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President's Periodic Messages 2004-2005
October 14, 2005
Saludos UHV Community,
This fall semester has
already established itself as a semester of firsts – our
first endowed professorship, record levels of external
funding, new administrative responsibilities at the regional
centers, record enrollments, record numbers of faculty, the
first Boys Academy, the inaugural Latino Art Exhibition,
and, of course, the first ever mandatory evacuations of
Victoria and Fort Bend counties as Hurricane Rita had us all
in her cross hairs just hours before making landfall east of
Houston and sparing us the worst of what others,
unfortunately, suffered. Whew, what a start. (Did I
mention that our twins started kindergarten, a sort of
familial version of a tropical storm in and of itself?!)
When placed in the context of the stunning aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina and a new academic year in which little
new funding was available from Austin, this fall has indeed
come in like a lion.
But, typical of UHV and the
people that comprise this institution, not only have we
"weathered" (pun intended) the events of the summer and
fall, we continue to make significant progress on many
fronts and continue to be a force for prosperity in our
region. One example of such progress is the fact that,
despite the absence of significant new revenues from the
state and despite the fact that university staff were
omitted from the raises provided other state employees, by
working together with all budget managers we managed to
provide healthy salary increases (averaging 5+%) for all
meritorious UHV employees. This was no small accomplishment
and I want to thank everyone who worked on the budget for
their professionalism and for their clear commitment to the
shared value of investing in the people who make a
difference at UHV. I also want to thank everyone for their
patience as I sent the budget back again and again to ensure
that we were doing the maximum for the most deserving. In
the final analysis I believe it was worth it as we not only
found resources for these well deserved raises but we were
able also to continue to enhance our technology and take
care of some lingering infrastructure needs -- yes, we even
bought a new chiller which, with the spate of 100 degree
days we experienced this past summer, may turn out to be our
wisest move yet.
While state revenues
continue to decline as a proportion of our overall budget,
our efforts to garner support from our advocates, friends,
colleagues and stakeholders continue to pick up steam. For
the first time in its history, the President's Advisory
Council, under the leadership of Randy Clapp, committed to
100% participation in our traditional annual Friends of the
University giving campaign, which will no doubt surpass all
previous totals before the year is over. UHV staff and
faculty are leading by example and positioning us with a
strong message to take to our external supporters by joining
in the "one for all" campaign which asks all of us to invest
1% of our salary in UHV via the foundation. These funds
will support scholarships, faculty development, and other
initiatives and will demonstrate to others that we believe
strongly in the unique mission of UHV. You have no doubt
noticed the rather large, purple "1"
lapel pens sported by some of our colleagues who have made
this one for all commitment and it is my hope that more will
sprout soon -- in my many conversations with possible donors
in the community the two most powerful messages that inspire
them to share their resources with us are student
achievement and the manifestation of our own willingness to
give back to the institution.
Speaking of philanthropy,
UHV received a magnificent boost to its nascent nursing
program when we were notified by the M.G. and Lillie A.
Johnson Foundation that they had agreed to our proposal to
endow a professorship in that field. This first for UHV
will be a tremendous asset as we now move forward to hire
faculty to join Dr. Jeanette Hartshorn who joined us this
fall as director of nursing and vice president for research
and program development. The Johnson Foundation's
generosity ($250,000) establishes what we hope will become a
tradition of finding external support at this level to
recognize and assist the important work of our talented
faculty. This gift solidifies our determination to move
forward with the nursing program as rapidly as possible
despite the fact that our request for special item funding
was ultimately rejected by the state legislature at the end
of its long special sessions saga.
This elongated legislative
"season" also brought the news we had rather anticipated
that no new tuition revenue bonds, the primary vehicle for
funding capital projects, would be approved. The failure to
receive any TRB authorization intensified discussions which
ultimately resulted in the Board of Regents approval of a
creative plan to combine internal financing with external
partnerships to construct a $30 million complex in Sugar
Land. The new building, which will be partly occupied by
our educational partner Wharton County Junior College, will
feature faculty offices, classrooms, laboratory space and,
absent more meteorological calamities, should be ready for
occupancy by late 2007 or early 2008. To assist in the
financing of this complex, we have launched the Building
Futures Together Campaign with a goal of raising $2.5
million from the private sector. This campaign is well
under way under the leadership of Mike Piwetz of Fluor
Corporation and we have already received inspirational lead
gifts of $100,000 or more from the Fred and Mabel Parks
Foundation ($250,000), Newland Communities ($100,000), and
Brij and Sunita Agrawal ($100,000). Brij is a UH graduate
and private entrepreneur who immigrated to the US with
little more than the shirt on his back and who realizes that
his access to higher education transformed his life choices
and catalyzed his success. Now, he is giving back so that
others will have an opportunity to realize their dreams. As
many of you know this project had received a major gift
earlier from the George Foundation $4 million and we expect
the announcement of more in the future as this genuine
partnership continues to grow around the shared principle of
progress through higher education for the citizens of the
Fort Bend area.
Anyone fortunate enough to
visit our University Center building recently will know that
our attempt to overcome some of the cultural barriers to
participation in higher education among Hispanics has taken
a great leap forward. The UHV led Spanish Speaking
Initiative Committee transformed UC into an art gallery
during Hispanic Heritage month by developing Victoria's
first ever Latino Art Exhibition, featuring the work of 16
local artists, and installing an altar decoration
competition for local school children. It has been great
coming to my office in the heart of this "gallery" and
meeting so many people who came to view these wonderful
exhibitions. The wonderful “Sabor de Mejico” luncheon and
dance performance spearheaded by our students also packed
the house with visitors. And perhaps more importantly, we
have some evidence that that our efforts to reach out to
this underserved group is paying off as our fall Hispanic
enrollment reached its highest level ever. Clearly, we in
this region must make progress in providing Hispanics with
the empowering and transformational experience of higher
education in order to ensure future economic competitiveness
and to create the base for an engaged citizenry in an open,
democratic society. Thanks to all of our partners and kudos
to our staff and students for their creativity in producing
so many events that seek to demonstrate that higher
education can be a part of everyone's future.
At the reception held in our
home and at the convocations in Victoria and Sugar Land it
was obvious that we have welcomed to our community of
learners a number of new faces -- an indication that our
organization remains healthy. Almost immediately our new
colleagues were swept up in the can-do spirit that
characterizes UHV as we all struggled to cope with the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the potentiality of
Hurricane Rita. To everyone who had a hand in the decision
making process which led to our closing UHV ahead of the
mandatory evacuation of Victoria and Fort Bend, I want to
say thanks for their considered and composed engagement
during the deliberations and for the information and
perspectives they brought to the table. This proved to be
a genuine test of our emergency response system and, all
things considered, we passed -- and we learned things that
will no doubt improve our response to any future disasters.
In addition, I want to commend the attitude of helpfulness
and shared responsibility that prevailed -- manifesting the
special bond among the people that comprise UHV and
reinforcing something that our new colleagues will no doubt
learn -- UHV is a great place to work.
Another “first” in the fall
took place when we welcomed to campus 70 boys from seven
counties for our inaugural Boys Academy. Modeled after our
successful Girls Academy, these future leaders engaged in
round table discussions regarding career – planning and
interpersonal skills with several community leaders. A
number of our faculty and staff were also involved and Dee
Dee gave the group a welcome on behalf of UHV. Thanks to
all who participated in this important event designed to
encourage eighth grade boys to develop the skills and
characteristics that lead to success.
Finally, if nothing else
Katrina's devastation has once again reminded all of us of
the importance of self-reliance and the power of individuals
working together for a common cause. As my four year old
twins said to me while looking at the weather map on the
back of the newspaper: "The eye of the hurricane is
everywhere" -- they realized that the storm touched everyone
and everything from Florida to Texas bringing home the
notion of an interconnected society. Higher education has
an important role in such a society -- as a platform for
individual success and a mechanism for the exploration of
shared values. At UHV, with the help of everyone in our
organization and with the support of our stakeholders, we
will continue to pursue our mission of individual
empowerment through education that leads to opportunity and
freedom which helps reduce the institutional dependence that
left so many people stranded in the wake of the recent
storms.
Thank you all for all you do
for UHV.
Tim Hudson
President
"Be
the change you want to see in society."
M.
Ghandi
"In
this small world, we must realize that our neighbor's
troubles are also our own."
Oscar
Arias Sanchez, Nobel Prize winner.
“I
have an existential map; it has ‘you are here’ written all
over it.”
Steven
Wright |
