Last Wednesday, Neelesh C. “Neel” Mutyala, the University of Texas System student regent, visited UTRGV campuses in Brownsville, Edinburg and Harlingen to discuss initiatives with university leaders, including advising and campus life.
Mutyala is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. He was appointed student regent by Gov. Greg Abbott for a one-year term that began on June 1, 2022, according to the UT System website.
Some of the initiatives the student regent discussed with university leaders is financial help for students and working with community members to get students resources the university does not have.
“We talked about wellness services and then also advising initiatives, how we can improve advising, how we can put more resources towards things that are working,” Mutyala said in an interview with The Rider after a brunch last Wednesday with student leaders in the Student Union on the Brownsville campus.
He said this is his 10th official visit to an institution.
“I think there is a very unique student population here,” Mutyala said. “… It’s a very diverse population here. The students we’re serving here are very different, I think, than some of the other demographics of other parts of the state.”
During his visit, Mutyala toured the research labs and saw the facilities and the “groundbreaking” research in genetics and diseases.
“And then I got to meet with a lot of the student success, wellness folks, and that’s an important area of concern for me because one of the things that I’ve been doing as student regent is going to different universities [and] focusing on academic advising,” he said.
Mutyala is a first-generation college student, so he can relate to students whose family cannot help them or tell them what courses to take.
“Making sure that advising is, like, efficient, what we can do to improve it and how we can engage students because I think student engagement is really important,” he said. “What we’re seeing is, after COVID-19, a lot of students were virtual or away from campus and then campus life has kind of fallen apart, and this is throughout the state.”
Mutyala believes campus life is important to help students “make it through the finish line” and graduate.
“Higher education can be tough and it’s a different challenge for everyone that comes,” the student regent said. “But education really can do a lot of good for people. I think one of the biggest things that education [does] is empower people. It gives people better jobs, economically empowers people. But also, you learn about how things work. … You gain knowledge and you can learn alot about life.”
Mutyala said the main thing he is trying to do as student regent is make sure there is equity in the level of advising in institutions with undergraduate programs.
“Advising can be improved anywhere at any institution but, I think, at the undergraduate level it’s very important when students are transitioning from being in the K-12 system to going to have more independence and choosing a career,” he said. “There is a lot more doubt in that area and I think just ensuring that the advising process there is improved in two ways. One, trying to figure out ways to measure what works and what doesn’t work in the different universities in the System and have a way for them to share it. And the second, like, ensuring that the resources are available there for advising to make sure that there is that student adviser to student ratio.”
