Photo: President Staples speaking at the campus-wide meeting held Sept. 15, 2016 in the Garden Room at UHCL. Photo by The Signal Reporter, Kate Gaddis. — President Staples speaking at the campus-wide meeting held Sept. 15, 2016 in the Garden Room at UHCL. Photo by The Signal Reporter, Kate Gaddis.

Campus wide-meeting held at university Sept. 15

By Kate Gaddis Last updated Sep 25, 2016 141 0

William Staples, President of UHCL speaking at the Campus-Wide meeting held September 15, 2016 in the Garden Room at UHCL Photo by the Signal Reporter Kate Gaddis — President Staples speaking at the Campus-Wide meeting held Sept. 15, 2016 in the Garden Room at UHCL. *Photo by The Signal Reporter Kate Gaddis.*

The University of Houston Clear-Lake held its annual university-wide meeting in the Garden Room Sept. 15 for all benefits-eligible employees.

This year, the meeting entailed a presentation on the school’s enrollment trends, academic program development, new buildings, budget and the 2017 legislative session, as well as the new opportunities and challenges ahead.

The first presenter was Glen Houston, interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. Houston spoke about the university’s enrollment numbers for undergraduate students and graduate students. The enrollment numbers increased for undergraduate students since 2013 but have been declining for the graduate students since Fall 2014.

“If you look at the total headcount from last year, we’re down one and a half percent in headcount,” Houston said.

UHCL is entering its third year as a four–year university. In Fall 2014, when the university opened its doors to freshmen and sophomores, there was an increase in undergraduate enrollment by 62.2 percent from the previous year. The number of undergrads who enrolled at UHCL increased from 5,386 in 2014 to 5,743 in 2015 to 5,950 in 2016. However, between Fall 2014 to fall 2015, there was a decline in the graduate program by 3.5 percent. Between Fall 2015 to fall 2016, the graduate enrollment has dropped another 10.7 percent.

Houston highlighted UHCL new accomplishments including the new name changes for the schools: College of Business (BUS), College of Education (COE) , College of Human Sciences and Humanities (HSH) and College of Science and Engineering(CSE); a new Ph.D program in psychology, and four new bachelor of science degrees in counseling (COE), early childhood care and education, information technology, and mechanical engineering.

The next speaker was Michelle Dotter, vice president for administration and finance. She spoke about the five new buildings planned for the Pearland campus and the Clear Lake campus. On the Clear Lake campus, the first building that is slated to open in July of 2018, is the Recreation and Wellness Center. Two buildings are set to follow in August of 2018: a Student Housing building and a STEM and Classroom building. Bayou Loop Road should be constructed by August 2018 to connect the new buildings. In January of 2019, the Health Sciences and Classroom building will be open at the Pearland Campus.

A new police building is in the process of being built on the Clear Lake campus and should be completed by December of this year. Renovations to the Arbor Building are also slated to be completed by the end of the year. The total cost for all the construction projects is $153,575,000.

Dotter said that the school was going to invest in making a ‘student gathering’ area.

“You walk around this building you see students everywhere, so we’re building in that type of gathering space,” Dotter said.

Staples returned to the lectern to discuss the financial matters, the Legislative Appropriation Request, part of the state budget process, which the university submitted this year minus 4 percent.

Staples also used the meeting to announce his retirement. He will be stepping down effective August 2017. Staples joined UHCL in 1979 and became president in 1995. He is the university’s fourth president.