In President and Chancellor Renu Khator’s report to the UH System Board of Regents on Wednesday, she noted the many achievements of the University and its system:
From the UH System
- The four UH System universities now offer 89 online certificate, bachelor’s degree completion and master’s degree programs, and are partnering with Coursera to offer three massive open online courses for free. The expected enrollment in these courses is 7,000 this week.
- Higher education opportunities for students in the region continue to expand through the UH System teaching centers, including the UH digital media program in Sugar Land; more space, courses and sections being added to the Northwest Campus; the C.T. Bauer School of Business readying its Executive MBA program for Fall 2014 at the University Center in The Wooldands; and the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management’s new bachelor’s program in San Antonio.
From UH
- This semester, five distinguished teachers and scholars representing Phi Beta Kappa concluded a site visit to UH to assess the University’s readiness to be approved for a PBK chapter.
- Former head coach Guy V. Lewis’ induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last semester fired up UH sports programs across the board.
- Also receiving recognition were four UH researchers who have been named as fellows of the National Academy of Inventors.
- The MS degree in subsea engineering offered by the Cullen College of Engineering is now completely online; and
- Finally — and most recently — a partnership was forged between the Alley Theatre and UH. The Alley will perform its entire 2014-2015 season at UH’s Wortham Theatre.
From UH-Clear Lake
- The United States Department of Education awarded a $1.7-million grant to strengthen UHCL’s programming initiatives for first-time students.
- Zbigniew Czajkiewicz, dean of the School of Science and Computer Engineering, and Andrew Yang, associate professor of computer science and computer information systems, received silver achievement medals from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in recognition of their work with area organizations and companies in establishing the UH-CL Cyber Security Institute.
- Adding to the accolades, Khator said that more than 1,300 prospective students have applied for freshman-level admission since UH-CL began accepting applications in August.
From UH-Downtown
- The John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education has selected UH-D as one of 12 national founding institutions as a pilot for its Gateways to Completion process.
- UH-D and the city of Houston celebrated Citizenship Month in November, welcoming thousands of volunteer-driven participants.
- UH-D has launched the Center for Critical Race Studies to produce scholars and citizens who are equipped to effectively engage racial issues confronting a technologically changing world.
From UH-Victoria
- UH-V had its best enrollment ever this academic year, with the Fall 2013 headcount reaching 4,491 and the Spring 2014 preliminary headcount totaling 4,303.
- To help with the growing student population, construction started in December on a three-story, 63,000-square-foot Academic and Regional Economic Development Building — the campus’ first new academic building in more than a decade.
- Lastly, s
- everal national rating organizations have recently recognized UH-V for its online degree offerings, including U.S. News & World Report, GetEducated.com and Create a Career.