Texas State dean to serve on Border Colonias Steering Committee

By Colin Ashby
University News Service
June 12, 2013

Jaime Chahin, dean of Texas State’s College of Applied Arts, will serve on the 2013-14 Texas Border Colonias Study Steering Committee, assisting in the updating of the Texas Colonia report.

Chahin will chair the committee in conducting its study. Chahin was recently invited by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas to serve on the committee. The committee’s task will be to update the 1996 Texas Colonia: A Thumbnail Sketch of the Conditions, Issues, Challenges and Opportunities report. The report focuses on challenges and opportunities that exist in Texas colonias and ways to make living conditions better. The committee plans to work for the next 10 months updating and revising the report. The first meeting for the committee was held Friday, June 7 at the University of Texas-Pan American’s International Trade and Technology Building in Edinburg.

Several new challenges and conditions have arisen since the 1996 report, Jordan Barton, senior advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said. She said the study will work to capture the voices of residents and service providers in the Texas colonias.

Chahin earned his B.A. in sociology and political science from Texas A&I University in 1974. He earned his M.S.W. from the University of Michigan and received his Ph.D in education administration from Michigan in 1977.

For more information on the Texas Border Colonias Steering Committee, contact Jordana Barton at (210) 213-8699. To view the 1996 Texas Colonias report, go to www.dallasfed.org/assets/documents/cd/pubs/colonias.pdf.