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What We're All About - Fall 2006 Commencement

(December 17, 2006)   UH-Downtown celebrated its 41st Commencement in Minute Maid Park and the turnout was tremendous!   That does not come as a surprise since this was the largest graduating class to date - 1261 students, which included both the summer graduates and the fall candidates.   941 of that pool attended commencement exercises.

President Max Castillo noted that the graduates' ages spanned 42 years, ranging from 20 to 62 years of age.  His conclusion was that "it's never too late, or apparently too soon, to achieve the goal of earning a college education." Dr. Castillo also took a moment to commend UH-Downtown for winning its recent reaffirmation of accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Every graduating student at UH-Downtown is a unique success story.   The student representative at graduation, Chau Hoang (BS Biology, College of Science and Technology), told a rapt audience of his family's hardship in his native country of Vietnam and how his move to this country changed the direction of his life.   Vicki L. King, assistant Chief of Police, Criminal Investigations Command, Houston Police Department, has won many honors at her job.   She is now the proud owner of a Masters of Science in Criminal Justice from the College of Public Service.   Lupe Hernandez, recently from the Marine Corps where she worked as a security guard weighing in at 5'2" and 110 pounds, set her goal to finish her Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice in just two-and-a-half years, and made that goal.   Anita "Diane" Smith, at age 62, completed her BS in Psychology and walked with her daughter Roxanne Merricks who had just completed her BS in Sociology.   There are as many more stories as there are students who walked across the platform to accept their diplomas, and the UH-Downtown community is proud of every one of them.   Congratulations, graduates!

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN
UH-Downtown is a public university of nearly 12,000 students, offering a wide variety of bachelor’s degrees, as well as master’s programs in criminal justice, professional writing, security management and teaching. One of four distinct universities in the UH System, Houston’s Downtown University is nationally recognized for its student diversity, wireless campus, outstanding academic opportunities and productive community partnerships. At UHD, the emphasis is on excellence in teaching and student success.

Please use UH-Downtown, UHD or University of Houston-Downtown when referring to our university.