University of Houston: Encyclopedia II - University of Houston - History

University of Houston - History

The University of Houston began as Houston Junior College (HJC). On March 7, 1927, trustess of the Board of Education unanimously passed a historic resolution that authorized the "founding, establishment and operation of a junior college." The junior college was operated and controlled under the guidance of the Houston Independent School District (HISD).

HJC was located in San Jacinto High School and offered only night courses. Its first session began June 5, 1927, with an enrollment of 232 students and 12 faculty. This session was primarily held to educate the future teachers of the junior college, and no freshmen were allowed to enroll. A more accurate date for the official opening of HJC is September 19, 1927, when enrollment was opened up to "all persons having completed the necessary educational requirements to enter at a level contingent with higher education needs." The first president of HJC was Dr. Edison Ellsworth Oberholtzer. He was the dominant force in establishing the junior college.

The junior college became eligible to become a four-year institution in October 1933 when Governor Miriam A. Furguson signed House Bill 194 into law. On April 30, 1934, HISD's Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution extending the scope and services of the Houston Junior College "to include at least two additional years of college work" and changed the name of the institution to the University of Houston.

UH's first session as a four-year institution began June 4, 1934, at San Jacinto High School with an enrollment of 682. Reminiscent of David vs. Goliath, the University of Houston is one of the few Texas colleges to be started by the people in a grass roots effort in contrast to most of the state universities, which were initiated by money from the national level. With its new status, the university needed day classes but had no facility for this purpose. In 1934, the first campus of the University of Houston was established at the Second Baptist Church at Milam and McGowen. The next fall, the campus was moved to the South Main Baptist Church, on Main between Richmond and Eagle, where it stayed for the next five years.

The University of Houston moved to its present campus in 1939. Its first building, the Roy Gustav Cullen Building, was dedicated on June 4, 1939, and classes began the next day. The first full semester of classes began officially on Wednesday, September 20, 1939.

The next step was the creation of the University of Houston as an institution separate from HISD. On July 26, 1943, the Board of Education adopted a resolution establishing an Advisory Board of the University of Houston consisting of 15 members. on March 12, 1945, Senate Bill 207 was signed into law, removing the control of the University of Houston from HISD and placing it into the hands of 15 HISD-approved regents. The University of Houston then operated as a private university from 1945-1963.

The last obstacle facing UH in its quest to become a major institution of higher education was its entrance into the Texas State System of Higher Education. After a lengthy battle between supporters of the University of Houston and forces from state universities geared to block the change, Senate Bill 2 was passed on May 23, 1961, enabling the university to enter the state system in 1963.

The University of Houston was once known as University of Houston–University Park from 1985-1988. This name change was an effort by the UH community to separate its identity and confusion from the other three universities within the University of Houston System. While these three universities (UH-Downtown, UH-Clear Lake, and UH-Victoria) share the similar name of the University of Houston, they are essentially autonomus institutions, and each have their own president.

In 1997, the UH System and the University of Houston administrations merged. That same year, Arthur K. Smith became the first person to hold both the UH System chancellorship and University of Houston presidency simultaneously. Smith oversaw the successful merger of the UH System and UH administrations, the launching of the “Learning. Leading.” image campaign, the planning and construction of a number of major buildings at all four UH System universities, a dramatic growth in external funding for research, and an impressive increase in student enrollment.

Today, the University of Houston System administation is located in the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building on the University of Houston campus. The current UH System chancellor is Jay Gogue, who is also the president of the University of Houston.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki