More than 300 freshmen and sophomores journeyed to campus in the fall of 2010 for UHV’s historic first year offering classes to underclassmen. With them, the face of UHV changed forever as new programs were developed to meet their needs and student life activities blossomed. Here are some other highlights from UHV’s 2010-2011 journey with the new freshmen and sophomores:

• The university opened Jaguar Hall, its first residence hall, and the public was invited to a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house on Dec. 14, 2010.
• UHV started a freshman seminar course to educate students about academic expectations at the college level and allow them to explore the different majors and careers available.
• Transit Teams were created to allow community members and UHV faculty and staff to assist students with the transition from high school to college and to the Victoria community.
• An academic success program was developed to identify and help low-performing students. It included an early warning system that allowed faculty to notify key staff members who then contacted the students and paired them with success coaches.
• UHV piloted supplemental instruction, greatly expanded academic tutoring, and opened a tutoring center in Jaguar Hall to help ensure student learning and academic success.
• UHV established a mental health counseling center for students and hired a counseling center director who supported students at all sites that UHV serves.
• Student life developed and continued to grow as students became engaged on campus and within the Victoria community.
• The Part-Time Job Fair was held at the beginning of the school year to put students in touch with owners of local businesses and on-campus employers who wanted to hire part-time employees.
• The first Freshman Awards Reception honored eight students with the new Spirit of the Jaguar Award recognizing integrity, commitment, citizenship and academics, and awarded them with scholarships.
• Devon Dueser and Walter Anoruo were selected to write posts for the My UHV Experience freshman blog during the spring semester.
• UHV announced it would extend its Jaguar Pledge to the 2011-2012 school year to make obtaining a higher education more affordable to new Texas freshmen coming to the university from outside the Victoria region. The financial aid opportunity would combine federal, state and institutional scholarships and grants and would cover at least 33 percent of the cost of tuition and fees for incoming students during both their freshmen and sophomore years. It also was announced that the Jaguar Pledge would be extended for current UHV freshmen who would be second-year students at UHV in the fall of 2011.

UHV is constantly creating new academic programs and improving existing ones to better meet the needs of students and the community. Here are some examples of achievements from UHV’s four schools in 2010-2011. We invite you to view each school’s video presentation, or click on the PDF to read each school’s highlights.

• The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools approved the school’s Bachelor of Arts in communication design.
• GetEducated.com ranked the online Bachelor of Applied Arts & Sciences in computer information systems No. 1 in affordability when compared with other Texas universities and No. 4 in affordability when compared with the nation’s other regionally accredited universities.
• UHV paired with TimeGate Studios to form a cutting-edge motion capture studio that gives industry experience to the university’s digital gaming students.
• The core curriculum for freshmen and sophomores was developed, and new faculty members were hired.

• The Princeton Review ranked the school No. 3 in the nation for opportunities for minority students and, for the fifth consecutive year, one of the top 300 business schools in the nation.
• The school announced a new internship program that will match business students seeking professional experience with employers seeking the fresh ideas and enthusiasm that interns can offer.
• Lisa Barr, senior business advisor for the Small Business Development Center, was named the South-West Texas Border SBDC’s “Star Performer.”
• Bloomberg BusinessWeek honored three business school faculty in 2010-2011 – one for outstanding performance in research and two for outstanding performance in teaching. Each honoree received a cash award.
   

• The school added an all-online Master of Education in Adult and Higher Education in the fall of 2011.
• A new degree concentration in applied behavior analysis was offered to education graduate students for the first time.
• The school installed an electronic bulletin board on the second floor of the University West building so that students would have an easy way to learn more about their professors, important deadlines, upcoming events and new programs.
• The national executive council for Kappa Delta Pi approved a request to form a chapter at the school.
   
   

• The school signed articulation agreements with the Lone Star College System and Wharton County Junior College to ease students’ transition between the schools and encourage them to achieve a bachelor’s degree.
• More than 100 nursing leaders, including 64 nursing students, were invited to the inaugural induction ceremony for the School of Nursing Honor Society.
• Linda Dune, coordinator of UHV’s Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program, received an $89,946 two-year grant from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to study nursing school student retention across the state.
• Lisette Barton, an assistant clinical nursing professor, and Joellan Mullen, who received her Master of Science in Nursing in May, won awards at the Texas Nurses Association District 9 Gala. Barton was one of two research grant recipients, and Mullen won one of two scholarships sponsored by the TNA District 9 Foundation.

The pace of Jaguars athletics more than doubled in 2010-2011. With the addition of men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s golf, the UHV athletic season was in full swing all year. The baseball and softball teams again were successful on the field with both teams posting 30-plus win seasons. The UHV men’s and women’s golf teams also played host to the Association of Independent Institutions Conference Golf Tournament, and the UHV men’s and women’s soccer teams made their debut on the new home soccer field located on the UHV campus.

Here are a few of the year’s highlights:

• Sarah Saldivar and Lenox Evans became the first UHV soccer players named to the A.I.I. All-Conference team. Both were named to the second team.
• Playing host to the A.I.I. Conference Golf Tournament, the UHV men finished as the conference runner-up in the men’s division, while the women placed fifth in the women’s division.
• The softball team finished the year ranked No. 11 in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Softball Coaches top-25 poll and just missed earning a berth to the NAIA Championships.
• Softball players Courtney Pettit, Emily Bergstrom and Bre’Neka O’Bryant, along with baseball player Ryan Gilbert, were named 2011 Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athletes. Bergstrom also was named to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-District first team.
• Softball player Emily Bergstrom was named the UHV Female Athlete of the Year, and baseball player John Longoria was named the UHV Male Athlete of the Year during the university’s first athletics awards banquet.
• Emily Bergstrom became UHV’s first 20-game winner in softball with a 20-6 record, was named all-conference and was voted onto the NAIA 2011 All-American honorable mention team.
• Softball player Kelly King was named to the 2011 Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Southwest regional first team, while Emily Bergstrom and Courtney Pettit were named to the second team.
• John Longoria was selected to the 2011 NAIA Baseball All-American honorable mention team, UHV’s first selection since 2009.
• Baseball player John Longoria was named the A.I.I. Conference Player of the Year, while pitcher Broc Haymon was named the A.I.I. Pitcher of the Year. Also named to the all-conference team were John Touchton, Pete Ontiveros, Austin Kent and David Baker.
• Four of the six UHV athletics teams qualified for postseason play.
   
   
   
   
   

UHV and the community work together to create many new opportunities that benefit everyone who lives in South Texas. These opportunities would not be possible without the generous financial support of area community members and organizations, and university faculty and staff. Donations and pledges to UHV totaled $636,140 in 2010-2011. Sixty-six percent of UHV faculty and staff participated in the annual campaign and contributed $36,785 of the total amount raised.

The community also threw its support behind the university’s push to attract underclassmen by giving generously to Campaign Victoria. This initiative raises scholarship money to attract underclassmen to UHV from outside the region. Here are some of the other highlights from 2010-2011:

• The 25th annual Martin de León Symposium, a joint effort between UHV and Victoria’s de León Club, took place at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts.
• The M.G. and Lillie A. Johnson Foundation Nursing Scholarship Endowment was established with a $125,000 gift from the foundation. It will provide nursing scholarships for UHV students taking classes in Victoria.
• UHV kicked off the new Community of Readers program designed to bring together community members, UHV faculty, staff and students through a shared reading experience and series of related programs. “Isaac’s Storm,” by Erik Larson was the book chosen for the inaugural year of the program.
• H-E-B, through its Tournament of Champions community investment program, donated $25,000 for the UHV Degree in Three, a program that allows freshmen to get a full, 120-credit-hour bachelor’s degree in just three years.
• The George Foundation donated $108,000 to provide scholarships for UHV students in the Second Degree Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at the UH System at Sugar Land.
   
• UHV paired with the Texas Computer Education Association Area III and the Region III Education Service Center to host the 2010 Library Technology Mini-Conference to help teachers get a leg up on technology trends in the classroom.
• The Dickson-Allen Foundation made a $25,000 donation for scholarships to assist students from Lavaca, Wharton and Gonzales counties attend UHV.
• The Student Senate put on the eighth annual Giving Tree, a holiday charity drive that supported four local charities – the Boys and Girls Club, Food Bank of the Golden Crescent, Old Landmark Committee of Victoria and the YMCA.
• Centro Victoria at UHV hosted a Community “Pachanga,” a four-day free celebration of art and music events to kick off the opening of the center for Mexican-American literature and culture.
• “Port of Victoria” by Charles Spurlin was the first book published by the University Press of Victoria, UHV’s new book press.
• The Vivian L. Smith Foundation donated $50,000 to the UHV School of Nursing to support a faculty member on the UH System at Sugar Land campus.
   
   
• The university hosted two “Celebrating the Legacy of UHV” events that brought back former UHV presidents Karen Haynes and Glenn Goerke to the community.
• The Doctorow Foundation gave a $25,000 grant to Fiction Collective Two based at UHV. FC2 is an alternative press devoted to publishing experimental fiction.
• UHV Career Services hosted the first Employer Recognition Dinner and recognized Kim Tompkins, information systems director for DeTar Healthcare System, as the 2010-2011 Employer of the Year in appreciation of her work with university students.
• Faculty, staff and students from the schools of Arts & Sciences and Education & Human Development partnered with Victoria Independent School District on anti-bullying initiatives.
• UHV also hosted several events designed to get students engaged in higher education and give them opportunities to win scholarships:
  • Two high school students earned UHV scholarships after sharing first place in the individual math category at the annual UHV/Victoria College Math and Computer Science Awareness Day.
  • Hispanic Heritage Month events included a reception where the first- through third-place winners in the Hispanic Heritage Month Art Contest received scholarships. All of the entries in the contest were on display at UHV during Hispanic Heritage Month.
  • Black History Month events included an art exhibit and poster contest for fifth-graders. The top winners received scholarships, and all entries were on display at UHV during the month.