Prepared Remarks
William A. Staples
President, University of Houston-Clear Lake
Legislative Appropriations Request Hearing
Before Governor’s Office of the Budget and Legislative Budget Board
University of Houston-Clear Lake Presentation
Hilton University of Houston Hotel
September 14, 2004
The University of Houston-Clear Lake’s legislative appropriations request for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 is based on the performance of the institution during the past two years and the new initiatives to be pursued in the next two years.
For Fall 2003, UH-Clear Lake served 7,776 students with 3,926 at the undergraduate level and 3,850 at the graduate level. During the past two years, UHCL has closely monitored and responded to the issues of not only student recruitment, but retention and graduation as well. For the 2002-2003 academic year, UHCL had a 93.2 percent course completion rate by all students. Our full-time and part-time undergraduate retention rates were 84.1 percent and 72 percent, respectively, and our four year graduation rate was 81 percent. For 2002-2003, UHCL graduated over 2000 students. The so-called nontraditional students who are older, attending school part-time and working full-time are the traditional students for UHCL. The average age of our students is 32 years old.
Targeted increases in student headcount and semester credit hours for the next two years are the result of plans for new academic programs, off-campus courses and programs, and online distance education. For example, new academic programs have been introduced in criminology, physics, and social work with plans for a program in biotechnology.
UH-Clear Lake has also increased the number of off-campus courses and programs at a number of locations including the University of Houston System at Sugar Land in Fort Bend County, UH System at Cinco Ranch in Katy, Texas, downtown Houston, area community colleges including Alvin Community College in Pearland and San Jacinto College, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Two graduate programs in instructional technology and software engineering are available to our students online with plans for an online graduate program in business administration. UHCL has built strong relationships with major industries in the Houston/Galveston region with special focus on the aerospace, healthcare, petrochemical, and public school sectors.
UH-Clear Lake has also further strengthened its partnerships with the nine members of the Gulf Coast Community College Consortium. Over 80 percent of UHCL’s undergraduates have attended a community college prior to enrollment at UHCL. UHCL has articulation agreements with these community colleges for each of the over 30 undergraduate degrees offered. UHCL has extended its partnerships with area community colleges to also include local school districts. Currently, four school district-community college-UHCL partnerships are in place to recruit, retain, and graduate students in the field of teacher education. UHCL will place increasing emphasis on the development of K-16 partnerships.
Just as UHCL is concerned about student recruitment and retention, the university’s future success will depend on the recruitment and retention of faculty and staff to handle increased student enrollment and to provide more responsive student services. With respect to faculty, a growing enrollment means the need for more faculty as well as maintaining the appropriate balance between the use of full-time versus part-time faculty. In terms of staff, the retention of staff members, especially in areas related to computer and information technology is and will continue to be a major challenge.
For fiscal years 2006 and 2007, the University of Houston-Clear Lake requests an increase in formula funding rates and restoration of debt service on existing construction without a corresponding reduction in institutional enhancement funding. The increase in funding for UH-Clear Lake from these actions would enable the university to offer more courses to our students both on-campus and off-campus, increase our ability to meet targets for Closing the Gaps, and minimize future tuition and fee increases for our students.
UH-Clear Lake’s special item requests are targeted to meet critical issues facing our city, region, and state. The items requested address needs related to our environment, technology, teacher recruitment, and bilingual education. UHCL has four special item requests which include two current special items targeted for increased funding and two new special items.
The Houston Partnership for Environmental Studies, a current special item of the University of Houston-Clear Lake and the University of Houston, funds the Environmental Institute of Houston which focuses on environmental research, environmental education via teacher training, and public outreach. Competitive funding of faculty research by EIH provides an incentive for faculty to apply their expertise to regional problems. Prevention of air pollution is currently the highest priority for the Houston region. EIH is a partner in expanding air quality research and transferring that knowledge to educators and the public through a modeling stakeholder group and new K-12 curricula on air pollution.
A second existing special item, the High Technologies Laboratory, provides seed money for initiatives related to the aerospace industry which is concentrated in the Clear Lake area due to the presence of NASA’s Johnson Space Center and major aerospace contractors including the United Space Alliance, Lockheed-Martin, and The Boeing Company which have responsibility for both the space station and space shuttle programs. Previous projects between and among UH-Clear Lake, the Johnson Space Center, and the aerospace contractors have led to joint research initiatives in various engineering fields including computer and software engineering. UH-Clear Lake is also a participant in the Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program, a joint initiative of NASA’s Johnson Space Center and the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, to extend technological solutions to small business projects. The High Technologies Laboratory has been a good example of an effective university, business and government partnership.
The new special item requests are the Success Through Education Program (STEP) and the Collaborative Bilingual Educator Preparation Program. The Success Through Education Program is a teacher education project comprised of special academic programs and comprehensive support services that guide students through a seamless track from high school to community college to the University of Houston-Clear Lake, culminating in a college degree, teacher certification and employment in local school districts.
The pilot STEP program has proven effective, and the requested funding is intended to allow expansion of this program. As of 2004, 1151 students participate in the program, at all three levels, with 186 of these at UHCL. To date, this program has graduated 268 certified students. UHCL has established partnerships with six high schools in four school districts and four community colleges. With increased funding, two new partnerships will be established with at least one high school and community college in two school districts. About 100 high school students and 70 community college students will participate, with some 30 additional students enrolling in teacher certification programs.
The Collaborative Bilingual Educator Preparation Program seeks to address a major problem facing the State of Texas. As the number of English Language Learners (ELL) in the state of Texas continues to grow, so does the need for bilingual teachers, counselors and administrators. The Texas Education Agency continues to list a critical shortage of bilingual teachers and notes that the vast majority of ELL students in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten are taught by teachers who are not certified and about 40% of the ELL students in elementary classrooms are taught by those not certified as bilingual teachers.
Currently the Texas Education Agency lists approximately 15 percent of Texas public school students as Limited English Proficient. Almost all school districts express a critical unmet need for bilingual teachers and also express a similar need for bilingual counselors and administrators who can work effectively with bilingual children and their families. The proposed special item request is to provide a program that will recruit 24 bilingual students into a preparation program for certification as bilingual teachers, and also provide stipend and scholarship support for six bilingual teachers preparing to be counselors and six bilingual teachers preparing to be principals.
The University of Houston-Clear Lake is committed to being a partnership-oriented and community-minded university which offers relevant and responsive academic programs to meet the needs of our city, region, and state. With increased funding, UHCL will not simply maintain, but expand our service to the Houston/Galveston region to address the issues of the access to and affordability of higher education in Texas to improve the college attendance and graduation rates for the citizens of Texas.