The UH System Board of Regents appointed UH System Vice Chancellor and Vice President of Administration and Finance John Rudley as Interim UH President and Interim UH System Chancellor, effective Friday.
The appointment was announced at the board’s May 17 meeting at UH-Victoria.
"It’s been a wonderful ride," Rudley said. "I hope to continue to help advance the University of Houston."
The announcement follows UH President and UH System Chancellor Jay Gogue’s departure to his alma mater, Auburn University, to become the school’s 18th president.
Rudley has previously served as the vice chancellor and vice president for administration and finance for the UH System.
Leroy Hermes, Board of Regents chairman, said that he will lead a 20-person search committee dedicated to finding qualified candidates, not necessarily from the University, to fill the permanent position.
Hermes said that he hopes to finish the search by the fall semester and have a candidate in office at the beginning of the spring. Rudley, as interim chancellor and president, will not be a candidate for the permanent position.
"By the end of August, we should be able to reduce the pool down to six to 10 candidates," Hermes said. "And by September or early October, we should be able to bring this handful or less pool of candidates to the board for final selection."
Hermes said the search for Gogue took three months to complete in 2003.
The board also announced an interest in extending UH-Clear Lake by obtaining land for a branch campus in Pearland, south of Beltway 8 and Pearland Parkway. The location for the proposed new site of UH-Clear Lake was selected for its accessibility and is expected to offer upper level courses at the junior, senior and graduate levels.
Various aspects of the master plan at UH are to be undertaken over the summer, such as the relocation of oak trees to Calhoun Road from behind the Bauer College of Business. The move will clear space for the construction of a loft complex to be finished by August 2009.
"These oaks would have been destroyed as part of the housing project, because they are on the site of the housing project is going," Associate Vice President of UH Plant Operations Dave Irvin said.
The board also discussed the closures of Holman Avenue and Cullen Boulevard as a measure of security against unwanted visitors.
"We have 12,000 cars on a daily basis that bring noise to the campus, bring both unintentional and intentional guests to our campus," Rudley said. "We are dealing with security and safety issues."
The street closures, which would encompass Cullen Boulevard between Wheeler and Holman streets, and Holman from Scott Street to Cullen Boulevard, are being negotiated with the City of Houston.
The streets would be closed in two phases to ease the transition of traffic flow from a partial to a permanent closure. According to the Texas Education Code 51.904, higher education institutions can be granted possession of streets if it owns the property along those streets.
In other business, the board also approved the establishment of a nursing school at the UH-Victoria campus.
