UTRGV Athletics Branding Steering Committee launches new survey

HARLINGEN -The athletics branding steering committee for The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley is launching an online survey to gather additional input from alumni, students, faculty, staff and community members on the UTRGV athletics team nickname, mascot and colors. The short survey will be posted at UTRGV.edu and is available beginning today through Wednesday, Oct. 8. 

Thousands of stakeholders participated in an earlier online survey and hundreds have been engaged through public forums and focus groups.

In this new survey, participants will initially be asked two questions:

• Should UTRGV support a completely new athletics brand – nickname, mascot and colors?
  
  
• Should the new university’s athletic brand embrace some historical legacy from both The University of Texas at Brownsville and The University of Texas-Pan American? 

Respondents who answer yes to the first question will then have the option to select their favorite team nickname from a list of choices. The choices were selected as recommendations by the steering committee, with input from UTB and UTPA students, alumni, faculty and staff.

The steering committee will share the survey data with UTRGV President Guy Bailey. Bailey will ultimately make the final recommendation to the UT System Board of Regents at the board’s November meeting.  

“I want to thank the steering committee members for their tireless work in this important decision,” Bailey said. “I continue to be impressed by the passion and excitement people have shared for our new identity for UTRGV, and I encourage everyone to participate and voice their opinions in the survey.”

The steering committee, composed of representatives of students, faculty, staff and alumni from both UT Brownville and UT Pan American, was appointed by Bailey in mid-September.

Athletics branding expert Eric Rickabaugh of Rickabaugh Graphics was selected by the University of Texas System to develop athletics branding for UTRGV. Rickabaugh is facilitating the steering committee’s data collection.

Rickabaugh Graphics has helped develop several hundred university brands and collegiate logos including those for UT San Antonio, Texas A&M College Station, The Ohio State University, and Virginia Commonwealth University and has also participated in NFL, NBA and NHL branding.

About The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 in a historic move that will combine the resources and assets of UT Brownsville and UT Pan American and, for the first time, make it possible for residents of the Rio Grande Valley to benefit from the Permanent University Fund. The institution will also be home to a School of Medicine and will transform Texas and the nation by becoming a leader in student success, teaching, research and healthcare. UTRGV will enroll its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine will open in 2016.

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking research and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States, with nine academic universities, six health institutions and an enrollment of more than 213,000. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public universities in Texas. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $15.6 billion (FY 2015) including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With about 90,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.