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President's Periodic Messages 2007-2008
February 19, 2008
An Update from President Hudson:
We’ve had a very active and productive start to 2008 with the beginning of the spring semester,
budget hearings, the excitement surrounding softball and baseball, a visit from our new Chancellor
Dr. Renu Khator and continuing discussions of the possibilities of becoming a four-year, destination
university. Some of these events forced us to rearrange our normal cabinet schedules, thus the longer
than usual gap in updates.
As of last week 2,919 students were enrolled at UHV with a SCH total of 20,251; these are record
levels that augur well for our “base year” – which is enrollment for the upcoming summer, fall and
spring semesters which is used to determine the allocation we receive via formula funding from the state.
Needless to say, the base year count really "counts". Starting from a record level of enrollment just prior
to that time is encouraging indeed. Congratulations to all of you who worked to achieve this significant
increase in enrollment and put us in a position to craft a budget that should include meaningful raises
for staff and faculty while requiring only moderate increases in tuition.
Speaking of budgets – our two day budget process produced some interesting information about the great job our colleagues are
doing and their ambitions going forward. These ambitions, if all were fully funded, would amount to an increase in spending
of more than $3.5 million – so clearly we will not be able to accommodate all requests. But we’re in the “idea business”
so it was nice to hear elaborated innovative plans for development at UHV as we continue to grow and mature.
Plus, it was pleasant to complete budget hearings knowing that we do not have to buy yet another chiller or
increase our bandwidth – at least for this year!
In late January, our baseball players made history at Riverside Stadium with three Jaguar baseball victories over Laredo
Community College. Actually, we all know it didn’t start this past weekend – it began months ago with administrative
planning and hiring, outstanding recruitment and many hours of training and practice. But what a wonderful experience
it was for all participants, as this work came to fruition under sunny south Texas skies.
The softball team followed with three Jaguar victories the following weekend in the Galveston tournament.
We are looking forward to seeing our softball team play its first home game on Wednesday, March 5, as this
fine team of athletes plays Mount Marty College at St. Joseph High School O'Connor Athletic Complex. We will
be hosting a community bar-b-que in their honor on Saturday, March 8. I managed to catch one of their games at
St. Edwards in Austin and I can tell you that you are in for a treat when you come out to see them. And, just for
the record, there is VERY little truth to the rumor that while I was “discussing” matters with the umpire
(anybody could see that the ball hit the bat twice so it really wasn’t much of a discussion!)
Dee Dee was chatting with everyone about the wonders of UHV – well, she WAS doing that.
We are continuing to move forward with studying the possibility of becoming a four-year,
destination university. I have appointed a steering committee to begin drafting “a visionary and persuasive
implementation plan" so that we are able to show how we would accomplish this vision if we are given the approval
to do so. The steering committee is composed of Wayne Beran, Joe Dahlstrom, Jeffrey Di Leo, Dick Phillips,
Margaret Rice, Dan Jaeckle (representing Faculty Senate), Randy Faulk (representing Staff Council), and Delores White,
(representing Student Senate). I think it is best to keep the committee representative of the university community,
but fairly small, so that it can work quickly. I have encouraged each person to bring in additional people as needed
for expertise to complete their portion of the draft plan. I envision that the committee may well organize its work
around a series of sub-committees, enlisting the assistance of university colleagues and external constituents
including individuals associated with Victoria College.
Since at least last summer when I returned from an American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
meeting and shared information with the faculty, we have been discussing a national movement that will result in
something called the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA). Dr. LaBrecque recently returned from attending a
meeting of the AASCU where member universities, including UHV, have committed to a VSA. She will be sharing with
us the template that will contain the system. Most university leaders believe higher education will be much better
off if we take it upon ourselves to illustrate to the public the quality of our work than leaving it to federal
requisites and the VSA holds promise as one way to accomplish this. One of the main areas of focus and assessment
will be student learning outcomes and the continuous improvement of our academic programs.
Chari Norgard reported that for the first time at the Sugar Land campus, the Academic Center is offering face-to-face
tutoring. She also mentioned that Career Services is offering student transportation to the Texas Job Fair in Houston.
It is really good to see the effort that is given by student services to meet the needs of our students.
We had a record turn-out for the Employee Awards luncheon. It is always gratifying to recognize the number of years of
service that our employees have given and I enjoy another opportunity to say “thank you” for what you do to make UHV a
wonderful place to work. Danny Ochoa’s presentation of the "fun" awards deserves an award – I’m sure we’ll come up with
something creative. As I have said often, there is a great deal of hidden talent at UHV – just not hidden deeply enough!
Thanks, Danny, for such an illustrative and entertaining portion of our program. And, kudos to HR for planning a
wonderful event for us – which was so successful caterer ran out of food -- and that was without the winner of the
"Speedy Gonzalez" award in attendance!
Dean Di Leo reports some exciting news, particularly for our publishing program.
Fiction Collection 2,
a small independent press will be relocating to UHV. This will give our students majoring in publishing the
advantage of learning the publishing process first hand, from beginning to finished product.
Our ABR reading series continues to be well attended and growing in renown, both in our community and among university
colleagues. The next author, scheduled for Feb. 28, is David Oshinsky, Pulitzer Prize Winner for his work Polio:
An American Story. I know you will want to hear him, if at all possible, at noon in Alcorn Auditorium. Some of you
will know that Rotary International has donated millions of dollars to the eradication of polio world wide through its
award winning Polio Plus program – so the ABR staff came up with the idea of inviting local Rotarians to a special
luncheon preceding Oshinsky’s lecture. As a long time Rotarian, I can tell you that this gesture is much appreciated
and the opportunity to meet an expert on a cause many of us have been involved in is a real treat.
Dr. Neill reports great news that the MSN program has been approved by the Coordinating Board and classes will begin
the second intrasession this spring. She continues to meet with administrators from hospitals and colleges who are
potential partners in the nursing program. The nursing faculty, in consultation with Dr. Don Smith, is working on
the addition of programs that will move us toward an allied health department.
Drs. Rice, Neill and Di Leo recently met with several Austin Community College administrators and April Wenske,
our UHV on-site recruiter at ACC. Recruitment is going well at ACC and we are seeing new ACC transfer students as
Ms. Wenske personally talks with Austin students about our programs. Thank you, April, for the good work you are
doing on-site at ACC. Enthusiastic discussions took place about additional programmatic partnerships as leaders from
both institutions believe we have much to offer each other.
For those of you who would like to stay current on the progress of the Sugar Land construction, Joe
Ferguson directs you to the following link:
www.sugarland.uh.edu/camera/. This site allows 10 concurrent users
and allows up to 5 minutes of viewing before being “timed out.” So, if at first you don’t succeed . . . .
UHV hosted the February lunch meeting for the Victoria Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Stephanie Solansky gave an
outstanding presentation on the UHV Texas Principals Excellence Program (TxPEP). Thank you, Dr. Solansky, for
your strong leadership of this program which has made many local leaders realizing that UHV is having an impact around the state.
Once again, we hosted the reception for the Black History Poster Contest Winners and have had the privilege
of displaying many of the poster entries in University Center. I am always amazed and delighted by the creative work
that goes into these posters, and the amount of knowledge that is communicated through these works of art done by area
5th graders -- and I am always grateful to NOT have to pick the winners. Come see these posters on display in the University
Center until the end of February.
We had an outstanding day at UHV on the first day of February as our new system chancellor visited Victoria for the
first time. I was proud to introduce all of you to Dr. Renu Khator and appreciate your enthusiastic reception of her.
Do remember that Dr. Khator has set up a web site (www.uh.edu/100days)
and invites you to share your ideas with her.
I encourage your thoughtful response to her invitation for input.
For full cabinet minutes, look at
www.uhv.edu/president/cabinet.asp.
See you at the games.
Sincerely,
Tim Hudson, Ph.D.
President
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance
and conscientious stupidity."
Dr. Martin Luther King
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer."
Harriet Tubman
"I opened the door for a lot of people, and they just ran through it
and left me holding the knob."
Bo Diddley
“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”
Albert Einstein
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