Sue, the Tyrannosaurus rex, will be assembled by the facilities management staff and placed on exhibit Thursday at the Visitors Center in Edinburg./Sarah Carvajal/The Rider
BY Megan Gonzalez | THE RIDER
Sue, the largest and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex, is returning to the Edinburg campus on Thursday.
The dinosaur’s skeleton will be assembled by the facilities management staff and placed on exhibit until Jan. 8 in the Visitors Center on the Edinburg campus.
From Thursday through October, more than 30,500 people are scheduled to visit Sue.
The university will facilitate tours with more than 20 exhibit attendants and tour guides to lead visitors across the display.
“We will accept walk-ins,” said Krystal Marroquin, an outreach representative for Recruitment and Scholarships. “Of course, if they are bringing in a larger group, we do recommend that they make an appointment because we have other groups already scheduled.”
In 2008, an estimated 60,000 people visited the campus to see the T. rex. UTRGV is hoping to reach that goal once again, with the help of Hispanic Engineering, Science and Technology Week (HESTEC), which kicks off with Educator Day Oct. 3.
“A lot of people should come out and see Sue,” Marroquin said. “If they haven’t or even if they did have an opportunity to see it when they were younger, just come and see it again. See the different perspective of when you were younger and now as an adult, how that changes in the exhibit.”
In the spring, different exhibits are being planned for the Festival of International Books and Arts (FESTIBA), an event that brings cultural awareness and art appreciation to the South Texas community.
“They do want to bring something around the time of FESTIBA,” Krystal said, “So, exhibits might be making a way back into the university.”
To register for the T. rex exhibit, visit www.utrgv.edu/gcr/departments/public_art/sue-exhibit/index.htm.
