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Awesome Alum: Ramon Benavides
By Pelle Munoz
Ramon Benavides is an education enthusiast and staunch advocate for teacher retention and pay reformation. In 2021, Benavides was named the Del Valle High School Teacher of the Year, which led to awards for district teacher of the year, regional teacher of the year and the 2022 Texas Teacher of the Year. His educational journey began at UTSA where he says he began to evolve as a student and as a person. “I would not be where I am without my degree from UTSA,” said Benavides. “I tell my students this day in and day out, and this is why I try to send our students to the best university in Texas.”
For as long as he can remember, UTSA was Benavides’ first choice for a college. As a kid from the Valley, he attended summer camps in San Antonio and grew to love the big city. “I always knew that UTSA was the school for me,” he said.
Before arriving at UTSA, Benavides attended UT Brownsville. “I transferred to UTSA in the fall of 1997—one of the best choices I have ever made,” he said. He did not feel like a conventional student in STEM, a sentiment that changed when he cultivated a passion for biology. “Biology is the launching pad for many professions and careers,” said Benavides. “It is essential to have a firm foundation for what you will be doing in the future, and UTSA’s Department of Integrative Biology provides just that.”
Benavides credits two UTSA professors, Aaron Cassill and James P. Chambers, for their influence on his choice to continue his biology degree. “These professors possessed a remarkable gift of engaging their students through lectures, discussions and discoveries based on their enthusiasm for the content they were teaching,” he said. Currently, Chambers, a professor in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, is leading epidemiology research efforts in his laboratory, and Cassill is continuing to invest in student success in STEM as a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and associate program director for both the MARC and RISE programs.
Benavides earned his bachelor’s in biology from UTSA in 2001. In 2009, he began teaching science courses in the Ysleta Independent School District, where he continues to teach today. Upon attaining his master’s in teaching science from the University of Texas at El Paso in 2016, Benavides broadened his scope in teaching and became a adjunct biology professor at El Paso Community College. “My love for teaching biology stems from my time at UTSA,” said Benavides. “Teaching is my passion, and I would not want to be doing anything else.”
Benavides emphasizes the value of interpreting science as a structure of concepts on which life is based and encourages students to do the same. He continually inspires his students to dig deeper and form an understanding of the material they are learning beyond the surface level. “By discovering this, students will be capable of understanding the role of science in society and develop an appreciation of the scientific method,” said Benavides. He discourages the notion that science is meant for an exclusive group of people. “This negative stigma will never lead to the essential increase of diversity within the field,” he said. “It is my truest belief that science can be mastered by the most unexpected of pupils.”
Benavides is currently earning his Ph.D. in educational leadership from Texas Tech University. “My research focuses on the importance of teacher leadership and how it impacts our students,” he said. “This part of my journey has allowed me to embrace my role as a teacher leader to best support all students, especially my Latinx students in science and STEM.”
