Solis: STC to provide two new health care programs next year

MCALLEN, Texas – South Texas is to add two new programs in the health care field next year, one in dental hygiene and the other for students who want to become surgical assistants technologist.

Details were revealed by STC President Dr. Ricardo Solis in a co-keynote address he gave at the “Classroom to Commerce: The Economic Power of Education in the Rio Grande Valley” forum. 

Hosted by the Institute for Leadership in Capital Projects, the forum was held at the Embassy Suites by Hilton McAllen Convention Center.  

“Next year, we’re going to be expanding in two additional health programs, and that is going to be dental hygiene – that is going to be huge not only in Texas but also in the Hidalgo area – and also a surgical assistant or surgical technologist. These are (going to be) two-year programs, which are in high demand. It’s very important to understand that two-year programs now are what many students are looking for.”

Solis said STC is focusing on two fields in particular, health care and technology. “Those are high demand, high paying fields,” he said. 

Solis said the technology arena includes construction management. When it comes to construction management, Solis said, STC is getting increased interest from people in their 30s and 40s. “They are wanting to have a change, wanting to up-skill, or basically just re-skill completely, and go into a different direction.”

And as for health care, Solis won applause when he said STC graduates 500 nurses a year, one of the most in Texas. In total, STC has ten programs in the health care arena, he said. 

Solis started his remarks by discussing the synergy STC has with UT-Rio Grande Valley. UTRGV President Guy Bailey was the other co-keynote speaker.

“We have synergy in providing higher education and working together,” Solis said. “Sixty-six percent of our students, and this is all verified, go on to UTRGV. This is a great accomplishment.”

Another example of the synergy STC has with other higher education institutions, Solis said, is its collaboration with Texas A&M University. 

“A&M is another perfect example. They’ve been here (in McAllen) for almost eight years, and have been struggling with enrollment. So at STC, we were able to step in, just a year ago, and create these academies in engineering specifically. And we basically more than doubled their enrollment in engineering.”

Solis also highlighted the size of STC. 

 “People don’t realize how large we are. We have six campuses throughout Hidalgo and Starr counties. When you put together credit and non credit, we have over 43,000 students. That’s an amazing number, unheard of.”

This semester, STC graduated over 3,800 students with degrees and certifications. Solis called this a “phenomenal accomplishment.” He said STC is the youngest college system in the state of Texas. “We are only 30 years old, but in those 30 years, we have graduated close to 69,000 students,” he said, to applause from the audience. 

Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of the speech President Solis gave at the I-LinCP forum:

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