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Good morning! I am Gene McDavid, chairman of the University of Houston System Board of Regents. I am delighted to be here today representing the entire university community as we welcome the Search Advisory Committee’s sole finalist to become the seventh Chancellor of the UH System and the twelfth President of the University of Houston. Before I do that, however, I would like to publicly thank and recognize the members of the committee who are with us today. They did a fantastic job. There were over 130 applicants, so the work the committee did was long and arduous. Would the members of the search committee please stand and receive our applause. This group, by the way, was composed of a cross-section of University of Houston System individuals, including representatives of the faculty, staff, and students body, as well as members of the Board of Regents, alumni, and civic and business leaders. I also would like to recognize Arthur K. Smith, the current Chancellor of the UH System and President of the University of Houston, who will retire effective September 1. Art, our gratitude goes to you for your exemplary leadership as the first to hold the dual posts, and for six-and-a-half years of successes and achievements. The university community is in your debt! Dr. Smith, as you may know, will stay involved with the university in his new role of University President, so we look forward to many more years of friendship and professional association. But back to the business at hand. The Search Advisory Committee’s choice to be the sole finalist, and the second person in the institution’s history to serve in the dual post of Chancellor of the University of Houston System and President of the University of Houston is Dr. Jay Gogue. Dr. Gogue has served as President of New Mexico State University since the year 2000. He brings with him extensive and distinguished credentials. Before his post in New Mexico he served as Provost of Utah State University, and prior to that he was Vice President for Research at Clemson University in North Carolina from 1988 to 1995. At Clemson he also held the posts of Vice President and Vice Provost for Agriculture and Natural Resources. Dr. Gogue is a native of Georgia, and has degrees in horticulture from Auburn and Michigan State universities. These degrees led, first, to a career as a research scientist with the National Park Service, which started in 1973. From 1977 to 1986, before he made the transition to the academy, he was the Park Service’s chief scientist, leading extensive programs involving professionals from the biological, physical, and behavioral sciences. But seriously, just a few of his current and past professional affiliations are, Director of the Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Director of the Institute of International Business Studies, industrial advisory board member of the National Gas Turbine Research Center, and founding member of the International Biomaterials Institute. Chief among the many successes of his administration at New Mexico State University was boosting fund raising from $13 million to $20 million during his first year as President. When the search committee made its selection of Dr. Gogue as the sole finalist, it did so in the conviction that he will build on the legacy of the Arthur K. Smith years, a legacy of fiscal responsibility, administrative stability, and national recognition for the institution’s academic and research programs. With us today is his wife Susie. Mrs. Gogue please stand and receive our applause… Now it is my pleasure to invite to the podium Dr. Jay Gogue, the man who will take the helm of the University of Houston System and its flagship university in just two short months. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm Houston welcome to Dr. Jay Gogue! UH System Board of Regents
Search Advisory Committee Members
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