Oct. 1, 2009

On behalf of my wife Alicia and I, I would like to thank Dr. Charles Sorber, Dr. John Edwards, the search committee, and the university community and student body for the welcome this past week at the press conference announcing me as the next Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at UTPA. My wife and I are extremely excited about coming to the Valley and look forward to being a part of the leadership team and the UTPA family.

I was equally impressed with the welcome back student and student-athlete picnic prior to the "Battle of the Orange" volleyball match against UT-Brownsville. The student attendance was fantastic and I can assure you that the coaches, student-athletes, and the administrative staff were equally impressed with the attendance at the match.

We need faculty and student participation at events and will do everything in our power to gain your trust and attendance at athletic events. I can assure you that you can be proud of all UTPA's coaches, who are dedicated to both their student-athletes and to UTPA. Our coaches recruit talented student-athletes to represent UTPA both in the classroom and in competition, and your support at athletic events is important to us.

Over the next academic year, the department of intercollegiate athletics will undertake the process of creating a long-term strategic plan. One of our major goals will be to implement initiatives to communicate our plan and outreach to the university community and student body. We will become more of a part of the University. You can't have an athletic department without the University and without students there is no University. The athletic department will work to establish positive relationships throughout the University and the student body. It is important to me that the faculty, staff and the student body has a voice and a seat at the table with our efforts and initiatives. That is why I will start right away a Student Advisory Council that will meet with me and our marketing coordinator on student body initiatives and how we can get you more involved with intercollegiate athletics. The council will assist our department in marketing campaigns for student attendance, special promotional events, student cheer groups, and student attendance initiatives.

During the past week, I have already jumped into the transition process and am looking forward to getting to Edinburg permanently very soon. As I walked through campus, I met with many faculty, staff and students who talked about their excitement for Bronc athletics. This next academic year will build on this energy that has started so I hope each of you will remain supportive and remain proud of our athletics program, coaches, and our student-athletes.

GO BRONCS!

Chris King

Director of Intercollegiate Athletics