With the opening of UH’s northwest satellite campus in September, students residing in the northwest side of Houston now have the option to pursue a technology degree closer to home.
In conjunction with Lone Star College, UH College of Technology students are able to pursue a degree from start to finish in one building.
Lone Star College, which occupies the first two floors of an eight-story building off of Hwy. 249 and Louetta, offers lower division courses.
Students can then work with UH advisors located in the same building to transfer course work, and then enroll in technology courses offered by UH on the fourth floor.
After acquiring property from the Hewlett Packard company, Lone Star College met with various four-year institutions, including UH, in hope of bringing higher education closer to home.
“It was through the purchase of the property by Lone Star that it was able to come to fruition,” Jerry Pyka, assistant dean of outreach for the College of Technology, said.
“Institutions of higher education were able to come together at one campus to provide programs.”
Current undergraduate degrees offered by the College of Technology at University Park include Consumer Science and Merchandising, Logistics and Supply Chain Technology, and Organizational Leadership and Supervision.
Post-baccalaureate and graduate programs are also being offered at that location.
Students who are enrolled at UH main campus in line to take courses offered at the satellite campus and decide they want to purse it at the satellite campus closer to home can simply register through myUH PeopleSoft for the following semester, Pyka said.
Northwest Houston was an ideal area to situate the satellite.
“This (northwest Houston) is a very big area, demographically,” Pyka said. “From the last numbers I heard, there are fairly close to half a million people in the area.”
There are currently 70 students enrolled in College of Technology courses.Around 365 students are enrolled campus-wide at UH-Northwest in its inaugural semester at University Park.
Enrollment is expected to grow.
“The numbers keep saying that growth is going to be sustained,” Pyka said. “There’s a very good possibility at leasing another floor or two in the future.”
With growth expected, Pyka said, programs will be added in the future.
UH is one of two universities that currently occupy the same building at University Park, along with Lone Star College. UH Downtown is housed on the third floor.
Texas Southern University will open its doors in spring 2011.
Sam Houston State University is expected to join University Park in the future.
