Taylor Eighmy, Ph.D.

Taylor Eighmy is the 6th president of The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). In addition to serving as university president, Eighmy holds faculty appointments in the Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the College of Sciences’ Department of Environmental Science and Ecology. Eighmy is passionate about the critical role that research universities play in creating and applying knowledge to improve the world. He believes deeply in higher education as a great equalizer, especially when grounded in student success. Once more, he is a vigorous advocate for experiential learning—including undergraduate research—as foundational to such success. Since arriving at UTSA, Eighmy has made great strides toward linking educational attainment to San Antonio’s economic development. Under his leadership, UTSA is producing more graduates than ever before, driving job creation and the city’s growing knowledge economy. He is nationally recognized for advancing top research universities through strategic government-university-industry collaborations, public-private partnerships and community engagement. These principles are at the heart of his conviction that UTSA is “the university of the future in the city of the future.” Prior to arriving at UTSA in September 2017, Eighmy served as the chief research officer at three top public flagship universities: the University of New Hampshire, Texas Tech University, and most recently, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. While at the University of Tennessee, Eighmy and colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory directed efforts that resulted in the University of Tennessee’s selection to lead the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation, a $259 million public-private partnership supported by the U.S. Department of Energy. Eighmy currently serves on the boards of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities (APLU) Executive Committee, APLU Coalition of Urban Serving Universities, Greater: SATX Board Executive Committee, Texas International Education Consortium, Tech Bloc San Antonio, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, San Antonio Medical Foundation, World Affairs Council of San Antonio, American Athletic Conference, and UP Partnership. Eighmy is a member of the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Research Universities, the Council of Public University Presidents and Chancellors, the Council on Competitiveness President’s Council, the APLU Commission on International Initiatives, and the Council of the National Academies’ Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable. He also serves as an Advisory Trustee of the Southwest Research Institute and as a member of the Advisory Council for the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County.