This Is Our Sputnik Moment
Aligning Purpose, Possibility, and Action in 2026
What a year!
While 2025 presented no shortage of challenges for TxEEE, it will ultimately be remembered as transformative – a year of rebuilding, retooling, and resilience. More importantly, it has positioned us for what comes next.
Rebuilding: Strengthening Our Operational Foundation
Under Edgardo Irizarry’s leadership, we have made meaningful progress in improving our operational capacities and efficiencies. This work is foundational to everything we do. We are also excited to welcome Danielle (Dani) Teso as the new leader of our Finance and Accounting team. With Danielle at the helm of this dynamic team, we are strengthening our financial planning, reporting, and analysis rigor across the organization. This includes our Health and Safety Training Center (HSTC) where we are equally delighted to welcome Damir Hasanovic as operational coordinator. His program management expertise and collaborative mindset are boosting HSTC’s reputation & impact and further facilitating its integration into TxEEE from both an operational and programmatic perspective.
Our operational objectives for 2026 are well-defined: to increase transparency and accountability, implement more rigorous fiscal controls, and refine forecasting and budgeting procedures. These efforts represent critical strategic initiatives that support our long-term viability within the dynamic Continuing and Executive Engineering Education (CEEE) market.
Retooling: Advancing How We Engage the Market
2025 was also a year of meaningful retooling—particularly in Business Development. Under Konavis Smith’s leadership, we are demonstrating what is possible when we connect industry (employer) needs, Cockrell School of Engineering (CSE) faculty expertise, and market demand. The recent success of our AI in Geotechnical Engineering course illustrates this. Not only did this offering exceed enrollment projections; it validates a new business model for our Engineering Professional Development (EPD) vertical. Equally important, our deeper integration of Business Development and Marketing is creating a stronger, more unified approach to program development and marketing, including in our PETEX vertical.
Resilience: Adapting Under Pressure
2025 presented significant challenges to our resilience. We concluded an external marketing partnership that supported our Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering (ME) program. Under the leadership of Maria Arrellaga, the marketing team responded with effective action, resulting in notable growth in ME enrollment during 2025. As we acknowledge Maria’s many achievements upon her retirement in December 2025, we do so with appreciation and a sense of ongoing progress. Enhancing our strategic marketing communications (marcom) capabilities will remain a central priority for 2026.
2026: Our “Sputnik Moment”
The CEEE landscape is not just changing—it has evolved (see McKinsey and General Catalyst execs say the era of ‘learn once, work forever’ is over). With international graduate enrollments declining, AI reshaping education and workforce training, and the cost of goods and services increasing, 2026 demands significant change and focused efforts. Our 2026 priorities are designed to fully realize the possibilities of this current moment.
Key Priorities for 2026
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Professional Master’s Engineering (PME) Program Assessment and Review
We will be conducting a formal assessment of both (1) the viability of our current PME offerings and (2) their operational and business models. This will include defining more holistic measures of program health and success—not just enrollments, but industry (employer) and disciplinary relevance, financial sustainability, and strategic fit. These insights will proactively guide our decision-making and investments. We have already begun this assessment with our Software Engineering Master’s program. Several action items have been identified and are currently being implemented. - Workforce Development and Transition (WD/T) in Semiconductors and Energy
The launch of our online, stackable graduate certificate in Semiconductor Science and Engineering: Semiconductor Processes and Devices marked TxEEE’s entry into the semiconductor space. Our energy WD/T footprint is also growing and evolving. In partnership with UT Austin Portugal, we are currently developing a new course, Future of Hydrogen – Opportunities and Applications. This course, to be offered in spring 2026, will cover key economic, regulatory, and technical topics in hydrogen. Led in development by John Scannell, this initiative not only demonstrates our instructional design expertise but also explores the use of AI to enhance our course design and development capabilities. - Growing Custom Programming
Custom programming continues to represent our most promising growth area. Building on our success in this area with partners such as the Construction Industry Institute (CII), RWE Clean Energy, LLC, and Texas Health and Human Services, we will focus on executing a clear growth strategy for custom programs that includes experimenting with new business engagement and delivery models.
This is our moment. Like Sputnik, it signals a shift—one that requires us to think differently, act decisively, be accountable, lean on our collective wisdom, and align around a shared sense of purpose. Together, we are positioning ourselves to better support the Cockrell School of Engineering in realizing the vision of the courageous engineer, through coalescing an accessible lifelong learning ecosystem that equips this new type of engineer to tackle the important problems facing society and improve the lives of future generations.
