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UTRGV Athletics Branding Steering Committee holds first meeting

HARLINGEN – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is one step closer to establishing its own identity with colors and a team nickname to embody the new university, representing the entire Rio Grande Valley.

UTRGV’s Athletics Branding Steering Committee met for the first time on Thursday (Sept. 11) at the UT Health Science Center Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen. The group is working on developing a new, comprehensive online survey for students, faculty, alumni, staff and community members, which will offer a list of options for potential team nicknames. The goal of the steering committee is to provide recommendations to UTRGV President Guy Bailey. Bailey is hopeful he will be able to share a recommendation with the UT Board of Regents at the board’s November meeting.

The committee hopes to launch the survey in the coming days.

Already, online surveys and several forums and focus groups have helped inform the discussion on this important decision. Last month a student leadership committee of approximately 30 student leaders with equal representation from UT Brownsville and UT Pan American met to discuss athletics branding concepts, including potential colors and team nicknames for UTRGV.

Led by Eréndira Santillana and Alberto Adame, student government presidents for UTB and UTPA, the students conducted their own online surveys, garnering nearly 10,000 responses. Santillana and Adame, who are also serving as co-chairs of the steering committee, shared the results at Thursday’s meeting. The student group suggested a list of 10 potential nickname options. The steering committee will come up with a shorter list that could include options that did not make the student group’s list.

“I am impressed at the passion and interest people have expressed about the identity for UTRGV,” Bailey said. “I hope the public will join us to embrace ideas for the new university."

Bailey formed the Athletics Branding Steering Committee, composed of students, faculty, staff, and alumni from UT Brownsville and UT Pan American in Edinburg. The two institutions will unite to form UTRGV, scheduled to open in August 2015. The committee’s purpose is to provide input for selecting a team nickname, colors and other branding markers for the new university.

“The student committee had a very productive dialogue and on their own decided that the best way to proceed was to unite as one student body representing UTRGV with a team nickname and colors for our new university,” Bailey said. “For me personally and as an incoming president, it was gratifying and refreshing to see this show of unity”.

Athletics branding expert Eric Rickabaugh was selected by the UT System to develop athletics branding for the new university. Rickabaugh has helped develop several hundred university brands and collegiate logos and has also participated in NFL, NBA and NHL branding. He shared the results from his firm’s exhaustive data collection efforts at Thursday’s meeting.

Rickabaugh said the attributes most identified with the Rio Grande Valley in focus groups and online surveys were the culture, family, community and diversity. More than 2,000 people responded to the surveys and many potential team nicknames were suggested.

“We will put all the information together, including recommendations gathered from faculty, staff, alumni and students,” Bailey said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make a decision that will live on for generations.”

About The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 in a historic move that will combine the resources and assets of UT Brownsville and UT Pan American and, for the first time, make it possible for residents of the Rio Grande Valley to benefit from the Permanent University Fund. The institution will also be home to a School of Medicine and will transform Texas and the nation by becoming a leader in student success, teaching, research and healthcare. UTRGV will enroll its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine will open in 2016.

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking research and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States, with nine academic universities, six health institutions and a fall 2013 enrollment of more than 213,000. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public universities in Texas. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $14.6 billion (FY 2014) including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With about 90,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.