University of Houston Totally Explained

Everything about The University Of Houston totally explained

The University of Houston (often referred to as "U of H", "UH", or "Houston") is a public doctoral/research university located in Houston, Texas. It is the flagship institution and the only doctoral degree-granting university in the, which includes three other universities and two multi-institution teaching centers. Founded in 1927, the University serves more than 35,300 students in 12 academic colleges and in the interdisciplinary Honors College on a campus southeast of Downtown Houston. UH offers 109 bachelor's, 131 master's, 51 doctoral, and three professional degree programs.
The University of Houston conducts research in each academic department and operates more than 40 research centers and institutes on campus. Interdisciplinary research conducted at UH includes superconductivity, space commercialization, biomedical engineering, economics, education, petroleum exploration, and virtual technology.

History

Founding

The University of Houston began as Houston Junior College (HJC). On March 7, 1927, trustees of the Houston Independent School District Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution that authorized the founding and operating of a junior college. The junior college was operated and controlled by the Houston Independent School District (HISD).
Originally HJC was located in San Jacinto High School and offered only night courses. Its first session began March 7, 1927, with an enrollment of 232 students and 12 faculty. The first president of HJC was Edison Ellsworth Oberholtzer, who was the dominant force in establishing the junior college.

University beginnings

The junior college became eligible to become a four-year institution in October 1933 when Governor Miriam A. Ferguson signed House Bill 194 into law. On April 30, 1934, HISD's Board of Education adopted a resolution to make the school a four-year institution, and Houston Junior College became the University of Houston. Two years later, Hugh Roy Cullen donated $335,000 for the first building to be built at the location. 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. 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.
As of the merger in 1997, the University of Houston System administration is located in the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building on the University of Houston campus. On June 1, 2007, former UH President and Chancellor Dr. Jay Gogue left UH and UH System to become President of Auburn University. The University of Houston System Board of Regents appointed John M. Rudley, vice chancellor/vice president for administration and finance, to serve as Interim UH System Chancellor and Interim UH President.
On October 15, 2007, Dr. Renu Khator—who had served as provost and senior vice president of the University of South Florida—was selected for the position of UH System chancellor and UH president. On November 5, 2007, Khator was confirmed as the third person to hold the UH System chancellor and UH president position simultaneously, and took her position in January 2008.

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."
UH offers a variety 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, and eighth when medical institutions were also considered.
The University of Houston's academic colleges are as follows:

Faculty and research

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. Interdisciplinary research areas conducted at UH includes superconductivity, space commercialization, biomedical engineering, economics, education, petroleum exploration, and virtual technology, 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 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 Creative Writing Program was ranked second in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in its first annual ranking of writing programs in 1997.

Rankings

The University of Houston is ranked second among national universities for Campus Ethnic Diversity by U.S. News & World Report. It also ranks the Bauer College of Business as the top Undergraduate Business Program in Houston, third among public universities in the state of Texas, and 63rd in the nation among public universities. 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 evening MBA program was ranked as the 27th best part-time MBA program in the country by Businessweek in 2007. It also ranks 5th among public universities for producing 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.
   The University of Houston Law Center is a Tier I law school, currently ranked 55th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. In addition, the news magazine ranks three of the Law Center's specialty programs in the top ten in the country: the Health Law and Policy Institute (Healthcare Law), the Institute for Intellectual Property and Information Law (IP Law), and the Blakely Advocacy Institute (Trial Advocacy).
   The 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. It recently added an industrial design program, the first in the state of Texas. In 2002, the Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management ranked third in the nation in hospitality management by the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education. Additionally, according to the Institute for Scientific Information, five of the top fifty cited physicists in the world come from the university's College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

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), with the official university address being 4800 Calhoun Road. UH's campus beautification projects recently received awards from the Keep Houston Beautiful group for the improvements to Cullen Boulevard, which traverses through the UH campus.
The campus includes greenery, fountains, and sculptures, including one by James Sanborn, the same artist who made the famous Kryptos sculpture. Architects that have designed buildings at the University of Houston include César Pelli and Philip Johnson. The campus is located in the Third Ward of Houston and is adjacent to Texas Southern University and Yates High School.

Facilities

UH facilities regarding media include 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 is also home to the Blaffer Gallery, which exhibits both visiting artists and student work from the University of Houston School of Art. Other notable facilities dedicated to art on campus include the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Performing Arts which houses the Lyndall Finley Wortham Theatre, and Moores Opera Center where live performances take place. The 264,000 ft² (25,000 m²) Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, which is home to the nation's largest collegiate swimming pool, was recognized by the National Intramural-Sports Association as one of the seven most outstanding sports centers built in 2004. The venues for most major athletic teams are located on the UH campus, including Hofheinz Pavilion, Robertson Stadium, and Cougar Field. The athletic facilities are located to the west of Cullen Boulevard, with the exception of the Recreation and Wellness Center.
The Science and Engineering Research and Classroom Complex (SERCC) was designed by architect César Pelli. This building provides facilities for the many interdisciplinary research programs including bionanotechnology. The university has an on-site Hilton hotel as part of the Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management. This hotel was established with a donation by the founder of Hilton Hotels, Conrad N. Hilton.

Parking and transit

In addition to parking facilities including garages and lots for commuters, public transportation is available to and from the University of Houston via several METRO bus routes. To travel around campus areas where parking isn't practical or limited, UH provides an air-conditioned shuttle bus service that's open to anyone on-campus. There are five different color coded routes that serve different areas.

Student life

Demographics

The University of Houston is notable for its diverse student body, and U.S. News & World Report ranks UH as the second-most diverse research university in the United States. UH has two main housing areas for dormitories: Moody Towers and the Quadrangle. Moody Towers, frequently just called "The Towers", is one of the tallest complexes on campus and the largest area of residence halls. Each of the two towers consists of eighteen stories and together house 1,100 students. The Quadrangle, also known as "The Quad" is the oldest housing area on campus and consists of several coed dorm halls: Bates, Law, Oberholtzer, Settegast, and Taub. The Quadrangle houses 800 students. In addition to traditional dormitories, UH has an apartment-style dormitory called Cougar Place that's a housing area consisting of 400 units.

Media and entertainment

The official student newspaper is The Daily Cougar, and has been published since 1927. Frontier Fiesta, a re-creation of a 19th-century Western town, with music, food and historical exhibits, is a major event on campus each spring semester.
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 official seal. Scarlet red symbolizes courage or inner strength to face the unknown, and white symbolizes the goodness and purity of spirit embodied in helping one's fellow man. The seal of the University of Houston, officially adopted in 1938, is a stylized version of the coat-of-arms of General Sam Houston. The first official version was placed on the floor of the Roy Gustav Cullen Building.
The Frontiersmen are a group of students who participate in university events to drive school spirit. At football games, the Frontiersmen, donning cowboy hats, Wrangler Jeans, and dusters for attire, run across the field with the university's flag and the Flag of Texas after each score.

The Cougar Paw

The Cougar Paw is a popular hand sign used by University of Houston students, faculty, alumni, and athletics fans to represent camaraderie and support. The Cougar Paw tradition was adopted through several athletics events between the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Austin. The first time UH played UT in football was in 1953, and 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 cage 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, and UH students began using the sign as notice that they'd remember the taunts. In 1968, at their second meeting, the Cougars, holding up the now-adopted symbol of UH pride, played UT to a 20-20 tie. UH didn't play UT again until 1976, the first year UH was a member of the Southwest Conference. In front of a record crowd, UH defeated UT 30-0. This solidified the use of the Cougar Paw as a tradition. The film featured several real-life UH alumni and former men's golf team members, including Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, and Bruce Lietzke. The 1999 film Arlington Road was partially filmed on-campus. Jeff Bridges' character and his girlfriend are seen walking between Melcher Hall and the University Center. Other locations on campus are the inside of a classroom in Agnes Arnold Hall and a telephone booth in the College of Technology Annex. Also filmed on campus was the 2003 movie Dude, Where's the Party?, where Kal Penn's character attends the university.
In the long-running television show Reba, Steve Howey's character, Van, receives a scholarship to play as a cornerback for the Houston Cougars football team in the episode "Labor for Love." In a later episode, "Skating Away," Van, his wife, Cheyenne, and their new baby move into an on-campus apartment at the university while Van plays football.

Athletics

UH's 16-sport intercollegiate program is a member of Conference USA. Since the conference was formed 12 years ago, the Cougars have won 33 C-USA titles. After 61 years of athletics a UH, other notable achievements include 16 national titles in men's golf, five NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four appearances, and two College World Series appearances.
   More than 50 Olympic athletes have attended UH, bringing home 33 medals, including 19 gold.. The 1989 Heisman Trophy winner, Andre Ware, was a Cougar. The varsity football team went 8-5 in 2007, including a 20-13 loss to the TCU Horned Frogs in the Texas Bowl on December 28, 2007.
   The men's basketball team has made 18 NCAA Tournament appearances, with five trips to the Final Four. See also Phi Slama Jama, the Cougars teams of the early 1980s that featured current Basketball Hall of Famers Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
   Houston competes with other notable sports teams, such as the baseball team, which has made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances with two trips to the College World Series; the men's golf team, which has won 16 NCAA National Championships; the women's soccer team, which was rated as the top first-year women's program in the country in 1998; the swimming and diving teams, which have spawned multiple Olympians and All-Americans; the track and field team, which perennially ranks in the top 10 as an NCAA team; and the volleyball team, which had a streak of ten consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament.

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. Jack Valenti, long-time president of the Motion Picture Association of America and creator of the MPAA film rating system, received his B.B.A. from UH and for decades was one of the most influential people in Hollywood. Notable athletes within the list include NFL players Kevin Kolb, Wilson Whitley, and Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware; golfer Fred Couples; track and field legend Carl Lewis; the NBA's Bo Outlaw, Clyde Drexler, Elvin Hayes, Hakeem Olajuwon and Carl Herrera; and legendary Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry.

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