Ricardo Romo is an American

urban historian Urban history is a field of history that examines the historical nature of city, cities and towns, and the process of urbanization. The approach is often multidisciplinary, crossing boundaries into fields like social history, architectural histor ...

who served as the fifth President of the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) from May 1999 to March 2017.

Early life

A native of San Antonio's Westside, Romo graduated from Fox Tech High School and attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

on a track scholarship, where he was a member of the

Texas Cowboys The Texas Cowboys is an honorary student service organization at the University of Texas at Austin. The organization was founded in 1922 with the purpose of serving the University of Texas and maintaining Smokey the Cannon. It is considered one ...

and

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly referred to as Lambda Chi, is a fraternities and sororities, collegiate fraternity in North America. With over 300,000 initiates as of 2024, it is the third-largest social fraternity in the world by number of initia ...

. He holds a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in history from

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

and a Ph.D. in history from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. Romo is an

and the author of "East Los Angeles: History of a Barrio".

Early academic career

From 1987 to 1993, Romo directed the Texas office of the Tomas Rivera Center, housed at Trinity University, where he evaluated the impact of governmental policies on

Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans who have a Spanish or Latin American background, culture, or family origin. This demographic group includes all Americans who identify as Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race. According to th ...

. In 2002,

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

appointed him to the President's Board of Advisers on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. In 2004, former Secretary of State

Colin Powell Colin Luther Powell ( ; – ) was an Americans, American diplomat, and army officer who was the 65th United States secretary of state from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American to hold the office. He was the 15th National Security ...

appointed Romo as a U.S. representative to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization. In 2005 Romo was appointed to the Board of Directors of the

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (informally referred to as the Dallas Fed) is one of 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks that, along with the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C., make up the Federal Reserve System, the centra ...

, San Antonio branch.

UTSA presidency

Romo implemented "The UTSA Plan: A Roadmap to Excellence". The plan is a strategic effort to enhance both access to education and excellence in scholarship and service at UTSA. In October 2008, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Texas Exes Alumni Association. In the 2014-2015 academic year, Romo received a total compensation from UTSA in the amount of $530,704. The ''

San Antonio Express-News The ''San Antonio Express-News'' is a daily newspaper in San Antonio, Texas, founded in 1865. It is owned by the Hearst Corporation and has offices in San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The ''Express-News'' is the third largest newspaper in the sta ...

'' questions details about the president's resignation: "The public may never be privy to the circumstances that prompted ... Romo to be placed on paid leave. Personnel issues are not subject to open records and disclosure laws. Details of such investigations become public only if lawsuits are filed ...", and suits are not anticipated in this case.

Controversy

On February 14, 2017, Romo was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into his conduct regarding how he greeted women in his office. Romo had planned to retire in August 2017 after almost two decades with the university. He announced his resignation, effective immediately, on March 3, 2017. "I have been made aware that the manner in which I embraced women made them uncomfortable and was inappropriate," he said.Lauren Caruba and Silvia Foster-Frau, "Romo steps down as UTSA president: Leader had been under investigation", ''

'', March 4, 2017, pp. 1, A14.

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324, making it the state's fourth-most populous county. Bexar County ...

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Nelson Wolff Nelson William Wolff (born October 27, 1940) is a retired American judge and Democratic politician from San Antonio, Texas. He represented Bexar County in the Texas House of Representatives from 1971 to 1973 and the Texas Senate from 1973 to 197 ...

claimed that the

University of Texas System The University of Texas System (UT System) is a public university system in the U.S. state of Texas. It includes nine universities and five independent health institutions. The UT System is headquartered in Downtown Austin. It is the large ...

had mishandled the investigation into his friend's conduct. Wolff said that he often embraces men and women in the workplace: "It's a tradition in the Hispanic community that you do that... It's just a tradition, one that I participate in." When the UT System's investigation was closed on March 3, the report’s executive summary stated, "The information gained in the probe supports the conclusion that President Romo engaged in sexual harassment and sexual misconduct against the victims..."

Personal life

Romo is married and has two children. Romos is an art collector. His collection includes works by Luis Jimenez, Carmen Lomas Garza, Cesar Martinez and Vincent Valdez, as well as print suites from Self Help Graphics and Coronado Studio. He has donated many prints from his collection to the Benson Latin American Collection.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romo, Ricardo 1943 births Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Living people Loyola Marymount University alumni Educators from San Antonio Texas Longhorns men's track and field athletes Trinity University (Texas) people University of California, Los Angeles alumni University of Texas at San Antonio people American male middle-distance runners 20th-century American sportsmen