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 Office of the President

President's Periodic Messages 2007-2008

November 20, 2007

An Update from President Hudson:

The latest version of our Annual Report and Awards dinner, held in early November, was a huge “hit” by all accounts. The feedback has been heartwarming, to say the least. Entitled “Stepping Up to the Plate,” an obvious allusion to our new athletics program, the evening featured a number of speakers who illuminated the way in which UHV has “teamed” with other organizations and individuals to make tremendous progress toward our goal of becoming a university of choice. Each of the following spoke and gave a unique perspective on how UHV continues to “step up to the plate” through innovative programming and being responsive to community needs: State Representative Geanie Morrison; David White, BSN Student and Director of ICU/Telemetry at Brazosport Regional Health System; Adrian Cannady, MSEDE Student and Vice President of Marketing for Victoria Economic Development Corporation; Kristen Lindley, pitcher on our first UHV Jaguars softball team; and, Dorothy Alcorn, UHV Supporter and Former UH System Regent; and, of course, yours truly, TH. Regent Morgan Dunn O’Connor brought greetings from the UH System. AND the food by Main Course was terrific.

We also took time to recognize our current faculty and staff award holders (Sandy Venneman, Enron Teaching Excellence Award; Harold Smith, Research and Scholarly Activity Award; Hsin-Hui Lin, Faculty Service Award; and, Mary Mahan, Employee of the Year) and to bestow two additional awards. Delores White, our current Student Senate President received the Student Leadership Award and the Latina Forum received our Community Partnership Award. The Annual Report has evolved into quite a gala and I want to thank the staff for the hard work they put into making this “packed house” version a success. I also want to thank our many sponsors for their support. And by the way, the report booklet itself contains some interesting photos of our speakers “playing with” baseball paraphernalia – of course, the only one that looks anywhere close to a “natural” is Kristen (although Rep. Morrison looks as though she can handle a bat - probably comes in handy in Austin!). If you haven’t had a chance to see the booklet, do take a moment to look it over. It is outstanding and I commend all who worked on it.

Last Thursday we hosted our UH System Board of Regents (BOR) and a phalanx of system administrators (is this the right phrase for an accompanying entourage of colleagues that attend such meetings, a “gaggle” perhaps?) for the regular November BOR meeting. It was great to have these folks in Victoria on our campus. Some of our guests arrived Wednesday evening and attended a small reception at Greek Brothers held in their honor. As usual, we heard nothing but compliments on all aspects of the arrangements; we should all be proud of our campus and our staff. UHV’s hospitality sets the standard and the willingness of our student senate members to welcome attendees as they arrive really sets us apart. In addition to the organization and hospitality that set the stage for the event, we had several presentations. Delores White, our Student Senate president, welcomed guests on behalf of our students and spoke of the growing pride among UHV students. Randy Faulk, the UHV staff council chair, was selected by the University System Staff Executive Council (USSEC), to express to the BOR their appreciation, as well as their areas of concern. Charles Bullock introduced Stephanie Solansky, who gave an excellent presentation on the Texas Principals Excellence Program. A number of Regents, by the way, told me how excited they were about TxPEP and that the presentation was one of the best they had ever heard – and just imagine how many that includes!

At our cabinet meeting this past week, one of our agenda topics was the “Suggestion Box.” The Suggestion Box is an online site designed to provide a way for students, faculty and staff to offer suggestions for improving conditions at UHV. Over the years, many changes have been made based on ideas provided through the suggestion box. Increasingly, however, there is some concern that there are those who use this tool as a “complaint box” without offering any constructive suggestions. We discussed “suggestions” for encouraging the use of this resource for constructive solutions and continuing to use in place policies for grievances. Although no decisions were made, there were several ideas presented and Joe Ferguson has agreed to report back to us soon on any recommended changes as we work toward enhancing this process for improvement.

Soon, Provost LaBrecque will receive the final report from the Provost’s Research Advisory Committee. I commend all who worked on that committee and look forward to reading their report. I know it will move us forward in this important area that helps define our contribution to society.

Let me mention a few of the many exciting things that are going on in our academic schools.

• Several new degree plans are in progress including the BBA in Finance, the MS in global finance, the MS in Publishing and the MS in Nursing.
   
• Café Scientifique, an Arts and Sciences outreach event was held in Sugar Land, with more than 70 people in attendance.
   
• The Nursing faculty, Dr. Holm, SoEHD faculty and several community members are meeting to discuss enhancement of the Partners Project, an after-school tutoring and mentoring project for children in low-income, unstable neighborhoods.
   
• The Nursing program will have 100% participation of their graduates at commencement this December. Their pinning ceremony will take place at the Merrell Center prior to commencement. Kudos to all concerned.
   
• The generic masters nursing program (in process for approval) will now be called the Alternate Entry Program. Upon approval, UHV will be the only school in the state of Texas with the Alternate Entry Program.
   
• The Texas State Reading Association (TSRA) Board of Directors unanimously approved housing its official publication, Texas Reading Report (TRR) at UHV. TRR is a virtual journal, featuring articles, book reviews, editorial pieces and discussion boards which will allow TSRA members around the state to interact about research, best practices and issues related to literacy education. Dr. Steve Trowbridge is the new editor of TRR – congratulations to Steve.
   
• In connection with the American Book Review, Dr. Di Leo has been appointed to a national advisory committee consisting of 50 people from around the country and has been interviewed by the National Book Review.
   
• Dr. LaBrecque has been appointed to two statewide committees for the Coordinating Board: Accountability Measures for Masters Comprehensive Institutions; and, the Texas Common Course Numbering System.
   
• Dean Bullock recently returned from an accreditation visit for Louisiana State University at Shreveport where they had listed UHV as one of their “aspirant universities.” This term refers to those universities whose programs an institution wants to emulate. I think they made a good choice!

Students remain our top priority and Chari Norgard reports that we have online instructions to make registration and payment through the PeopleSoft system run much more smoothly for spring than this past fall during our first “go-round” with using PeopleSoft for these processes. Thank you to the ones who worked on this project – for your patience and persistence. (OK – I know I used “PeopleSoft” and “smoothly” in the same sentence, but, as they say, hope springs eternal.)

The commencement website has been a big “hit” (pardon the pun but these themes die hard) with over 1500 hits since October. Feedback has been very positive and you can check out this site by going to our UHV home page and clicking on “Commencement Info.”

Speaking of commencement, we have just learned that, in addition to Senator Cornyn and others, we will have a special guest from Mexico, Sr. Javier Espinosa who is the president and CEO of our partner institution in Cuernavaca, Universidad Internacional.

We also have good news relating to our partnership Title V grant with Coastal Bend College (CBC). We recently had an evaluation visit and met all performance requirements for the first year of this five year grant which encourages underrepresented community college students at CBC to transfer to UHV to complete a bachelor’s degree.

Finally, I want to congratulate our own Gloria Espitia who received the African American Chamber of Commerce of Victoria (AACCV) Education Award at their Chairman’s Awards Gala. Among other things Gloria, who holds a degree in library science and has worked as a librarian for 26 years, is a founder of the Latina Forum. Since, my mother was a librarian, I was humbled and honored to be given the privilege of introducing her at what was truly one of the most outstanding and fun events I have attended since coming to Victoria. Congratulations to Gloria AND the AACCV.

Remember, full cabinet minutes can be read at www.uhv.edu/president/cabinet.asp .

I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving – don’t eat too much and have fun (hopefully, not mutually exclusive).

Sincerely,

Tim Hudson, Ph.D. President

“Baseball? It’s just a game – as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It’s a sport, business – and sometimes even a religion. --Ernie Harwell, “The Game for All America,” 1955

All requests for leaves of absence on account of grandmother’s funeral, sore throat, housecleaning, lame back, turning of the ringer, headaches, brain storm, cousin’s wedding, general ailments or other legitimate excuses must be made out and handed to the boss not later than 10 a.m. on the morning of the game. – Traditional Bronx gag notice (may come in handy as the Jaguars take the field this spring!)

“At least I wasn’t the only one in the band with a serious thinking disorder.” “Seen Kitty Lamar?”, I said. “I heard she was singing in a lounge in Victoria.”

R.B. Benoit in “The Night Johnny Ace Died” short story by James Lee Burke, Esquire, 2007.