Functional Integration

Five working groups have been established to focus on key priorities:

• Administrative Operations: develop and implement administrative processes and practices in the office that are efficient, comply with institutional policies, and ensure oversight, accountability, and sustainable over the long-term.
• Advocacy & Relationship Building: develop a strategic plan to guide and strengthen UT San Antonio’s advocacy efforts at the local, state, and federal levels, and key campus stakeholders. The purpose is to design an approach that cultivates and maintains strategic relationships to advance the university’s mission, priorities, and reputation before elected officials, staff, and key government offices. The working group shall include an approach that establishes OGR as the trusted resource to the campus community on emerging issues, legislation, and regulations. Recommend roles, workflows, and tools needed to support the plan. The resulting plan will align with the UT San Antonio’s strategic plan, mission and values.
• Early Knowledge & Communications: develop an Early Knowledge System to monitor, gather intelligence, and analyze local, state, and federal governmental activities and policy shifts that have the potential to impact the university’s strategic goals.  Recommend roles, workflows, and tools needed to sustain the system and ensure leadership receives timely, forward-looking intelligence for proactive decision-making.
• The Future of Westside Community Center: review the future of the Westside Community Center and, in collaboration with the Office of Research and Innovation and appropriate academic units, develop a plan to determine the best approach to advance the university’s priorities.
• Metrics & Key Performance Indicators (KPI): design a comprehensive performance framework for the Office of Government Relations (OGR) that defines key outcomes, benchmarks best practices, and develop balanced metrics. Recommend data collection methods and establish reporting processes to provide leadership with regular, actionable insights for accountability and continuous improvement.

Functional Integration Team (FIT) has launched, members include Karl Miller-Lugo, Sonia Vasquez, Abigail Risley, Cheri Wiese, Rebecca Anderson, and Sabrina York.

Seven working groups completed discovery work that led to the formation of three new cross-functional groups focused on key priorities:

• Advancement Systems & Data Strategy: assess and recommend paths for aligning systems, data, and reporting to support seamless operations and inform long-term planning, while ensuring continued functionality across both institutions.
• Donor Experience: evaluate and propose interim approaches to provide consistent and high-quality donor experiences across both institutions, ensuring coordinated stewardship, reporting, and frontline engagement during the campaign wind-down and bridge to the future state.
• Stakeholder Communications Engagement: develop and coordinate a unified internal and external communications and engagement strategy to ensure consistency of message, brand, and constituent experience across both institutions.

The team has begun collecting and analyzing organizational models from peer and nationally recognized institutions. Work informs best-in-class structures that can scale to meet the needs of the new university.

Wave 1 of five working groups—Organizational Structure, Executive Communications, Internal Communications, Web, and Social Media—has launched. These groups are conducting discovery, mapping current-state practices, and identifying opportunities for alignment and improvement. Waves 2 and 3 launching Q3FY26 and Q4FY26

Senior leaders from the department will participate in a tailored change-leadership learning series. These sessions are designed to build capacity, strengthen leadership effectiveness, and ensure teams are well supported through a period of significant transformation.