University of Houston

The University of Houston, formerly University of Houston–University Park, is a comprehensive doctoral degree-granting universityhttp://www.carnegiefoundation.org/classifications/sub.asp?key=748&subkey=7544&start=782 located in Houston, Texas. It is the third-largest university in the state of Texas. UH is the only doctoral degree-granting university and is the flagship institution with the largest enrollment in the University of Houston System, a state system of higher education that includes three other universities and two multi-institution teaching centers.

Founded in 1927 as Houston Junior College, and becoming a four-year institution in 1934, the University now serves more than 35,300 studentshttp://www.uh.edu/oppa/SHB2005/Fall_2005_Facts.pdf in 12 academic colleges and in the interdisciplinary Honors College, all on a 560-acre campus southeast of Downtown Houston. UH offers 109 bachelor's, 131 master's, 51 doctoral, and three professional degree programs.http://www.uh.edu/uh_glance/index.php?page=info#Degree UH awards more than 6,800 degrees annually.

The University of Houston conducts research in each academic department and operates more than 40 research centers and institutes on campus. The interdisciplinary research conducted at UH breaks new ground in such vital areas as superconductivity, space commercialization, biomedical engineering, economics, education, petroleum exploration, virtual technology, and much more. In addition, UH hosts a variety of theatre, concerts, lectures, and intercollegiate sports.

History

The University of Houston began as Houston Junior College (HJC). On March 7, 1927, trustees of the Board of Education unanimously passed a historic resolution that authorized the "founding, establishment and operation of a junior college." The junior college was operated and controlled under the guidance of the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

HJC was located in San Jacinto High School and offered only night courses. Its first session began June 5, 1927, with an enrollment of 232 students and 12 faculty. This session was primarily held to educate the future teachers of the junior college, and no freshmen were allowed to enroll. A more accurate date for the official opening of HJC is September 19, 1927, when enrollment was opened up to all persons having completed the necessary educational requirements. The first president of HJC was Dr. Edison Ellsworth Oberholtzer. He was the dominant force in establishing the junior college.

The junior college became eligible to become a four-year institution in October 1933 when Governor Miriam A. Furguson signed House Bill 194 into law. On April 30, 1934, HISD's Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution extending the scope and services of the Houston Junior College "to include at least two additional years of college work" and changed the name of the institution to the University of Houston.

UH's first session as a four-year institution began June 4, 1934, at San Jacinto High School with an enrollment of 682. With its new status, the university needed day classes but had no facility for this purpose. In 1934, the first campus of the University of Houston was established at the Second Baptist Church at Milam and McGowen. The next fall, the campus was moved to the South Main Baptist Church, on Main between Richmond and Eagle, where it stayed for the next five years. The University of Houston moved to its present campus in 1939. Its first building, the Roy Gustav Cullen Building, was dedicated on June 4, 1939, and classes began the next day. The first full semester of classes began officially on Wednesday, September 20, 1939.

The next step was the creation of the University of Houston as an institution separate from HISD. On July 26, 1943, the Board of Education adopted a resolution establishing an Advisory Board of the University of Houston consisting of 15 members. On March 12, 1945, Senate Bill 207 was signed into law, removing the control of the University of Houston from HISD and placing it into the hands of 15 HISD-approved regents.http://www.uh.edu/uh_glance/index.php?page=info#History In 1945, the university, which had grown too large and complex for the Houston school board to administer, became a private school. In March 1947, the regents authorized creation of a School of Law at the University, now called the UH Law Center. In 1949, a gift of $1.5 million from the M. D. Anderson Foundation for erection of a library building for UH. By 1950, the educational plant at UH consisted of 12 permanent buildings. Enrollment was more than 14,000 with a fulltime faculty of more than 300.

In 1953, the University established KUHT, the first educational television station in the nation. During this period, however, the university as a private institution was facing financial troubles. Tuition failed to cover rising costs, and in turn, tuition increases caused a drop in enrollment. After a lengthy battle between supporters of the University of Houston and forces from state universities geared to block the change, Senate Bill 2 was passed on May 23, 1961, enabling the university to enter the state system in 1963.

The University of Houston was known as University of Houston–University Park between 1985 and 1988. This name change was an effort by the UH community to separate its identity and confusion from the other three universities within the University of Houston System. While these three universities (UH–Downtown, UH–Clear Lake, and UH–Victoria) share the similar name of the University of Houston, they are essentially autonomus institutions, and each have their own president.

In 1997, the UH System and the University of Houston administrations merged. That same year, Arthur K. Smith became the first person to hold both the UH System chancellorship and University of Houston presidency simultaneously. Smith oversaw the successful merger of the UH System and UH administrations, the launching of the “Learning. Leading.” image campaign, the planning and construction of a number of major buildings at all four UH System universities, a growth in external funding for research, and an increase in student enrollment.

As of 1997, the University of Houston System administation is located in the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building on the University of Houston campus. As of September 2003, the UH System chancellor is Jay Gogue, who is also the president of the University of Houston.

Academics

The mission of the University of Houston is to "provide a range of educational programs that foster an intellectually and culturally diverse environment that enhances individual growth and development."http://www.uh.edu/admin/mission.html

UH offers a wide range of programs through its 12 academic colleges: 109 bachelor's, 131 master's, and 51 doctoral degrees, and three professional degrees. In fiscal year 2004, the University conducted more than $75.9 million in research programs and ranked third in research expenditures within Texas when compared to non-medical institutions, such as itself, and eighth when medical institutions were also considered.http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/0836.PDF

The University of Houston's faculty includes three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee, National Medal of Science recipient Paul Chu, and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Jody Williams. The University of Houston conducts research in each academic department and operates more than 40 research centers and institutes on campus. Through these facilities, UH maintains creative partnerships with government and private industry. The interdisciplinary research conducted at UH breaks new ground in such vital areas as superconductivity, space commercialization, biomedical engineering, economics, education, petroleum exploration, virtual technology, and much more.

U.S. News & World Report ranks the Bauer College of Business as the top Undergraduate Business Program in Houston, third among public universities in the state of Texas, and 44th in the nation among public universities.http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/archive/index.php/t-40431.html The ranking places the Bauer College in the top quartile of the approximately 400 AACSB-accredited undergraduate business programs and top five percent among all 1608 undergraduate business programs in the United States. The MBA Program ranked 5th among public universities for CEOs of S&P 500 companies, according to Bloomberg Markets. Houston was tied with the University of Michigan and Dartmouth. The EMBA Program ranked 17th in the U.S. among public EMBA programs according to the 2004 Financial Times ranking of the top 75 EMBA Programs in the World.http://rankings.ft.com/rankings/emba/rankings.html

The Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture is one of only 36 schools to have an accreditation certificate from the NAAB for both Bachelor's and Master's Degree programs.http://www.naab.org/usr_doc/Accredited_Programs_22.pdf It recently added an industrial design program, the first in the state of Texas.http://www.arch.uh.edu/prog/BSI.html The college's programs are housed in a building designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect Philip Johnson, which was completed in 1985. Famous alumni of the College are Neil Denari, Carlos Jimenez, Gene Aubry, Burdette Keeland, and Walid Bugazia.

The Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management regularly competes with Cornell University for the top spot for hospitality management in the U.S. News & World Report rankings. In 2002 the college ranked third in the nation in hospitality management.http://news.uns.purdue.edu/html3month/020710.Kavanaugh.rank2002.html

The University of Houston Law Center, a law school that, until recently (2002), was frequently ranked in the top 50 law schools by U.S. News & World Report each year. The UH Law Center's Health Law and Policy Institute is ranked second in the nationhttp://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/law/brief/lawsp04_brief.php while the Intellectual Property Law Program is ranked fifth, according to U.S. News & World Report.

The University is home to the Creative Writing Program in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, which was founded by alumnus Donald Barthelme and offers an M.F.A. and Ph.D. degrees in poetry, fiction, or non-fiction. Noted writers who have come out of the program include novelists Robert Clark Young and Padgett Powell. The program attracts major authors, including international and award winning authors. The UH Creative Writing Program, ranked second nationally among creative writing programs, was as one of the first to offer Ph.D. degrees.

Academic colleges

Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture
C. T. Bauer College of Business
College of Education
Cullen College of Engineering
Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management
University of Houston Law Center
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
College of Optometry
College of Pharmacy
Graduate College of Social Work
College of Technology

Campus

The University of Houston campus is located southeast of Downtown Houston at the intersection of Interstate 45 and Texas Highway 35 (also known as Texas Spur 5). The 560-acre campus includes lush greenery, fountains, and sculptures. The campus is located in the heart of the Third Ward area and is nearby Texas Southern University and Yates High School.

The mascot of the University of Houston is a cougar named Shasta.http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol64/27/Feat1/276498/276498.html The official student newspaper on campus is The Daily Cougar, which is the second largest English-language daily newspaper in Houston. Another student publication is The Houstonian, the official University of Houston yearbook.

Facilities

UH facilities include laboratories, classrooms, the Moores School of Music, the Athletics/Alumni Center; and the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting, which houses KUHT Houston PBS the nation's first educational television station; KUHF (88.7 FM), Houston's NPR station; the Center for Public Policy Polling; and television studio labs. The university has an on-site Hilton hotel. The full-service hotel is a part of the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. The University is also home to the Blaffer Gallery, which exhibits both visiting artists and student work from the University of Houston School of Art.

Through UH Distance Education, classes and degrees are also available on instructional television, videotape, online, and face-to-face at sites throughout the greater Houston area.

The 264,000 ft² (25,000 m²) Campus Recreation and Wellness Center was recognized by the National Intramural-Sports Association as one of the seven most outstanding sports centers built in 2004.http://www.nirsa.org/about/awards/awards_04.htm

The 200,000 ft² Science and Engineering Research and Classroom Complex (SERCC) was designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli to be both efficient and aesthetically pleasing.http://www.labdesignnews.com/laboratorydesign/LD0409FEAT_2.asp This new building will provide facilities for the many interdisciplinary research programs including bionanotechnology.

UH's campus beautification projects recently received awards from the Keep Houston Beautiful group for the improvements to Cullen Boulevard, which crosses the UH campus.http://www.uh.edu/uhtoday/2005/12dec/121505keephoustonbeautiful.html

As of 2005's fall semester, campus food services are once again contracted to Aramark, replacing Chartwell's. Chartwell's had replaced Aramark years previously after much student outcry over bad food service and high prices.

Traditions

Student traditions thrive at the University of Houston. Cougar First Impressions takes place every year on the first two days of classes, when faculty and staff turn out to welcome new and returning students. Activities range from Homecoming to the unique Frontier Fiesta. Frontier Fiesta is a re-creation of a 19th-century western town, with music, food and living historical exhibits, and is a major event on campus each spring semester. Throughout the year, brightly painted Bleacher Creatures roam the stands during athletic contests, embodying a decidedly non-traditional take on cheerleading. The student body's rich ethnic mix combines with the culinary expertise of hotel and restaurant management students to produce an International Food Festival bursting with world beat flavors.

The official colors of the University of Houston are Scarlet Red and Albino White. These were the colors of Sam Houston's ancestor, Sir Hugh, and were adopted by UH at the same time as the seal. The red stands for courage or inner strength to face the unknown, and the white stands for the good of helping one's fellow man.

The Cougar Paw, made by folding in the ring finger of the hand towards the palm, has several stories explaining its meaning. The true story of its origin dates back to 1953, the first time UH played The University of Texas in football. Since this was their first meeting, members of Alpha Phi Omega, the service fraternity in charge of taking care of Shasta I, the university's mascot, brought her to the game. During the trip, Shasta's front paw was caught in the car door and one toe was cut off. At the game, members of the opposing team discovered what had happened and began taunting UH players by holding up their hands with the ring finger bent. UT went on to win this game 28-7. UH students were very upset by this and began using the sign as notice that they would never let UT forget the incident. In 1968, at their second meeting, the UH Cougars, proudly holding up the now adopted symbol of UH pride, fought UT to a 20-20 tie. UH did not play UT again until 1976, the first year UH was a member of the Southwest Conference. In front of a record 77,809 spectators UH defeated UT 30-0. The seal of the University of Houston, officially adopted in 1938, is the coat-of-arms of General Sam Houston. The seal was adopted by the UH in 1938 in conjunction with the construction of the campus. The first official version was placed on the floor of the Roy Gustav Cullen Building.

Songs

Alma mater

All hail to thee,

Our Houston University.

Our hearts fill with gladness

When we think of thee.

We'll always adore thee

Dear old varsity.

And to thy memory cherished

True we'll ever be.

Fight song

Cougars fight for dear old U of H

For our Alma Mater cheer.

Fight for Houston University

For victory is near.

When the going gets so rough and tough

We never worry cause we got the stuff.

So fight, fight, fight for red and white

And we will go to victory.

Demographics

U.S. News & World Report ranks UH as the second-most diverse research university in the United States.http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/brief/natudoc/natudoc_campdiv_brief.php With more than 35,300 students, the university has significant Asian American and Hispanic populations. Its international student population is primarily from Asia.http://www.uh.edu/uh_glance/index.php?page=info#Student_Body

African American 13%
Asian/Pacific Islander 19%
Hispanic 18%
International 8%
Native American 0.4%
White/Other 40%
Unknown 2%

Media and entertainment

UH is a destination for all who enjoy theater, concerts, lectures, and intercollegiate sports. The university has an inter-collegiate sports program, which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, in Division I-A.

The official student newspaper is The Daily Cougar, which is the second largest English-language daily newspaper in Houston. Another student publication is The Houstonian, the official University of Houston yearbook.

The University of Houston operates KUHT-TV Houston PBS, the nation's first educational television station, and KUHF-FM. The KUHT-TV Houston PBS is housed in the LeRoy and Lucile Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting on campus.

Featured in films

Independence Day (1996) — In an attempt to defeat an invading alien force, the University of Houston and the city are destroyed in a nuclear attack as ordered by the President of the United States
Tin Cup (1996) — Kevin Costner's and Don Johnson's characters were former teammates on the powerhouse University of Houston golf team; in reality, the U of H golf program won 16 national titles under its former coach, Dave Williams, and produced professional players Fred Couples, Steve Elkington and Fuzzy Zoeller, along with sports broadcaster Jim Nantz
Any Given Sunday (1999) — Jamie Foxx's character played a professional quarterback from the University of Houston
Arlington Road (1999) — Partially filmed on campus. Jeff Bridge's character and his girlfriend are seen walking between Melcher Hall and the University Center. Other location on campus was inside the classroom of Agnes Arnold Hall.
Reality Bites (1994) — Winona Ryder's character faces life after college graduation as valedictorian and is seen giving the commencement ceremony speech at the University of Houston.

Athletics

UH's 16-sport intercollegiate program is a member of Conference USA. Since the conference was formed 10 years ago, the Cougars have won 33 C-USA titles, continuing a 59-year history of success that includes 16 national titles in men's golf, five NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four appearances, and three trips to the Baseball Super Regionals.

More than 50 Olympic athletes have attended UH, bringing home 33 medals, including 19 gold.http://www.uh.edu/uh_glance/index.php?page=info#History Former Olympian and UH alumnus Leroy Burrell returned as the men's track and field head coach in 1998, while former Cougar standout Art Briles was named the 10th head football coach in December 2002. In March 2004, Tom Penders was named the seventh men's basketball head coach.

In addition, the University of Houston offers a wide variety of varsity and intramural sports programs.

Varsity sports

The university has an inter-collegiate sports program, which competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, in Division I-A. The University's record of nationally recognized athletic achievements includes:

Baseball — 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, with two trips to the College World Series
Basketball — 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, with five trips to the Final Four
Football — 16 post-season bowl appearances http://uhcougars.cstv.com/trads/hou-trads-liberty.html (most recently the Fort Worth Bowl in December 2005)
Golf — 16 NCAA National Championships, a position unmatched by any school
Soccer — Rated as the top first-year women's program in the country in 1998
Track and Field — Perennial top-10 NCAA team
Volleyball — A streak of nine consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament

See also: List of NCAA Division I sports

Athletics facilities

Athletics/Alumni Center
Hofheinz Pavilion
Robertson Stadium

Notable people

With strong academic programs in the arts, media, business, hospitality management, law, as well as a successful athletics program, the University of Houston has seen many now notable persons pass through its halls.

Notes

External links

Gourt Home::Gourt :: University of Houston