WhenUH President and Chancellor Renu Khator came to the University in 2008, she hit the ground running, determined to create a student body thats bigger, louder and, above all, better educated. Khator boasted the benefit of not only her initiatives, but the work of the entire UH community Wednesday morning at the Moores Opera House in her annual address.
Khator broke down what makes a powerful undergraduate experience into access, relevance, success and affordability. In the past year, the University has been nationally ranked in access, relevance and affordability.
But ultimately, the proof of the pudding is in its taste, she said. Success is not about what we try to do, but what gets done. Are students succeeding and graduating?
Succeeding, yes, but student graduation rate remains lackluster. Only 48 percent of students are graduating, making the University on par with other Texas Emerging Research Universities, but far below other Public Tier 1 Universities, which have a graduation rate of 71 percent.
Khator cited the high freshman retention rate as one of her proudest achievements of the past year, and hopes to continue to develop the UHin4 program, which sets a flat tuition fee if students graduate in four years. Nearly half of current freshmen are enrolled in the program, far beyond her original goal of 30 percent.
Khator called the Class of 2018 larger, stronger and more diverse than ever before, with an average SAT score of 1143, 32 National Merit Scholars and 96 percent enrolled full time. Nearly half are living on campus, fitting the widespread vision of making the University more of a traditional college experience.
Student Government Association President Charles Haston cited growing numbers of students on campus including mandatory freshmen housing as one of the first projects he and Khator will tackle in the coming year.
Thats not the only way UH is becoming more traditional. Around 4,000 students showed up to the Cage Rage pep rally, and 10,000 came to the first football game at the newly-minted TDECU Stadium.
Along with the stadium, Khator highlighted the Universitys infrastructure achievements, with the new University Center, the Grove and Cougar Place.
If you want to see the most visible sign of change, walk on campus with a visitor, Khator said in her speech. I have yet to walk with anyone new to our university whose first words are not Wow, wow and wow.
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