Giorgio Gotti is the new interim dean of the Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship.
Gotti was born in the Italian town of San Pellegrino Terme. He completed his Laurea, or bachelor’s degree, in economics at Bocconi University in Milan, Italy, then went on to earn his master’s and doctorate of accountancy at the University of Tennessee.
To Gotti, accounting is “the language of business.” While he came to the United States practicing English, the language of accounting intrigued him as well.
“Everywhere in the world, you need a language that is calculating some numbers, but then, more importantly, giving a meaning to these numbers, creating a history,” he said. “Companies and cities and public organizations are telling a story with the numbers.”
Gotti said his college life was different in Italy than in the United States in terms of society in the university as well as the academics.
He saw a different approach to the learning environment and said what he liked most was how the professors were full-time and how they engaged with the students.
“What we really want to do is see students engage outside of the classroom, working together, talking with professionals … going to regional, national [meetings] and becoming friends,” Gotti said.
Shana Mettlach, administrative associate for the dean’s office, said Gotti cares about the students and what they have to say, which is what makes him “such an exceptional leader.”
“I’m really excited about what’s to come this year,” Mettlach added.
Gotti’s most valuable learned experience came through being an international student and said it would not have happened had he not “stepped out of his comfort zone.”
As the interim dean, he wants to create more opportunities regarding the students of Business and Entrepreneurship.
“I think for our students having these international experiences, [such as] study abroad, next semester abroad, it will enrich them coming back and that will enrich our university community, our college, and our Rio Grande Valley community,” Gotti said.
He attests to the advice he got from a former professor.
“If you feel the same way on Friday night that you feel on Sunday night, then you have found the right job,” Gotti said, quoting his former professor and adding that he did.
Lilia A. Fuentes
Lilia A. Fuentes, the new dean of the UTRGV School of Nursing, started back in 2004 as a clinical instructor at legacy institution University of Texas-Pan American.
Fuentes helped create programs and curriculum during the merger between legacy institutions University of Texas-Pan American and University of Texas at Brownsville. When the UTRGV School of Nursing was created in 2015, Fuentes became one of its administrators.
“Since then, nursing has really, you know, dug into the community,” Fuentes said. “Our roots are very deep here in the Rio Grande Valley.”
Fuentes was born in Weslaco but lived in Donna with her parents, five brothers and one sister.
Her great aunt was a contributor to starting her interest in nursing, as her aunt was a nurse in Mexico. Fuentes watched people come to her aunt’s house with the trust they had for her.
“A lot of the time she really didn’t do much,” she said. “She would just sit and talk to them or give them a massage or just listen to them or give them certain herbal tea. So, she really didn’t do a lot of prescribing per se.”
Through witnessing those gestures, Fuentes realized that “nursing is a calling” and “it is meaningful work.”
“One of the unique things about nursing is that we provide a very holistic approach to care, to health care,” she said.
Fuentes earned a bachelor’s and master’s of science in nursing from University of Texas-Pan American. She believes in education and wants the best for her students in the School of Nursing.
Fuentes advises students to “just go for it.”
“The worst that can happen is that they’ll tell you no, or the worst thing that can happen is that you fail, right,” she said. “You fail at accomplishing something at this point, but through failures come perseverance. You have to get up. … So that’s what I always tell my students … to just keep going. Keep going.”
In Spring 2022, Fuentes was interim dean, but after her faculty recommended that she should obtain the position as dean, she applied.
Fuentes said that she did not know if she would get the position since a lot of people applied, but is elated that she did because she knows her way around the university, the faculty and students.
“I believe in nursing,” she said. “I believe in university, in UTRGV School of Nursing, and I feel we have a lot more to accomplish.”
