The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has announced that President Heather Wilson was one of 14 university presidents who joined Vice President Mike Pence and U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Dr. Deborah Birx from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a teleconference call May 13.
The University of Texas at El Paso shifted to online instruction in March, but in late April, a task force was formed to provide recommendations to UTEP’s senior leadership team on actions, timelines, resources needed, and policies and procedures related to the campus reopening.
“Higher education is an important economic engine for recovery,” said Wilson in a statement on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and plans to reopen campuses. “I appreciate that Vice President Pence and Secretary DeVos want to learn more about what the federal government can do to help our country bounce back even stronger and the role our universities play in that.”
UTEP is one of the largest Hispanic-serving institutions in the country, with a student body that is over 80% Hispanic. The university enrolls more than 25,000 students in 166 bachelor’s, masters, and doctoral programs in 10 colleges and schools.
To date, UTEP has provided more than $2.1 million in emergency aid grants to nearly 4,300 students. Half of UTEP students are the first in their families to go to college and two-thirds come from families of modest means and receive Pell grants.
Wilson told Inside Higher Ed that reopened colleges would play a vital role in re-energizing the economy because of the number of workers they employ and the importance they play in many towns.
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