the College of Health Professions, Christopher M. Ledingham describes the event as a great opportunity for the college leaders.
“I think the opportunity to be able to sit down with our students anytime, to hear about their successes and their challenges as being a student, is a great opportunity for the dean’s office” Ledingham said.
“Our job here is to educate students and we don’t always get to have that one-on-one interaction with them.”
Biological science senior Valeria Ruiz describes the value that events like these have for students.
Ruiz said, “I think it’s pretty cool that they’re giving us this opportunity to meet the higher faculty here at UTRGV so we can network and build connections with the people in our fields.”
While occasionally colleges have similar events individually, Carlos Mata mentions that the Academic affairs committee hopes to host a bigger Meet the Deans event next semester.
This is Will Bennett with Vaquero radio.
