The University of Houston-Downtown held a wonderful alumni event this weekend at the Kemah Boardwalk during the 2009 Kemah Jazz Fest. We had alumni, supporters, faculty, staff, and friends of UHD, along with a few of the jazz musicians who preformed this weekend. I made a lot of new friends and was impressed by the many people who work with the Jazz Fest. I even got to present the 2009 Jazz Performer of the Year Award.
The Kemah Jazz Fest couldn't be held last year because of the aftermath of the hurricane, which damaged quite a bit of the boardwalk. You can still see the damage in other areas near the boardwalk. But, the Boardwalk and the Jazz Fest are back in their full glory.
The Kemah Boardwalk is great place. The event was held at the Kemah Inn owned by one of the UH System newest Regents, Tilman Ferttita, founder of Landry's, and owner of several restaurants in Houston. There are restaurants, a hotel and, of course, lots of rides for the kids. You can watch the sailboats, take a ride from the dock, kick-back and have a soda, or maybe a margarita or a beer, eat great food, and watch some of the best musicians in the country.
All of it is organized by one of the UHD faculty, Robert Wilson, in cooperation with the Houston Professional Musicians Association. Robert teaches English and jazz courses at UHD. He is also an award-winning musician. In fact, in the near future he will be honored in Austin as one of the Texas legends of music (Past award winners include Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughn.) That's pretty amazing company. It says something about Robert and about UHD.
But Robert Wilson is not just a performer or educator, he also organizes two very successful jazz groups affiliated with UHD. Both performed on Sunday. The first group is the Young Sounds of Houston Jazz Orchestra made up of middle school and high school performers, most of the them Black and Latino, but it includes kids from all backgrounds and from all over Houston. They practice at Jeff Davis High School. Several of them became interested in jazz as a result of the Jazz Camps held each summer by Robert Wilson. Some started studying music as a result of their exposure to jazz. Most go on to college because of their participation in the Orchestra.
The quality of the music of the Young Sounds of Houston Jazz Orchestra is amazing. Their performances are tight, well-orchestrated, sophisticated and mature, with great solos. I could easily see these kids performing on a television show, like the Tonight Show. They are that good.
Late Sunday afternoon, the UHD Civic Jazz Orchestra performed with vocalist Julie Wilson, Robert's wife. She's an amazing performer who became interested in jazz as a result of studying Jazz at UHD in Robert's classes. Julie sang Frenesi in Spanish, an arrangement by Quincy Jones.
The UHD Civic Jazz Orchestra brings together adults (many of them professionals from throughout Houston) with high school and college students mixed in. Equally exciting is that the band members are joined by renowned musicians from all over the country who come each year to Kemah for one reason--because UHD educator, Robert Wilson, asked them. They get to play with him, other musicians, and with the young people--and they contribute to the jazz scene in Houston.
Great going Robert, thank you for all you do for UHD. Congratulations on your upcoming award!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Building a Team
A central tenet of the book Good to Great is "First 'Who' then 'What'." Or put another way, you have to work on the team. Wednesday and Thursday a little more than 50 University of Houston-Downtown leaders (faculty, staff, and students) met to discuss the issues affecting UHD, to discuss their views of leadership, how they might be better leaders, and how all of us might work together for a common purpose--making UHD a better university.
We were fortunate to have a nationally-known higher educational leader serve as our facilitator and guide, Dr. Tom Meredith, who served as president of Western Kentucky University, as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, as state Commissioner of Higher Education for Mississippi, and was Chancellor of the University System of Georgia. He understands higher education and colleges likes ours.
Tom was energetic and a helpful guide to our discussions. He also has a great sense of humor and a patient and calming attitude. He built in exercises to engage participants and kept us on schedule. But, I was most impressed with the attitude and energy of the participants. They worked hard, had many suggestions, and committed to continue to work together to extend the discussions throughout the campus and to lay basis for focus on where we go from here, the 'What' of Good to Great.
We identified barriers that hold back the university, issues that we have to address, and identified some priority areas which we will address in a follow-up retreat.
As we formally summarize the discussions, I will share them with the campus and on this blog. I am pumped.
We were fortunate to have a nationally-known higher educational leader serve as our facilitator and guide, Dr. Tom Meredith, who served as president of Western Kentucky University, as president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, as state Commissioner of Higher Education for Mississippi, and was Chancellor of the University System of Georgia. He understands higher education and colleges likes ours.
Tom was energetic and a helpful guide to our discussions. He also has a great sense of humor and a patient and calming attitude. He built in exercises to engage participants and kept us on schedule. But, I was most impressed with the attitude and energy of the participants. They worked hard, had many suggestions, and committed to continue to work together to extend the discussions throughout the campus and to lay basis for focus on where we go from here, the 'What' of Good to Great.
We identified barriers that hold back the university, issues that we have to address, and identified some priority areas which we will address in a follow-up retreat.
As we formally summarize the discussions, I will share them with the campus and on this blog. I am pumped.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Extending Our Reach
It's hard teaching distance education courses. I've done it. When I was at Fresno State, I drove to the Visalia campus twice a week and taught evening courses. I've taught ITV courses, hybrid, and a fully online course. Each course took a great deal of work to prepare and to deliver. And, there was a lot of late night driving back and forth from Visalia to Fresno for the face-to-face courses.
Both faculty members and students have to put up with a lot of frustrations. Traffic can be horrendous (especially in Houston), so you might arrive late to the learning center. ITV equipment or the computer server or Blackboard Vista (the software we use for the online and hybrid courses), as good as they are, occasionally break down or the system goes down. And, these courses are not cheap. The equipment costs a lot of money, as do the license fees. Understandably, you need to pay the faculty more to off-set their time and troubles. And, since the courses cost more, there are usually extra fees that the students must pay, althought that is not the case at UHD.
But, like it or not, distance education is the future, especially in Houston. Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, soon to be the third. If you count the University of Houston Victoria that is 123 miles from downtown Houston, Houston has ten public and private non-profit four-year institutions (not counting DeVry and the University of Phoenix). Chicago, which Houston will pass in population the next decade, has 40 four-year colleges and universities, including specialized schools.
Houston needs more access to higher education. Since it is unlikely that the state will approve construction of more universities, existing four-year institutions will fill the need through distance education. Other four-year institutions have set up centers in Houston or are offering programs online.
Distance education is critical to Houston and UHD's future. The Northwest Corridor will add 2 million residents over the next decade. That's the size of the current population of New Mexico, where they have seven four-year universities (three research universities) serving barely 2 million people. There is no four year institution in Northwest Houston. Other than UHD, the closest four-year schools are those of Texas A&M Prairie View and Sam Houston State University.
UHD has the best potential for serving the area. Only 40 percent of our students come from within the 610 loop. The rest come from throughout Houston. That need will grow. As the University of Houston moves to Tier One and adjusts its admission policy (from accepting the top 20 percent of high school graduates to accepting the top 10 percent), it will be vital that UHD fills the gap, not only on the downtown campus, but also via the learning centers and via online education.
On Friday, I received a tour of the many distance education sites where UHD offers courses. The trip took almost a full day to drive to all of the sites. The learning centers form an arc across the northern part of Houston from Cinco Ranch (West of State Highway 6 and South of Interstate 10) to Lone Star College-CyFair (along U.S. 290) to the new University Center near State Highway 249 and Louetta (the old Hewlett-Packard site) to the University Center along Interstate 45 in The Woodlands to Lone Star College-Kingwood on U.S. 59. At each site, we have great staff and faculty who serve as advisers. Some also teach. They are great ambassadors of UHD.
I was guided in the tour by the former distance education director, Gail Evans, the Provost, Molly Woods, and the new interim director of distance education, Louis Evans (no relations to Gail.) Gail drove. Along the way, each of them gave me a description of the city and areas we were passing, the programs we offer, the staff there, and the history and politics behind each site.
Faculty members have to be recruited for the programs. Some of our faculty live in the area where we offer the courses. It's convenient to them and they like teaching a portion of their courses at those sites. In some cases, their courses can be beamed by instructional television to our site downtown or faculty can augment their teaching with online materials and instruction. Either way, they like it. In other instances, we have to hire adjuncts from the region or pay extra for our faculty to drive in the afternoons and evenings to teach courses at the various sites. It is hard to build a consistent core of offerings, but that is essential for the students there.
In most cases, UHD is just one of several public higher education institutions offering courses. Degrees have to be approved to be offered In Multiple Institution Teaching Sites, where several public universities offer degrees. The problem is exacerbated by politics. Some institutions declare there intention to offer degrees (usually a whole list of them). Then, because of limitations on their own campuses (budget or lack of faculty support), they never offer the degrees. But, nobody else can either. What seems like a great system, doesn't always work in real life.
Meanwhile, for-profits, like the University of Phoenix or DeVry, can offer any degree they want. They don't need the approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board or the legislature. They can start up a program face-to-face or online. They can add bachelor's or master's degrees based on market demand. By contrast, if a public university wants to add a degree, the institution has to apply for the right to offer the degree. It takes a long-time to get the approvals at the various levels. And, there may not be any demand for the degree once it is finally approved.
But, even if you have the authorization to offer the degree, you may run into problems. At some sites, UHD has plenty of demand. We have faculty who want to teach there, but can't get classrooms or are bounced from one classroom to another. It can be very disconcerting to faculty and to students.
Even so, the need is growing. And, UHD wants to take our degrees and courses where they are needed. So, our faculty drive north. We hire faculty to teach who live there. And, we expand our online offerings, including full-degree programs. There's lots of work ahead and as I visit the sites more, I will get better acquainted with the city--or lost a lot. Either way, I'll be learning too!
Both faculty members and students have to put up with a lot of frustrations. Traffic can be horrendous (especially in Houston), so you might arrive late to the learning center. ITV equipment or the computer server or Blackboard Vista (the software we use for the online and hybrid courses), as good as they are, occasionally break down or the system goes down. And, these courses are not cheap. The equipment costs a lot of money, as do the license fees. Understandably, you need to pay the faculty more to off-set their time and troubles. And, since the courses cost more, there are usually extra fees that the students must pay, althought that is not the case at UHD.
But, like it or not, distance education is the future, especially in Houston. Houston is the fourth largest city in the country, soon to be the third. If you count the University of Houston Victoria that is 123 miles from downtown Houston, Houston has ten public and private non-profit four-year institutions (not counting DeVry and the University of Phoenix). Chicago, which Houston will pass in population the next decade, has 40 four-year colleges and universities, including specialized schools.
Houston needs more access to higher education. Since it is unlikely that the state will approve construction of more universities, existing four-year institutions will fill the need through distance education. Other four-year institutions have set up centers in Houston or are offering programs online.
Distance education is critical to Houston and UHD's future. The Northwest Corridor will add 2 million residents over the next decade. That's the size of the current population of New Mexico, where they have seven four-year universities (three research universities) serving barely 2 million people. There is no four year institution in Northwest Houston. Other than UHD, the closest four-year schools are those of Texas A&M Prairie View and Sam Houston State University.
UHD has the best potential for serving the area. Only 40 percent of our students come from within the 610 loop. The rest come from throughout Houston. That need will grow. As the University of Houston moves to Tier One and adjusts its admission policy (from accepting the top 20 percent of high school graduates to accepting the top 10 percent), it will be vital that UHD fills the gap, not only on the downtown campus, but also via the learning centers and via online education.
On Friday, I received a tour of the many distance education sites where UHD offers courses. The trip took almost a full day to drive to all of the sites. The learning centers form an arc across the northern part of Houston from Cinco Ranch (West of State Highway 6 and South of Interstate 10) to Lone Star College-CyFair (along U.S. 290) to the new University Center near State Highway 249 and Louetta (the old Hewlett-Packard site) to the University Center along Interstate 45 in The Woodlands to Lone Star College-Kingwood on U.S. 59. At each site, we have great staff and faculty who serve as advisers. Some also teach. They are great ambassadors of UHD.
I was guided in the tour by the former distance education director, Gail Evans, the Provost, Molly Woods, and the new interim director of distance education, Louis Evans (no relations to Gail.) Gail drove. Along the way, each of them gave me a description of the city and areas we were passing, the programs we offer, the staff there, and the history and politics behind each site.
Faculty members have to be recruited for the programs. Some of our faculty live in the area where we offer the courses. It's convenient to them and they like teaching a portion of their courses at those sites. In some cases, their courses can be beamed by instructional television to our site downtown or faculty can augment their teaching with online materials and instruction. Either way, they like it. In other instances, we have to hire adjuncts from the region or pay extra for our faculty to drive in the afternoons and evenings to teach courses at the various sites. It is hard to build a consistent core of offerings, but that is essential for the students there.
In most cases, UHD is just one of several public higher education institutions offering courses. Degrees have to be approved to be offered In Multiple Institution Teaching Sites, where several public universities offer degrees. The problem is exacerbated by politics. Some institutions declare there intention to offer degrees (usually a whole list of them). Then, because of limitations on their own campuses (budget or lack of faculty support), they never offer the degrees. But, nobody else can either. What seems like a great system, doesn't always work in real life.
Meanwhile, for-profits, like the University of Phoenix or DeVry, can offer any degree they want. They don't need the approval of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board or the legislature. They can start up a program face-to-face or online. They can add bachelor's or master's degrees based on market demand. By contrast, if a public university wants to add a degree, the institution has to apply for the right to offer the degree. It takes a long-time to get the approvals at the various levels. And, there may not be any demand for the degree once it is finally approved.
But, even if you have the authorization to offer the degree, you may run into problems. At some sites, UHD has plenty of demand. We have faculty who want to teach there, but can't get classrooms or are bounced from one classroom to another. It can be very disconcerting to faculty and to students.
Even so, the need is growing. And, UHD wants to take our degrees and courses where they are needed. So, our faculty drive north. We hire faculty to teach who live there. And, we expand our online offerings, including full-degree programs. There's lots of work ahead and as I visit the sites more, I will get better acquainted with the city--or lost a lot. Either way, I'll be learning too!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Celebrating Mexican Independence
In every city that I've lived, there have been some type of celebrations for the 16th of September, the commemoration of "El Grito" of Father Hidalgo in Mexico in 1810.
This launched the Mexican revolution against Spain. It also spurred other independence movements throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The celebrations are often organized by the Mexican Consulates. Parades are usually organized by community groups to celebrate Mexican Independence, but also to honor and recognize organizations here in the U.S.
Houston has its celebrations too. Saturday morning I went to the Fiestas Patrias Parade in downtown Houston, which starts at Minute Maid Park and snakes through a few blocks of the downtown East of Main. There were floats, marching bands, a queen and her court, ROTC bands, fire trucks, the media, and most of the people running for office in Houston. These parades are very multi-ethnic and Houston is no exception. The marching bands had kids from every racial and ethnic group. There were high schools, middle schools, even K-12 charter schools and private academies.
And, of course, there was music. Norteño, salsa, mariachi,and hip-hop. Those that walked passed out flyers for their group,cause or politician, and gave out candy, T-shirts, beads, or other trinkets.
This is a family event, where parents bring their kids. Vendors sell balloons, soda, Mexican flags and tacos. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday evening, I joined Adolfo Santos (chair of the Social Sciences Dept. at UHD) and his wife, Betin, at the Mexican Institute Banquet. A Black Tie event, the banquet honored the 199th anniversary of the independence of Mexico and the 188th anniversary of independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. There were consuls from each country, members of the Hispanic Chamber board, judges and elected officials and local business people. The event honored Mexican Consul General Carlos González Magallón, with whom I met a few days earlier. We spoke of joint work, including cultural and educational exchanges.
I also was introduced, as was the newly-selected Superintendent of Houston Independent School District, Terry Grier. I met Grier, and his wife Nancy, and had a brief opportunity to talk with him about how UHD and HISD could work together, especially on dual credit. A joint reception for both of us is being planned by one of the board members.
It was a wonderful event with great music, great food, and a silent auction, and of course all of us wanted to bid on at least one item. I came home with a beautiful pewter dish. I'm so glad that Adolfo convinced me to attend.
Sunday night, I headed to Jones Hall to watch the Houston Symphony for the 17th annual Chevron Fiesta Sinfónica Familiar. Selections from composers from Mexico, Argentina and Spain were featured. Alondra de la Parra conducted. She is the first woman from Mexico to conduct in New York City and serves as Cultural Ambassador for Mexican tourism. The show featured a performance of Spanish classical guitar by Pablo Sáinz-Villegas from Spain.
The theater was packed by 5:30 p.m. with more Hispanics than I have ever seen in a Symphony in the U.S. Amazingly, the coughing and crying kids quieted as soon as the music began. I bought a CD and Sáinz-Villegas autographed it--and I ran into several people from UHD and the Hispanic Chamber.
It was a wonderful concert and a great way to celebrate Mexican Independence.
This launched the Mexican revolution against Spain. It also spurred other independence movements throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The celebrations are often organized by the Mexican Consulates. Parades are usually organized by community groups to celebrate Mexican Independence, but also to honor and recognize organizations here in the U.S.
Houston has its celebrations too. Saturday morning I went to the Fiestas Patrias Parade in downtown Houston, which starts at Minute Maid Park and snakes through a few blocks of the downtown East of Main. There were floats, marching bands, a queen and her court, ROTC bands, fire trucks, the media, and most of the people running for office in Houston. These parades are very multi-ethnic and Houston is no exception. The marching bands had kids from every racial and ethnic group. There were high schools, middle schools, even K-12 charter schools and private academies.
And, of course, there was music. Norteño, salsa, mariachi,and hip-hop. Those that walked passed out flyers for their group,cause or politician, and gave out candy, T-shirts, beads, or other trinkets.
This is a family event, where parents bring their kids. Vendors sell balloons, soda, Mexican flags and tacos. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday evening, I joined Adolfo Santos (chair of the Social Sciences Dept. at UHD) and his wife, Betin, at the Mexican Institute Banquet. A Black Tie event, the banquet honored the 199th anniversary of the independence of Mexico and the 188th anniversary of independence of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. There were consuls from each country, members of the Hispanic Chamber board, judges and elected officials and local business people. The event honored Mexican Consul General Carlos González Magallón, with whom I met a few days earlier. We spoke of joint work, including cultural and educational exchanges.
I also was introduced, as was the newly-selected Superintendent of Houston Independent School District, Terry Grier. I met Grier, and his wife Nancy, and had a brief opportunity to talk with him about how UHD and HISD could work together, especially on dual credit. A joint reception for both of us is being planned by one of the board members.
It was a wonderful event with great music, great food, and a silent auction, and of course all of us wanted to bid on at least one item. I came home with a beautiful pewter dish. I'm so glad that Adolfo convinced me to attend.
Sunday night, I headed to Jones Hall to watch the Houston Symphony for the 17th annual Chevron Fiesta Sinfónica Familiar. Selections from composers from Mexico, Argentina and Spain were featured. Alondra de la Parra conducted. She is the first woman from Mexico to conduct in New York City and serves as Cultural Ambassador for Mexican tourism. The show featured a performance of Spanish classical guitar by Pablo Sáinz-Villegas from Spain.
The theater was packed by 5:30 p.m. with more Hispanics than I have ever seen in a Symphony in the U.S. Amazingly, the coughing and crying kids quieted as soon as the music began. I bought a CD and Sáinz-Villegas autographed it--and I ran into several people from UHD and the Hispanic Chamber.
It was a wonderful concert and a great way to celebrate Mexican Independence.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Preserving Families
On Thursday, I was the keynote speaker at the Family Preservation Conference held at Houston’s Reliant Crown Plaza. When I was invited to speak I really wasn’t sure that I had the time to prepare a presentation and wasn’t convinced that I was the right person to be presenting. After all, it had been a long time since I had worked in mental health. But Alvin Sallee of New Mexico State University and a founder of the Family Preservation Institute urged me to speak, saying, “It is in your blood. It’s what you’ve been doing all your life.”
So with that encouragement and still very little time to work on a speech, I decided to present on both my works in New Mexico with the Consortium for Behavioral Health, Training, Evaluation and Research (CBHTER), and my work many years ago at the Centro de Bienestar in San Jose. I also the Behavioral Health Collaborative, which consists of eighteen agencies working together to coordinate and improve behavioral health services in New Mexico.
All of this work is consistent with family preservation, which is holistic, believes in empowering family members, and promotes advocacy, education, and the improvement of family life. Family preservation believes that, in most cases, strengthening and preserving the family is better than removing children from the family unit. It assumes that family remediation works, that family members can learn new behaviors and that social workers can help promote that process.
The work of the Centro de Bienestar was similar. Centro de Bienestar in English means the Center for Well-Being. It was founded on a perspective that the social fabric, families and social networks, are important elements for community mental health.
Under this perspective, the individual is viewed in the context of their social setting, including the family. Where possible, social networks—friends, family, the church and other important part of that fabric are brought to bear on the healing process. We recognized that social work and therapeutic techniques evolve based on the needs of clients and society.
I explained that we had formed cross teams that included social workers, clinical psychologists, licensed marriage and family therapists, community mental health workers, etc. Community mental health workers were encouraged to pursue certificates and degrees, and several became licensed therapists.
I discussed some of these approaches and urged conference participants to take a research and practice approach: to apply what they learn, write and present on their practices, and share their work with others as many had done at the conference I also urged them to consider the public policy implications of their work, to advocate for their clients, and to advocate for changes in law and policy that benefit their clients, family preservation, and society.
I ended with a couple of quotes on family. Alex Haley, author of “Roots,” wrote: “In every conceivable manner, family is the link to our past, the bridge to our future.” Preserving family preserves society, and it too is a bridge to the future. Finally, I quoted a sign I read at a barber shop: “Families are like fudge…mostly sweet with a lot of nuts.” It’s our job to bring it all together.
So with that encouragement and still very little time to work on a speech, I decided to present on both my works in New Mexico with the Consortium for Behavioral Health, Training, Evaluation and Research (CBHTER), and my work many years ago at the Centro de Bienestar in San Jose. I also the Behavioral Health Collaborative, which consists of eighteen agencies working together to coordinate and improve behavioral health services in New Mexico.
All of this work is consistent with family preservation, which is holistic, believes in empowering family members, and promotes advocacy, education, and the improvement of family life. Family preservation believes that, in most cases, strengthening and preserving the family is better than removing children from the family unit. It assumes that family remediation works, that family members can learn new behaviors and that social workers can help promote that process.
The work of the Centro de Bienestar was similar. Centro de Bienestar in English means the Center for Well-Being. It was founded on a perspective that the social fabric, families and social networks, are important elements for community mental health.
Under this perspective, the individual is viewed in the context of their social setting, including the family. Where possible, social networks—friends, family, the church and other important part of that fabric are brought to bear on the healing process. We recognized that social work and therapeutic techniques evolve based on the needs of clients and society.
I explained that we had formed cross teams that included social workers, clinical psychologists, licensed marriage and family therapists, community mental health workers, etc. Community mental health workers were encouraged to pursue certificates and degrees, and several became licensed therapists.
I discussed some of these approaches and urged conference participants to take a research and practice approach: to apply what they learn, write and present on their practices, and share their work with others as many had done at the conference I also urged them to consider the public policy implications of their work, to advocate for their clients, and to advocate for changes in law and policy that benefit their clients, family preservation, and society.
I ended with a couple of quotes on family. Alex Haley, author of “Roots,” wrote: “In every conceivable manner, family is the link to our past, the bridge to our future.” Preserving family preserves society, and it too is a bridge to the future. Finally, I quoted a sign I read at a barber shop: “Families are like fudge…mostly sweet with a lot of nuts.” It’s our job to bring it all together.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Convocation: At UHD, We Are Making a Name for Ourselves!
View the Convocation at:
http://www.uhd.edu/presidentsoffice/videoconvocation09.html
Last week's Convocation was truly memorable. My wife, Celina, flew in from Santa Fe and visited for a few days. She came to meet faculty and staff and to attend the Convocation. A very good friend of ours, Alice, who lives in Kemah, drove up to be there too. They enjoyed the event and meeting faculty and staff afterwards.
The program began with very good presentations by both Karen Alfaro, president of the Staff Council, and Michelle Moosally, president of the Faculty Senate. Both presentations spoke about the importance of their two organizations. Karen encouraged staff to attend the meetings and get involved in the Staff Council. Michelle explained the important issues that the Faculty Senate is addressing.
I welcomed everyone and introduced some of the heroes of UHD, students, faculty, and staff who are doing exciting work and helping UHD to make a name for itself.I stressed that UHD has a wonderful opportunity. We can define who we are. We will tell our story. We will pride in the institution by stories of the great things are faculty, staff, students, and alumni accomplish every day.
I spoke about the challenges and the opportunities. Take the time to view the video and let me know what you think of the presentation. Also, if you haven't responded to the President's Survey, please do.
To complete the survey online, go to the survey or fax your comments to UHD President at (713) 221-8075.
Great Faculty, Great Students, Great Alumni
A week ago today, I met with alumni from ExxonMobil who are great supporters of UHD.
They give money to UHD for scholarships, help with internships, and mentor students at UHD to prepare them as professionals for the industry. They told me how much they love UHD, their experiences here and their desire to help mentor students and provide them with interships.
Last Wednesday, I met with 90 students in an expanded Council of Student Organizations meeting. I heard their concerns and their suggestions. They love UHD, but are frustrated, especially about parking and food service. They want more places to meet. They want the cafeteria and bookstore to be open for evening students. They want more student study areas, more meeting rooms, a dormitory and a student union. Several students also expressed interest in practice fields for soccer and baseball.
As one student said, "We want to have a community here, and we need space to build one.” I said that later in the year or early next year will initiate initial discussions for a new master plan for the University. When we do, students will definitely be part of the planning process.
I also made a presentation to the UHD Faculty Senate last week. I explained that I strongly support shared governance. I've been a faculty senator, since I was president of a college faculty assembly in the School of Social Sciences at Fresno State, and that I have always included faculty in key meetings, whether they deal with budget, positions or policy.
I explained that I support a 4-3 teaching load (which means that faculty teach four courses one semester, and three courses the other), so that faculty can follow their passion, whether it be developing a new courses, mentoring students or a newly-hired faculty member, initiating service learning projects, undertaking new research, completing a scholarly article, or preparing online courses.
Of course, a move from a 4-4 teaching load to 4-3 is expensive. It will cost us more than $2.5 million a year, but it is an investment in the future of the University. It also helps us retain faculty and attract and hire new faculty.
We can work together to greatly improve the University. In addition, there is much to be done, especially in retaining and graduating students.
And, we are very fortunate. While public universities in several states face hiring freezes, furloughs, and layoffs, UHD hired new faculty last year, we will do searches this year and next for a total of 40 faculty in three years. This year and next, we will hire a total of 28 new tenure-track faculty members, which is about 12 percent of our current tenure track faculty. We are hiring for the future and need to think about the needs of UHD in the future.
I made the point that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Internet. The entering freshman class of 2020 just began second grade. For those students, Wikipedia has always been the only encyclopedia they used. Google has always been where they go first to find answers, and phones have always taken pictures that can be sent to friends or uploaded to Facebook and Web sites. Friends have always sent text messages or called each other on a cell phone.
According to the “Chronicle of Higher Education,” by 2020, students will take 60 percent of all college courses online. We need to start planning for that world. We need to hire faculty that are comfortable in that world.
But, I also want to ensure the success of those faculty and asked the Faculty Senate to give me plans for mentoring new faculty, so that we can help them to succeed. I also asked the Faculty Senate also to provide me with recommendations on establishing a task force or committee to review roles and rewards.
I want to make sure we align those things we ask faculty to undertake with the most important rewards--tenure and promotion. Clearly, there is something wrong if we tell faculty we want them to mentor students or develop online courses, and then refuse to consider that work for promotion or tenure.
I have also asked the Faculty Senate to review departmental guidelines for tenure and promotion to ensure fairness and alignment of roles and rewards. I understand that each department will establish its own guidelines for tenure, but they should fit within the mission of our university and the expectations of all faculty members for teaching, research and service.
Finally, I want to build our research capacity. I explained that I met with the Vice Chancellor for Research for the University of Houston System Don Birx. He is going to help us build our research program. UH has workshops for faculty on grant writing. He will bring those workshops here. UH has a search engine and newsletter for research opportunities. Our faculty will access to those resources. We will work together on grants develop a plan for growing our research program here at UHD.
I'm truly impressed with the faculty at UHD. They are committed to our students and we need to give them the tools and support that helps their success. I thank the president of the Faculty Senate, Michelle Moosally, for inviting me and providing me with the opportunity to address the faculty leadership on campus. I look forward to working with the Senate.
During the fall semester, I will visit each of the colleges and try to meet with as many departments, as possible. I have already begun to meet faculty as I stroll the campus and as I hold focus groups. We will work together to continue to build UHD as a great university and a great place to spend your career.
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