1934 – 2009
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Forecast, Page 2
The Editor’s Desk tells how the front page material is put together Thursday, March 25, 2010
Issue 116, Volume 75
thedailycougar.com
Faculty takes on grad rates Khator advises staff to avoid excuses and concentrate on student importance gg
By Morgan Creager The daily cougar UH President Renu Khator challenged those at Wednesday’s Faculty Senate meeting to stop making excuses about low graduation rates. “I want to make sure we understand that student success is a no-excuse priority,” Khator said. She helped explain this by putting the success of college students in a global perspective. “The U.S. is one of two countries where this generation is going to be less educated than the previous generation,” Khator said. She singled out 15 universities, which resemble UH in several ways, and compared their progress to that of UH in 2007. She resisted the excuse that UH students have unusual financial needs. Khator dug deeper than surface level evidence and presented it to those in the room. For example, Khator said although UH received only 5 percent more in Pell Grants than San Diego State University, SDSU still had a 56.4 percent graduation rate, 13.7 percent higher than UH. “That factor alone cannot keep us from higher graduation rates,” Khator said.
She also refuted the excuse that UH students arrive at the University unprepared for college. When compared to East Carolina’s estimated median SAT score of 1035, she said UH has no excuse to have an 11.8 percent lower graduation rate when its median SAT score is 1070. “Sorry, I’m not buying that excuse,” Khator said. She mentioned the accusation that UH has students from underrepresented minorities that graduate at a lower rate. She pointed out statistically across the board, blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, Asians and whites have extremely similar graduation rates. “You can’t say that just because we are more diverse, that that’s the reason our graduation rate can’t be improved,” Khator said. She also disproved the notion that UH can’t move forward without additional resources. When UH has 30 percent more full-time faculty and spends $3,751 more in educational expenditures than SDSU, Khator said, it is difficult to defend the gap between the schools’ graduation rates. “If we want to be a better university, we’ve got to start putting our students first,” Khator said. “It’s
KENDRA BERGLUND The Daily Cougar
Fine art
T
he third annual Student Art Exhibit is on display at the M. D. Anderson Memorial Library through April 15. The 20 artists were chosen through a selection jury process and range from all classifications. The 33 works of art are located on the third floor.
see SENATE, page 10
Researcher executes superconductivity
Fiesta tradition continues
By Abby Lee The daily cougar
Staff intends to increase student participation gg
The HOUSTONIAN FILE PHOTO
By Jared Luck The daily cougar Frontier Fiesta kicks off today in the Robertson Stadium parking lot, serving up a healthy dose of variety shows, carnival games and rides, live music and Texas barbecue. Although admission is free for students, the festival seeks to raise money to fund 10 scholarships for UH students while showcasing the campus’ culture and diversity. Fiesta has been a UH tradition since 1940, but was discontinued
The 1951 “Frontier City” displayed has been a continued tradition at UH that dates back to the 1940s. Some on-campus parking lots will be shut down until April 1 so participants will have enough time to shut down their “stores.” in 1959. Since the event returned in 1992, fiesta has served as an opportunity for organizations and students display their talents with variety shows. This year, students will have an opportunity to score free food and prizes during the event, taking place today through Saturday. Darren Randle, chief of staff for Frontier Fiesta, said the biggest
change this year is the increase in the number of UH students involved. “In the past few years, it would be just IFC fraternities and PanHellenic sororities that would have their variety shows,” Randle said. “This year we wanted every student organization — anybody who could see FIESTA, page 9
Paul Chu has demonstrated that his passion for research is his driving force as a scientist, as he returns to UH with new goals after serving as president for a university in Hong Kong for eight years. “I was born a scientist. I want to die a scientist,” Chu said. While at UH full time, Chu is using a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research to search for new materials that may become superconducting at higher temperatures. “We are trying to develop a new superconductor with a transition temperature up to room temperature,” Chu said. “If it cools below a certain temperature, it loses
buoyant existence to electricity. Because of that, you can use it to generate, transmit and store energy with 100 percent efficiency.” In 1987, Chu and his team made history when they attained superconductivity at 77 degrees Kelvin with the compound yttrium barium copper oxide. Now, they are striving to go further. “The highest record is 164 degrees Kelvin. That record was established by us in 1993. Unfortunately, no one has been able to break the record, including us,” Chu said. “If we can do that we can get all this superconducting technology without cooling, because it’s already superconducting. That would have a profound impact on our lives. It see CHU, page 3