University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
EN-10: Inter-Campus Collaboration

UTPA shares and promotes strategic engagements with the community and institutions via events that promote sustainable practices and education. -UTPA is a member of the Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability (TRACS). The University has actively participated in the TRACS summit and shared its sustainability resources . -Project Sin Fronteras is a 2-Day Workshop designed to serve as a transformational platform that infuses Sustainability Concepts and Practices into the UTPA & UTB ( University of Texas- Brownsville) curriculum beginning Fall 2014.

Texas Regional Alliance for Campus Sustainability (TRACS) AASHE TAPPA ISSP AIA TSA CATTE Valley Environmental Summit

Center for Subtropical Studies The Center for Subtropical Studies is a multidisciplinary research component of the College of Science and Mathematics at The University of Texas-Pan American. In collaboration with scientists from UTPA, UTB, Texas State University, and McAllen Independent School District, the center supports research, education, and community service missions of the university by focusing on the environmental concerns of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, providing infrastructure and a forum for discussions, collaboration, and implementation of research, educational programs and initiatives involving UTRGV and non-UTRGV entities. It enhances institutional effectiveness by fostering organized interaction with civic, business, and political leaders of the area and with regional, national, and international organizations with an interest in subtropical studies or the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The Center for Subtropical Studies also provides opportunities for students in the natural sciences through an organized framework of research excellence. Project FORGE The Farm Ownership and Rural Growers’ Empowerment (FORGE) project assists 16k Hispanic farmers and ranchers in 56-county Texas-New Mexico service area. UTPA collaborates with New Mexico State University to provide outreach, training and technical assistance to encourage and assist Hispanic producers of traditional crops and livestock to own and operate farms and ranches and to participate in USDA agricultural programs made available through recently enacted 2008 Farm Bill. Grow Farmers for Direct Marketing (GFDM) UTPA, in concert with the University of Texas School of Public Health-Brownsville Campus, aims to help recruit, transition, develop, and retain women, minorities, immigrants, and young famers to participate at farmers’ markets and other direct-to-consumer farm marketing outlets within a 26-county region of South Texas. This project benefits regional small-scale growers, farmers’ markets and other direct-marketing outlets as well as the farm economy and local consumers. http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/ce_home/red_home_2011/gfdm_home/gfdm_pc “Social Perspectives/Perspectivas Sociales” Faculty from UTPA School of Social Work and the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) in Monterrey, Mexico signed an Inter University Agreement to cosponsor the professional journal, "Social Perspectives/Perspectivas Sociales." The journal is a binational, bilingual journal on contemporary social issues in social work, and the social and behavioral sciences. UTPA and UANL explored other collaborative arrangements such as student and faculty exchanges, join research and collaborative course offerings. Trans Atlantic Sustainability Forum UTPA, in partnership with the University at Luneburg-Leuphana offering students a two week course on sustainability. Participants come together to learn how businesses, cities, counties, school districts, sustainability professionals and campuses develop a road map towards economic development. Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) University of Texas-Pan American signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Advanced Institute of Technology (KAIST). The memorandum establishes a wide variety of projects and initiatives on which the two higher education institutions will collaborate, including student exchange programs, and research and commercialization of technologies the universities have developed. Projects include testing electric vehicle using technology invented by KAIST president and retrofitting local buses to run on electricity. Additional collaborators include The North American Advanced Manufacturing Research & Education Initiative (NAAMREI), the City of McAllen, the McAllen Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and South Texas College. Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) – partners with MRSEC from University of Minnesota The University of Texas-Pan American was awarded the Partnership for Research and Education in Materials grant and partnered with MRSEC from University of Minnesota to work on research projects which involve organic photovoltaic, self-healing materials, Nano reinforced polymers, and nanomaterials for energy storage. The UTPA/UMN partnership will provide inter alia, technical expertise, access to a broad range of instrumentation for advanced materials characterization, student and faculty exchanges, seminars, and access to industrial collaboration.

source: subtropicalstudies.org http://faculty.utpa.edu/orgs/css/contributions.html http://www.utpa.edu/news/2012/02/center-for-subtropical-studies-conference-fosters-collaboration-to-address-environmental-issues.htm http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/ce_home/red_home_2011/forge_home http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/ce_home/red_home_2011/gfdm_home http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/hshs_home/sw_home/sw_dept_events http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/hshs_home/sw_home/sw_dept_events https://portal.utpa.edu/portal/page/portal/utpa_main/dba_home/sustainability_home/images_files_page/Poster%203-sm.jpg http://www.utpa.edu/news/2012/05/utpa-partners-with-premier-south-korean-university.htm http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/daa_home/coecs_home/prem_home http://portal.utpa.edu/utpa_main/dba_home/sustainability_home