• The Diesel Vehicle Research and Testing Facility was unveiled to the public during a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Mayor Bill White. The city of Houston awarded $3.8 million to UH to test new technologies to help reduce emissions from its diesel fleet of 2,800 vehicles. The five-year project, headed by the Department of Chemical Engineering, includes diesel testing and data analysis, emission research and technology development.
  
  
• The College of Technology hosted the fourth annual Project Lead The Way Summer Training Institute. The institute provided 75 intensive hours of instruction to prepare teachers to meet the “No Child Left Behind” requirements that pave the way toward solving the engineering shortage and diversity issues facing the nation’s universities.
  
  
• UH hosted the 28th Annual Summer Institute of SECME (which originally stood for Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering). More than 650 teachers, advisers, educational specialists, parents and students participated in an array of hands-on workshops, classes and special presentations.
  
  
• Middle and high school math and science educators from across the country learned how semiconductors are produced so they can motivate students to pursue high tech careers during “High Tech U, Teacher Edition,” a training program held at UH. The program was offered as a mini-institute within the 28th Annual SECME Summer Institute.
  
  
• The Moores School of Music sponsored the 15th annual Texas Music Festival, which brought together faculty members, internationally recognized guest artists and emerging student artists.
  
  
• Five U.S. ambassadors of member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met with deans to discuss such topics as student exchange programs and post-9/11 student immigration issues.
  
  
• Noted Univision broadcaster Jorge Ramos joined Mayor Bill White and other community leaders to discuss the impact of the Latino vote in American politics at a symposium on campus.
  
  
• Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine has ranked UH 15th in its annual survey of the Top 100 schools awarding undergraduate degrees to Hispanics.
  
  
• Members of the U.S. Olympic Diving Team held a training camp at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center’s Natatorium.
  
  
• New sculpture “A,A” was installed in front of the M.D. Anderson Library.
  
  
• Houston Area Exhibition kicked off at Blaffer Gallery.
  
  
• The University Photographers’ Association of America hosted its 43rd Annual Technical Symposium on campus.
  

July

• UH officials announced the creation of Weekend University, which consists of nine undergraduate courses that will be taught on Saturdays beginning this fall.
  

• The College of Pharmacy and the Federal Drug Administration revised and expanded a partnership that would open a pathway for science to advance in medically related fields of higher education. The college is the only pharmacy college in the country with this type of partnership with the FDA.
  

• Society of American Military Engineers Houston/Galveston Post selected UH as its public agency of the month for July because of its recovery and mitigation effort after Tropical Storm Allison, as well as the high quality of the staff and strong management in Plant Operations.
  

• As part of the Houston Debate Institute (HDI), more than 100 high school students are attended workshops on campus and held debates on various topics. HDI is a coalition of Houston high school and college debate instructors who focus their efforts for two weeks on preparing high school students for a year of debating around the nation. Full story
  

• Surveillance cameras were added to select parking lots. Full story

August

• The UH System Board of Regents approved a $25.8 million proposal to construct a parking garage on campus, a $933 million budget for the UH System and a strategic plan.
  

• Spencer Yantis, former associate vice chancellor/vice president, was appointed interim vice chancellor/vice president for university advancement. The appointment followed the resignation of Ileana Treviño, who had accepted the position of vice president of Memorial Hermann Foundation.
  

• The new Alliance for NanoHealth, of which UH is a founding member, was awarded $2.8 million in federal funding.
  

• Information Technology updated the ROLM telephone system as a result of faculty and staff requests. The first update simplified the erase/delete command by removing the confirmation step. The second update eliminated the new or old voice prompt. Employees are now taken directly to the new system when they access their voice mailbox.
  

• The Department of Human Resources launched Online Job Services, which saves paper and time while offering more efficient application processing on campus.
  

• New members were elected to Staff Council.
  

• The 26th season of the Children’s Theatre Festival, which began May 28, ended.