Showcasing UTRGV women - The Rider Newspaper

Updated 3:29 p.m. March 16, 2020

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all university-related events will be canceled until further notice, including all Western Athletic Conference games, according to an email sent from the Office of the President last Thursday.

To commemorate Women’s History Month, UTRGV will host events on the Edinburg and Brownsville campuses. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

“As always, it’s great to celebrate our past and our present, as well as the contributions, like, we’ve made as women from thus far,” said Vanessa Sandoval, program coordinator for Leadership and Social Change.

This marks the fifth year UTRGV celebrates Women’s History Month, Sandoval said.

A screening of the movie “Room,” featuring Brie Larson, will take place March 23. On the Brownsville campus, the movie will be shown from noon to 2 p.m. in La Sala. In Edinburg, it will be from 7 to 9 p.m. in Student Academic Center Building 1.112.

“Room” was chosen for its “strong female lead,” Sandoval said.

“The movie was also written by a female,” she said. “So, that’s why we chose this movie this year.”

On March 24, Leadership and Mentoring will host a cultural chat from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in Sabal Hall 1.104 on the Brownsville campus. The chat will include a panel of female guest speakers. The tentatively scheduled speakers are

–Saraswathy Nair, associate professor and chair of the Department of Health and Biomedical Sciences;

–and Juliet V. Garcia, a communication professor and former president of legacy institution University of Texas at Brownsville.

In an interview with The Rider on March 3, Sandoval said some speakers were still in the confirmation process.

The panel will consist of UTRGV faculty and staff. All panelists will be women with doctorates.

“There is a small percentage of women who have Ph.D.’s already and then even smaller … that are women of color,” Sandoval said.

The chat will provide refreshments, and attendees will have the chance to meet the panelists.

A movie screening of “Anita Hall” was the first event of the month. The movie was shown March 3 on both campuses.

International Admissions and Student Services, in partnership with the Women’s Faculty Network, celebrated International Women’s Day March 5 in Salón Cassia on the Brownsville campus.

“We [celebrated International Women’s Day] big,” said Blanca Nellie Leyva, an international student adviser. “We … want to showcase the talent and the outstanding work of the females that we have here on campus.”

The annual event honored Sylvia Robles as the UTRGV 2020 Outstanding International Female Faculty recipient. Robles, a lecturer in the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship, was selected by a team composed of faculty and staff from International Admissions and Student Services and the Women’s Faculty Network.

The award recognizes a female international faculty member who has shown commitment to working with international students, Leyva said.

Biomedical science senior Paola Vidal and disaster studies graduate student Deepa Acharya were also honored at the event. They each received this year’s Outstanding International Female Student award and a $1,000 scholarship.

Vidal was born and raised in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and Acharya is from Nepal.

Typically, the two scholarships are for one undergraduate female international student and one graduate female international student. For undergraduates, there were 11 applicants this year and 15 for graduate students.

Applicants needed to have a good immigration standing and be actively involved in student organizations or community service. Undergraduate applicants needed a minimum of a 2.75 grade-point average while graduate students a 3.0 GPA, Leyva said.

“We want to recognize the remarkable academic work, community and school involvement of these exceptional female international students during their studies,” she said.

The event offered a light lunch and performances from students in the School of Music.

Leyva described the event as “empowering.”

“We want to recognize those who are making positive differences for women here in the U.S. or in their home country,” she said.

During the month, Leadership and Mentoring student assistants Kelly Segovia and Abraham Espinoza took pictures of students holding a whiteboard with the names of the women who have inspired them. The photos are posted throughout the month on the Leadership and Mentoring’s Instagram page.

“It was very sweet,” Segovia said. “There was one student who put the first female … member in the Senate, and I thought that was very inspirational.”

Special Collections and Archives is scheduled to have an exhibit titled, “Trail Blazers of American Women’s History” on display all month on the third floor of the library on the Brownsville campus. The exhibit showcases several books that relate to the exhibit’s title.

“We wanted to do something more focused on, like, history of women,” said Milagro “Millie” Resendez, a Special Collections manager. “We encourage students to go look at our display. This is to be able to just learn about the women that have done great things in our history and a great example to … follow.”