THE DAILY COUGAR UH digs itself into hole in conference matchup against Miners /SPORTS
TODAY’S WEATHER
Student showcase: art in the digital age /Life & Arts
3-day forecast, Page 2
Hi 63 Lo 36
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Issue 81, Volume 74
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www.thedailycougar.com
Students adjust to new shuttle schedules, routes By Holly Prevost The Daily Cougar
Tony Nguyen The Daily Cougar
Students participate in Recyclemania with environmental pledges to increase use of public transportation
UH holds commuter fair By Kelsie Hahn The Daily Cougar
Nine hundred students signed the UH Green Commuter pledge for a cleaner environment, simpler parking and a little less money spent on gas when Metropolitan Transit Authority and UH teamed up Tuesday and Wednesday to teach about the public transportation Houston has to offer. Students registered for Q-cards, a debit system implemented by Metro in 2008, at three stations around campus at the UH Green Commuter Fair. Maria Honey, auxiliary customer service coordinator for UH business services, said as enrollment grows, public transportation can help ease the stress of searching for convenient parking and appeal to a growing national interest in
green solutions. “(We) knew this was the best time to start getting this message across,” Honey said. “We want to make travelling to their workplace, their educational institution, as easy as possible.” Though the fair is over, students can still sign up for half-price Q-cards by bringing their CougarOne cards when they sign up for a Q-card at Metro’s RideStore on 1900 Main St., Switan Emily Messa, assistant vice president of University Services, said. Students considering the Q-cards said they hoped the buses would provide a convenient alternative to driving. “I don’t have a car, and I want to do stuff, go Downtown or the Galleria,” German freshman Jessica Bauman said. see METRO, page 3
UH parking and transportation aim to improve service by putting campus shuttles on timed schedules and modifying routes this semester. Joint ventures with AFC Corporate Transportation and Metropolitan Transit Authority will provide new resources and technology like online shuttle tracking and a passenger counting system. “The system worked, but at times the headway between buses would disappear and two buses would be at the stop at the same time, resulting in a long wait until the next bus would arrive,” said Bob Browand, director of parking and transportation. “This made it hard, at times, for students to plan their trips.” Parking and transportation assigned an additional bus to Tan route, which serves the East Transit Center (ETC) where students can transfer to and from Metro buses. The changes to the route cuts service time to the ETC in half, with shuttles making a rotation in 12 minutes. “More Cougars are taking mass transit to and from work and school,” Browand said. “Parking and transportation has been working closely with Metro to increase usage by the campus community. Prior service to the ETC was limited and had too long of a headway between buses to make it an attractive option for commuters.” The Garage/Circulator route runs clockwise this semester instead of counterclockwise to eliminate left turns on busy streets. “Eliminating the left hand turns not only made the route safer to drive,” Browand said, “but also shortens the time it takes to make a trip around campus.” Shuttles have also been placed on a timed schedule designed by parking and transportation. “In the past the shuttle buses ran on a continuous loop concept. Upon completion of one loop, it immediately began another without regard to time or bus spacing,” Browand said. “The timed schedule eliminates this and will make the service more reliable.” The modifications have required comprising some routes. Expanding Tan route meant combining Satellite see SHUTTLE, page 12
‘She was the queen of the Cougars’ Cullen family matriarch lived life of philantropy, devotion to UH By James Rincon The Daily Cougar Wilhelmina Daisy Cullen Robertson Smith was 16 years old when she witnessed her father, Hugh Roy Cullen’s first major philanthropic gift to the University of Houston. Since that day the Cullen family’s contribution to the development of UH was and is without compare. Smith died Monday in her home. She was 86 years old. UH President and UH Systems Chancellor Renu Khator address the University about Smith’s passing. “The University of Houston family is saddened to learn of the death on Monday of Wilhelmina Cullen Robertson Smith, matriarch of the Cullen family and one of
our most devoted friends and supporters,” Khator said in a press release. “I know you join me in expressing our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Mr. Smith and the extended Cullen family at the passing of this most beloved and remarkable lady.” The last living child of H.R. Cullen and his wife Lillie Cranz, Smith was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, aunt. Smith was also a devoted Cougar fan. “I would think that she would want to be remembered by Cougars and a Cougar alumn, as a Cougar fan and supporter, and she would want everyone to be as proud of the university as she was,” Smith’s daughter, UH Regent Beth Robertson said. “She was the queen of the
Cougars, and her spirit will always be there. She would want them all to be the best that they can be. She had a lot of faith in everybody.” Smith was born on Dec. 3, 1922 in Houston. She attended The Kinkaid School and graduated from Dana Hall in Wellesley, Mass. She left Sweet Briar College in Virginia at the beginning of World War II and returned to Texas to finish college, graduating from UH. Smith served as the first Trustee of Agriculture for the Cullen Foundation alongside her older sisters Agnes and Margaret at its inception in 1947. The foundation’s $160 million gift to UH was the University’s largest endowment and, at the see SMITH, page 12
Photo courtesy of Beth Robertson
Wilhelmina Daisy Cullen Robertson Smith died at home Monday at 86.