Community Connections Series
Issue-focused mixers and community tours that connect UTEP faculty and community partners through dialogue, trust-building, and shared learning.
The Provost’s Community Engagement Fellows and the Center for Community Engagement bring together faculty, nonprofits, schools, and local organizations to explore regional issues. Through mixers and tours, the series builds relationships, sparks collaboration, and documents engagement efforts that shape student success and community impact.
The series is a pilot initiative designed to:
- Strengthen relationships between UTEP faculty and community partners.
- Increase mutual understanding of local priorities, assets, and challenges.
- Document community-engaged scholarship, teaching, and service across colleges.
- Support institutional goals, including UTEP’s Carnegie Community Engagement priorities.
Education Equity & Access Mixer
Explores barriers in K–12 and higher education while highlighting collaborative efforts to expand opportunities for learners. Spotlights initiatives and fosters dialogue on strengthening equitable pathways to student success.
Health & Wellbeing Mixer
Centers on the social and community factors shaping wellness in the Paso del Norte region. Provides space to exchange strategies that promote physical, mental, and social health and to explore new partnership models.
Borderlands & Immigration Tour
Immersive exploration of the U.S.–Mexico border region, with site visits and community-led presentations. Highlights migration, identity, and social equity, and examines how border dynamics shape education, health, and community development.
Environmental Sustainability Tour
Site visits to organizations addressing water, climate, and environmental justice. Emphasizes sustainability efforts, resilience strategies, and challenges shaping the region’s environmental future while identifying opportunities for academic–community collaboration.
Dec 4, 2025 – Education Equity & Access Mixer
4:30–6:00 pm | On Campus – Rubin Center
A gathering focused on educational access, spotlighting regional initiatives to strengthen equitable student pathways.
Dec 15, 2025 – Borderlands & Immigration Tour
9:00 am–3:00 pm | Abara; La Fe; Café Mayapan (Lunch); End at Abara
An immersive experience highlighting border dynamics, migration, identity, and community resilience through site visits and panels.
Feb 2026 – Health & Wellbeing Mixer
4:30–6:00 pm | On Campus – Campbell Building (TBD)
Focused on health equity and wellbeing, this mixer emphasizes cross-sector approaches to physical, mental, and community health.
May 8, 2026 – Environmental Sustainability Tour
9:00 am–2:30 pm | Keystone Heritage Park; Alamito Steam; Frontera Land; Familias Unidas; La Semilla; TBD Water Site
Exploring regional sustainability and climate resilience projects, with partner-led sessions on water, activism, and environmental justice.
Contact
Center for Community Engagement
1610 Hawthorne
(915) 747-7969
cce@utep.edu
utep.edu/cce