EDINBURG, Texas - UT-Rio Grande Valley President Emeritus Miguel A. Nevárez holds the distinction of being the longest-seated Hispanic president in any college or university in the United States.
During his long tenure as president of Pan American University and its successor, UT-Pan American, from 1981 to 2004, Nevárez awarded more than 30,000 diplomas and presided over 100 commencement ceremonies.
However, Nevárez was unable to land a doctoral program in engineering. He talked about this at a recent Inaugural Ph.D. Launch Celebration hosted by UTRGV College of Engineering & Computer Science (CECS).
Dr. Ala Qubbaj, dean of CECS, asked Nevárez to speak on the subject of “Where We Came From.” In other words, how did the CECS come about. In response, Nevárez explained how and why Pan American University came into the UT System.
There was a standing ovation when Nevárez was helped to the stage. He started his remarks by congratulating UTRGV President Guy Bailey on what he had accomplished in terms of higher education degree programs in such a short period of time. “You have done a wonderful job,” Nevárez said.
Nevárez then spoke about how difficult it was for Pan Am to get the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to approve doctoral and masters programs.
“It was kind of difficult sometimes to get those kinds of programs. You have to have expertise in those fields, to be able to write the curriculum. You have to have what I call start up funds, because it takes money. You need to have faculty to start the program. You have to come up with the money ahead of time. You need facilities. You need operating money. You need a whole bunch things. And then you have to take all that to the Coordinating Board and get that approval over there.”
Then, Nevárez said, someone at Pan Am came up with the idea of researching how much money every Texas university was getting per student.
“It was no surprise to me. We were at the very bottom on funding per student.”
Three other universities in South Texas were also at the bottom when it came to funding per student, Nevárez said. They were the universities in Kingsville, Corpus Christi and Laredo.
“All four universities from deep South Texas were having the same kind of problems,” Nevárez said.
“Well, somehow MALDEF got a hold of that information. And guess what? They filed a lawsuit. They filed a lawsuit against us for not offering the programs but also against the state and they called it discrimination. It really wasn't discrimination. It was the lack of programs we had. We could only afford the lower-end kind of programs, the bachelor's programs and the low-end master's programs.”
MALDEF stands for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
“Somehow that lawsuit got a lot of attention in Austin, where the Legislature instructed Texas A&M and UT System to help. Hey, you two guys. Go down to South Texas and see what the hell you can do for those four universities that are having all kinds of problems,” Nevárez said.
So they did. The chancellors of the UT System and Texas A&M said to the four universities, “you don’t have enough startup money and you don't have the expertise,” Nevárez recalled the chancellors telling him. “We can help you but we can help you more if you are within our system, if you come and join us.”
So, Nevárez said, he reported back to the Pan American board of regents. He said they asked him, what sort of programs will we get? Nevárez negotiated with the chancellors. He said he remembers asking then-UT System Chancellor Hans Mark if Pan American could have a law school, were it to join the UT family. Mark said absolutely not. He said he also asked for a medical school and was told to put that on the list.
Eventually, Pan American’s regents accepted their university would be absorbed into the UT System. This happened in 1989. At the same time the universities in Kingsville, Corpus Christi, and Laredo joined the Texas A&M System.
“We joined the UT System and almost immediately we had a couple of doctoral programs. They even sent on-loan a couple of faculty members to help us get those programs established,” Nevárez recalled.
Nevárez said there was no question it was the right move.
“I think if we hadn't joined the UTS system, we would not be where we are right now. That's my just personal opinion on this. And we thank the UT system. They have been, at least during my tenure, very helpful.”
Nevárez noted that UTRGV has been granted seven doctoral programs since it took over from UT-Pan American nine years ago. He said he understands another five are on the way.
We would never have done that. We would never have gotten a degree in engineering. The cost to start it up is very expensive,” Nevárez said.
“I want to congratulate and I want to thank the faculty and the staff. You have to write the whole curriculum for the doctoral program, and you have to then figure it how you can get the money to get the program started. So, my congratulations to the faculty and the staff and the College of Engineering. I thank you for inviting me.”
Nevárez received another standing ovation.
Here is a video recording of Dr. Nevárez's remarks at the Inaugural Ph.D. Launch Celebration:
https://youtu.be/DMGJlVSfxRg
