Participation in UTEP’s Centennial Celebration

Very early in the planning process, UTEP’s campus and community leadership teams articulated a desire to engage multiple, diverse constituencies—students and alumni, faculty and staff, the community and media. How could we bring together so many people with so many disparate interests?

Clearly, we wanted to create unique signature events that would draw large and exciting crowds. And we wanted to encourage donors to contribute to the largest capital campaign in the institution’s history. But with tens of thousands of living alumni and nearly 30,000 people on campus we also wanted to create opportunities for everybody to forge or strengthen a personalized connection with the celebration. The result required a commitment to coordinated planning, the development of new functions and infrastructure, and a lot of good old-fashioned face-to-face communication.

In January 2015, the El Paso Inc. newspaper awarded its 2014 Community Spirit Award to the celebration in recognition of the celebration’s ability to engage hundreds of thousands of city residents.