Ricardo Romo has announced his plans to retire next August following 18 years of service as president of the University of Texas at San Antonio. Romo is the fifth and longest serving president in UTSA’s 47-year history and its first Hispanic president.
When asked what accomplishments make him most proud as president at UTSA for almost two decades, Romo points to what UTSA students have done during his tenure.
"I can’t begin to tell you all the joys I get when students decide that they want something new, and big and different on this campus. We built the Rec Center. One of the highlights. The students were right. Me, myself, I probably wouldn’t have put a rec center on the top of my list, but the students said this is where we want to hang out all the time. So, 3,000 hang out there every day. It’s a joy. I walk in there sometimes and pat myself on the back," Romo says.
He continues, when they expanded the $65 million rec center, it was one or two of the largest in the country.
He says it’s hard to leave with exciting advancements like the new brain health initiative and new developments in cybersecurity on campus.
"But there’s never a good time to leave. If I’d think I could just do a little more here, a little more there, a year from now, two years from now, it’d be the same thing. We have momentum. I can’t leave when we have momentum. The next year, the year after, the year after—I believe this place is destined for greatness. And it was going to be difficult anytime I left," Romo says.
Chancellor William McRaven says the university will begin a national search for the next president soon.