With one of the biggest higher education institutional mergers in the country underway, the now combined UT Health San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio aim to expand degree programs, train and educate more health care workers and become a “premier global university.”
On this week’s episode of “bigcitysmalltown,” UTSA President Taylor Eighmy updates podcast host Bob Rivard on how the merger is going and explains why it’s important that the institution be in San Antonio — one of the fastest growing cities in the country.
Eighmy also fields ideas for the institution’s new name, a name which he says should capture the essence of UT Health and UTSA, and which should definitely include the words “San Antonio.”
The merger will officially launch Sep. 1, a launch date in which the university will “start a narrative about being a world-class, top-tier, top 10 public research university,” Eighmy said. By that date, he says the institution’s new name, logo and branding materials will be finalized.
After the merger, the new institution is set to be the third-largest research institution in Texas, following the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M.
San Antonio warrants an institution like the one created by the merger, from an economic, academic, health-wise and equity perspective, and the booming city, which will probably become the sixth largest city in the country, is a “cornucopia of opportunity,” Eighmy said.
