UT San Antonio President Taylor Eighmy announced in a letter to faculty that the university will launch the Strategic Planning Initiative, an expansion-developing plan set to take place over the next decade. The plan aims to guide UT San Antonio to be a “world-class” university and a top 20 research institution and health system. UT San Antonio is a Tier One Research institution, meaning the university produces “very high research spending and doctoral production.”
The strategic plan will be divided into two five-year plans. Over the next calendar year, the first planning initiative will proceed in three steps. During the first step, UT San Antonio will set a high-level strategic framework to guide the planning process. The university will then refine the plan before establishing the framework amongst the UT San Antonio colleges, institutions and centers. The first five-year plan is set to be finished by October and presented to the University of Texas System Board of Regents in November.
The planning process aims to improve four areas of excellence, or destinations. The four areas are transformational student access, learning and success; world-class health system; world-class research university; and innovative places to learn, work, discover and practice.
The strategic planning process will be co-chaired by Provost and Senior Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley, Ph.D., and Senior Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Health System Francisco Cigarroa, MD.
Eighmy hosted a university-wide town hall on March 19 in the Holly Auditorium at the UT Health campus to officially launch the initiative. At the town hall, Eighmy and other members of UT San Antonio leadership highlighted that the university has a strong foundation for these goals to build on. Shipley emphasized that UT San Antonio has a record enrollment, 90% licensure pass rates in the health profession schools and hosted the largest freshman class in fall 2025. Cigarroa stated that UT Health has also seen a 76% growth in total revenue, 68% growth in clinical revenue, $1 billion in capital investments and its outpatient care footprint has grown by 50%.
The university is inviting members of the UT San Antonio community to submit questions related to the planning initiative before the working sessions begin. The Qualtrics survey can be found at tinyurl.com/4ttr567z.
