NEWS RELEASE

Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2005

Contact: Marisa Ramirez
713.743.8152 (office)
713.204.9798 (cell)
mrcannon@uh.edu

IN PLAIN ENGLISH: PROGRAM OFFERS FREE LANGUAGE LESSONS TO UH STAFF
ESL Classes Educating Campus Workers with Little or No English Skills

HOUSTON, June 20, 2005—At the end of the workday, 50 University of Houston employees leave their posts to head to the classroom. They are the first class of the school’s English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program for staff.

“I want to improve my English,” Blanca Rivera, a custodian at the Cullen College of Engineering said through the help of a translator. “I want to communicate better with students, staff and my family.”

The ESL program for staff was launched this year as a way to invest in and retain employees. It offers beginning, intermediate and high intermediate classes through UH’s Continuing Education. Students attend a two-hour class twice a week. For free. The university is financing the program with funds left over from the Staff Tuition Scholarship Program, which provides funds that staff may apply for to attend university classes.

“We realized that not all staff members are ready academically to pursue a college education,” Monica Baisden training manager in the Department of Human Resources said. She estimates that there are approximately 250 staff members who speak little, if any, English.

Jerald Strickland, interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, says the program benefits both staff and the university.

“A great university needs a great staff,” Strickland said. “If the university can help employees to develop professionally and retain them, then UH will benefit tremendously.”

For the last several years, the ESL training program has been offered to clients in the energy and healthcare industries all around Houston. Now, it’s finding students right under its own nose, so to speak.

UH staff member Rivera considers the class an opportunity to communicate better with her husband, Jorge, also a UH staff member, and their two adult children, both of whom are bilingual. She says she was hesitant at first, but once she met her instructor and saw that many of her classmates were fellow staff members, she felt more comfortable. And though learning a new language is difficult, she is up for the challenge.

“My family is so happy that I’m taking these classes,” Rivera said. “I’m so thankful to the university. It’s a wonderful opportunity.”

For more information about UH Continuing Education, please visit www.uh.edu/continuingeducation/
home/home.html

About the University of Houston

The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.