{"id":85568,"date":"2025-12-12T14:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/85568\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T14:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T14:15:09","slug":"utep-epcc-and-texas-tech-grads-to-mark-winter-commencements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/85568\/","title":{"rendered":"UTEP, EPCC and Texas Tech grads to mark winter commencements"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education, environment and other topics across El Paso.\u00a0<\/p>\n

UTEP, EPCC, Texas Tech Health El Paso to Hold Winter Commencements<\/p>\n

Several thousand graduates from Texas Tech Health El Paso, El Paso Community College and the University of Texas at El Paso will participate in winter commencement ceremonies from Dec. 12 through Dec. 19.<\/p>\n

EPCC has scheduled two ceremonies<\/a> to celebrate about 1,500 graduates who will cross the stage Friday at the Don Haskins Center, 151 Glory Road. That number includes 274 students enrolled in dual credit, early college high schools and Pathways in Technology programs.<\/p>\n

The 1 p.m. service is for those who will earn associate of science or associate of applied science degrees or a certificate of completion. The 5 p.m. event is for those who will earn an associate of arts or associate of arts in teaching.<\/p>\n

The scheduled keynote speaker is Jamie Merisotis, Lumina Foundation president and CEO.<\/p>\n

\"\"UTEP Spring Commencement, May 2023. (Courtesy UTEP)<\/p>\n

UTEP will have ceremonies<\/a> at 1 and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in the Haskins Center. The ceremony will recognize more than 2,900 fall and summer graduates and degree candidates.That number includes the largest fall-only cohort of degree candidates \u2013 2,280.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the afternoon event is for the colleges of Education and Engineering, and the evening exercise is for the College of Liberal Arts. The first event Sunday is for the College of Science, School of Pharmacy and the Woody L. Hunt College of Business. The second is for the colleges of Nursing and Health Sciences.<\/p>\n

The winter commencement season will end with a 6 p.m. ceremony Friday, Dec. 19, for the TTHEP Gayle Greve Hunt School of Nursing<\/a> at the Starlight Event Center, 6650 Continental Drive. Information: commencementelp@ttuhsc.edu<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"The Ysleta Independent School District headquarters in East El Paso. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n

Former City Rep. Henry Rivera Appointed to YISD Board<\/p>\n

\"\"Henry Rivera<\/p>\n

Former El Paso City Council member Henry Rivera will represent the Del Valle High School feeder pattern on the Ysleta Independent School District Board of Trustees.<\/p>\n

The YISD board voted 4-1 Wednesday to appoint Rivera to the position and replace former Trustee Kathryn Lucero, who resigned in September as she prepared to move out of state.<\/p>\n

Trustee Chris Hernandez cast the lone vote against the appointment, but did not state the reason. Trustee Shane Haggerty was absent.<\/p>\n

Rivera, a retired El Paso police officer, is expected to take office Feb. 18 at the monthly school board meeting. He will complete Lucero\u2019s term, which is set to expire in May 2029.<\/p>\n

Trustee positions are nonpartisan and unpaid. YISD trustees serve four-year terms with no term limits.<\/p>\n

The board of trustees is charged with the hiring and evaluation of the superintendent, adopting a tax rate and an annual budget, and setting goals, policies and priorities for the district. Trustees can also call for bond elections to improve and build new facilities.<\/p>\n

Rivera represented parts of the Lower Valley and the Eastside on the El Paso City Council for eight years until he reached his term limit.<\/p>\n

\"\"Bighorn sheep are released into Franklin Mountains State Park on Dec. 4, 2024. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n

El Pasoan Named Desert Bighorn Sheep Program Leader<\/p>\n

Texas Parks and Wildlife selected its senior wildlife biologist Jose Luis Etchart, 32, as its new desert bighorn sheep program leader. Etchart, who grew up in El Paso and remains a resident, replaces longtime program leader Froyl\u00e1n Hern\u00e1ndez, who left the department this summer for a new role at the Nevada Department of Wildlife. While Hern\u00e1ndez was based in Alpine, Texas, near Marfa, Etchart will stay based in El Paso.<\/p>\n

LEARN MORE: First desert bighorn sheep lambs born in Franklin Mountains<\/a><\/p>\n

In December 2024, Etchart was part of the team that reintroduced native desert bighorn sheep to the Franklin Mountains<\/a>. He has been involved with desert bighorn sheep restoration in the Trans-Pecos region for nearly 10 years.<\/p>\n

Etchart holds a bachelor\u2019s in animal science and master\u2019s in wildlife management from\u00a0 Sul Ross State University, a public school in Alpine that encompasses the Borderlands Research Institute. Etchart worked as a wildlife technician for the program, which focuses on conservation in the Chihuahuan Desert.<\/p>\n

PHOTOS: Desert bighorn sheep move into Franklin Mountains<\/a><\/p>\n

As a postgraduate student, Etchart worked as a desert bighorn sheep technician for Texas Parks and Wildlife and studied the relationship between bighorns and aoudads in the Sierra Vieja Mountains of West Texas. Aoudads, a hardy non-native sheep brought from Africa, are the bighorns\u2019 primary threat because they can carry a life-threatening bacterial disease and compete for resources.<\/p>\n

El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Honors Businesses, Leaders<\/p>\n

\"\"The El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce offices, 2401 E. Missouri St. (Brandy Ruiz \/ El Paso Matters) <\/p>\n

The El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday honored a handful of local businesses and leaders during its 35th Anniversary Mercado recognizing community impact and entrepreneurial achievement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The award winners:<\/p>\n

First Steps Award: Pinky Clean Center<\/p>\n

Staying Power Award: Helping Hands Handyman<\/p>\n

Military Readiness and Impact Award: ReadyOne Industries<\/p>\n

Volunteer of the Year Award: Mar\u00eda De Jes\u00fas Ortiz-Frausto, FirstLight Federal Credit Union<\/p>\n

Growth for the Future Award: Raiz Federal Credit Union<\/p>\n

Customer Service Award: FirstLight Federal Credit Union<\/p>\n

Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Ruben Alvarez, the Marketing Hunters<\/p>\n

Community Partner Award: University Medical Center of El Paso<\/p>\n

The Cindy Ramos-Davidson Legacy Award, named after the former longtime CEO who died in June, was presented to Robert Davidson.<\/p>\n

The event also marked a leadership change for the organization, which welcomed incoming chair Antonio Rico, who\u2019ll replace Frank Spencer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur award recipients remind us why the chamber exists \u2014 to champion small business, create opportunity, and strengthen our regional economy,\u201d said Rico, CEO of ElectroSystems Engineers.<\/p>\n

Founded in 1990, the chamber offers advocacy, education, collaboration and training to small businesses, including minority-, women- and veteran-owned enterprises.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

LISTEN: EL PASO MATTERS PODCAST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is your weekly news roundup, which takes a quick look at some developments in government, politics, education,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,31335,4533,40995,4664],"class_list":{"0":"post-85568","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-el-paso","9":"tag-el-paso-headlines","10":"tag-el-paso-news","11":"tag-epcc","12":"tag-utep","13":"tag-yisd","14":"tag-ysleta-isd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}