UTEP President Natalicio in stable condition after collapsing

UTEP president Diana Natalicio was hospitalized after collapsing Thursday afternoon.

In a news release issued by the University of Texas at El Paso, Executive Vice President Richard Adauto said, “This afternoon on the UTEP campus, at approximately 1:30 p.m., President Diana Natalicio collapsed on University Avenue. She was walking to the Student Union to vote.”

On Friday, Adauto stated Natalicio is in stable condition at a local hospital and continues to undergo medical evaluation.

UTEP officials said the University of Texas System has been notified and normal university operations will continue.

Dr. Natalicio has been at the helm of UTEP since 1988, but began teaching there in 1971.

Her tenure makes her the longest-serving still sitting president of a major public research university. That continuity has helped transform UTEP from a university that offered one doctoral program in 1988 to one with 23 now, and one that saw its budget go from $65 million to nearly $450 million.