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Strategic Plan for FY2000-2005
Up to UHD Strategic
Plan
UNIVERSITY
OF HOUSTON - DOWNTOWN
AGENCY INFORMATION RESOURCES STRATEGIC PLAN
2000-2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
LAR Strategies and Output, Efficiency, and Explanatory Measures
The Governor’s Vision for Texas Tomorrow
the knowledge and skills for the 21st century;
a state where people feel safe in their communities, have access to equal justice, and all people know the consequences of committing a crime are swift and sure;
a state where each citizen accepts responsibility for his or her behavior; and
a state where our people - greatest resource - are free to achieve their
highest potential.
As I have said before, I envision a state where it continues to be true that what Texans can dream, Texans can do.
George W. Bush
Governor
State government will be ethical, accountable, and dedicated to serving the citizens of Texas well. State government will operate efficiently and spend the public’s money wisely.
State government will be based on four core principles that will guide decision-making processes.
Limited and Government cannot solve every problem or meet Efficient every need. State government should do a few things
Government and do them well.
ability of local communities to resolve issues that affect
them. The state must avoid imposing unfunded mandates.
Responsibility responsible decisions about his or her life. Personal
responsibility is the key to a more decent and just society
State employees, too, must be accountable for their actions.
Strong state government must pursue policies that nurture and
Families strengthen Texas families.
Texas state government should serve the needs of our state but also be
mindful of those who pay the bills. By providing the best service at the
lowest cost and working in concert with other partners, state government
can effectively direct the public’s resources to create a positive impact
on the lives of individual Texans. The people of Texas expect the best,
and state government must give it to them.
The state’s priority goal for higher education is "to provide an affordable, accessible, and high quality system of higher education that prepares individuals for a changing economy and workforce, and furthers the development and application of knowledge through research and instruction."
Benchmarks for this Goal
- Percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in a Texas public college or university
- Percent of baccalaureate graduates who are first generation college students
- Percent of first-time, full-time freshmen returning after one academic year
- Percent of first-time, full-time freshmen who graduate within four years
- Percent of first-time, full-time freshmen who graduate within six years
- Percent of Texans with a bachelor’s degree or higher
- Percent of adult population with a vocational/technical certificate or degree
- Texas public colleges’ and universities’ cost per student as a percent of the national average
- Percent of total federal research and development expenditures received by Texas institutions of higher education
- Percent of college graduates employed, enrolled in additional education, or enlisted in the military
The University of Houston-Downtown offers academic degree programs that enable students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in their chosen fields. To help students meet the rigorous standards and requirements for successful completion of its programs, the University provides a wide range of support services to address the various needs of its diverse student body. Through flexible scheduling, varied programs, appropriately sized classes, distance learning technologies, and student support services, the University facilitates the progress of both traditional and nontraditional students.
In its public service and outreach activities, the University offers numerous pre-collegiate programs as well as continuing education programs that maintain and upgrade specialized skills of professionals employed in the Houston area. Through selected programs, research initiatives, and collaborative efforts, the University also seeks to broaden its domestic and international academic programs and relationships.
The fundamental principles and values underlying university activities are described in the following statement.
External Assessment
1. Target Population and Service Area
The University of Houston - Downtown service area comprises the greater Houston area. In 1999, the population of the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area numbered approximately 4.44 million inhabitants, of whom: 2.55 million or 57% were white; 920,000 or 21% were Hispanic; 800,000 or 18% were African-American; and the remaining 170,000 or 4% were Asian-Americans or Native Americans. Since 1990, the Hispanic population has grown 27.2%, which is considerably more than either the white population (9.1%) or the African-American population (13.9%). The overall growth rate for the area was 18.1%. This pattern of growth and diversification of Houston’s population is expected to continue at least for the next ten years and holds profound implications for UH-Downtown and all other educational institutions in Houston. An expanding population will require expanding capabilities for the delivery of educational services at all levels.
As the graph below shows, most of the students attending UH-Downtown come from the immediate Houston area. In Fall, 1999, 87% of its enrollment came from Harris County while another 8% came from surrounding counties. Most of the remaining 5% were international students. Slightly over half of the student body attend on a part-time basis and approximately 75% are working while enrolled.
The main challenge facing UHD and other colleges and universities in the Houston region is to respond to the disparity between those groups within society that traditionally participate in higher education and those groups that are at present under-represented at the university level. Using moderate assumptions about population migration and age-specific assumptions about birth and death rates, it is projected that the Houston regional population will grow to approximately 13.0 million by 2030; and by 2015 Hispanics will surpass whites as the single largest group in the Houston region. It is predicted that by 2005 no racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of the metro area population. A significant portion of new entrants into labor markets in the next twenty years will be from groups that traditionally have been the least well trained and educated – women, minorities, and immigrants. In addition, the increased demand for educated workers will continue to create a student population that is older, part-time and more likely to be balancing work and family responsibilities with their education. Serving the needs of these non-traditional students will be the university’s primary challenge. Special efforts must be directed at increasing the proportion of students participating in higher education who come from Houston’s rapidly growing but traditionally under-represented Hispanic and African American communities.
Baccalaureate education is acknowledged as the key to economic success in contemporary society.
College graduates with a Bachelor’s degree earn over 75% more in a lifetime than do those who go no further than high school ($3 million vs. $1.7 million). Increasing the rates of successful participation for all Houstonians in baccalaureate education is an essential precondition to their successful participation in the economic life of this city and state. To achieve this goal, an urban university system must accommodate a variety of life situations and learning styles. Part-time commuting students require course scheduling that allows them to fulfill their work and family responsibilities. The growing number of students who begin higher education in community colleges require smooth articulation between those institutions and senior institutions in the area. UHD continues to serve large numbers of first-generation college students and students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Fall 1999 data show that approximately 60% of UHD’s new freshmen are first-generation college students while 43% of all UHD students come from low-income families as defined by Pell Grant eligibility. With a student population that is 32% Hispanic, 29% African-American, 12% Asian and 24% Anglo, UH-Downtown is the most ethnically diverse of the state’s universities. UH-Downtown takes as a high strategic priority tailoring its educational services so as to raise baccalaureate success rates within the Houston service area. Houston ranks as one of the most diverse cities in the nation based on the percentage of its racial/ethnic population.
2. Major Issues and Conditions in the External Environment Affecting Performance
Adequate Resources
Securing the resources needed to provide quality instruction, research and service continues to be a major challenge and concern for the university. UHD has benefited from recent changes in the way the state funds higher education. The new funding formula has increased funding for undergraduate SCHs, especially those generated at the upper-division level. The new formula is fairer to an all-undergraduate university like UHD than the old system was which heavily favored universities with graduate programs. While the method by which the available higher education dollars are distributed has been improved, the overall level of support provided for higher education in Texas remains a weakness. Higher education funding in Texas continues to lag behind that of other large, industrial states.
Like all state-supported institutions, UH-Downtown is dependent on the state legislature for a significant portion of its funding. In 1997, The Coordinating Board predicted that if per student funding continues to be funded at current rates, adding 126,000 students to the current public higher education system will require $2.74 billion in state general revenue by 2010. In its report Responding to Projected Increases in Student Enrollment, the CB warns that some additional resources will be added to higher education funding because of the expected increase in enrollment, it is unlikely that adequate funding will be available to fully fund the expected increase in students. While higher education received strong support this past session, spending priorities can change. Changes in the state economy which result in reduced tax revenue can also have a serious effect on state expenditures for higher education. UHD is particularly vulnerable to state funding changes since the university does not benefit from the higher funding generated by graduate courses, and 69% of the hours generated at UH-Downtown are funded at the liberal arts rate. While the university is beginning to offer limited graduate programming, its primary mission will continue to be to serve the undergraduate education needs of its diverse, urban constituency. Because there are no special funding formulas to support UH-Downtown's unique urban mission, finding the funding needed to provide the small classes, support services and personal attention from full-time instructors needed by its students will continue to be a significant challenge.
Under-prepared Students
While much progress has been made in reforming public education in Texas, there is still much to be done. One in every five Texans is functionally illiterate and only 65 percent of Texas students graduate from high school. While the performance of HISD students on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) exit-level test has shown some improvement in recent years, the district TAAS scores are still below the state average. The inadequate academic preparation of new students is an issue at many universities. Data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) show that most of the state’s high school graduates do not complete the recommended college preparatory program. In the Houston area, approximately one in three students graduate from high school with the recommended course work. Because of its open-admissions policy, a disproportionate number of underprepared students desiring a college education will come to UHD. Of the new freshman admitted last fall, 85% had deficiencies requiring some type of remediation. UHD is committed to helping these underprepared students acquire those necessary skills but understands that this job cannot be done easily or inexpensively.
The problem of the academically underprepared is especially critical at a time when advancing technology is squeezing out jobs for the unskilled and semiskilled. Studies indicate that every one of the fastest-growing employment categories during the next decade will require a higher skill level than those in decline. These trends pose a challenge to all educational institutions but particularly to UH-Downtown because of its explicit commitment to providing quality career-relevant education to its diverse urban constituents.
State Rules and Regulations
UHD’s ability to respond to its region’s educational needs are influenced by a number of different state rules and regulations. These include:
- Program and course approvals – UHD may offer only those academic programs that are part of its state-approved Table of Programs. The Coordinating Board recently approved an expansion in UHD’s program authority but for most of its history, UH-Downtown was severely restricted in the programs it could offer.
- Reporting and regulatory compliance -- Reporting and compliance requirements can place a serious strain on the university’s limited resources. What may seem like simple information requests for student data can result in the expenditure of a great deal of time and money for programming changes in the university’s computerized student records system. Sometimes new or revised reporting requirements are announced with little advance notice, require a significant amount of interpretation, and can not be implemented in the time available.
- State performance indicators -- The standard measures of student progress and achievement used by oversight bodies and college rating guides are more appropriate for institutions serving a traditional, full-time student body than they are for institutions like UHD. UHD appreciates the need to improve accountability in higher education but finds itself at a disadvantage since the performance measures most commonly used are not those which focus on its mission or its institutional strengths. Both the university’ funding support and its academic reputation are threatened when these measures are given more emphasis than they deserve.
- State-imposed minimum admission-standards -- There has been some discussion of establishing minimum entrance requirements for all public universities in Texas. If the state does move in this direction, UHD would face a serious enrollment threat.
- State-imposed common core standards – UHD has implemented all the changes necessary in its own policies to bring it into full compliance with the new state-wide common core. State mandated course acceptance rules may be encouraging more students to fulfill their basic requirements at t community colleges.
Federal laws also can have a direct affect on university operations. Those that have had a significant impact on university operations include:
- Hopwood decision -- Like other Texas institutions, UHD has had to eliminate dedicated scholarships for minorities but remains strongly committed to providing educational access to all citizens of Texas. UH-Downtown’s minority enrollment continues to increase in the post-Hopwood era.
- Financial aid policies -- Students from low-income families are heavily dependent on financial aid. Because the university serves a large number of these economically disadvantaged students, federal financial aid policies are a key variable in the access to higher education the university can provide.
- The Americans with Disabilities Act -- The provisions of this act affect both facilities planning and the delivery of instruction. The university’s location and physical design have made it a particularly popular site for students with disabilities to pursue their education.
- Federal reporting requirements -- The compliance costs of Student-Right-to-Know and other federal reporting requirements continues to grow. The new racial and ethnic categories scheduled for implementation has major programming implications for the university’s student record system.
UHD is a "connected" university to the community it serves. As an urban university, it recognizes a special obligation to work closely with other community groups to improve the quality of life in Houston and its metropolitan region. UHD’s instructional programs, research activities, and public service are all designed to address the needs of the area.
External strengths and opportunities include:
- School intervention programs -- UH-Downtown lends its expertise to the community for the purpose of improving the quality of precollegiate education. Through school partnerships, such as its nationally-acclaimed Jefferson Davis High School project on Houston’s mostly Hispanic north side, UHD provides summertime enrichment programs designed to increase college attendance. The college-going rate of Jeff Davis seniors has more than quadrupled (from 10 to 41 percent) since the program’s inception while the annual drop-out rate has declined from 20 percent to 3 percent. Other programs such as Talent Search, Upward Bound and HoustonPREP are also creating new opportunities for inner-city public school students.
- Articulation agreements with community colleges -- UHD is committed to the concept that community and senior colleges should be joined by a seamless web. To make the transition from one level of institution to the other as easy as possible, it has already entered into articulation agreements with 15 different area colleges. Enrollment data show that community college transfer students are becoming a more important component of UHD’s student population. New transfer students accounted for almost half UHD’s enrollment gain this past fall.
- New program opportunities -- The removal of the restriction on graduate-level programs and the expansion of its program authority to include degrees in the traditional disciplines of the liberal arts has provided the university with an unprecedented opportunity to develop those programs for which there is community support. The new freedom the university enjoys will allow it to develop a balanced and cost-effective set of degree programs.
- Collaborations with UH system -- The admissions agreement with UH and the Fort Bend collaboration are examples of how the universities within the UH System can work together to address the board’s strategic priorities. There are opportunities for other collaborative relationships that would benefit all parties involved.
- Demographic trends -- Changing demographics pose critical challenges for all educational institutions. Educational forecasts suggest that while the traditional white, middle class, 18 to 22 year-old group is declining in size, the numbers of minority students and older returning students will be increasing. Those groups who will be increasing in number constitute the core constituencies of UH-Downtown.
- Legislative support -- The strong backing given UHD in the last session of the Texas Legislature shows that the importance of its mission is widely recognized and places the university in a good position as it prepares to meet the challenges of the new millennium. Last session, UHD received an overall increase in funding of 24.5% from the previous year’s biennium. Included in this increase was new special item funding of $300,00 for community development activities that had not even been in the university’s Legislative Appropriations Request.
- Private sector support -- The university ‘s demonstrated commitment to excellence, opportunity and diversity provides an excellent basis for building private support. Community leaders recognize that UHD is providing the educational opportunities that are necessary for Houston to become a World Class city. During the last five years, UHD has received private gifts totaling more than $15 million. UHD will be well positioned to seek additional private support as the System plans for a new capital campaign.
- Downtown development projects -- Planned improvements in surrounding community including the Renovation of the Rice Hotel and other residential projects, the Ballpark at Union Station, The Cotswold Project, Allen’s Landing, and Buffalo Bayou Sesquicentennial Park. These new civic projects and residential developments are transforming the immediate neighborhood into one of the most desirable areas in the city.
- Multi-Institutional Teaching Centers -- The university believes that it has the opportunity to develop new student markets at its off campus sites in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties. Much of UHD’s growth these past four years can be attributed to the university’s presence in Fort Bend. Course offerings at the University Center in Montgomery County are expected to attract significant numbers of new students as well. The CB has cited the type of multi-institution centers that UHD is involved with in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties as holding "the most immediate promise for providing access in new locations relatively quickly without creating infrastructures that require continued support if demand diminishes or changes."
- Asynchronous modes of instruction -- While classes offered at off-campus sites through ITV or in a face-to-face mode expand educational access in significant ways, they do not meet the needs of those students whose schedules do not allow them to attend classes at particular times or in particular places. The university recognizes that technology has provided it the opportunity to offer more instruction in an asynchronous mode in the years ahead. The university is moving forward with its plans for the online delivery of its General Business degree program as part of the System’s collaborative CampusNet project and of its new Safety and Fire program to selected HFD and corporate sites throughout the city. The Safety and Fire program received its final approval from the Coordinating Board on March 7. Three Safety and Fire courses have been scheduled for this summer and six more for the fall. Criminal justice and professional writing are additional program areas in which the university is expecting to significantly expand its online course offerings.
- Future developments at off-campus sites -- UHD is strongly committed to the teaching center collaboratives in Fort Bend and Montgomery counties but these collaboratives can only fully succeed if the other participants are equally committed. Too much success poses its own threats. The continued development of the Fort Bend site will increase the likelihood of the operations there becoming a free-standing university, an event that would have serious enrollment consequences for UHD. The recently imposed distance learning fees at the Fort Bend site may also have a negative impact on enrollments. An additional threat posed by the off-campus sites is that the university’s limited resources will be spread too thinly resulting in a declining level of quality.
- Policies and procedures at other area schools -- UH-Downtown is recruiting in the same basic market as a number of other community colleges and universities. The growing price differential between four-year and two-year colleges has had a major impact on enrollment trends in recent years. UHD would also be threatened if enrollment decline at universities with more selective admission criteria put pressure on them to lower admission requirements and compete for a larger share of the underprepared and marginally-prepared students who now come in disproportionate numbers to UHD.
- Competition from new educational providers– The recent entry of Phoenix University and the emergence of the national and international "virtual universities" are giving students new educational options and may change their expectations regarding the kinds of services all universities offer.
- Changing state policy priorities – As a state-supported university, UHD depends on the Texas Legislature for the resources needed to carry out its mission. The university recognizes that the legislature must attend to many different legitimate needs and that there is always a risk that other priorities or state concerns might have an adverse effect on the amount of legislative support given UHD.
- Inadequate preparation of high school students – Like all universities, UHD is concerned with the academic preparation students are receiving in the public schools. As an open-admissions university, it is committed to helping students make up their academic deficiencies. The resources the university must devote to remediation is a function of the severity of these deficiencies.
- Financial aid limitations -- While household income for Houstonians is over 10 percent greater than that for the state as a whole, the percentage of individuals within the Houston region living at or below the poverty line exceeds that for all Texas. Many of these lack the skills and education to participate fully in the increasingly specialized and technologically sophisticated economic life of the nation. While UH-Downtown is committed to providing these skills, many in the community are unable to avail themselves of the opportunity the university offers because of economic hardship. This problem will be exacerbated when tuition and fees go up and/or federal financial aid is reduced. The last session of the Texas Legislature did provide the university with additional scholarship monies of $365,562 through the TEXAS Scholarship program, but students must have completed a college prep program to be eligible.
- Escalating real estate prices -- UH-Downtown is a growing institution that will need to acquire more land to meet its parking and building needs. Development in the northern downtown area is driving up real estate prices, and it is becoming much more difficult for the university to acquire the land it will need for future expansion.
- Increased costs of goods and services -- A threat closely related to reduced revenue is that of increased costs. Marginal adjustments have been made in department operating budgets but the increases the university has been able to budget have not kept up with the spiraling costs of paper and other basic office supplies. Finding ways of meeting travel costs has been a particularly difficult challenge.
- UH – UH-Downtown relations -- Working relationships with some colleges and departments at UH continue to be a challenge. Opportunities for mutually beneficial collaborations with UH are sometimes thwarted by misinformation and unfounded fears about the quality of UH-Downtown courses and programs.
The University of Houston – Downtown had much to celebrate this past year as it completed its 25th year as a university. It improved on nearly all of its performance measures and took several significant steps toward reaching the goals of excellence set forth in its current strategic plan. One of the highlights of UHD’s 25th anniversary celebration was a campus-wide spring colloquium that brought faculty members, administrators, staff and students together to reflect on the purpose and future of the university. The featured speaker at this event was John Gardner, Senior Fellow of the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition. The theme of the conference was "shaping strategies for student success" and Gardner offered a number of valuable suggestions on what the university might do to help its students achieve its educational objectives. There were more general benefits to the institution than the development of a list of possible intervention strategies, however. The colloquium provided a rare opportunity for faculty members, administrators, staff and students to come together and reflect on the purpose and future of the university. An assessment conducted after the colloquium identified a variety of general benefits including:
- A recognition that there is a general consensus within the campus community regarding institutional purpose and an appreciation of those special strengths that are gaining UHD recognition as a national leader of urban higher education.
- A powerful affirmation of the university’s core values of excellence, opportunity and diversity and a strengthened conviction that UHD should build upon its own strengths and not try to be like everyone else.
- A realization that universities like UHD must maintain close connections with the communities they serve, and that community outreach programs such as partnerships with local school districts are not just acts of altruism but acts of vital self-interest.
During the past two years, UH-Downtown has made significant progress in meeting the goals and objectives of its 1999 – 2003 Agency Strategic Plan. The success of the university in achieving its objectives and desired outcomes is discussed below.
Goal 1: Provide quality programs
The university’s first goal was to provide quality programs that meet the individual academic objectives of students and the needs of the area economy. Evidence of the university’s success in meeting these needs these can be seen in its continued enrollment growth, The fall 1999 enrollment of 8,712 represented a 3.9% increase over the fall 1998 headcount enrollment of 8,386. Of more significance in terms of funding, the number of SCHs generated increased by 4.7% during this period.
Retention and graduation rates are on the rise. In Fall 1998, 54.7% of the FTIC tracking cohort had returned to campus to continue their education while in Fall 1999, the percentage of returning students had increased to 61.4%. UHD’s six-year graduation rate also rose but the most dramatic increase was in the actual number of graduates produced last year. The 1,074 students who graduated from UHD in 1999 represented a 20% increase over the 986 who graduated in 1998. UHD believes the number of graduates is the best measure of how effectively it is serving the needs of the local economy.
A major factor in UHD’s low graduation rate in the past has been its limited program inventory. Many of the most popular programs offered at other urban universities were simply not available at UHD. Four years ago the Coordinating Board approved an expanded table of programs to permit UH-Downtown to offer discipline-based degrees in the arts and sciences for the first time in its history. Since that time nine new programs have been approved and four more are now under review. The most dramatic change in the university’s program authority was the removal of the limitation on graduate programs. This past year the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved UHD’s request to begin offering a Master of Science degree with a major in Criminal Justice, and the first students will be admitted to this program this coming fall.
The university has been able to move forward with these new programs largely through the reallocation of existing resources and private gift money. The objective of the university in developing new degree programs is to offer the full complement of basic programs normally available at baccalaureate-level institutions along with additional programs tailored specifically to the career-education needs of its students and the workplace demands of the Houston community. Professional accrediting bodies and local advisory boards regularly assess the quality of the university’s programs. The job placement and job success of graduates is another measure of program quality.
Goal 2: Provide high quality instruction and support services
The university also continues to make progress in meeting its second goal of providing high quality instruction and support services. The quality of the university’s academic program is related directly to the quality of its faculty and academic support personnel. Four-fifths of the full-time faculty hold terminal degrees in their teaching fields. In addition to possessing strong academic credentials, faculty members share a commitment and enthusiasm for undergraduate education, teaching excellence, and student success. UHD’s SWOT analysis recognized the university’s dedicated faculty and staff as one of its primary strengths but warned that its failure to pay competitive salaries in many areas had put its ability to recruit and retain quality employees at risk. For many years, UHD received significantly lower state funding than other universities of comparable size for the reason given in the discussion of Priority Two. Last year the university set as its goal to bring the faculty salary average at UHD up to the average reported by other public baccalaureate universities. It was able to accomplish this goal by creating a 7 percent faculty salary pool. Approximately 57 percent of the raise pool was distributed to the deans who used performance-driven criteria to recommend adjustments in the base salaries of faculty members and the remaining 43 percent of the pool was distributed by a formula based on the faculty member’s last performance evaluation. A 7 percent raise pool was also established for staff members but the staff situation differed from that of the faculty since the legislature mandated a $100/month increase for all non-faculty employees.
The seven percent pool created last year coupled with the 3.4 percent pool created for FY2001 have produced a two-year increase of just over ten percent. While this is a significant increase, the university still faces a serious challenge in recruiting faculty and staff in high demand areas. Salary compression is also becoming an increasingly serious problem.
Improved funding during the current biennium permitted the university to make significant increases in the size of its regular (tenured and tenure-track) faculty. This past year, this size of UHD’s full-time faculty increased from 146 to 158, an increase of more than 8 percent. Twelve additional faculty positions have been added to the proposed budget for FY2001. The amount of new money available in the second year of the biennium was quite limited, but the university was still able to create these new positions through a combination of new money, the reallocation of existing funds, and the conversion of non-tenure-track positions. Even with these additions, UHD remains significantly behind comparable institutions in the size of its full-time faculty. New tenure-track faculty positions are expected to be a continuing university priority in the years ahead.
With its commitment to providing educational access to the full spectrum of the Houston community, the university has taken on a task that is both more difficult and problematic than those faced at most universities. A task force was established in the spring of 1998 to examine the ways the university might more effectively address the needs of its entering students, especially those arriving with educational deficiencies. Task force recommendations led to several organization changes, more support services at the university’s off-campus sites, and an increase in advising support. The student support strategies UHD has been focusing its attentions on this past year include:
College success programs
Grouping all student services in one convenient, student-friendly location
Assisting students manage the challenge of financing their education is one of the most critical support services a university can offer. UH-Downtown provides access to a quality higher education but many in the community are unable to avail themselves of the opportunity the university offers because of economic hardship. The university is committed to aggressively pursuing both public and private scholarship dollars to ensure that no students are denied the opportunity to reach their full academic potential because of financial hardship. It plans to distribute $1.2 million in scholarship funds for FY2001 including $390,000 gift from the Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation, the first installment of a $3.9 million gift for teacher education scholarships that will be paid out over a ten-year period. UHD will continue to provide access to the full spectrum of the Houston community, but has begun to place a special emphasis on ensuring that students with strong academic backgrounds have the financial support they need to continue their education. One significant step taken this last year to attract students with a high potential for academic success is The Scholars Academy. Funded by a variety of federal agencies, the Academy awards scholarships ranging from $2,5000 to $5,000 for the academic year to students majoring in computer science, mathematics, engineering technology, and all areas of the natural sciences. This exciting and innovative program offers students access to specialized labs and computer equipment and an opportunity to participate in paid summer research programs as well as scholarships.
Goal 3: Recruit, retain and graduate students reflective of community’s diversity
The third major goal listed in the university’s strategic plan is to "recruit, retain, and graduate a student body representative of the ethnic diversity of the greater Houston metropolitan area." UHD is now receiving national recognition for its success in this area. The last issue of the U.S. News and World College Guide gave UHD its top ranking for being the most diversified student body of any liberal arts college in the Western region.
Unlike the pattern at many universities, the minority students
who come to UHD are retained and graduated at rates that are at least
equal to and often surpass the rates of Anglo students. The table below
shows the number of graduates in each of the six ethnic categories used
by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board as well as an "equity
index" which shows the university’s success in graduating students from
different ethnic backgrounds in roughly the same proportion in which it
enrolls them. The equity score is computed by dividing the percentage
of minority graduates by the percentage of minorities in the general student
body. A score of 1 means that the percentage of minority students among
graduates is equal to their percentage among all enrolled students.
|
Number of Degrees Awarded by Ethnicity |
|||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
| Hispanic |
80
|
84
|
121
|
136
|
153
|
211
|
267
|
||||
| Black |
126
|
144
|
168
|
171
|
184
|
192
|
272
|
||||
| Asian |
47
|
81
|
63
|
74
|
86
|
85
|
100
|
||||
| White |
295
|
315
|
314
|
292
|
343
|
350
|
377
|
||||
| American Indian |
0
|
1
|
3
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
0
|
||||
| International |
21
|
34
|
38
|
49
|
58
|
54
|
58
|
||||
| Total Graduates |
569
|
656
|
707
|
724
|
826
|
896
|
1074
|
||||
| Equity Score | |||||||||||
| Hispanic |
.48
|
.42
|
.55
|
.60
|
.57
|
.75
|
.78
|
||||
| Black |
.98
|
.91
|
.99
|
.94
|
.87
|
.80
|
.86
|
||||
| Asian |
.74
|
1.06
|
.77
|
.90
|
.91
|
.83
|
.82
|
||||
Breaking degrees awarded down by ethnicity allows some assessment of the institution's success in addressing the educational needs and aspirations of the members of all of Houston's major population groups. The equity scores shown in the table above indicate UHD's success in graduating students from Houston's largest minority communities. If members of all racial and ethnic groups are making comparable progress toward graduation, the percentage of graduates from any one group should be roughly the same as that group's percentage of the whole student body.
The table below shows both the overall retention rate and the retention
rate of each of six ethnic categories used in Coordinating Board reports.
The table indicates that there was a significant increase in the retention
rates of both blacks and Hispanics in 1999. Even though UHD’s most recent
scores on this measure were up nearly five percent, it continues to question
the appropriateness of measuring its success in retaining students by
tracking only the enrollments of just full-time FTIC students. Most of
UHD’s students attend on a part-time basis and only a quarter of the new
students UHD admits each fall semester meet the official tracking cohort
criteria. Another factor that should be considered when interpreting retention
rates is the educational background of the students comprising the cohort
group.
|
|
|||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Hispanic |
69.90%
|
62.31%
|
64.59%
|
57.68%
|
60.07%
|
59.42%
|
68.86%
|
| Black |
50.00%
|
59.74%
|
60.21%
|
56.69%
|
70.73%
|
47.22%
|
57.64%
|
| Asian |
64.13%
|
68.18%
|
66.67%
|
69.52%
|
70.51%
|
60.29%
|
58.00%
|
| White |
56.60%
|
43.12%
|
42.86%
|
43.18%
|
40.63%
|
46.24%
|
45.45%
|
| American Indian |
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
66.67%
|
50.00%
|
100.00%
|
0.00%
|
| International |
76.12%
|
81.25%
|
54.55%
|
63.64%
|
70.00%
|
71.43%
|
80.00%
|
| Overall Retention |
61.20%
|
60.61%
|
61.10%
|
57.63%
|
62.52%
|
54.70%
|
61.36%
|
Goal 4: Provide physical facilities conducive to high quality instruction and learning
Dramatic progress has been made in connection with the university’s fourth goal of providing the physical facilities conducive to high quality instruction and learning. The new one-stop student support center that was developed in the newly renovated space on the third floor of the One Main building will become fully-operational this summer. Preliminary work has started on the renovation of the 9th floor and full construction will begin once the offices located there are moved to the 4th floor. Work is also moving forward on the campus development project developed by design architect Rey de la Reza and funded by $7.5 in tuition revenue bonds. Work this past year has focused on infrastructure repairs to the north and south decks and the straightening out of Girard Street. The next phase of the project will be developing the banks along White Oak Bayou and working on the overall aesthetic appearance of the campus.
The university also continues to move forward with its plans to convert the old Willow Street Pump Station project into an educational and community center. This past year it received a $1 million grant from the Houston Endowment to support the project and completed a feasibility study which has confirmed that the project is indeed feasible. The main obstacle at this point is identifying the approximately $2.3 million in additional money that will be needed for the project. UHD believes that the majority of the project can be funded with gift dollars.
One item in the university’s long-range that has had to be reconsidered is the acquisition of the flood-plain land along White Oak Bayou for athletic fields and other outdoor recreational facilities. UHD was outbid during its attempt to acquire this land but is still hopeful that we might eventually be able to acquire some of this land in order to develop needed outdoor recreational space. State bidding restrictions make it difficult for UHD to acquire property when property is often being sold for more than its appraised value. The university did have some success in developing additional parking for students along Main Street north of the campus. One new lot was paved this past year opening up 269 additional spaces.
The renovation of One Main will solve only some of the
university’s space needs. The university’s facilities master plan provides
for a new structure that would be built on the site of the existing parking
garage. UHD will be seeking additional tuition revenue bonds from the
legislature this next session to begin work on this structure. While the
university has a deficit in all five categories of the space model developed
by the Coordinating Board, the largest deficits are in instructional space
and office space.
Factor Predicted Actual Surplus/Deficit
Teaching 270,242 171,269 (98,973)
Library 57,690 55,447 (2,243)
Research 15,862 3,564 (12,298)
Office 130,339 112,031 (18,308)
Support 42,672 34,571 (8,101)
Total: 516,804 376,882 (139,922)
Goal 5: Provide the technological support conducive to high quality instruction and learning
Progress in meeting the university’s fifth goal of providing the technological support conducive to high quality instruction and learning has also been striking. UHD’s increased HEAF allocations have allowed it to invest heavily in sophisticated new technologies that are revolutionizing the way universities operate. Because of the university’s commitment to excellence in teaching, UHD has given particularly high priority to exploring the ways in which technology can improve instructional effectiveness. Its new academic building houses a state-of-the art Technology Teaching and Learning Center (TTLC) with four electronic classrooms and videoconference and multimedia rooms. In addition to assisting instruction on campus, the TTLC provides direct support of the university’s strategy to promote enrollment growth through distance learning. UHD has also engaged in significant restructuring in order to manage better its technological resources.
The electronic delivery of academic support services is highly resource intensive. In just five years, university spending on technology has increased by 135 percent. The $1.7 million budgeted for Information Resources in FY96 had increased to nearly $4 million in FY2000. In FY96, Information Resources had 24 full-time positions compared to 44 in FY2000. Staffing in most other areas of the universities remained basically flat during this period.
As computers become integral to more and more fields of inquiry, more specialized computer labs and other instructional technologies are needed. Access to computers for instruction and research will become an increasingly important part of the university experience. The university believes it has a special responsibility to help bridge the "digital divide" of technological literacy between the "haves" and "have-nots" of society. Part of the university’s long-range plan is to provide new students with their own laptop computers. We have conducted several surveys this past year to determine how many of our students do not presently have Internet access in their homes and found that most do. A group has met to look at the issues involved in providing all new students with laptops and to discuss various ways this might be done. The university is already providing computer access on-campus for its students. The immediate objective is to identify which students are most in need of computers and to start a pilot project to see how their need might bes