From President Arthur K. Smith

Seventy-five years ago, the Houston Board of Education launched an institution devoted to the education of the children of the working men and women of their fine city. Looking back over the accomplishments of this past year, we can be confident that these founders would be proud of what has become of their initiative. We have not only educated those native sons and daughters, but an increasingly diverse student body – numbering 33,000 in 2001 – from more than 100 countries and a broad spectrum of ethnicities, and we have become one of the nation’s major research universities.

A retrospective of the past year reveals more than just a list of impressive accomplishments. Such a retrospective also reveals a collective spirit and guiding purpose behind our work that binds us together and gives the University of Houston its identity.

In addition to starting our seventy-fifth anniversary, 2001 was also the second year of our highly successful “Learning. Leading.” image campaign. These two words were chosen to represent UH because the way we approach these two core educational missions sets us apart from other institutions of higher learning.

I invite you to join us in celebrating our accomplishments for 2001 and in reflecting upon how we have defined “learning” and “leading” in a way unique to our community at this particular moment in our history.

I use the word “community” with good reason, for what is unique about UH is the role community plays in the learning and leading that take place here. Whether it is learning opportunities like our Research Experience for Undergraduates program or leaders like our researchers and faculty in the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, learning and leading at the University of Houston are both facilitated and enriched by community.