 It's
hard to believe that 30 years have passed since the University
of Houston - Clear Lake (UHCL) opened its doors to provide
higher level educational opportunities to our community.
I was here at that time and remember it well. What I
remember most was the excitement about the advanced level of
education that would be offered in a community of rocket
scientists who, just five years earlier, had put a man on the
Moon.
Thirty years later, under the
leadership of Dr. William A. Staples, UHCL continues to meet
the educational needs of our community's extraordinary
workforce and in doing so, enhances the economic vitality of
our region.
In the early days, Bay Area
Houston was all about aerospace. In 1982, a young lady named
Sandy Johnson earned a Master of Business Administration at
UHCL and later became the president and majority owner of
Barrios Technology, a major NASA contractor. A year
later, Rosalind Doyle earned a Master of Science degree at
UHCL and today is the owner and CEO of Cimarron, another large
NASA contractor. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to
calculate the economic advantages of having an outstanding
university in Bay Area Houston.
In recent years, Bay Area
Houston has diversified into three major business clusters:
A.) Aerospace & Aviation; B.) Biotech & Life Sciences;
and C.) Chemicals & Commodities. UHCL has remained on the
forefront of providing highly technical advanced degrees in
all three areas. At the request of the business community,
UHCL recently added Master of Science programs in both physics
and systems engineering. Many students take advantage of the
University's top notch undergraduate and graduate degree
programs in the field of chemistry that link directly to the
expanding Research & Development opportunities at Bayport
Industrial Park.
Today, Bay Area Houston is
growing. So it's not surprising that UHCL is doing the same. A
building expansion is underway. New academic programs are
emerging. We all owe UHCL a debt of gratitude for providing
extraordinary educational opportunities right here in Bay Area
Houston. Let's show our gratitude by participating in the UHCL
30th Anniversary Community Celebration on April 30, 2005.
C. J. (Jim) Reinhartsen
President
Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership |
