When you support the UTSA Libraries and Museums, you provide resources available to ALL UTSA students.
There are three programs with UTSA Libraries and Museums that your gift may support:
The Arturo Infante Almeida UTSA Art Collection Endowment:
Celebrates and honors UTSA’s champion of the Arts, Arturo Infante Almeida. Through his love and passion for the arts, his 20 years of service at UTSA, and the support of former UTSA President Ricardo Romo, Arturo helped to create and build one of the largest Chicano and LatinX art collections at an academic institution. Today, he continues to work with UTSA President and First Lady, Taylor and Peggy Eighmy, on advancing the arts at the university. Contributions to The Arturo Infante Almeida UTSA Art Collection Endowment are valuable in ensuring our university continues to celebrate our communities’ art and culture and makes it available to all.
UTSA Libraries Free Textbook Program for Students:
Help remove financial barriers of expensive college textbooks. Funds raised will be used to directly support UTSA faculty that are transforming courses that have relied on traditional, expensive textbooks to free textbooks. The average student spends $1,250 a year on textbooks. In addition to saving students money, free textbooks have been shown to improve course outcomes and lower course withdrawal rates. To date, the Free Textbook program has saved students at UTSA over $10 million.
Museum “Tex” Kits for Teachers:
UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures “Tex-Kits” have been an interesting and fun way for teachers to recreate the immersive museum environment in the classroom. These travel-friendly kits provide self-contained lessons designed to supplement the curriculum and cement concepts for students through hands-on experiential learning.
Funds raised during Giving Day will enable the ITC Education Department to design new kits, emphasizing digital content for today’s tech-savvy students along with copies of primary resources such as historical documents, interview transcripts, and artifacts designed to be held, examined, used, and played with in the classroom.
Teachers receive guides and in-class activity sheets with tips on how to adapt the kit’s lesson and contents to Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Previous Tex-Kits showcased the One-Room Schoolhouse, American Indians, Gone to Texas: Pioneers, and Cowboys and Cattle Drives.
Teaching with objects promotes critical thinking, observation, analytical inquiry, and visual literacy. Hands-on learning means students can develop skills independent of a book or classroom lesson. Learning with objects creates connections and relevance, building an appreciation of the past and a shared heritage.
While most commonly used in classrooms Tex-Kits have also been used by scout troops, senior groups, outreach efforts, and private events.
Artifacts from the One-Room Schoolhouse Tex-Kit
