It is a pleasure for me to welcome all of our students, faculty and staff for the 2005-06 academic term at the University of Houston. I hope all of you had a great summer and are rested and ready for what promises to be another outstanding year.

We are expecting more than 34,000 students for the fall semester, which means all of us will be working hard to keep up with increasing expectations.

We have expanded the Cullen Oaks housing facility by adding 354 beds in 186 furnished apartment units, 256 parking spaces, laundry facilities, a recreation room, and a student lounge. Even with these $17 million worth of additions, Cullen Oaks is at 100-percent capacity with a waiting list!

Campus security is always a concern for our students, faculty, staff and visitors. We have taken several measures to increase campus safety. Our Department of Public Safety will have 155 security cameras connected to its new virtual patrol room. These cameras will record activity 24 hours a day in parking lots, buildings, and high pedestrian areas. We also have added blue lights to the older, unlighted Emergency Call Boxes to heighten their visibility at night; increased the number of call boxes to 58; added or replaced 406 light fixtures across campus; and hired two police officers.

You will notice that the construction crane continues to be our unofficial mascot. This year, we will complete work on the Science and Engineering Research and Classroom Complex; the M.D. Anderson Library addition and renovation; the parking garage and visitor’s center; and the Wortham Theatre addition and renovation.

As of this writing, Texas legislators continue to wrangle over public education funding, which means some of our top legislative initiatives remain unresolved. I am delighted to tell you, however, that the Legislature and the governor provided a 6.8-percent increase in our biennial general revenue allocation, which comes to more than $18.2 million. From those funds, we will provide a 4-percent, across-the-board raise for our staff and 4-percent merit and equity raises for benefits-eligible ranked and visiting faculty. We also allocated an additional $200,000 to address faculty salary compression, and another $204,000 for faculty promotions and tenure raises.

I also am happy to tell you the Legislature restored and increased the Tier I funding vetoed two years ago by the governor. And, beginning in 2008, the Higher Education Fund, which we use for capital construction and renovation, will receive a substantial increase.

All of us at the University of Houston send our heartfelt appreciation to the students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends who spent countless hours on our behalf. In particular, we hope you will take the time to thank the legislative leadership and our legislative delegation who championed our cause and helped secure the future of higher education for our university and all of Texas.

Once again, welcome back. I hope you are as excited about the new year as I am. I look forward to working with all of you to help our students and our university achieve and exceed their goals.