Lisa Carrington Firmin is the Military Liaison and Associate Provost for Veteran and Military Affairs at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). Firmin serves as a conduit between UTSA and the veteran/military community and coordinates and integrates support services at the strategic level for veteran and military affiliated students. Firmin is also the Founder and CEO of Carrington Firmin LLC which provides consulting services in the areas of Leadership, Veterans, Transition and Diversity and Inclusion.
In 2016, Firmin authored Deploying Leadership: Steady Skills to Serve in Any Environment in the Spring 2016 edition of Phi Kappa Phi Forum and authored a book chapter titled “The Transition: Colonel to Associate Provost,” in Adapt and Overcome, Essays on the Student Veteran Experience. Firmin leads the Veteran Services Advisory Team, a cross campus collaborative that works to educate others about the nontraditional student veteran and ease their transition into higher education. In 2013, she co-authored a book chapter titled “Serving Student Veterans at the University of Texas at San Antonio: Accomplishments and Challenges,” in Building Bridges for Student Success: A Sourcebook for Colleges and Universities. Her collaborations resulted in case studies and the creation of an online training module highlighting Veteran Culture Competence for faculty and staff. In her previous role, as Associate Provost for Faculty/Student Diversity and Recuitment she founded the UTSA Top Scholar program, combining merit scholarships with student enrichment experiences enhancing the quality of each incoming freshman class. She developed the first Presidential level Distinguished Diversity awards program for faculty, staff and students and championed the addition of Gender Identity/Gender Expression to the university’s nondiscrimination policy.
Firmin retired from the United States Air Force as a Colonel and its most senior ranking Latina officer, after leading UTSA’s ROTC program to the best in the nation and being awarded a Bronze Star Medal for her efforts in combat as an Expeditionary Mission Support Group Commander in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle. She has received many honors and accolades such as the Legion of Merit, the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce National Latina Leader award, the Governor of Texas’ Yellow Rose award, the National Diversity Council’s Trailblazer and Most Powerful and Influential Women in Texas awards, the Texas Diversity Council’s Greater San Antonio LGBT Ally Award and the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas Trailblazer Award. She holds the National Diversity Council’s Certified Diversity Professional designation, is a member of the Board of Directors for the Texas Diversity Council, a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi and a member of the UT System’s Veteran’s Advisory Group and serves as a UTSA Co-Champion on the UT System’s Chancellor’s Network for Women’s Leadership.
