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Issue 007, Volume 76
Tuesday ®
August 31, 2010
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ACADEMIC AFFAIRS
On-campus
Honors College welcomes back UH community with convocation On Thursday, Sept. 2, the Honors College will host its Fall 2010 Convocation to welcome the University for the fall semester. The keynote speaker for the event will be JanAke Gustafsson, director of UH's Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling. Also speaking are President Renu Khator, Provost John Antel, Interim Vice President for Research Stuart Long and Honors College Dean Bill Monroe. The event will take place in the Grand Ballroom of the University Hilton Hotel. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Undergraduate Council to hold first fall semester meeting The first meeting of the Undergraduate Council for Fall 2010 will take place Wed., Sept. 1 at 3 p.m. Anyone interested is invited to attend. The meeting will take place in the Elizabeth D. Rockwell Pavilion, located on the second floor of the M.D. Anderson Library. The Undergraduate Council is a faculty and student run committee whose main duty is to advise the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. The council reviews and recommends changes or additions and deletions to UH's undergraduate catalog and official UH policies. It also screens changes or additions of UH courses before approval by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
UH graduation rates up Official numbers cite a 4.3 percent rise from 2009; still lags behind UT and A&M Michelle Reed
THE DAILY COUGAR UH is continuing its fight to claim a ranking among the top Texas universities and a recent increase in graduation rates shows the University is gaining some ground. President Renu Khator cited the increase at a UH System Board of Reports quarterly meeting this month. “We are on track for a record-breaking
year in terms of research grants and enrollment,” Khator said in an email. “Those are significant achievements, but we must also remain focused on graduation rates.” Graduation rates have seen a 4.3 percent increase from 40.8 percent in 2009 to 45.1 percent this year. This graduation rate tracks incoming freshman from year one to year four, and does not include transfers. “This is the highest (graduation rate) ever for UH,” Richard Bonnin, director of media relations, said in an email. “The University’s goal is to raise it by 2 percent each year until it is at least at 52 percent.” According to the U.S. News and World Report’s most recent edition of America’s Best Colleges, UH has an overall total of 41
percent for graduation rates, putting it far behind other Texas universities. The University of Texas in Austin has an 81 percent graduation rate, Texas A&M has an 80 percent rate and Texas Tech has a 60 percent rate. However, Khator said that despite an attempt to increase graduation numbers in the coming years, especially with the finalization of the numbers in October, the University’s primary focus is helping students graduate successfully. “We are changing the mix of students to reflect a nationally competitive class of high-achieving students,” Khator said. “We GRADUATION continues on page 6
Creative projects award offered Scholarship aims to commemorate scholar, encourages travel
Visit www.uh.edu/undergraduatecouncil/index.
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ON CAMPUS
Beyond the Wall - Poster and print sale The UC CreationStation will sponsor a poster sale, brought to you by Beyond the Wall. Check out the UC Arbor. They will be there almost all day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. New Member Info Meeting Phi Alpha Delta will be providing information to anyone interested in joining its pre-law organization. Check them out in room 250 at the UC Bluebonnet at 5:30 p.m. SVN Outdoor Movie Festival for “Darjeeling Limited” The Student Video Network will be hosting another movie screening. This time it’s “Darjeeling Limited.” Grab a friend and come to the UC North Patio at 7:30 p.m.
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Graduate students in the University’s creative writing program can now apply for a $5,000 scholarship initiated by the Department of English and the Tagore Society of Houston. The Tagore Scholar Passport Operating Scholarship will fund one semester’s worth of research towards enriching the ideas and philosophies of Nobel Prize-winning poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for a graduate student to advance the study of Tagore’s extraordinary body of work,” department chair Wyman Herendeen said. Tagore, a native of Bengal and a friend of Ghandi, was a renowned novelist and political and social activist. He worked extensively on transcultural studies and the advancement of his idea of a “borderless society.” The scholarship was initiated in part because the Tagore Society wanted to forge closer ties with the University, Herendeen said. Surajit Dasgupta, a member of the executive committee for the Tagore Society, began discussing the SCHOLARSHIP continues on page 3
"The discovery aspect (of chemistry) is always a fascination," professor Mamie Moy said. Moy has taught chemistry at UH since 1955. | Courtesy of the Office of University Communications
faculty honors
UH chemists join elite group Professors rewarded for work, dedication to teaching Darlene Campos
THE DAILY COUGAR The American Chemical Society (ACS) recently honored two UH chemistry professors by inducting them into its fellows program, recognizing their career achievements and their contributions to the field of chemistry. Professors Mamie Moy and Rigoberto Advincula were inducted, along with 190 other professionals, at a ceremony in Boston. Moy has taught chemistry at UH since 1955, after receiving her master’s from UH three years earlier. She still expresses a passion for her field of study, especially the problem solving and discovery phase of the field. “The discovery aspect, large or small, is always a fascination,” Moy said. “The fundamental chemistry concepts and discoveries are
so essential for the quality of our lives—in the food we produce and eat, the clothes we wear, cyber technology, communications, transportation and everything else.” Over the 45 years she has taught at UH, Moy has earned numerous honors, including awards from the National Association of Science Teachers and the American Association of University Women. Becoming an ACS fellow holds an especially high honor for her. “Being recognized by the largest scientific professional society in the world is an honor and very humbling,” she said. Moy has seen UH and her department develop throughout the decades, and credits both for the many awards she has received. “I have witnessed the evolution of UH from a private institution to a state university with foreseeable attainment to Tier One (status),” Moy said. “Because of the support from the University, I have received awards and honors from various community organizations for CHEMISTS continues on page 3