Robin Davidson, UHD associate professor of English, will have two poetry readings this spring including one for the First Friday Poetry Reading Series at 8:30 p.m. Friday, April 1, at Inprint House, 1520 W. Main near Mandell.

First Friday is the oldest poetry reading in Houston and has been held monthly since 1975. More information is available here.

Davidson will also participate in the Public Poetry Series at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at the Central Library of the Houston Public Library, fourth floor, Program Place, 500 McKinney St. The Public Poetry Series takes place the first Saturday of each month starting April 2. More information is available here.

Staff Council is pre-selling tickets for the second annual chili cook-off from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 30, in front of the Special Events Area, third floor, Academic Building.

The tickets are $3 in advance and enable the ticket holder to sample the 18 entries in the Saturday, April 9, cook-off. Tickets are $5 the day of the event.

Buy tickets Wednesday and come on out April 9 for some food, fun, and fellowship. A flier is available here. 

UHD's Master of Arts in Teaching with Certification (ACP/MAT) Program will hold two information sessions for interested students from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, and Wednesday, April 13, in room C-100, Commerce Street Building.

The deadline to enroll in this program for the Fall 2011 semester is June 1.

The ACP/MAT program is designed for students interested in becoming teachers or earning a master's degree in education. It is composed of four phases: pre-internship candidacy, which includes coursework and at least six hours per week of field work in schools, securing employment, a one-year internship with a local school and additional graduate coursework.

Students in the program can earn certification in areas including Elementary Generalist, 4-8 Generalist and 8-12 Secondary in a specialization such as computer science, history, English, mathematics and others. Students are also paired with mentor teachers from area schools who support and guide the graduate students.

Anjoo Sikka, program director and Urban Education professor, said the U.S. Department of Education funded UHD's program in 2009 through a $300,000 grant, Secondary Educators Engaged in Quality Urban Education, intended for Hispanic Serving Institutions.

For more information about the ACP/MAT, contact Sikka at sikkaa@uhd.edu. A flier on the information sessions is available here. A general flier is available here. 

UHD's African-American Male Mentorship Program (AAMMP) invites African-American male students to the AAMMP Mixer from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, March 31, in the Student Activities lounge area, room S-204, One Main Building.

The event is an opportunity for students to network with faculty, staff and other students; to learn about a program that could increase academic and personal strengths and to have fun playing pool, ping pong and foosball.

For more information, contact the Student Activities Office at 713-221-8573.

The Campus Activities Board (CAB) will host its annual Poker Tournament from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 9, in the Special Events Room, A-300, Academic Building.

Buy-in is $10 and prizes will be awarded to the top seven winners. The Grand Prize is an iPad. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Houston Area Women's Center and House of Tiny Treasures, a program for homeless children.

Email mejiaa@uhd.edu for more information. A flier is available here.

The International Business Association hosted Abdulaziz Al-Attar of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation Tuesday, March 29, at the Shea Street Building. For more information, contact Anisul Islam, professor and IBA advisor, at islama@uhd.edu or IBA President Gebran Charbim at gebran@live.com.

The UHD student and alumni production of "You Can't Take It with You," the 1937 comedy by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, will open at 8 p.m. Friday, April 1, in the O'Kane Theatre.

This story about the Sycamore family and its unforgettable characters can also be seen at 8 p.m. April 2, 7, 8 and 9 as well as 3 p.m. Sunday, April 3. The student matinees are 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, and Friday, April 8.

Tickets cost $3 and are available at the University cashier's office on the third floor during regular business hours and at the theater door 30 minutes before each performance. Come see the talents of UHD students and alumni as they bring to life this time-proven classic of the American theater.  

Sigma Tau Delta, the international English honor society; the Freshman Composition Program and the Freshman Convocation Committee have announced the winners of the spring semester freshman essay contest.   

This contest was the second phase of the freshman essay contest conducted in the fall as part of Freshman Convocation.Winning students wrote their essays in English composition courses fall semester and submitted them to contest organizers in February.

"We want to congratulate all the participants for taking out the time and putting in the effort to contribute to this universitywide event," said organizer JoAnn Pavletich, director of composition and associate professor of English. "Deciding to submit an essay was itself an act of success and all students who participated deserve our congratulations."   

First place winners will receive $400 in book vouchers; second place winners will receive $200 in vouchers; third place winners will receive $100 in vouchers and those receiving an honorable mention award will receive vouchers for $50. 

English 1300 winners:

First Place:  La'Mia Bradshaw, "Bullying."

Second Place:  Ikhlas Musa, "The Importance of Teachers Understanding Cultural Differences."

Third Place:  Pablo Rivera, "The Master Plan."

Honorable Mention:  Vincent Elizondo, "Confidence."

English 1301 winners:

First Place:  Moin Marediya, "Texting While Driving."

Second Place:  Crystal Mouton, "What Can Unite Our Divided Country?"

Third Place:  Alejandro Madrigal, "Equality for Success."

Honorable Mention:  Zitlalit Andriano-Rodriguez, "The Connection of Innocence, Racism, and Power, from Shelby Steele's View."

Honorable Mention:  Jack Weisberger, "Respect Is Not Easily Earned."

English 1302 Winners:

First Place:  Elena "Kate" Walker, "Fairy Tale Endings for a Young Girl in Danger."

Second Place:  Lluvia Flores, "Mosque at Ground Zero."

Third Place:  Reyna Valdez, "Censorship:Violation of the Right to Free Speech."

Honorable Mention:  Ali Fazal, "Rotting Apple:The Simultaneous Rise and Fall of an Empire."

Honorable Mention:  Rodney Jenkins, "The True Origins of HIV/AIDS."

Pavletich also thanked the following instructors who encouraged and assisted students: Santiago Lopez, Dagmar Scharold, Crystal Guillory, Yvonne Guillory-Welch, Catherine Alexander, Harbeer Sandhu, William Brown,  Antonio Garcia, William Waters, Sandra Dahlberg, Guiliana Lund, Carolyn Rubin-Trimble and Merrilee Cunningham.

March 23, 2011

To:           The UHD Community

From:      Michael Dressman, Chair, Strategic Planning Group

As promised in late February, the Strategic Planning Group is publishing a set of proposed goals and metrically stated University objectives for the next ten years.

These goals were derived from last year's "Good to Great" meetings and recent conversations between President William Flores and the Strategic Planning Group. The metrics are based on various published and proposed targets that UHD vice presidents, deans, department chairs, Faculty Senate leadership, staff and students have brought forward.

We share these goals and objectives now with the larger University community for comment, proposed modification, and shaping, leading to eventual adoption of these or similar ones as our strategic-planning statement.

In addition, as you read these proposed goals and objectives, the President and the Strategic Planning Group challenge each area of the University to start imagining strategies and steps that could be taken in your part of the University that could lead to achieving these institutional goals.

For now, please send your comments directly to me at dressmanm@uhd.edu. I will share them with the Strategic Planning Group, and we will compile and distribute the suggestions back to the campus. I draw your special attention to the sixth goal where the metrics are the least well developed. We need some measurable statements there. I will also look into using the Blackboard Vista site for campus discussions so there can be additional give and take on these issues.

Here are the Proposed Strategic Planning Goals and Metric Objectives:

I.              Increase enrollment.

From 13,000 head count in Fall Term 2010 to 15,400 by Fall Term 2015

From 15,000 head count in Fall Term 2015 to 18,000 by Fall Term 2020

From 125,800 semester credit hours in Fall Term 2010 to 150,000 by Fall Term 2015

From 150,000 semester credit hours in Fall Term 2015 to 175,000 by Fall Term 2020

II.             Improve retention and student success.

Improve retention from year one to year two for FTIC students (First Time In College) by 3% a year. To do so would move our retention rate for first-year students from 60% to 73% by 2020.

III.            Increase our graduation rates.

Six-year graduation rate (FTIC) from 11.4% in 2010 to 35% in 2020

Four-year graduation rate (for students entering with 30 semester credit hours) from 29.8% in 2010 to 45% by 2020

Two-year graduation rate (for students entering with 60 semester credit hours) from 52.5% in 2010 to 75% by 2020

IV.            Increase the number of community-relevant programs.

During the next ten years, UHD colleges and departments will develop and bring forward 30 degree proposals for consideration on campus: 15 bachelor's degrees and 15 master's degrees.

By 2020, UHD, having fully developed degree proposals and worked them through the UH System, will have introduced 10 new degree programs: four bachelor's degrees and six master's degrees.

V.             Expand financial resources.

The grants through the Office of Sponsored Programs, which now total just less than $3 million a year, will increase to $10 million a year by 2015 and to $22 million a year by 2020.

UHD will undertake a comprehensive capital campaign that will begin in a silent phase in 2013, will be announced in 2016 (or so), and will culminate with a total of $50 million to $75 million in 2020.

UHD will increase alumni giving, which is now less than 1%, to 5% by 2020.

UHD will increase its endowment, which is now at about $14 million, to $35 million by 2020.

VI.            Ensure an infrastructure that will support these goals.

Every year for the next ten years send ten new faculty or staff members (that is, people who have never attended such a meeting before) to a national meeting on assessment, recruitment, or retention.

Cut costs and improve productivity by 1% each year for the next 10 years.

Improve the UHD classroom use (SUE) score from 58% to 75% by 2015 and to 80% by 2020.

Additional parking is now available for students, faculty and staff at North San Jacinto Street and Allen Street. There are 84 parking spaces in the far northeast corner of the AMPCO Parking Lot set aside for UHD. Spaces reserved for UHD have the word "RESERVED" painted in each space. Parking Enforcement and the UHD Police patrol the lot to provide safety and security.

The shuttle bus service also picks-up and drops-off from this location. Shuttles run from the Daly Street Lot, to the One Main Building, to the Commerce Street Building, corner of Franklin Street and Fannin Street, to the San Jacinto Lot, to the Shea Street Building and back to the Daly Street Lot.

The UHD Police patrol streets and parking lots near the University 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Blackboard Vista

Today

10 - 11 a.m. - Blackboard: Gradebook Setup

Thursday, March 31

10 - 11:30 a.m. - SoftChalk Lesson Builder

See all current IT training available