Richard S. Jarvis, PhD

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

The Office of the Provost is responsible for academic affairs, student affairs, and research and sponsored projects at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). It is the primary organization responsible for realizing UTEP’s vision of providing quality education to a diverse student population, engaging in research, scholarship, and artistic production, and serving with public and private agencies to improve the El Paso region.

Classified as a doctoral/research intensive university, UTEP seeks to extend the greatest possible educational access to a region which historically has been geographically isolated with limited economic and educational opportunities for many of its people. The University will ensure that its graduates obtain the best education possible, one which is equal, and in some respects superior, to that of other institutions, so that UTEP’s graduates will be competitive in the global marketplace; UTEP also envisions capitalizing on its bi-national location to create and maintain multicultural, Inter-American educational and research collaborations among students, faculty, institutions, and industries, especially in northern Mexico.

The UTEP community--faculty, students, staff, and administration--commits itself to the two ideals of excellence and access. In addition, the University accepts a strict standard of accountability for institutional effectiveness as it educates students who will be the leaders of the 21st century. Through the accomplishments of its mission and goals via continuous improvement, UTEP aspires to be an educational leader in a changing economic, technological, and social environment: a new model for Texas higher education.