Setting Admissions Standards

Friday, we held a forum on Automatic Admission Standards at UHD. This is a somewhat controversial issue because UHD has historically been an Open Admission institution. The forum provided the campus community with an opportunity to hear various speakers and proposals on the subject. It offered a broader context to the issues taking place in the state and throughout the nation.

It is important to point out that whatever automatic admissions standards are established, the majority of applicants will still be admitted to UHD, but through a process of review of other factors in their file. The small portion of students who are not admitted would be referred to nearby community colleges under a dual enrollment program, so that they could return to UHD as soon as they soon as they complete any deficiencies or requisites, or after completing an AA degree.

Dr. Steve Murdoch, a demographer, demonstrated convincingly that the Harris County population and Texas population is rapidly becoming majority Hispanic. Hispanics and African Americans are less likely to graduate from high school, and when they do, they are more likely to need remediation. They are also less likely to graduate from college within six years of graduation from high school.

High school graduates and college graduate earn significantly more money than those who do not finish high school or college. They buy homes, raise their families, pay more taxes, and make significant contributions to our society. Dr. Murdoch noted that over their life-times college graduates earn roughly a million dollars more than those who do not graduate from college.

Dr. Murdoch then made the point that without dramatic efforts to close the educational achievement gap, in twenty years or so Texas could face a $300 billion loss in earnings, tax revenue, and GDP. So, it is in everyone's interest to improve Hispanic and African American graduation rates.

Later, Coordinating Board Commissioner Raymund Paredes stated that "access without preparation is not opportunity." He argued that admissions standards are essential to communicate to middle school and high school students that they need to adequately prepare for college by taking the right courses and getting good grades.

Dr. Paredes said that the legislature will likely adopt policies to link higher education funding to graduation rates. In addition, Texas Guarantee scholarships are likely to become Need plus Merit, with requirements for GPA and class rank to qualify. He is also recommending that the incentives for increasing students who graduate, particularly in high need areas like STEM, be built into base. This would help UHD, which graduates a high proportion of STEM students through the Scholars Academy and has been recognized as a Star Performer by the Coordinating Board.

In the afternoon presentations were made by Ed Apodaca, VP for Student Services and Enrollment Management, and William Waller, chair of the Developmental Education Coordinating Council. Both recommended admissions standards. While there were some variation in their recommendations, most participants felt setting standards are essential for several reasons:

First, almost every public four-year university in Texas now has admission standards for entering freshmen. The exceptions are UHD and the University of Texas, Brownsville.

It may have made sense for UHD to be open admissions years ago, because many institutions in Texas were open admission. But, UHD's six-year graduation rate for FTIC (full-time, first-time freshmen)is 15%--or about 21% when you include students who start at UHD, who transfer and graduate from another public university. Most of our peers have graduation rates of twice that of UHD. So, it makes sense to keep pace with our peers.

And, adopting admission standards does have an impact on graduation rates. UTEP which was once open admissions, now has a combined six-year graduation rate of 32%. Prairie View A & M has raised its rates to 41%!

Second, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the federal government, and most reporting systems monitor six-year graduation rates. This hurts UHD, as it gives the impression that UHD does a poor job of graduating students. The fact is that only 25% of all new entering students each year are first-time, full-time freshmen. Most of our students are transfers from community colleges and other four-year institutions.

Third, federal guidelines now tie financial aid to "ability to benefit" and require that institutions pay-back federal financial aid dollars of students who do not make adequate progress, accumulate too many "F's" drops and withdrawals, or dropout of college without graduating.

Fourth, our students tell us that they are embarrassed that UHD has no admission standards. It gives the impression that UHD will admit anyone and doesn't portray UHD as the high-quality institution it has become.

Finally, and most importantly, students that are inadequately prepared have to take too many remedial courses and are likely to dropout. Currently, UHD loses two-thirds of its FTIC students by the end of the second year. Many of the students leave having accumulated students loans on average of about $11,000. They would have been better served at a community college, where they would have paid lower tuition and incurred fewer debts.

As Student Government president, Laura Sanchez explained, "Setting admissions standards is important. Students want to have pride in the institution where they graduate. Sadly, many don't right now--even though it's a great school."

Michelle Moosally, chair of the Faculty Senate, made the point at the close of the forum that setting admissions standards is only a small part of the bigger solution. I underscored that point, stating, "We can't just set admissions standards and think we have solved the problem. We have to implement campus-wide efforts to help retain and graduate students."

Over the next few months the discussions will continue as faculty, staff, and students review the proposals and, particularly, as faculty committees make recommendations as to the final standards to be proposed to the Regents and the Coordinating Board.

The discussion has begun. There is a long road ahead. But, everyone feels confident that UHD will be a stronger institution as we make these changes.

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.