Garza: The economic impact of UTRGV on the region is ‘staggering’

ELSA, Texas – UT-Rio Grande Valley has had a huge impact on the economic vitality of the region, and soon that impact will be officially quantified in dollars and cents.

Ron Garza, UTRGV’s associate vice president for Workforce and Economic Development, spoke about that impact at a recent event in Elsa.

He said the exact impact UTRGV has had on the Valley’s economy will be unveiled in time for the university’s 10th Anniversary, which is coming up soon.

“Next summer, UTRGV celebrates its 10-year anniversary. I’ve been in this role in over two years now, and I still get the question – because people kind of forget – why UTRGV came about. And it boils down to resources, accessing new pots of money, new funding sources, the School of Medicine was created. The economic impact is just overwhelming,” Garza said.

“Sai, from our data and information systems center… Dr. Bailey had asked for an economic study to kind of start throwing around some bullet points (as we are) coming up on our 10-year anniversary. It’s in draft form right now, but just looking at some of the numbers, it’s staggering, what we have done.”

Ron Garza

The “Sai” Garza referenced is Sai Mullapudi, business economic research associate in the Office of Workforce and Economic Development. The “Dr. Bailey” Garza referenced is UTRGV President Dr. Guy Bailey.

Mullapudi was in attendance as Garza spoke in-depth about the work of the Office of Workforce and Economic Development at the Elsa event. Garza said his department could be described as community-facing, not student-facing. 

Garza made his remarks at the official opening of a satellite center for UTRGV within the offices of Elsa Economic Development Corporation. The center comes under the wing of the Office of Workforce and Economic Development. The official opening was held to coincide with Small Business Week.

Here is a video recording of the first half of Garza’s remarks:

Editor’s Note: The above news story is the first in a two-part series on Ron Garza’s remarks at the Elsa event. Part Two, which includes the introduction of some of the team leaders in Garza’s office, will be posted in our next edition.

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