Brand, Marketing & Communications Joint Task Force
This group brings together marketing and communications leaders from across UT San Antonio’s academic and health enterprises to align strategy, coordinate institutional messaging, and advance the development of a unified university brand.
As UT San Antonio continues its integration, the task force serves as a coordinating body to ensure that brand, marketing and communications efforts across the institution are aligned with leadership priorities and positioned to strengthen the university’s national reputation.
Through this collaboration, central and distributed communications teams work together to:
- Align communications efforts with institutional strategy
- Coordinate major campaigns and high-visibility initiatives
- Support the implementation of the new UT San Antonio brand across schools, colleges and units
- Share tools, guidance and best practices for communicators across the enterprise
The task force also supports brand migration efforts, campus communications alignment and professional development opportunities for communicators as UT San Antonio continues building a cohesive and recognizable institutional identity.
Task Force Updates
Communications Task Force – April 2026
- The Editorial Style Guide working group released recent information about the use of “academic campus” and “health campus” as internal institutional distinctions to support clarity in language use for university nomenclature adoption.
- The Internal Communications Working Group has executed a new content strategy for the internal “This Week” newsletters, including opportunities to share news across academic and health campuses.
- The Internal Communications Working Group has also initiated a new news and storytelling distribution method that includes promoting university news from UT San Antonio Today and UT Health San Antonio Newsroom.
Brand and Marketing Task Force – April 2026
- As part of Phase I for the brand migration, the logo packages are launched for UT San Antonio colleges on the academic campus and schools on the health campus. The logo packages include guidelines and logo suite designs. Support to the colleges and schools is provided by the university’s Marketing staff with preview sessions and train-the-trainer sessions.
- The Unified Web Working Group has implemented a structure for the UT San Antonio Together website as a single source of truth for integration related news and updates and has transitioned the ownership of the site’s content to the Integration Management Office.
Workforce Strategies – April 2026
- Benefits Working Group – Analyzing and comparing data for the Education Assistance and Tuition Assistance programs. Conducting in-depth review of faculty specific benefits, including Phased Retirement, Voluntary Separation Incentive Program, Professional Liability Insurance and The Standard Long-Term Disability.
- Leave Plans Working Group – Completing financial analysis of the State Plan and Comprehensive Leave Plan for academic campus to assess potential financial impact. Continuing to review holiday schedules based on benchmarking and internal analysis. Reviewing Leave Administration case data from the academic campus to assess potential of the health campus’ third-party vendor.
- Wellness Working Group – Created inventory of wellness offerings other than those provided through UT System’s Office of Employee Benefits (OEB) including clinically-based and workforce-based offerings. Created comparative analysis of Employee Assistance Program (EAP), wellness programs and resources and launched sub-committees to assess.
Research, Discovery & Innovation – April 2026
- Research Analytics Working Group – Advanced cross-entity alignment by enabling shared access to research administrative data across academic units. Building on this foundation, the team will develop and implement a unified dashboard to support consistent reporting and data-informed decision-making.
Academic, Student, and Faculty Affairs – April 2026
- Curriculum Development and Delivery Working Group: The group is holding final meetings and developing artifacts as it prepares to wrap its work.
- Faculty Development and Cross Appointments Working Group: The group will participate in an in-person workshop in May.
- Experiential Learning Working Group: The group is continuing its work on the inventory of experiential learning opportunities that exist at the health and academic campuses.
- Phase II Libraries & Collections Working Group: The group submitted a shared resources report to the ASFA co-chairs, and campus communications were developed to highlight expanded library access and impact.
- Career Education Working Group: The group is on track to deliver a shared framework outline.
- Student Government Discovery Group: Subgroups have reviewed findings, with repository development nearing completion, related to the mission, structure, membership, operations, programs and initiatives of the student government at academic and health campuses.
- Academic and Program Advising/Student Support Working Group: Draft recommendations, a roadmap and communications plan are in development.
- Admissions/Recruitment Decision Working Group: Priority recommendations for streamlined admissions and recruitment processes have been finalized, with development of an implementation roadmap in progress.
- Phase II Financial Aid Working Group: A unified Program Participation Agreement (PPA) has been submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, formalizing the transition to a single institutional OPEID structure, with coordination among financial aid and finance teams across campuses to support implementation and review ongoing.
Research, Discovery & Innovation – March 2026
- Working Group Transition – The Research Operations, Research Finance, Commercialization & Innovation, and Faculty Experience working groups successfully transitioned from initial discovery efforts to the next phase of functional integration.
- Faculty Experience Working Group – Completed review of Health Research Challenge faculty submissions and finalized award selections.
- Research Analytics Working Group – Conducted a comprehensive inventory and gap assessment of existing research data sources, services, and infrastructure, and is expanding the unified KPI dashboard with four additional metrics.
Task Force Team
Working Groups
The Brand Guidelines Working Group will develop a comprehensive visual identity system and brand style guide for the integrated institution. This guide will inform how the merging institutions consistently communicate and implement the brand strategy and brand expression across all platforms, materials, and audiences.
Completed Working Groups
These working groups have successfully completed their initial scope of work. Expected deliverables have been presented to the Communications Task Force to inform future integration efforts.
The Editorial Style Guidelines Working Group will define and standardize the verbal expression of the integrated institution across all internal and external communications, including web content, academic materials, marketing and communications, and media relations. The group will develop a comprehensive editorial style guide that will serve as the official reference for editorial standards and usage conventions. These guidelines will ensure consistency, clarity, and brand alignment across all written communications.
The Together Website Working Group manages the website that provides updates and information about the integration. Their focus is positioning the website as a single source of truth for keeping the community informed with the latest integration news and developments.
The Unified Web Working Group will focus on ensuring the integrated institution’s websites align with its new brand. This work will serve as the foundation for ongoing website integration efforts, ensuring a seamless user experience and a cohesive digital presence for the newly merged institution.