Editor’s Note: This message was emailed on Sept. 30 to UT San Antonio faculty and staff by Andrea Marks, senior executive vice president and COO.
We are officially launched as UT San Antonio as of Sept. 1, and are fully engaged in integration efforts across our university. This will be a multi-year process, approached in a thoughtful, measured way. Over the last year, significant effort has gone into building a framework for integration that minimizes disruption and focuses on the areas of greatest impact.
We are committed to supporting an innovative, thoughtful and collaborative process to deliver best-in-class operations and services. As a significantly larger and more dynamic institution, we recognize the importance of aligning our strengths to support our vital missions across our combined university. As I assume leadership over the functional integration process for business and administrative operations for UT San Antonio, we must first focus our attention on our greatest asset — our people. Important strategies must be developed, enhanced and sustained to ensure that our workforce is poised to make the impact intended across our missions of education, research, healthcare and community engagement.
Recognizing the pivotal role that Human Resources plays in supporting our integration efforts, we are pleased to announce the launch of a Workforce Strategies Task Force to focus on offering support to our faculty and staff. This important Task Force will be focused on current and future programs, offerings and related policies impacting our workforce. Multiple working groups will be established with opportunities for stakeholder input regarding current approaches on the respective campuses that focus on ensuring continued support and the strategic growth of our missions.
As we prepare to launch this Workforce Strategies Task Force, we will align leadership for our Human Resources departments to ensure an effective support system across our combined institution. We are pleased to share that Amy Tawney, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, will serve as the leader of Human Resources for our newly integrated university.
Amy currently serves as senior vice president and chief human resources officer for UT Health San Antonio, including the Health Science Center campus. Effective Oct. 1, she will assume leadership over the Human Resources teams for both the academic and health campuses.
Amy has over 20 years of experience in executive Human Resources leadership roles, including valuable experience in healthcare and higher education settings and over 30 years of HR and operational experience. She first joined UT Health in 2018 and has made considerable contributions to the institution. Under her leadership, the HR team has evolved people strategies, the service delivery model and workforce planning efforts to support the health system expansion, digital and technology transformation and the operating model infrastructure sustaining significant strategic growth of the university across all missions.
Katy Madden, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, vice president for People Excellence, will continue to play a vital role in leading the People Excellence team for the academic campus. Katy joined UTSA People Excellence in 2021, continually expanding her impact and contributions to the university. Over the past several years, Katy has ensured a focus on the development of our employees, supporting our strategic destination to be an innovative place to work, learn and discover.
Effective Oct. 1, Katy Madden will report to Amy Tawney and continue to serve as vice president for People Excellence, supporting key strategic initiatives focused on advancing our people-focused approach during the integration. I am confident that Katy and Amy will continue to provide their considerable expertise and work in tandem to bring innovation, thoughtfulness and care to our workforce strategies in service to our employees and our missions.
Over the coming months, we will mobilize the Workforce Strategies Task Force with input from stakeholders across the campuses. We anticipate establishing a number of working groups to support this essential work and look forward to sharing updates along the way.
In addition to launching the Workforce Strategies Task Force, this fall, we are excited to continue the broader focus on functional integration for areas supporting the business and administrative operations for UT San Antonio. I look forward to learning from area leaders and engaging with our teams as we continue the process of discovery and make progress towards functional integration.
Integration is about creating a world-class, comprehensive academic and health enterprise that elevates opportunities for faculty, staff, students, patients and the community. We are shaping a university where excellence in research and discovery, education, and patient care is joined with a deep commitment to expanding access and opportunity for all. And we all have an important role to play. We are co-creating something more than a university — we are creating a destination hub of service, discovery, innovation, and translational sciences that will lift our community and serve as a model for the future. As we integrate, we will honor the culture and strengths of both UT Health San Antonio and UTSA, while building something stronger together.
Thank you for the privilege of walking alongside you on this remarkable journey. Each of you is shaping not only our future, but the very promise of all we can become — a leading global university that transforms lives, uplifts communities and propels generations to come.
