To the tune of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s fight song performed by the Spirit of San Antonio Marching Band, university officials, supporters and students celebrated the culmination of its largest fundraising campaign yet — $575 million.
The campaign, titled Be Bold: A Campaign for Our Future, launched in 2017 with the goal of raising $500 million to support student success programs, scholarships, research opportunities, faculty positions and more.
“There are thousands of students, just like me,” UT San Antonio student Elias Flores said on Thursday night. “Students who wouldn’t have a college education without scholarships; Students who have to work two jobs to pay for the cost of living; Students who despite their obstacles choose to place one foot in front of the other and make their dreams a reality.”
Flores, is a student in the management and information systems program at the Alvarez College of Business.
On Thursday, he took the stage to thank donors and supporters for funding opportunities such as the five scholarships he’s been awarded during his time at UTSA, including the Bold Futures Scholarship funded by this campaign.
That evening at a celebration at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy also announced a $5 million closing gift from the Malú and Carlos Alvarez Family for the creation of the Carlos Alvarez Distinguished Presidential Chair, for which Eighmy became the first recipient.
Credit: Photo courtesy of UT San Antonio
“Carlos was indeed a trailblazer as an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and a community leader, more than anything though, he was an inspirational human being that simply wanted to help others, especially students,” Eighmy said.
Carlos Alvarez died in 2024 at the age of 73, having made San Antonio his second home after moving here from his native México in 1986. In 2021 he made a $20 million gift to UT San Antonio for the development of its college of business, which now carries his name.
Eighmy recalls that when the half-a-billion-dollar campaign was launched, it raised many eyebrows. It was the largest sum the university had ever set out to raise. Since then, the university has achieved many firsts, including the launch of its two first named colleges in a one-year period — the Alvarez College of Business and the Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design.
The university also underwent a major transformation to become one of the largest in the state as the merger with the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio became official on Sept. 1.
For this campaign, UT San Antonio officials reported receiving contributions of more than 60,000 donors and engaging more than 110,000 alumni to surpass their goal.
The $575 million yielded 139 endowed scholarships and fellowships for students, funded more than $40 million for faculty support including 20 faculty positions, raised $225 million to fund research programs, supported 31 improvement projects, among other campaign projects.
“We are standing on a true inflection point towards greatness and thanks to each and every one of you I know that if we keep this trajectory, we are going to get there,” Eighmy said.
The San Antonio Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
