‘I think it is one of the most exciting things I have had a chance to be a part of in my career’ — Chancellor for The University of Texas System James B. Milliken
Combining The University of Texas at San Antonio with UT Health San Antonio will create an integrated powerhouse on day one, propelling the combined institution to new heights as the third-largest public research university in Texas, said Chancellor for The University of Texas System James B. Milliken during a university briefing about the merger Friday.
“I think it is one of the most exciting things I have had a chance to be a part of in my career, one of the most transformational things,” Milliken said.
The combined institution will provide an opportunity to become a coveted member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a membership comprised of the nation’s leading research universities including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina, the University of Florida and more. The goal is to become a top 25 national university unique in Texas for its depth and breadth.
“It is my strongest belief that this is the most impactful vote by the UT System Board of Regents in the last 50 years, forever changing the landscape and the opportunities for our great state of Texas and beyond,” said Francisco Cigarroa, MD, acting dean of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine and director of the UT Health San Antonio Transplant Center. Cigarroa previously served as president of UT Health San Antonio and as chancellor of the UT System.
A powerhouse in the making
Once integrated, the unified institution will have 40,000 students, 16,000 employees and 4,000 faculty members — including 1,400 health care providers. The University of Texas at San Antonio will be the overarching institution composed of all academic, research, and health enterprises. UT Health San Antonio, as the academic health center, will be directly part of the university, with its powerful mission in medical educational, research and clinical care. Universities and their academic health centers often have intertwined missions. Keeping the brands together reflects this integration and facilitates a unified identity across these areas. More discussion on brand development will evolve in the months ahead, all aimed at maintaining a strong, integrated presence that supports the mission and enhances the university’s impact in education, health care and research.
The combined university will have nearly $500 million in research expenditures, a budget of over $2 billion and an endowment of over $1 billion.
As the plan to combine the two institutions proceeds, Acting UT Health San Antonio President Robert Hromas, MD, FACP, said there will be multiple working groups that will obtain board input to prepare an integration plan to submit to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) on March 15. Once the commission votes on the plan in June 2025, the institutions will be integrated in terms of accreditation. Operational integration, however, could take multiple years. If all goes as expected, the combined university will open its doors in August 2025 with UTSA President Taylor Eighmy at the helm.
Hromas emphasized that the two universities complement one another, adding that both he and Eighmy have a good relationship and are in contact almost daily.
“[UTSA is] great at engineering, they’re great at [artificial intelligence], they’re great at analytics. Cybersecurity, they’re top five in the nation. … And all of those things have become more and more important in health care, so they’re going to fit, UTSA and us, hand and glove together, to form an extraordinarily strong university.”
First do no harm
Hromas said leaders are thoughtfully approaching this transition with an emphasis on getting it right, not doing it fast. This will be accomplished by following the guiding principle of the Hippocratic oath of ethics, “Primum Non Nocere,” which translates to “First, do no harm.”
In addition to maintaining its accreditations, UT Health San Antonio’s rankings are expected to be enhanced and its schools, institutes and programs are expected to expand, Hromas said.
The plan is for the merger to grow programs, not decrease them and stakeholder input will be crucial, he said.
“We will have multiple opportunities for you to provide input on what this combined university will look like,” Hromas said. “This is a unique opportunity in the history of Texas.”
Multiple, staggered working groups will work on the integration over the next several years. For example, the accreditation plan has already started, but business operations won’t start for quite a while.
There will be a lot of ongoing integration work taking place at different speeds, depending on the function and the area, Milliken said, adding that he could not be more excited.
“This is about excellence,” Milliken said. “It’s about creating a global research university in San Antonio. It’s about something that is larger and more important than the sum of its parts.”
Questions and suggestions welcome
At the end of the briefing, Hromas and Milliken said they expect many questions about what the combined university will look like and invited queries.
Among the questions posed during the noon briefing was if recruitment will be affected since the university will be different in a year, when students start classes.
Hromas said to proceed as normal. “All in-play activities continue as is,” he said.
Milliken added that items like academic integration will take time and thoughtful work from faculty members from both institutions.
“We’re not going to force any changes that affect our students or our faculty,” Milliken said.
In closing, Hromas said the merger will benefit San Antonio.
“Great cities deserve great universities and great universities make cities great,” Hromas said. “We will leave San Antonio, South Texas and the state better for having done this.”
Hromas encouraged university staff and faculty to reach out with suggestions and questions about the integration process by sending an email to integration@uthscsa.edu. He added that over the next several months work groups will be forming and there will be many opportunities for engagement.
“We want your input,” Hromas said. “Together we’re stronger. None of us is as smart as all of us.”