San Miguel Begins as TAMIU's 1st Hispanic and Female Provost

Dr. Claudia San Miguel was recently tamed Texas A&M International University Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Texas A&M International University started its Fall semester on Monday with Dr. Claudia San Miguel taking over as the university's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.

TAMIU President Dr. Pablo Arenaz said San Miguel was the most qualified candidate for this position after the retirement of Dr. Thomas D. Mitchell as she has an extensive knowledge of the campus, the culture and the community.

"Dr. San Miguel will be our first female and first Hispanic Provost," Arenaz said. "She has already achieved a remarkable legacy of teaching, research and service to the university, and we believe she is keenly positioned to continue that legacy as our new provost.”

San Miguel said she is honored and eager to serve.

"It is my sincere honor to serve as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs," she said. "As an alumna of TAMIU and part of the first cohort of students to take classes on this beautiful campus when it opened its doors in 1995, I am immensely proud to be a TAMIU graduate," she said. "I am equally proud to serve as both a faculty member and administrator for the past 20 years.

"This university has been a trailblazer for student success across the region, state and nation. Accolades continuously demonstrate that TAMIU offers an accessible and exceptional education at an affordable price. Our graduates are also leaders in their chosen professions and have blazed a trail of success across diverse industries and professions."

San Miguel graduated from Nixon High School and holds her doctorate in criminal justice from Sam Houston State University. Her M.S. and B.S., also in criminal justice, were earned at TAMIU. Her research and areas of specialization include the administration of justice, border and homeland security; the death penalty; domestic violence; ethics; human trafficking; immigration; justice policy; juvenile delinquency/prevention; border and homeland security; law; policing; and society.

She has co-authored five books on criminal justice and related constitutional issues and has taught courses in human trafficking for the U.S. State Department at the International Law Enforcement Academy.

Before becoming provost, San Miguel served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Chair of the Department of Social Sciences, Director of the Criminal Justice Program, and Director of the Border Studies Institute/Texas Military Forces. Her research efforts have secured over $5.7 million in external grants, and she is a five-time recipient of The Texas A&M University System’s Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award.

San Miguel reflected on the new position and described what she expects to achieve in her position.

Born and raised in Laredo, San Miguel's parents came to the U.S. from Mexico. Her father went to school at Texas A&I Kingsville where he earned his master's in education. He went on to work as a teacher for LISD for over 40 years.

"I think that's where I got my passion for education -- well, from both parents -- to be an educator, to give back, to provide service to your community."

San Miguel started studying at Laredo College before she transferred to TAMIU. Then it was a friend who suggested she took an elective in criminal justice, which led to her discovering her passion.

"Eventually what I did is combine those passions: wanted to be in the classroom like my dad, but also have that passion for the content, which was criminal justice."

San Miguel said that it was really special to be part of that first class at TAMIU and also get the support of her family and members of TAMIU faculty go continue with a doctorate.

"For a while I was trying to figure out whether I should go into public schools to teach either criminal justice or to maybe get an alternative certification degree, but when I looked at the number of hours to become a certified public school teacher versus the number of hours to get a Ph. D., I decided to go with the Ph. D.," she said.

San Miguel said she attended Sam Houston State in 2001 and then graduated in 2005. During her stay she was invited to become a research assistant where she researched on human trafficking.

Thanks to a coincedence, she graduated as a position became available at TAMIU. She was encouraged to apply and did so with the mindset of "I'll try it out for one year."

After that, it was the experiences of being on the faculty that made her to want to stay.

"The faculty were so supportive, so willing to work with me, and the fact that they allowed me to work with students was great," she said. "I became the sponsor of the Criminal Justice Organization, and that ability to not only being in the classroom to work with students but to give back to my community made me realize that there was really no reason for me to leave."

San Miguel highlighted the culture of Laredo as another reason to stay in Laredo and provide education for local students.

"Laredo it's different. We are a big family. You know we support each other. We're here for to support our students, because if not for TAMIU, where would the students go? Some students are are maybe too shy or hesitant to leave," she said. "So we provide high caliber, quality education to a population of students that normally wouldn't receive that.

"That's why I stayed because of who we are and and the big heart that we have, not only for our students but for this community. We support this community by graduating students."

For San Miguel, TAMIU is actually changing the lives of its students.

"We are transforming lives not only of that one graduate but of the other family members. And you've seen it at graduation, everybody goes," she said. "Every time I go to graduation, I get goosebumps because the whole family is there. You're changing the life, and to me that's priceless because you are able to change their lives in a very meaningful way."

She said that the degrees TAMIU offers can be compared with any university.  

"We offer quality education, higher quality faculty, and if you look at when we graduate a person, the percentage of students that actually are employed after a year that's close to 70%. Honestly we're giving them the tools to excel, and most of them do stay in the surrounding regions," she said. "We have really done an excellent job in preparing our students to to meet not only the demands of the workforce but also to prepare them for whatever they want to do."

San Miguel said that her experience as researcher and professor at TAMIU and the different administrative positions she has held during 20 years at TAMIU prepared her in this new position.

"I agree with Dr. Mitchell, since he would say that being an administrator is a people business. You have to be able to to work with people, to be able to make decisions -- hard decisions -- to be able to work together as a team and to remind everybody that we're here for the students, we're here for student success. That's what a university is about," she said. "But we're in the business to educate others, and you have to be able to work with students, work with faculty and be able to make sure that we provide education to them."

For San Miguel, being the new Provost and Vice President of Student Affairs is a commitment to the Laredo community.

"I was honored that all my accomplishments throughout the years and the support that my family has given me and my colleagues took me to where I am now," she said. "It is also a privilege to serve the university in this capacity, and I hope I can be an inspiration and role model to our students," she said.

Among the plans San Miguel has for the university are to enhance what the university does for the community and let everybody know that TAMIU is the place to be.

"I also want to be able for us to go out there to different high schools, to the different events and show to our community what we do as a university," she said. "Also I want to be able to support our faculty making sure they have the resources to be the best professors, researchers, teachers or educators. And then the next bucket would be student success to make sure that they have the proper advising, the proper interventions.

"I want the community to know that we're faculty and we're able to provide this quality education to students. I would say we provide exceptional, affordable education, and we hire the best faculty. So you there's no need to look anywhere else. We are your your university of choice, and as a graduate of TAMIU, you can accomplish anything you want to. The sky is the limit."