At the HACU Conference--Serving Hispanic Students
This week I attended the 23rd Annual Conference of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU). I've been going to HACU conferences off and on for two decades. At the Business meeting...
View ArticleSetting Admissions Standards
Friday, we held a forum on Automatic Admission Standards at UHD. This is a somewhat controversial issue because UHD has historically been an Open Admission institution. The forum provided the campus...
View ArticleChanging Urban Schools is Essential to America's Future
Closing the educational gap in this country has been rightly called "the civil rights issue of the 21st century." The drop out rate for Latinos and African Americans in many American cities is nearly...
View ArticleSurviving Turbulent Times and the 'New Normal'
These are frustrating times for public universities. We've all seen the headlines of the fiscal problems confronting California and several other states. The Pew Center for the States recently released...
View Article"Don't Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste"--Building an Entrepreneurial University
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel likes to say, “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” This outlook has become...
View ArticleCommencement--A Magnificent Experience
Graduation ceremonies at any university are so much fun. But December graduation ceremony at the University of Houston-Downtown was especially impressive. Nearly 1,250 students, the largest single...
View ArticleWhat Will the New Decade Mean for Higher Education?
As the clock struck midnight and the ball dropped in Times Square, I realized that we had passed an important decade and were entering an even more important one. The ten years from 2000-2009 brought...
View Article21st Century Learning: What Employers Expect of College Graduates
At this past week's American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) conference held in Washington, D.C. we learned about the changing world and the changing needs of higher education...
View ArticleOur Approach to Cutbacks: Tough Choices, Hopefully to Make Us Stronger
Making cuts are difficult for anyone, especially for a new president. They are particularly hard when you had hoped to recommend pay raises. In fact, that's just what we were prepared to do here at...
View ArticleFaces of the Future: Amazing Accomplishments of UHD Students
One of the true joys of being the president of the University of Houston-Downtown is having an opportunity to meet some of our outstanding students. They are the faces of America's future. I have...
View ArticleOur Faculty and Staff Do Great Things
In my last post I gave examples of some of the amazing accomplishments of the students at the University of Houston-Downtown. I’m also very impressed by our faculty and staff. There are too many to...
View ArticleA Problem for America: The Soaring Cost of Higher Education
Almost every day, we hear horror stories of students who have dropped out of college because they could no longer afford the cost. In mid-February of this year, students at the University of Colorado...
View ArticleThe Balancing Act Between Cuts and Quality
A friend of mine, who has been a president for a long time once told me, "It's easy to be a president when you have lots of money to give out." Obviously, that's not the case for most university...
View ArticleChanging Lives, Building Futures
The following is the text of my Investiture Speech (or view the video here): Chancellor Renu Khator, Regent Welcome Wilson, President Jay Gogue and the many other presidents, including the UHD past...
View ArticleLessons from the Investiture
When I first came to the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD), several faculty and a couple of deans asked me if we would be having a 'big' celebration, what some termed an 'inauguration.' After all,...
View ArticleMentoring Students in STEM--Key is Changing Organizational Culture
There is no doubt that America must dramatically increase the number of scientists, engineers, technicians, and mathematicians that we produce each year in order to remain competitive internationally....
View ArticleChanging the Name of a University 2.0
When I started at UHD, other presidents told me that I was walking into a mine field. We'd have to make cuts, raise tuition, raise admission standards, and change the university's name--oh, and by the...
View ArticleMore on the Name Change: Responding to Your Questions and Concerns
During the past few weeks, we have had several open meetings to discuss the proposed name change and recommended names. The discussions have been lively and vigorous.Several students and alumni support...
View ArticleHow People Voted on Name Change
As I wrote in the last blog, we held a straw poll on campus. We sent out email ballots to all students through their GatorMail addresses and provided a link that students saw when they checked grades...
View ArticleDoes Having a College Degree Pay Off During the Recession? You Bet It Does!
Does college matter anymore? Should parents encourage their children to seek a college degree? If you have a college degree, should you obtain an advanced degree? With rising costs of education and...
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