South Texas College Board of Trustee Chairwoman Rose Benavidez was recently inaugurated in New York City as the chairwoman of the Association of Community College Trustees board of directors. She is the first Latina to hold this distinguished position in the organization’s more than 50-year history. The Starr County native will serve on the national stage, working with leadership from the White House to Congress and the U.S. Department of…
The Rio Grande Valley communities between McAllen and Brownsville for much of their history lacked a local higher education option to college campuses a long commuter drive away. Donna, Mercedes, Weslaco and surrounding Mid-Valley communities with their high school graduates may have seen a college education, or technical training, as being out of reach. In the late 1990s, the gap began to be addressed with the launch of the Mid-Valley…
Intercollegiate college athletics is making a comeback in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, as Texas Southmost College rejoins the National Junior College Athletics Association. The NJCAA approved TSC’s application to join the league at their Oct. 20 meeting. TSC will launch its athletic program with men’s and women’s soccer for the Fall 2023 semester. TSC President Jesús Roberto Rodríguez said it is the perfect time for the college to expand…
South Texas College was recently honored with a 2022 Veteran Education Excellence Recognition Gold Award by the Texas Veterans Commission’s Veterans Education Program. STC is the only college in the Rio Grande Valley to receive this highest distinction. According to a press release from Governor Greg Abbott’s office, the award recognizes universities and colleges for providing excellence in education and related services that significantly contribute to the academic success of…
South Texas College is the most recent recipient of the Innovation of the Year Award for its innovation of the online classroom, specifically recognizing the college’s Google IT Support Professional Certificate. The award is from the League for Innovation in the Community College, an international nonprofit organization with the mission to cultivate innovation in the community college environment and recognizes STC’s effort of offering students upskilling and reskilling with micro…
South Texas College continues to expand its reach across the border with its fourth Dual Credit Programs partnership that will make a college education more affordable and accessible to high school students in Reynosa. The Non-Resident Memorandum of Understanding notes that the objective is to guide juniors and seniors at Integrity School toward general education, or core completion, while in high school. The partnership will help them gain a foundation…
The headlines and buzz in recent years when it comes to higher education has been focused on the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and South Texas College. In Brownsville, the oldest college in the Valley has been quietly and steadily building momentum of its own. Texas Southmost College was established in 1926. Some of its programs and offices are based out of historic Fort Brown buildings that date back…
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley will develop a McAllen Academic Medical Campus and its first piece is a major one. The university is planning an Oct. 14 groundbreaking, commemorating the start of construction for a $145.7 million UT Health RGV Cancer and Surgery Center in McAllen. It is being described as the single largest project in UTRGV’s history. The campus and its signature building will sit on Pecan…
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has agreed to boost its dual credit offerings with an area school district that has campuses throughout the region. The South Texas Independent School District and UTRGV announced this week an expansion of an existing dual credit program. Beginning in 2023, STISD students will be able to take college courses through UTRGV if they plan to attend the Valley’s university. The two educational…
As part of Hispanic Heritage Month, South Texas College is celebrating both its designation as a Hispanic-Serving Institution in the Rio Grande Valley and its place as a national role model for colleges across the nation. STC, according to a study published in 2020 by Excelencia in Education, ranks third nationwide and first in Texas for enrolling and graduating Latinos. Ninety-five percent of STC’s student population identify as Hispanic. “Being…