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New system chair: UH full of opportunity

Welcome W. Wilson took office as Chairman of the UH System Board of Regents on Saturday and recently sat down with Daily Cougar Assistant News Editor Mayra Cruz to discuss his appointment and the future of the University.

Mayra Cruz: How did you feel about the nomination when it came up and you were appointed to chairman of the Board of Regents?

Welcome W. Wilson: Well, I was much honored. When I was a junior at the University of Houston in 1946 in November, I met (Hugh Roy) Cullen. He was chairman of the Board of Regents at the University of Houston and since that time, 61 years ago, I have wanted to be chairman of the Board of Regents; So, I was pleased to be elected.

Cruz: At the last board meeting, there were questions brought up about the presidential committee. Will you be involved in the selection process for the next candidate?

Wilson: We have a top-notch selection committee – search committee at work now. I expect them to finish their work during September. At that time, they will pass the torch to the Board of Regents itself, and the Board of Regents will make the selection from the top three to five people that the search committee recommends. So, I’ll be much involved before the month is over.

Cruz: Do you know what any of the requirements are, based on what (the search committee) is looking for?

Wilson: We’re obviously looking for the nation’s best candidate to be chancellor. We’re not accepting anyone from a second tier, we are looking for the very best, and we have a lot to offer. The opportunity to work with a full-fledged research university – which the University of Houston is and most universities are not – is a real opportunity.

Cruz: What do you hope to accomplish in terms of funding for the University?

Wilson: Well, first of all, we are not blindly just asking for more money. There are certain initiatives and things that we would like funded, and we will have our list when the (Texas) Legislature meets again.

Cruz: In terms of the master plan, how do you feel that is going?

Wilson: I’m very pleased with the progress. It takes a great deal of work before anything can be announced, but there are multiple initiatives moving forward in that category, and as one comes into development we will be announcing it.

Wilson: There was an article (in The Daily Cougar) about dropping enrollment. I have a two-pronged answer for that.

One is the University of Houston is raising its standards. Raising our standards in the main campus, it’s going to keep enrollment flat. By the way, enrollment in the first four years has risen and really isn’t down that much and may even be up a little bit.

At the graduate level, it’s a different reason. At the graduate level, it’s full employment. There’s work out there for everybody and under those circumstances, we’re not going to have a lot – there’s going to be fewer students to take master’s programs and (doctoral) programs and so on. On that level, I attribute – and this is me speaking, not the University – the full employment to be the reason that enrollment is flat in the graduate school.

Cruz: Do you think (what) is being done in recruiting and retaining students (is effective)?

Wilson: The one thing that we’re doing is giving it focus and (Donald Foss, vice president of Academic Affairs) has new people that are on board to focus on enrollment. In addition to the colleges and all of their recruiting efforts, we have… people that are focused on more outreach and so forth.

Cruz: Do you think PeopleSoft in any way is affecting enrollment? Because it’s such a big switch and there’s a lot going on in terms of student complaints of service.

Wilson: Anytime there’s a new technology, there’s going to be some complaints, but I’m told that when you consider the 36,000 students, the number of complaints is modest compared to that size. The problems need to be solved any time you switch to a new technology… and we’ll work through it. This time next year, hopefully no one will even remember the problem, and the same thing with the financial assistance – there was a new method of notifying people and things were a little bit different, and so there were some delays in financial assistance which were not real delays, but they were perceived to be problems. But will that affect enrollment? I don’t think so.

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