Article 4 of a 5-part series on UT San Antonio’s hidden talent pipeline

Yahoo was one of our earliest industry partners to come looking for talent at UT San Antonio. After Meta and Netflix, they reached out to see what was happening here.

They were looking for talent across computer science, computer engineering, business analytics, mathematics, cybersecurity, AI, and data analytics. I remember that first call clearly. They told us they had heard about the work happening downtown: the Center for Data Science, the Open Cloud Institute, and the partnerships connecting students to real world projects, and they wanted to see it for themselves.

When they arrived, they were surprised by the scale of what they found. They expected a small, emerging program. Instead, they walked into a university operating three National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity, a distinction held by only a handful of institutions nationwide, and graduating hundreds of students prepared for defense, cloud, and data security roles.

They spent the day meeting with leaders across engineering, science, business, and liberal arts. The conversations were fast paced and technical. Students and faculty walked them through intrusion detection simulations and real time threat data analysis. This wasn’t theoretical work. It was applied, production level thinking.

Inside the Cyber Lab

During a break, one of Yahoo’s lead recruiters leaned over and said, “Your students show something we don’t see at other universities. We offer them feedback, and they want to learn. They ask questions. There is no ego here.”

That was the moment I realized we had turned a corner.

For years, we had been telling companies that the talent was here. This time, we didn’t have to convince anyone. The students did it themselves.

Yahoo left that day with résumés, interview requests, and follow ups. A few weeks later, they told us something that stopped me in my tracks: “We’ve never hired this many student interns from one university in our first recruiting year. Ever.”

Those internships spanned roles including Commercial Development Intern, Software Engineering Intern, Product Manager Intern, Network Compliance Analyst Intern, and positions within Yahoo’s Paranoids security team.

That wasn’t just a milestone for us. It was a signal. When students from San Antonio are given real opportunities, they don’t just show up. They lead.

What stood out wasn’t only how many students Yahoo hired, but the feedback that followed. They talked about communication, accountability, and how quickly our students adapted. After an exceptional recruiting year, Yahoo invited the Najim Global Summer Institute, led by Dr. Erica Clark, to their headquarters in the summer of 2025, further deepening the partnership.

Many of our students are first generation college students. They have balanced work, coursework, and family responsibilities their entire lives. They are used to solving problems without perfect conditions.

That resilience shows up immediately in the workplace.

Yahoo kept coming back, and they weren’t the only ones. Every company visit reinforces the same truth: once you meet our students, you stop asking whether UT San Antonio has the talent, and you start asking how quickly you can hire it.

You don’t have to leave San Antonio to find world class tech talent. It’s already here.

That reality is echoed by Yahoo’s leadership:

“Yahoo’s culture of inclusivity informs how we collaborate, conduct business, and engage with the audiences, clients, and partners we serve, including academic institutions like UT San Antonio, which has proven to be a remarkable source of bright and driven talent for our company,” said Alicin Reidy Williamson, Chief Diversity and Culture Officer at Yahoo. “We’re proud to have welcomed UTSA students into our Industry Breakers and Inside Track events and into our highly competitive internship program, where they contributed to some of Yahoo’s most iconic products. These students bring the curiosity, resilience, and perspective our industry deeply needs.”

And companies are finally starting to see what’s been here all along.

Citations

Industry recruitment and employer engagement:
UT San Antonio Office of Career-Engaged Learning
https://careerengagedlearning.utsa.edu/

Cybersecurity Centers of Excellence designation:
Department of Homeland Security / National Security Agency (NSA)
Cybersecurity Centers of Academic Excellence Program
https://www.caecommunity.org/

University research capacity and student outcomes:
UT San Antonio Career-Engaged Learning Presentation (2024)
(Internal presentation referenced by UTSA Office of Career-Engaged Learning)

Global Summer Institute and experiential learning partnerships:
Najim Global Summer Institute at Yahoo

LinkedIn post by Darrell C. Balderrama, MPA:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/darrell-c-balderrama-mpa-4978b963_utsanajim-careerengagedlearning-gsi-activity-7361126151374712832-KiL1/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAENtncBnQR6X5fOCSbefVwlqXV-_2X-KoU

LinkedIn article by Sicily Rios:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-global-summer-institute-utsa-has-left-lasting-impact-sicily-rios-9lmte/?trackingId=Z%2B34FCYERj2BqKjSvz8prw%3D%3D

Corporate leadership references:
Alicin Reidy Williamson, Chief Diversity and Culture Officer, Yahoo
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alicin-reidy-williamson-88067b/

Brian Provost, Senior Vice President, Yahoo (San Antonio)
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianprovost/