The Fifth Decade

E6 | Sunday, January 19, 2020 | lmtonline.com | Laredo Morning Times 50 Anniversary 365 to student email and getting dy- namic scheduling prepared for the upcoming spring semester. The library went digital with a cloud-based system in 2014. In 2016, TAMIU redesigned its website with a “Go Beyond” theme. It also made all four Masters of Business Administration programs accessible online. A technological enhancement in 2017 also improved the campus and made TAMIU more environmentally conscious. A “smart” irrigation sys- tem was created in a collaboration between campus’ maintenance part- ner SCC Services for Education and Weathermatic, a leader in water con- servation. Later that year, TAMIU launched an online portal called Uconnect which allowed web-based access for students, faculty and staff to a variety of functions. “The ability for us to create elec- tronic access to student records for each individual student was a huge transition for us,” said Dr. Minita Ramirez, TAMIU Vice President for Student Success. “One of the great- est things we’ve done is moving into the modern technology world, and that’s happened over the last decade. We’ve been able to transition all of our documents and records and ev- erything to digital formatting. “As a student today, you could log in and it would say your de- gree is completed 70% or 80%. At a glance, you know where you stand and what courses you need to gradu- ate. So that was a huge transition for us.” Following its redesign of the website earlier in the decade, TA- MIU turned its focus to social me- dia in 2019 launching an Instagram TV channel. With the added focus to producing video content, the “txa- miu” Instagram account was up to 2,199 posts and 5,332 followers as of Jan. 16. “We’ve embraced technology,” Arenaz said. “Like a lot of compa- nies, we continue to try to reinvent and redevelop our website. We’ve pushed into social media much more than we were 10 years ago, and we’ll continue to do that. We’re always looking for ways to get our message out to young people not only in Lar- edo but across the region and across the state. “We have been very lucky with grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA and the Depart- ment of Education. We’ve been able to build some network clusters, neu- ral clusters and computer clusters so we can do big-time data analysis and big-time calculations. That has been very good for us. We’ve improved our Wi-Fi multiple times over the last 10 years. We’re trying to make sure this campus is keeping up with trends. We make sure the faculty and students have the technology they need to do their job or get their edu- cation and be successful.” Campus construction Technological advancement and improving the student experience have been at the heart of construc- tion around campus this decade. The clearest is example is also the most recent with the opening of the Aca- demic Innovation Center. The $68 million project broke ground in 2016 and was unveiled on Aug. 26, 2019, a day before the first classes of the fall semester. The three stories of the building feature 21 educational labs and classrooms which includes a two-story design lab. The building is approximately 90% glass allowing people passing by to see engineers designing and biology and chemistry students work- ing in laboratories. The classrooms have several features geared toward collaboration including ar- rangeable tables, writable walls and monitors where students can project their work. “The Academic In- novation Center, when we designed it work- ing with the architects, we really wanted to build a state-of-the- art teaching and re- search facility,” Arenaz said. “We were able to achieve that. It really is a magnificent building. If I were to go back into the classroom, I’d want to spend all my time teaching in that building. It makes it a great learning and teaching environment.” At the start of the decade, TA- MIU had another pair of additions. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in February 2010 for an Autism In- terventions Center. In July, TAMIU opened the University Success Cen- ter. The $25 million building cen- tralized previously separated units to allow current and prospective stu- dents to access all essential service areas under one roof. The university dedicated its Dual Language Lab in May 2012 which provided a facility to help with re- search, studying and training in dual languages. The communications field also received a boost in 2015 with the dedication of the TAMIU KLRN Studio. The studio is a digital learning laboratory which created an opportunity to work collaboratively w i t h KLRN Public Television of South Texas. Expanding enrollment The continued progression in programs, partnerships, technology and facilities has aided TAMIU in routinely reaching new heights in enrollment. Following the new benchmarks set in 2011, the university’s student body dramatically increased again in 2018. Boosted by a record freshman class of 1,351, TAMIU set a new mark in the fall of 2018 with 7,996 students. That record lasted only a year as enrollment surpassed 8,000 for the first time with 8,455 students in the fall of 2019. “I’m really proud of the impact the university has had on this com- munity,” Arenaz said. “We are see- ing more second- and third-gener- ation students coming. We are now becoming the institution of choice for local students because they real- ize they can get a quality education here. That all speaks to reputation. “We’re going to give students TAMIU President Dr. Pablo Arenaz is joined by Senator Judith Zaffirini and oth- ers for the Academic Innovation Center ribbon-cutting ceremony.