|
|
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 185
|
|
WHEREAS, Dr. Diana Natalicio announced her retirement as |
|
president of The University of Texas at El Paso in May of 2018, |
|
and as she prepares to conclude her remarkable three-decade |
|
tenure in office, it is indeed fitting to recognize her |
|
exceptional accomplishments; and |
|
WHEREAS, Dr. Natalicio joined the university's faculty as |
|
an assistant professor of linguistics in 1971; she rose to become |
|
chair of the modern languages department, dean of the College of |
|
Liberal Arts, and vice president of Academic Affairs before her |
|
appointment as president in 1988; and |
|
WHEREAS, Committed to expanding access to higher |
|
education, Dr. Natalicio has skillfully guided the growth of |
|
enrollment from 15,000 to more than 25,000; the school's |
|
demographics now reflect those of the predominantly Hispanic |
|
Paso del Norte region, and many students are the first in their |
|
families to attend college; over the past 30 years, the |
|
university's budget has increased from $65 million to more than |
|
$500 million; and |
|
WHEREAS, Dr. Natalicio has also focused on improving the |
|
quality and breadth of academics and research; when she took the |
|
helm, the university had a single doctoral program; today, it |
|
offers 22 doctoral programs, and the institution's reputation |
|
for excellence has helped capture significant research funding, |
|
including more than $94 million annually from such agencies as |
|
the United States Department of Energy, the National Endowment |
|
for the Humanities, and the Environmental Protection Agency; the |
|
university has designated nearly $400 million to build and |
|
renovate facilities for science, engineering, and health |
|
sciences, as well as for infrastructure related to student |
|
quality of life; in 2018, the institution launched a new |
|
binational academic partnership with a leading research |
|
institution in Mexico, the Universidad Tecnológica de Ciudad |
|
Juárez; and |
|
WHEREAS, An acclaimed leader in higher education, |
|
Dr. Natalicio was appointed by President Bill Clinton to the |
|
National Science Board and by President George H. W. Bush to the |
|
Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic |
|
Americans; she has served on the boards of the Hispanic |
|
Scholarship Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation, Trinity |
|
Industries, Sandia Corporation, the United States-Mexico |
|
Foundation for Science, and the American Council on Education; in |
|
2017, she was named one of Fortune magazine's Top 50 World |
|
Leaders, and the previous year, Time magazine ranked her among |
|
the 100 Most Influential People in the World; her other honors |
|
include the Academic Leadership Award from the Carnegie |
|
Corporation of New York and the Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca, |
|
the highest recognition Mexico accords foreign nationals; she |
|
holds a bachelor's degree from Saint Louis University and both a |
|
master's degree in Portuguese and a doctoral degree in |
|
linguistics from The University of Texas at Austin; and |
|
WHEREAS, Diana Natalicio has elevated the national |
|
profile of The University of Texas at El Paso while making the |
|
university more responsive to the needs of residents of the |
|
Paso del Norte region, and her tremendous contributions to |
|
higher education will continue to resonate for decades to |
|
come; now, therefore, be it |
|
RESOLVED, That the Senate of the State of Texas, 86th |
|
Legislature, hereby commend Dr. Diana Natalicio for her |
|
exemplary service as president of The University of Texas at El |
|
Paso and extend to her sincere best wishes for the future; and, be |
|
it further |
|
RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be prepared for |
|
Dr. Natalicio as an expression of high regard from the Texas Senate. |
|
|
Rodríguez |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________ |
|
|
President of the Senate |
|
|
|
|
|
I hereby certify that the |
|
|
above Resolution was adopted by |
|
|
the Senate on February 13, 2019. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________ |
|
|
Secretary of the Senate |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
________________________________ |
|
|
Member, Texas Senate |