Whether climbing towers or delivering papers, Frank Serpas has kept Texas Student Media running for 25 years

Frank Serpas III’s office on the main floor of the Hearst Student Media building serves as an unofficial archive. Media passes from sideline shoots hang in one corner, and a framed negative of the last Daily Texan newspaper printed on campus rests in another. On the floor sits a bent piece of metal that was once an antenna at top of the UT Tower. Each artifact tells a piece of his story — 25 years of dedication to Texas Student Media, and no intention of letting any of those years be forgotten.

Serpas is the assistant director for business and media operations at TSM, which means he has a hand in nearly every corner of the organization. Over the last couple of decades, Serpas has wrangled printing presses, produced financial reports and upgraded TV studio equipment, all in the name of providing hands-on experiences for students.

“I believe in the mission of the operation,” Serpas said. “I’ve seen so many generations of students have an opportunity to get experience and to learn things and prepare themselves for their future. And I think TSM is really valuable to (serve as) that complement to what the students learn in the classroom.”

But Serpas didn’t originally plan on a career in media at all. He arrived at The University of Texas at Austin from Georgia Tech in 1993 as a mechanical engineering graduate student. While completing his studies, he created a blog for the New Orleans Saints — this was before NFL teams had their own websites.

It took him a while to discover that UT’s campus TV station allowed students from any major to create their own shows. When he did, he saw an opportunity to take his blog project further. Serpas began volunteering at Texas Student Television in 1996.

“I got some practice shooting football, UT games on the sidelines for the ‘College Press Box’ show on TSTV, which had just started in the fall of 1997,” Serpas said. “And (eventually) I was able to … get press credentials for the sideline of the Superdome.”

After leading as TSTV station manager in the 1999-2000 school year and finishing his master’s degree in biomechanics, Serpas stayed around to improve TSTV’s technical infrastructure. TSM leadership later decided that his engineering background was enough to trust him with the logistics of the organization’s printing operations, Serpas said.

His first week delivering copies of The Daily Texan coincided with the 2000 U.S. presidential election. Serpas said he recalls grabbing bundles of newspapers at 4 a.m. as the presses got started after Election Day.

“It was very cool to know that I was going to help get the news out to the public because, 25 years ago, there was not nearly the proliferation of the opportunity to read news on your phone or anywhere else,” Serpas said. “It was really interesting to have that energy of seeing the paper come off the press then.”

Serpas was hired as a full-time circulation manager in 2001 and has cycled through several roles over the last 25 years. He’s witnessed multiple building renovations, the outsourcing of TSM’s printing, TSM’s financial issues after the Great Recession and its subsequent recovery in the years since.

As TSM’s needs changed, Serpas took on more responsibilities. In 2014, he stepped up as interim director following the previous director’s abrupt departure. Serpas eventually landed on overseeing business and media operations.

“I think I’ve got a mindset that’s … detail oriented, and I’m comfortable with numbers,” Serpas said. “And so I love my Excel spreadsheets.”

Serpas’ current duties encompass accounting, employee onboarding, contracts, information technology, order fulfillment, print distribution, archiving, and equipment and facilities management, among many, many other areas.

A recent highlight of his job was climbing to the top of the UT Tower to set up new broadcasting equipment, Serpas said. The federal government made an ultimatum to TSM: Switch from Channel 29 to Channel 32 or risk losing a license. Serpas, his father and a small team of students finished connecting the new transmitter and antenna a day before the deadline.

“When we got it on, when it lit up and we were still there, that was very, very fulfilling and very special,” Serpas said. “I feel an obligation to not let that go away after generations of TSTV.”

He frequently interacts with students in day-to-day settings as well. While his role touches all 10 of TSM’s entities, he works most closely with Texas Student Television and radio station KVRX 91.7 FM because of his broadcasting know-how. Serpas supports the students’ behind-the-scenes needs and their “crazy ideas,” said Logan Roberts, who is KVRX’s operations manager and a communication studies senior at Moody College.

“Frank goes above and beyond like every day,” Roberts said. “Since I was a freshman, he’s been at every meeting. He’s always on standby for if we have any operative hiccups or any problems. … He always goes out of his way to make us feel appreciated for the work that we do, too.”

For Serpas, Texas Student Media is an institution akin to the longstanding comedy program “Saturday Night Live.” (He’s been watching since 1977 and also made a website for them before an official one existed.) Throughout his years, it’s been “very rewarding” to see students’ paths after graduation and learn about their successes when they come back to visit, Serpas said.

“The Cactus Yearbook goes back to 1894,” Serpas said. “And so there’s a continuous thread going back well over a century for students that, even though the technology will change and some of the details will change, … the aim of what they’re trying to achieve is really what it has been. And that’s because it’s a valuable undertaking.”