The Rider File Photo
On Jan. 18, the Office of the President announced that Parwinder Grewal, UTRGV’s executive vice president for research, graduate studies and new program development, has decided to step down from his position due to personal reasons.
Grewal will serve as the special assistant to the president through Aug. 31, according to an email sent to the campus community. Afterward, he will return to a tenured faculty position in the College of Sciences.
“He joined UTRGV in 2015 as the inaugural dean of the College of Sciences and has held his current position since April 2018,” according to the email.
In an interview with The Rider, Grewal said he came to this decision during the pandemic.
“This position has been very rewarding, but it had lots of activities, many different units that I was overseeing, and I wanted to, kind of, focus more on a few things,” he said. “They will take a lot more of my time, so I decided to let [President Guy] Bailey know that I would like to step away from this position, but focus on these other things.”
As executive vice president, Grewal’s responsibilities were to oversee the Office of Research Administration, Graduate College, Online Programs, Global Engagement, the Office of Sustainability, Libraries, Continuing Education, Research Centers and Institutes and provide leadership for the development of all new programs at the university.
In his new position, he said his responsibilities are focusing on three major universitywide projects.
“My first project would be to expand our sustainable agriculture … and rural advancement programs,” Grewal said. “The second project I will be working on is the development of the Center for Urban Ecology [at Quinta Mazatlan, a birding center in McAllen]. So, eventually, our goal is that that site will become a satellite campus for UTRGV.
“And my third project is a project on institutional transformation by improving undergraduate STEM education. The key aspect of this is to implement a family-centered pedagogy. And if they succeed, if we succeed in this project, our student outcomes would be much higher; therefore, our graduation rates will go up.”
In the fall semester, he will return to the classroom as a tenured faculty member.
Before coming to UTRGV, Grewal was a faculty member for 16 years at the Ohio State University. After that, for about two and a half years, he was at the University of Tennessee Knoxville as a department head.
“I did some teaching there and mentored graduate and Ph.D. students. So, therefore, here in my faculty role, I will teach and my appointment will be, right now, I’m thinking, most likely either in biology or in [the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences.]”
There will be a national search to find another vice president for research, according to Grewal.
“So I want to tell you that the new position will be different than what my position was,” he said. “The new position will be very focused only on research. All these other responsibilities that I had will not be part of their position. So that
division will, kind of, be broken down and the different parts will go to different divisions within the university.”
Grewal said he is thankful to have served UTRGV in these three highly visible roles: founding dean of the College of Sciences, dean of the Graduate College and executive vice president.
“I have enjoyed every minute and it’s been so much fun working with so many good people,” he said.
Something he is looking forward to in his new position is the three big initiatives.
“They are all three transformative initiatives for UTRGV, you know,” Grewal said. “They will bring extension and they can also improve student education, retention and graduation rates.”
Patrick Gonzales, associate vice president for University Marketing & Communications, said he had mixed feelings when he found out Grewal was stepping down.
“It was a bittersweet reaction from me, because I hate to see someone of his caliber step down, but, you know, he did it for personal reasons,” Gonzales said. “We gotta respect that.”
He said Grewal has had a huge impact at UTRGV.
“When you think about Dr. Grewal’s impact, it’s from the very beginning,” Gonzales said. “He was our founding dean of the College of Sciences when he first started in 2015 and then moved to the executive vice president role that he currently is leaving that oversaw research, graduate school and new program development. And, those are all three areas that saw significant growth and significant success under his leadership.”
Grewal was also the dean of the Graduate College from May 2018 to May 2021. Gonzales said Grewal took on the Graduate College when it was not flourishing.
“He made a quick and big turnaround,” he said. “The leadership he provided in bringing those students together to help increase the enrollment was remarkable. He’s been a great salvation on how the Graduate College grows from here on out.”
Gonzales’ message to Grewal is a thank you for everything he has done since the start of UTRGV.
“I have a sense of gratefulness for Dr. Grewal,” he said. “Again, because everything he’s been through, everything he’s given to UTRGV, from the very beginning to now. We have made great progress and he has played a big role in helping UTRGV get to the point where we are at.”
