Professor Olivas’s commitment to education reveals something important about learning at the University of Houston. The diversity of our student population poses certain challenges to our faculty. Our students are relatively older, with the average age being twenty-five. Many of them are the first in their families to attend college, and many have families of their own. Most of them live off campus and work at least part-time. Additionally, UH is the most ethnically diverse research institution in the nation, which means no ethnic group is a majority on our campus. With such a non-traditional student body, the definition of learning must be broadened to encompass activities meaningful to our student population. The most effective teachers, like Professor Olivas, are those that rise to this challenge.

Four Teaching Excellence Awards were given in 2001 to faculty who have done just that. G. Sidney Buchanan, the Baker & Botts Professor of Law, was recognized for his teaching style, which includes weaving course material and song as part of his instruction in constitutional law, First Amendment rights, and trusts. Todd A. Helwig, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, is a favorite of students because of his ability to illustrate difficult engineering concepts in understandable terminology. Assistant Professor of Marketing Eli Jones reaches students through the Professional Selling Certification Program at the C. T. Bauer College of Business, a program that in just four years has grown from seventy students to more than 1,000. Associate Professor David Mikics in the Department of English uses paintings, videos, and other visual media to bring his students closer to the written work of Nietzsche and Shakespeare.

Other major teaching recognitions granted in May 2001 included the Provost’s Core Course Awards presented to Professor Michael Friedberg in the Department of Mathematics and Linda Reed, associate
professor of history and director of the African American Studies Program, and the Distance Education Teaching Award presented to the late John Butler, professor in the Department of Geosciences. All of these faculty members were recognized for their ability to craft a learning experience suited to our student population.

It is this same attempt to develop a new paradigm for learning that is behind the UH Scholars’ Community program. Founded in 1994, the Scholars’ Community assists incoming students with their transition from high school to college, furnishing an academic support system that includes linked courses, peer mentoring, a virtual community, and a study lounge. This past year, all incoming Scholars’ Community
students were required to take the “Freshman Success Seminar,” which teaches various skills needed to succeed in college, including time and money management, self-awareness, and critical thinking. As the program’s director, Professor William H. Kellar, points out, this new course is structured upon an innovative model in which large numbers of incoming students are divided into small groups with undergraduate mentors.

The Scholars’ Community enrollment has grown along with its curriculum. We now have 966 freshmen in the program, a forty-eight percent increase over the 1999-2000 academic year. The third semester/sophomore retention for the 2000 cohort is a remarkable
eighty-two percent. The program consistently improves grade point
averages and retention rates because it creates a learning experience that is tailored to our student community.

High-achieving students come to UH because of our unique learning opportunities, such as programs that advance the role of undergraduate students in the research lab. For example, each summer, undergraduate students from UH, as well as many other universities around the country, take part in the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. Funded by the National Science Foundation, this highly selective program gives students the opportunity to work closely with faculty members on research projects and to attend seminars that cover topics such as how to prepare effective abstracts or how to deliver engaging presentations. REU nearly doubled its enrollment this year with a class of thirty-three participants, ten working in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, six in the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center for Advanced Oxides, four in the Department of Mathematics, and thirteen in the Cullen College of Engineering.

Back to top