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President's Periodic Messages 2005-2006
June 13, 2006
Saludos UHV Community,
The summer session is under way -- the weather is warm, the
enrollments are climbing and the mosquitoes are buzzing --
well, I suppose two out of three isn't bad (the Astros would
happily take that ratio of wins to losses) -- and at least the
mosquitoes are large enough to dodge on occasion! And just
like the May rains brought much needed relief for our
longstanding regional drought, a break in the legislative
impasse that had beset our leaders for the past year and half
cleared the legislative "clouds" and finally produced a plan
to move forward on K-12 funding hitched to a property tax
reduction initiative. Hot on the heels of that agreement and
with the special help of forward-thinking leaders such as
Victoria's own Representative Geanie Morrison, all public
universities in the state benefited from the goodwill in the
air as the legislators then immediately authorized over $1.8
billion in tuition revenue bonds for the construction of
various capital projects on campuses across the state.
At UHV we fared very well in this process, thanks in part
to the leadership of Rep. Morrison and Victoria's Senator Ken
Armbrister, both of whom are well aware of the importance of
investing in the future of our capacity to meet the higher
education needs of the citizens we serve. In fact, a couple of
weeks ago I was asked by our Board to represent the UH System
at a dinner attended by all of the major higher education
system CEOs and designed specifically to thank Representative
Morrison and House Speaker Tom Craddick for their work in
crafting and then helping pass the TRB legislation. Believe
me, our colleagues around the state are just a wee bit jealous
of the fact that the co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on
Higher Education, Rep. Morrison, lives right here with us in
Victoria.
Combined with our aggressive, private fundraising efforts
(more on this later), these latest TRBs will allow us to
launch the most ambitious building plan in the history of UHV.
Three of our four requested projects were authorized: $22.9
million for the general academic complex being planned for
Sugar Land; $6.7 million for an economic development building
in Victoria which will house a number of our own entities,
such as the SBDC and aspects of our new master's degree
program in economic development and entrepreneurship, as well
as other related entities such as the local Chamber of
Commerce offices; and $1.8 million for allied health related
facilities. When completed these projects will nearly double
our available square footage and provide for us the capital
capacity to continue to grow. No doubt you will hear much
about these projects over the next few months during what will
be exciting (and perhaps somewhat noisy?) times for UHV.
Enhancing our capacity for growth has not been limited to
facilities, however, as the good work of our faculty continues
to be manifested in our program mix. Most recently, our Board
of Regents approved the new degree proposal from the School of
Business Administration for a master's degree in economic
development and entrepreneurship. This degree has been
designed with significant input from practitioners in the
field and carries the endorsement of the Texas Economic
Development Council, the state's largest association of
economic development professionals. Congratulations and thanks
are due to the entire faculty in the school who worked on and
supported the creation of a unique degree that will meet the
needs of this burgeoning profession. This Board meeting, as
many of you know, was successfully hosted here in Victoria and
was the first meeting attended by our two newest Regents, Jim
P. Wise and Welcome Wade Wilson. Both of these gentlemen
expressed their admiration for our campus and for many of our
programs, including the School of Education's VOICE program
which was explained so admirably by Dean Stansell as a part of
the meeting agenda.
Faculty commitment and diligence in other areas also
continues to bear fruit as a number of faculty members were
successful in publishing scholarly works and in engaging in
the exchange of ideas so critical to pushing the frontiers of
learning. As our faculty becomes more widely appreciated for
their scholarly efforts, our students benefit because it adds
value to their UHV degrees. For this and many other good
reasons I was very pleased to be able to announce UHV's first
ever Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activity Award at
the May commencement. This first award represented the
culmination of a two-year process that was initiated when I
came to UHV and I asked the Faculty Senate to work on a proper
protocol for recognizing faculty achievement in this important
arena. I want to thank the Faculty Senate for their
deliberations and work in this regard, and I want to
congratulate this year's winner, Dr. Zaid Swaidan, who is
clearly deserving and whose scholarly activity exemplifies the
work carried out by the UHV faculty.
At the same commencement, we announced our first ever
Distinguished Faculty Service Award. This award was the result
of conversations aimed at bringing attention to the many
contributions our faculty makes to the life of our
institutions and communities. Chosen by a faculty committee
under Faculty Senate guidelines, the inaugural recipient is
Dr. Sandy Venneman, who, among many other duties, has served
as Faculty Senate president this past year and as co-chair of
the important provost search committee. Of course, at the May
commencement we also continued the longstanding UHV tradition
of recognizing excellence in teaching by awarding the annual
Enron Teaching Excellence Award to Dr. Timothy Berkey. For a
first year faculty member such as Dr. Berkey to win this award
is an outstanding achievement indeed. Taken together, these
faculty awards indicate that UHV is home to some talented
faculty members whose work enhances the learning of our
students, improves the value of their degrees, and raises the
quality of life in our area.
UHV's strong message continues to resonate with private
donors and other entities who are helping us garner the
resources we need to ensure that we can achieve our goal of
access with excellence. Recent successes on the private
fundraising side include two major gifts that will help
underwrite our new nursing program as it competes for talented
faculty and students. Independent of one another, we received
two pledges with a combined value of more than $400,000 of
facility and/or scholarship support for our Sugar Land nursing
and allied health efforts. These commitments come at a
propitious time just ahead of our site visit from the Board of
Nurse Examiners for the State of Texas who will be with us
later this week.
The achievements of our students continue to impress and
inspire. Forty-two UHV students were inducted into Phi Kappa
Phi at a ceremony I attended in May. Phi Kappa Phi is the
oldest and largest honor society in America and membership is
by invitation only to the top 7.5 percent of second-semester
juniors and the top 10 percent of seniors and graduate
students. Also, just ahead of the May commencement I was
delighted to participate in ceremonies recognizing two
outstanding students from each of our schools: Candice Melzow
(graduate) and Karen Pearce (undergraduate) from Arts and
Sciences; James Upchurch (graduate) and Erin Canada
(undergraduate) from Business Administration; Sara Tones
(graduate) and Carol Suggs (undergraduate) from Education and
Human Development. These students embody the dedication and
commitment of UHV students toward achieving their educational
goals, sometimes in the face of long odds. They are to be
congratulated.
And speaking of commencement -- well, it was warm, ok. But,
it was also well attended and delightful and it didn't rain!
And the nice reception afterward was refreshing in a special,
sort of Freon, way. Most importantly, as friends, family and
supporters looked on, more than 225 students received their
diplomas, their expressions reminding us of why we are
involved in the marvelous endeavor called higher education in
the first place. Plus, those in attendance were treated to a
delightful (and temporally correct) address from our outgoing,
longstanding provost Dr. Don Smith, who utilized passages from
movie scripts and literature to evoke a sense of wonder for
the universal, generational and transcendent power of
learning.
Student-, faculty- and staff-led outreach programs
proceeded at a rather furious pace during the spring and with
great success. To name just a few events that enabled us to
connect with stakeholders and touch potential future learners
there were Math/Computer Science Awareness Day, a number of
LEAD events including Boys and Girls Academies, our second
annual Fiesta Day, the Bach Festival reception, and the DeLeon
Symposium. In February, we were privileged to host a visit by
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison who chose our Victoria campus as
a site to announce her support for new federal legislation
that holds the promise of providing much needed funds for
students pursuing careers in the sciences in order for the US
to sustain its competitiveness in key scientific and
technological fields. It was a pleasure to work with Senator
Hutchison and her staff on this important event, which was
attended by several local ISD students and many community
leaders. I want to give a special thanks to Regent Morgan Dunn
O'Connor for her assistance in arranging this visit, only the
second ever by a US senator to our campus.
Now, in the list above, astute readers will notice that I
have omitted any reference to our latest "Off the Clock" event
held at Fossati's in downtown Victoria -- and by the way, if
you have not attended one of these, you really should
-- it is a great way to expand your network of contacts and
help spread the word about UHV. Anyway, there is a good reason
for this omission -- I wasn't there! At the last minute I had
to be in Austin on TRB business, so all I am left with is
rumor and gossip (did I mention the pictures! Was that really
Danny Ochoa doing his Sonny to Phyllis Hunt's Cher?) on what
was billed as a "performance" and karaoke event which
apparently featured a great deal of faculty pickin' and
audience grinnin' (wonder why?). Talent blossomed and new
careers were launched (and some wrecked?!), or so it is said,
and plans are under way for a follow up. Stay tuned.
UHV's ongoing efforts to provide students and faculty with
international opportunities took a great leap forward this
past month when our leadership in promoting language study
abroad for Hispanic students was endorsed by the Hispanic
Association of Colleges and Universities -- the largest
organization of Hispanic-serving institutions in the US. At a
press conference in San Antonio to announce the arrangement,
whereby HACU will promote UHV vetted study-abroad
opportunities for students from all of its 450 institutional
members, I was privileged to share the dais with Dr. Antonio
Flores, HACU president and someone who is routinely touted as
one of the most influential figures in American higher
education. Dr. Flores complimented UHV for taking the
initiative in what he termed a national call to action to
ensure that all our students, regardless of ethnic, social or
economic background, be given an opportunity to prepare for
leadership in a globally interdependent society. Along these
lines, UHV made great progress this past semester on its plans
to offer some degree programs in Egypt, where deans Bullock
and DiLeo joined me and representatives from the private
sector and the US Embassy in Cairo at a media event to
announce this initiative. In Mexico and along with our
partners from Universidad International, Dean Bullock and I
had the privilege of participating in a bilingual national
press conference (the bank of colorful microphones was as
impressive as it was nerve-wracking) designed to kick-start
our MBA marketing strategy in that country.
Finally, I want to thank our students for their consistent
support of our drive to ensure that they have access to an
education that is second to none in terms of quality. They
have embraced this principle and fully understand that in
order for UHV to compete for the faculty talent required to
sustain the quality they deserve, it must have sufficient
resources. In this era of declining state support and
increasing costs, unfortunately, this has often meant tuition
increases. This year we asked our Board to approve 7.5 percent
tuition increases, modest by UH System standards but
nonetheless consequential for the budgets of our students. I
want to especially thank Robin Cadle, Student Senate
president, and Kerry Mix for their willingness to attend the
special Board session which dealt with this complicated and
important issue. Their expressions of support on behalf of the
students and the depth of understanding they and their fellow
students displayed on this matter were heartwarming and
elicited a renewed commitment from all of us to do the very
best we can with these resources.
Stay cool if possible and drop by to say hello when you
can.
Tim Hudson
President
" A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but
after a while he gets to know something."
Wilson Mizner
"Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for
with ardor and attended to with diligence."
Abigail Adams
"I see great things in baseball -- the American game. It
will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, and
give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from
being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a
blessing to us."
Walt Whitman
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no
baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and
wait for spring."
Rogers Hornsby |
