At only nine years old, Texas A&M-San Antonio is a relatively young campus, but it’s new branding campaign is working to connect with the hundreds of years of the area’s rich history and culture. With a new tagline, “on a mission,” administrators want to clearly signal that the campus is meant to serve both the city’s large military population and the large numbers of underserved minorities.

The campus was created to expand on the storied history of Texas A&M while reaching out to communities unique to large urban areas, writes Autum A. Arnett in Education Dive.  More than three-fourths of the students are first-generation, which is a challenge President Cynthia Teniente-Matson wants to meet head-on.

“We try to have this sense of ‘you belong here,’” she told Education Dive. “As long as I’m here, we’re looking at a business model that focuses on faculty and student success.”

Teniente-Matson, who has held her title at the university since 2015,  has been very visible in the education space as of late, appearing on panels like SXSW EDU’s “ Creating a College Going & Success Culture.” The discussion, which was sponsored by Wells Fargo, explored the challenges and best practices for retention and ensuring a successful college experience with a particular focus on at risk, disadvantaged, first generation, and comeback students. (Full disclosure: Wells Fargo is also a sponsor of GoCollegeNow.)

A student-first model is key to Teniente-Matson’s approach at Texas A&M-San Antonio, but the rapid growth of the student body will pose challenges. Although first wave of students were upperclassmen in 2009, the school is ballooning in size, erecting new buildings and taking in more students annually. The first freshman class was accepted in 2016, and the first residence hall opened late last year.

Her ultimate goal? To transform San Antonio into a true “education city,” using the university and its resources  to lead the charge.