Projects > University of Texas at El Paso

Located in the heart of the U.S.-Mexico border region of El Paso-Ciudad Juarez, the University of Texas at El Paso is on the cutting edge of nationally-relevant issues of diversity and access in higher education. Nearly 72 percent of its student body is Hispanic/Latino, and another 10 percent are Mexican nationals. The majority are first-generation college students and 85 percent are from the county of El Paso. The University is one of the most important institutions in a binational region that faces economic challenges including high unemployment, low wages, and low educational attainment rates.
 
The Engaged Institutions project at UTEP, titled "An Engagement Model for Sustainable and Systemic Change Across Borders: University and Community, U.S. and Mexico," seeks to strengthen institutions and relationships to enable the University and the community to work together for regional prosperity. The project is developed and managed by the Center for Civic Engagement (CCE), a University-based center for community partnerships. Two community partners-the Nonprofit Enterprise Center and AVANCE-El Paso-are also central to the project. These organizations receive a share of the project funding and making extensive use of UTEP students in service learning assignments. With its emphasis on the issues facing the border region, the engagement strategy provides meaningful, relevant learning experiences for the student body-75 percent of whom said they believe in community service in a recent survey-while building the capacity of the University as a major border research center.