Alumni Stories

Serving San Antonio's veterans

As a nontraditional student returning to the University of Texas at San Antonio to finish her degree, Kimberly Anderson ’19 had no idea she would graduate with a new major – and a way to fuse her passions together to create a meaningful difference in San Antonio.

Kimberly Anderson

Anderson decided to return to the classroom to focus on a major that would put her in line for a healthcare position, like biology. She took a public health course as an elective, and her course changed almost instantly. “What I really liked about the College for Health, Community and Policy is that it helped me understand what change I can really affect outside of just putting ‘band-aids’ on things.” Anderson said. “How I can educate people on how important policy and community are to healthcare overall. Are we spending our money making our country well, or are we just feeding this sick-care system that we have?” As the Director of Wellness for Endeavors, a national service organization headquartered in San Antonio, Anderson takes that distinction very seriously. Endeavors serves vulnerable people in crisis through comprehensive, effective and innovative services that encourage growth, allowing people to build better lives for themselves, their families and their communities. Endeavors offers an array of services and programs supporting children, families, Veterans and those struggling with mental illness, disabilities, disasters or emergencies. Anderson primarily serves veterans in the recently opened Endeavors Veteran Wellness Center, which provides high-quality care to all veterans and their families regardless of discharge status. For Anderson, her mission is personal. “I’m the spouse of a veteran, so I have this unique perspective,” she said. “I have a real passion for supporting the family system of veterans and how the socioecological model supports the reduction of veteran suicide.” As a public health student, Anderson interned with the Stephen A. Cohen Military Family clinic at Endeavors– the first student with that major to intern in their mental health clinic. Prior to that, the clinic primarily employed social workers and social work interns. When the organization’s Chief of Behavioral Health, Dr. Jill Palmer, discovered her passion and perspective for veteran care, she hired Anderson and put her to work on a “special project.” “I had no idea at the time, but after I was hired I found out that they were building the Veteran Wellness Center, and wanted me on board to assist in building the program and the model,” Anderson said.

For the last two years, Anderson has been building the wellness model for Endeavors and implementing the program. The San Antonio building opened on Veterans Day in 2021, and Anderson now oversees the building and the wellness program – all from her internship as a public health student.

“It was a little bit of luck, and a lot of really hard work and passion,” Anderson reflected. “You have to be passionate – this work is too hard to not be passionate about the population you want to serve.” As Director, Anderson continues to bring UTSA students in to intern and employ. “The partnership and that collaboration that we have is what has built the Veteran Wellness Center to be so unique in its perspective in the model that we’re using,” she said. “Because we really are taking multiple approaches such as social work, public health, healthcare, and fitness. With the goal of bringing them together and creating this really interdisciplinary and multi-level approach to wellness.”

–Amanda Cerreto

Melissa Adame

Taking sociology to technology

As most people might know, sociology is the study of human social relationships and institutions. What most people don’t know is how that can translate into a career in tech.

Melissa Adame ’98 has proven that not only can her degree in sociology from UTSA translate to her career, but it is crucial to her every day work. As a program manager at Webhead, Adame helps to develop technical solutions for different clients in different industries. From a federal department, state agency or a large business to a small “mom and pop” store, she works with them to develop and implement systems that work for their individual needs. And she uses the skills she learned with her degree daily. “It’s really listening to our clients and understanding their end users to really formulate the best technical solution to meet the client’s business needs and to prompt the end user to take an action,” Adame said. “We spend time researching how the target audience interacts with technology. That’s important when you’re looking at finding the right solution that aligns with the business goals but that also makes sense to the intended audience.” Apart from studying her clients and end-users, Adame notes that other skills learned at UTSA transfer easily into her career. “I’m using a lot of what I learned in my statistics classes when I’m doing my data research,” she said. “Part of technology is that we have to do market research when we’re looking at providing a solution. A lot of the tools and theories that I learned back at UTSA, I’m applying now.” Adame joined Webhead alongside her UTSA classmate, Webhead’s founder and CEO, Janie Gonzalez. As a local company, their office has several UTSA alumni and the Roadrunner pride is strong. Both Gonzalez and Adame serve on the Leadership Council for HCAP, and are passionate about giving back to San Antonio and UTSA. “I am so proud to be a UTSA alumni – I’m a fanatic,” Adame said. “From the first time I stepped on campus until now, that sense of pride and belonging and family has extended and grown over the years.” Adame initially chose to study at UTSA because of its size and distance to her hometown of Weslaco – just far enough away, but still close to home. She found a kinship in the community of students that also came from the Rio Grande Valley, and once she started taking classes in sociology, felt an immediate sense of home.

“Sociology had never really occurred to me until I started talking to some advisors,” Adame said. “I took a few classes and then I was hooked. I loved my professors, and made some really good, lifelong friends.” Adame is grateful for her journey through UTSA – the career she landed in because of it, and the relationships she’s established since then. She shares that passion with her 19-year old daughter, who she says inspires her daily to carry on the tradition of hard-working, successful and communityengaged women in her family. She advises current students to really throw themselves into their studies and take advantage of all UTSA has to offer. “Take initiative to really get involved in the school, and maximize the opportunities the university offers,” Adame said. At the end of the day, you’re responsible for not just your education, but your experience.”

–Amanda Cerreto

Diving into state demography

How do population estimates, census counts and budgeting affect the daily lives of average citizens? Does filling out that form indicating how many people live in your household really do anything?

The answer is yes, it does – and in more ways than one might think.

Michael Cline

Michael Cline, Ph.D. ’10, has devoted his career to population studies in one form or another. His daily work as State Demographer of North Carolina impacts everything from transportation, schooling and the arts to water systems, sewage, infrastructure and more. And it all started here at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Cline was working at UTSA’s Institute for Economic Development, helping small businesses conduct market research. “My particular specialty was demographics, which I had done in different capacities since I left Texas Tech,” Cline said. “As I was doing that work, I wanted to learn more skills and improve on that work, and then UTSA started its Ph.D. in Applied Demography program.” Cline was initially hesitant to enroll; he had already been in the workforce for a decade and wasn’t sure what going back to school would look like. He quickly realized, however, that the program fit his needs exactly and it was backed by a supportive faculty. “The great thing about the program is it was established to really focus on working on public policy issues, particularly in Texas but also nationwide,” Cline said. “Also, the program welcomed many, like me, who were first generation college students and folks who were returning to graduate school – either to enhance their current career or change to a different line of work.”

When Cline enrolled in the program, it was just getting off the ground. Now, over fifteen years later, it has flourished. The program has generated more than 60 new Ph.Ds. working in local and federal government, private sector data analytics, higher education, social media and healthcare. After graduating from the program, Cline took a job at the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University where he worked on a range of public policy projects – including one of the first analyses of the Affordable Care Act’s impacts for Texas Counties, the demand for early childhood programs in Texas, and implications of demographic change for transportation demand. For the past four years, he has served as the State Demographer of North Carolina in the Office of State Budget & Management. He has been serving the state by preparing population estimates and projections for all cities and counties and advising the Governor’s office and other state agencies on the implications of demographic change. “State or federal funds are often distributed on a per capita basis, so I need to plan and forecast for cities and counties that are seeing growth so they can receive appropriate funding,” he said. The forecasting models and data processes Cline worked with in the applied demography program directly apply to the work he does on a daily basis. It’s not all population counts and budgets, however. The work his office does can directly impact policy. “Demography is a study of populations,” Cline said. “And that’s what policies are for – people. That’s the neat thing about demography. You have an opportunity to work on a lot of different things. I’m not just looking at population, but I’m looking at how demographic change impacts schools. Or how we prepare for more older people. Do we have the capacity to provide the medical and other services for people as they age?” Cline encourages anyone interested in policy work, planning and population studies to consider getting into demography. “A lot of people go straight through from undergrad to get their Ph.D.,” he said. “There’s a benefit of going straight through, particularly if your plan is to teach, but there’s also a benefit of coming back. If you’re taking that route like I did, your academic work will benefit from your experience. You may have more responsibilities at an older age, but don’t be afraid to reach out for help and look for opportunities to work with your professors and others in the community.”

–Amanda Cerreto

Transplants and dietetics

University Hospital in San Antonio is one of the largest hospitals in the city, encompassing hundreds of departments and specialties. At University Transplant Institute, staff includes doctors, surgeons, RNs and dietitians. Rosalynda Rodea ’19 is one of the four transplant dietitians assisting patients and donors during their arduous transplant journeys.

Rosalynda Rodea

Rodea serves as an outpatient dietitian for the Institute, which handles kidney, liver and lung transplants. She was originally placed with the Institute as part of her clinical rotations with the Nutrition and Dietetics program at UTSA, and leveraged that experience into full-time employment. “The UTSA Coordinated Program in Dietetics really provided me with a multitude of experiences,” Rodea said. “And once I got the job here, I was given even more opportunities to succeed.” Rodea’s day to day workload is heavy and fast-paced. Part of her duties include performing nutrition evaluations for three different groups of transplant recipients, as well as conducting nutrition assessments for potential living donors. Each donor and recipient have very different and individualized nutrition needs – and the wait times for organs can sometimes be too long. Rodea and her team are looking to improve that. “In our area specifically, one of the main barriers to organ donation are certain health risks, such as fatty liver, mildly elevated blood pressure and blood sugar or not meeting the BMI criteria.” she said. “So we really try to focus on prevention or improving current health issues.” A method to decrease the wait time for transplant recipients includes increasing the pool of living donors. In order to enroll healthy participants who are eligible to donate, Rodea and her team are in the process of developing a program with the intention to educate and incorporate healthier lifestyle changes. “Smart Bytes for Life is a program that not only targets weight loss to increase the pool of donors, but also aims to implement long term diet and behavior change adherence,” she said. “The overall goal is to improve donor outcomes and also increase the number of living donors.” Another crucial part of Rodea’s job is to work with recipients posttransplant to ensure proper nutrition guidelines are being met in order for a successful recovery. “One of the things I love about outpatient work is that I have more time to spend with the patient,” Rodea said. “Essentially, my aim is to help empower them to make decisions that are in their best interests.” Although her job is far from easy, and has its stressful moments, Rodea credits UTSA with giving her the foundation she needed to impact the lives of people in her community. Her undergraduate degree in community health gave her the springboard necessary to move into the competitive dietetics program, where she flourished and experienced all of the aspects of community health. “I would encourage students to keep showing up and take every opportunity they can,” Rodea said. “I was able to get a job that I find so fulfilling because of my rotations and the opportunities I took advantage of.” For Rodea, her job as a transplant dietitian combines her passions for community health, prevention and being a force for change in the lives of her neighbors. “In community health, one of the main lessons was learning the different levels of prevention,” she said. “As a dietitian, and in this position, you’re able to address all three of those levels. It’s extremely rewarding.” –Amanda Cerreto

Perseverance and persistence with Criminology

This past spring, three former students from the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice returned to campus to network with current students.

Alma Zuñiga Dustin Kilpatrick Ryan Todd

Presented by Alpha Phi Sigma, the National Criminal Justice Honor Society, the event was intended to show the various paths from – and to – UTSA, and how dedication and perseverance are the keys to success. ‘Runners first heard from Alma Zuñiga ’17, a reentry specialist for the Bexar County Reentry Center. Her job is to assist formerly incarcerated people with life after release; she assists with tasks and activities such as iPhone tutorials, securing an ID, employment, life skills classes, government enrollment assistance, court mandated classes and more. For Zuñiga, life as a student was far from simple. She struggled with homelessness, and when she did have temporary housing it came with problems like no water. In addition, she worked two jobs in order to provide for her mother and younger siblings. Her experience as a student equipped her with endless empathy for the population she serves. “I do not judge anyone that comes through my doors,” Zuñiga said. “I don’t need to know what they were in for. I need to help them acclimate to life outside.” Dustin Kilpatrick ’17 came to UTSA a little later in life – out of high school, he enlisted in the US Army. Kilpatrick spent several years volunteering for an Afghanistan deployment, collecting and analyzing threats through communications intercept. Kilpatrick was awarded the Bronze Star for his service.

Upon returning to San Antonio, Kilpatrick pursued his dream of working in law enforcement and joined the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD). While working full time as a patrol officer, he took classes at UTSA. Kilpatrick stresses that it was invaluable for him to spend time away from other police officers and to broaden his perspective. As a student in criminal justice classes, difficult topics are talked about, and as a police officer, there were times that he could have easily felt maligned. “It was really important for me to hear every side and every opinion,” Kilpatrick said. “To learn other perspectives and keep an open mind is exactly what a police officer needs.” Kilpatrick is now a homicide detective with the SAPD. The final speaker was Ryan Todd ’18. Todd has recently finished law school and is awaiting his bar exam results. However, his path to UTSA was also marked with challenges – ones that he candidly talked to the audience about.

Before coming to UTSA, Todd battled with drug addiction and crime, bouncing in and out of jail and struggling to stay clean. It wasn’t until he hit rock bottom when he realized he needed more out of life.

Todd enrolled at UTSA after two years at Alamo Colleges and was drawn to criminal justice, but soon realized his career options were limited due to his prior convictions. “I began to really think about what I wanted to do, and I realized I wanted to help people that were in the position I was in not that long ago,” he said. “And to do that, I knew I needed to become a lawyer.” Focused on his goal, Todd took pre-law courses and explored all the opportunities UTSA had to offer for those interested in legal studies. His acceptance and success through law school serves as a lesson to others: no matter how far down you go, you can get back up again. –Amanda Cerreto

From East Texas to press secretary

Growing up in a small East Texas Town, James Rivera ’18 had never even heard of the University of Texas at San Antonio until he happened to catch a football game on television.

James Rivera

Rivera is the youngest child in his family, raised by a single mother, and when he approached her about wanting to visit UTSA she was a bit uneasy. “UTSA was about a five-hour drive from my hometown,” Rivera said. “But she supported me. We attended a football game and took a tour, and I fell in love with the campus. And honestly, it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.” Originally a Criminology & Criminal Justice major, Rivera’s course of action changed when he began taking classes to find a minor. “I took Intro to Public Administration and loved it so much,” he said. “I switched my major right after that.” Apart from the course material that drew him in, Rivera instantly connected with his professors. “They’re experts in their field,” he said. “They’re very engaging with the students.” “While at UTSA, James demonstrated a tremendous commitment to mentoring and encouraging others,” said Gina Amatangelo, assistant professor of practice. “He encouraged students to pursue their highest aspirations.” Rivera fully immersed himself into every opportunity available, and as a result had a very full UTSA career. He served as the Chair of the Alumni Leadership Network for Communities in Schools National Office and has delivered compelling speeches at Communities in Schools conferences on the role their organization played in shaping his educational trajectory. He contributed his perspective on overcoming the challenges of being first-year student at a large university to the Student Voices blog for the Texas College Access Network. He was elected as a senator for Student Government and was able to advocate for the Downtown Campus. UTSA Public Administration faculty regularly relied on Rivera to meet younger students who were visiting UTSA to learn about the college experience. As an undergraduate, Rivera worked for Congressman Castro through the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Internship program. Now, Rivera is working as a press secretary for Congressman Gonzalez in Washington, D.C. Rivera’s day-to-day work consists of reviewing press material from the district, keeping up with state and national news and discussing communication strategies with the chief of staff. Rivera writes press releases and drafts talking points, connecting with other offices, both in the House and the Senate. “There’s two sides to the job,” Rivera said. “I have to be proactive and also reactive – I have to keep up with what’s going on in the district and in Texas as well as nationally, and try to figure out where things go to gain traction. But then, something happens out of the blue that we have to be quick on our feet to think about. Do we issue a statement on this? Is it in our lane?” Rivera credits his undergraduate education with giving him the knowledge to stay on top of such a fast-paced job. “You have to come in knowing the legislative process, the basics of how a bill becomes a law,” he said. “You also have to be able to discern between a federal, state and local government issue.” Rivera encourages all public administration undergrads to branch out of their comfort zones. As a boy growing up in a small town in East Texas, he never imagined he’d be living in Washington, D.C. The series of events – choosing to come to UTSA, choosing to apply to internships, and taking the risk to apply to jobs – paid off for him. –Amanda Cerreto

Serving the underserved

HCAP aims to improve the well-being of communities by serving the underserved, and faculty try to instill this mission into every student that walks through the door.

When Leti Cavazos ’12 entered the Master of Social Work program at UTSA, she had already been effecting change in San Antonio – but her education and experiences afterward would truly live up to HCAP’s mission. After many years building programs for shelters, non-profit institutions and recovery centers, Cavazos made the bold move – especially during the pandemic – to open a business to serve those who were perhaps hit hardest by the pandemic. “The pandemic was my wake up call of, ‘what am I doing with my life?’” said Cavazos. “I’ve been building programs for my whole career. And so I thought, why can’t I build something for myself?” Cavazos founded The Canneta Center for Healing and Empowerment, which opened its doors to the DFW area in April of 2021. It provides comprehensive, therapeutic counseling for adolescents, individuals and couples. In addition to counseling, the highly-trained staff offers coparenting sessions, psychoeducational groups and pre-marital classes. Prior to opening the center, Cavazos had worked in a variety of nonprofits and shelters that helped form her ideas on how to run a program effectively to help the community’s most vulnerable citizens. Upon her move from San Antonio to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, she began work at the city’s largest domestic violence center. “It was an amazing experience,” Cavazos reflected. “In San Antonio, we have the participants there for roughly six months to try and help stabilize them. In this shelter, we only had 45 days.” Using her foundation as a program-builder, Cavazos then helped build the foundation for the first men’s domestic violence shelter in Texas. She went on to build more programs for other organizations, including a long-term residential home for women and children in crisis.

“I was able to design the program to make sure that we were doing our best to help them not only overcome the trauma, but build capacity to gain employment, and get the skills to increase their earning potential.” When she was ready to branch out and start her own program, she reflected on her experiences in the field as well as her experiences with her employers. She knew she wanted to build something different for both clients and employees. The Canneta Center has a twofold mission for Cavazos: to serve the vastly underserved Hispanic population of DFW, and to empower employees to dictate their own worth by instituting a sliding pay scale. Coming from San Antonio, Cavazos was very surprised to see the lack of services in the DFW area for the Hispanic population. “The more I went out to talk to people, the more I realized it was a missing niche,” she said. Because the need was so strong, services around the area began sending clients to the Canneta Center. Not even a year into its founding, the Center has a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a local foundation that will financially support members of the Hispanic population in need of counseling. “That’s a huge step, because there’s already a stigma with mental health within the community,” Cavazos said. “And now that the financial barrier is taken away, we’ll hopefully knock down some other walls to help people get services and not feel shame about it.” The Canneta Center is more than a mental health facility; they provide professional training to enhance clinical development, including topics such as research trends, Spanish-speaking trainings and seminars on how to work with a Spanish-speaking population. They have become so popular – and attracted practitioners from all over the world – that the Center has had to put a cap on attendance. Beyond its services, the Center continues to give back in other ways; employees volunteer with the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas (HWNT) and the Latinas in Progress Program, which mentors high school students and puts them on the path to college. “That’s one of the things that I feel really passionate about,” Cavazos said. “If you look at the number of Latinas that have master’s and doctorate degrees, we’re the lowest of all demographics.” While the growth of the Canneta Center has been tremendous, Cavazos admits it wasn’t without its challenges. “I’m not naturally an extrovert, and having to go out and network and try to help them understand why they should partner with us has been a real growth for me,” Cavazos said. Despite that, Cavazos feels lucky to have a talented group of willing practitioners to jump on board. “I probably have the best group of people that without hesitation signed up,” she said. “And then seeing the impact that they’re having, and knowing that we’re actually serving a community that hadn’t really been served before, it just fills my heart every time.” –Amanda Cerreto

Leti Cavazos

Partnering with the Department of Defense

UTSA doctoral student Tiara Phipps ’20 has been awarded the Department of Defense Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship. Phipps will use the award to further her studies in psychology—one of several disciplines in the College for Health, Community and Policy (HCAP). Her research also could translate to a new approach for addressing sexual assault.

Tiara Phipps

The award provides students with full tuition for up to five years, summer internships, a stipend and full-time employment with the Department of Defense after graduation. Phipps will work in the U.S. Army Public Health Center. She says it is the ideal setup for her, having been raised in a military family. It is also an opportunity for her to live out one of the missions of HCAP—to develop solutions to complex problems for the benefit of society. UTSA’s psychology program encourages students to pursue communitybased research. Faculty work alongside students to help them achieve their goals. It is a structure that gives students like Phipps an advantage when it’s time to enter the workforce, as they already have substantial research and data skills under their belts. Phipps moved around a lot as a child. She earned a scholarship for gymnastics and completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky. She chose UTSA for graduate education because of her love for San Antonio. “I lived here the longest, so I consider it home,” she said. “After working, I realized what I loved most was studying, so I looked into the master’s programs at UTSA.” Her positive experience with the master’s program was a factor in Phipps’ decision to continue her education at UTSA. “The best part now, as a doctoral student, is that I’m able to work on the kind of research that’s meaningful to me and society,” Phipps said. Her research into the background and situational variables that mediate the relationship between alcohol and sexual assault has already opened several doors for her. Phipps is also enrolled in the Research Initiative for Scientific Enchancement (RISE) program. It is a federally funded program designed to increase the number of underrepresented faculty, students and investigators who are performing research in the biomedical sciences. Phipps credits Gail Taylor, associate director of STEM Initiatives in the UTSA Center for Research and Training in the Sciences, for her decision to apply for the SMART scholarship. After learning of Phipps’ interest in performing research for the federal government, “Ms. Taylor mentioned the Department of Defense SMART Scholarship and encouraged me to apply,” she recalled. “I am extremely proud of Tiara’s accomplishments,” Taylor said. “Once RISE helped her to identify this opportunity, she ran with it and developed an excellent grant proposal. Dr. Edwin Barea-Rodriguez, the RISE program director and I wrote a very strong letter of support for her application and the selection committee recognized her exceptional potential to make a major impact on her field of military mental health.” Upon securing her doctorate, Phipps will join the U.S. Army Public Health Assessment Team. Her work will involve assessing the public health programs and initiatives of the Army and other branches of the military. By analyzing data and conducting interviews, the team will look into ways to improve or overhaul several of these initiatives, including those addressing sexual assault. The goal is to create interventions that will be dispersed nationwide. Phipps is grateful for the opportunity to study and work for a cause she believes in and encourages others to pursue their own interests. “If you want to earn a doctoral degree, my advice would be to find something that you truly love studying–something that you’re driven to know more about—so that it doesn't feel like work when you're doing the tedious parts, like digging through literature reviews,” she said. “It never feels like work when you’re answering the questions that you really want to answer.” –Amanda Cerreto