In October, 2013 the UC Davis ADVANCE Leadership team visited University of Texas – Pan American (UTPA) to establish a relationship between the two ADVANCE IT programs focused on mutual interests to develop best STEM practices for Latina faculty recruitment, retention and promotion. 

Six faculty and administrators, including Provost Ralph Hexter, Vice Provost of Academic Affairs Maureen Stanton, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Adela De La Torre, CAMPOS Director Mary Lou de Leon Siantz, ADVANCE Faculty Director Karen McDonald, and Director of Community and Government Relations Robert Waste, were part of the UC Davis delegation.  

In addition to meeting with the UTPA ADVANCE Leadership, they participated in UTPA’s Hispanic Engineering, Science & Technology Week (HESTEC), a national model for promoting science, technology and math (STEM) careers among South Texas students who are predominantly Hispanic, including enjoying a Pacahanga presentation, hearing from HESTEC alumni about the importance of the program on their science and engineering careers and meeting U.S. Congressman Rubén Hinojosa, a strong advocate for higher education and STEM workforce development. As a follow up to this initial meeting, Vice Provost Maureen Stanton and Vice Chancellor Adela De La Torre visited UTPA in February, 2014 to participate in a Workshop on Dual Career Hiring and UTPA Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Ala Qubbaj was a panelist on the Strategies for Assessing Climate and for Using Assessment Results panel at the UC ADVANCE PAID Roundtable on Workplace Climate in April, 2014.  The UC Davis ADVANCE program is also working with UTPA and University of Arizona on developing a Network of Border Latina Scholars.