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President's Periodic Messages 2005-2006
February 15, 2006
Saludos UHV Community,
Our new year is well under way and all indications are that
it will be a busy and important one -- yes, a new year but
some things seem to never change. We continue to await the
outcome of a special legislative session, with odds makers
favoring a late April call, to determine precisely how to
proceed on a number of capital improvement projects (more on
these later). Wasn’t it Yogi Berra who coined the phrase "déjà
vu all over again"? We're not letting this slow us down, but
we are paying attention and preparing alternative plans.
Meanwhile, the pace of activity in almost every area of UHV
continues to increase. I want to start this note by thanking
all the faculty and staff who provide the creativity and
leadership for the many projects and programs that continue to
make a positive difference in the lives of our students and
our communities.
Last October, for instance, we were privileged to host the
White House's deputy director of the Initiative on Educational
Excellence for Hispanic Americans, Denise Rodriguez-Lopez, at
our home for a reception that brought together a large group
of area Hispanic leaders. The visit by Ms. Rodriguez-Lopez,
who also spoke at the annual Girls Academy, gave impetus to
our continuing efforts to "close the gap" between the rate of
participation of Hispanics in higher education and the
percentage of Hispanics in our society and provided us with
another opportunity to demonstrate UHV's commitment to making
a difference in this important arena.
And speaking of making a difference, all of us at UHV
should be justly proud of the efforts of our students who
organized for a second year the "Giving Tree" project which
benefited a number of worthy nonprofits in our area during the
Christmas season. They even managed to coordinate the kickoff
of that project with the opening of our first ever UHV Staff
Craft Show and Sale. So, one was able to buy something
interesting produced by our talented staff and then walk
across the lobby of the UC and donate it to a worthy cause.
Knowing some of the leaders of these groups, one could hardly
call that a coincidence! But as I say, it was all a good cause
and we "discovered" some useful talent if one dreads, as I do,
shopping at traditional (ok, any) outlets.
Two traditional events held over the past few months took
on wholly new twists -- with good result if the informal
feedback is valid. We shifted our annual report breakfast to a
dinner setting, much to the delight of the late risers, and we
conducted our fall graduation in the fall and outdoors, much
to the surprise of the meteorologically inclined. In addition
to delivering the state of the university address in an
evening event to a sold-out room of supporters here on campus,
we delivered the report in a DVD format for the first time
ever. I certainly want to thank all of the staff who devoted
time to this innovative change and to the many community
supporters and UHV personnel who agreed to be a part of the
DVD. The reaction to this format has been terrific; anytime I
go to a national meeting, I get requests for additional DVDs
and kudos on coming up with an idea that breaks the rather
monotonous flow of such reports, since practically all
institutions and corporations now produce and distribute them.
Much could be said about the outdoor commencement and all
of the work that went into making it such a success. The
weather cooperated (barely--I DID get worried about halfway
through the MBAs when I felt that little sprinkle and the
temperature seemed to dive) and the sight of the front lawn of
the UC covered with nearly 400 graduates and their families
and supporters was something to behold. The two photographs in
the Victoria Advocate the next day did a fine job of
conveying the scene. In part because the ceremony was held on
campus, the reception that followed involved more than double
the largest number to ever attend a commencement reception.
What a pleasure it was to welcome our board members, Regents
Morgan Dunn O'Connor and Raul Gonzalez, along with UH System
Chancellor Jay Gogue to this historic event and to meet so
many of our graduates and the people who helped them reach
that special day. Throughout the day it became clear that they
appreciated being able to visit our campus, which was in
brilliant form due to the hard work of our dedicated UHV
employees. Indeed, a special thanks is in order for all of the
staff who worked so hard on this ceremony and whose creativity
was evident. Based on the feedback received and on a further
recommendation from our Commencement Committee, the May
ceremony is also planned for outdoors on campus. I hope you
will all want to be a part of this wonderful event in such an
interesting setting -- and you can start NOW to utilize any
and all connections you may have in the cause of fine weather!
The UHV message is a powerful one -- one of access and
opportunity; one of dedication and dreams; one of community
and commitment to making a difference -- and it is resonating
more and more with individuals and organizations that realize
the need to support us with their time, talent and treasure.
And I have to say that nothing gives me more pride or speaks
louder to external audiences who are considering financial
support of UHV than the tremendous faculty and staff response
to the "One for All" campaign. University Advancement reports
that the number of faculty and staff participating has doubled
and the giving has nearly quadrupled over last year's final
numbers. I want to thank all of you who have invested in our
future through your generous gifts.
As all of us continue to carry the UHV message to various
stakeholders, the example set by our own people makes a huge
difference. Already this year, UHV has been the beneficiary of
a record number of major gifts, including gifts in support of
our new Bachelor of Science in Nursing initiative from DeTar
and Citizens Hospitals. Numerous endowed scholarships have
been established including the Anne Gibson Hunt Scholarship
(honoring our own Margaret Rice's mother) and the Florence
Nightingale Scholarship for nursing majors established by
Claud and Mary Virginia Jacobs -- an "official" announcement
of this generous gift will be released shortly. And once again
the Alcoa Foundation provided fundamental support for our
critical outreach programs.
In addition to the gifts mentioned above, we continue to
receive support for our facilities expansion effort in Sugar
Land. In late January, for example, the city of Sugar Land's
Mayor David Wallace announced a $3.5 million contribution to
the new building on our Highway 59 site. For this
contribution, the city will be allowed to develop an outdoor
recreation and amphitheatre project adjacent to the
campus--something that will no doubt be of great use to UHV as
we continue to work toward the creation of additional
opportunities for our students in Sugar Land. When added to
the previously announced George Foundation gift and other
private gifts, the city's contribution brings our private
fundraising effort for the project to more than $8.5 million.
In addition, thanks to the efforts of Wayne Beran, the Wharton
County Junior College Board of Trustees approved a long-term
build-to-suit lease with the UH System which will ensure that
we have a lower division partner/tenant in the building and
provide for a secure source of revenue for the project. As I
alluded to above, we still await the fate of our tuition
revenue bond request, which would constitute the public half
of the planned $30 million building. Notwithstanding the
outcome of the upcoming special session, where the topic of
university bonding capacity could be a part of the call, I am
optimistic that the UH System will find a way to finance the
"public" half of the project and that we could well be
breaking ground within a year on a complex that will allow us
to continue to meet the need for higher education in one of
the fastest-growing counties--Fort Bend--in all of Texas.
In November, I had the privilege of traveling to Spain to
meet with newly appointed U.S. Ambassador Eduardo Aguirre, who
is a former member of the UH System Board of Regents. He was
delighted to hear of the commitment that the UH System has
made to international education and pledged his support for
our efforts already under way in Spain. In that vein, I was
also delighted to accompany Dean Charles Bullock in January to
Mexico, where we signed an additional agreement with
Universidad Internacional that will allow UHV to deliver its
MBA Certificate and other programs to the Mexican market. In
these and other international initiatives, UHV is
demonstrating leadership on one of the key strategic
initiatives of the UH System and in an area that has elicited
attention from the leaders of our government, as evidenced by
a recent White House conference and a spate of new proposals
designed to ensure that U.S. students are prepared for
leadership in a global society.
From our involvement in Black History Month events where we
continue to host the annual poster contest and display
students' work in our building to our increasingly popular
"Off the Clock" after-hours socials designed to build bridges
to our community supporters, UHV people continue to display
their creativity and leadership and I want to thank them for
these efforts. At this year's Employee Recognition Luncheon,
we acknowledged the contributions that so many of them make to
building a workplace that is both supportive and effective and
we bestowed our Employee of the Year award on Kathy Rumbo. We
also learned (once again) MORE than we wanted to know about
some employees (if either Richard Gunasekera or Carole Parks
misses work they just might be scuba diving?) and were
entertained/baffled by Don Smith's "sense of humor." Some
traditions are definitely worth continuing.
In the next few weeks we should be in a position to
announce closure on several key searches now under way. I
encourage the entire UHV community to participate in the
on-campus facets of those searches when the time comes and I
want to thank the various committees working on these
important searches. The faculty is also working diligently on
a number of exciting programmatic developments, and, with
official approvals hoped for soon, we will be releasing more
information on these.
Finally, let me thank the Cabinet for their participation
in our first "off-site" retreat. They were "forced" to spend
two days in Rockport where we did our best to plow through
some near term challenges and opportunities while taking some
time to envision UHV's future. A spirit of cooperation and
goodwill was evident (and the scenery wasn't too bad either);
the genuine commitment to innovate while meeting the needs of
our students and promoting our mission manifested in the two
days of discussion will serve UHV well in the years ahead.
Tim Hudson
President
"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable…"
Martin Luther King
"La necedad cierra las puertas de la bondad"
Traditional Mexican "dicho" -- from Folk Wisdom of Mexico
(Chronicle Books) by J.M. Sellers
"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."
John Lennon |
