UHCL Pearland Campus exceeds enrollment expectations

Corey Benson

The Signal

UHCL Pearland Campus

Classes began at the new 30,659-square-foot University of Houston-Clear Lake Pearland Campus Aug. 23.

“There are currently about 530 students taking 39 classes at the UHCL Pearland Campus,” said Lindsey Fulton, coordinator of student services at UHCL Pearland.

The projected enrollment for fall 2010 was 308. There are 533 students currently enrolled at UHCL Pearland.

“We exceeded expected enrollment by 73 percent,” said Glen Houston, associate vice president for information resources. “Also, expected student credit hours was 2613, and current SCH total is 2358.  So we are 10 percent under expected SCH total.”

University administrators, faculty and staff, Pearland city officials and leaders of the Pearland Economic Development Corporation celebrated the opening of the new Pearland Campus Saturday, Aug. 14.

“At UHCL, we say that we are a partnership-oriented and community-minded university, and in the case of the UHCL Pearland Campus, we could not have a better group of partners or a better community,” UHCL President William Staples said at the opening ceremony.

Pearland Economic Development Corporation occupies 8,043 square feet, or about 10 percent, of the new campus.

“I think the Pearland Campus has its own special identity because of our close relationship with the Pearland community,” said Kathy Dupree, director of campus operations. “The campus was created because of the community’s need for a university and we have been warmly received by the community.”

The first meeting to plan the collaborative effort between UHCL and the city of Pearland was in 2004, but the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the project in 2007.

“Our city leaders worked side-by-side with the University of Houston-Clear Lake to make this new campus a reality,” said Matt Buchanan, PEDC executive director. “Our combined efforts will help build a stronger, diversified workforce in the city of Pearland.”

UHCL Pearland offers undergraduate degrees in accounting, general business, interdisciplinary studies with EC-6 teacher certification, general behavioral sciences, criminology and psychology and graduate degrees in educational management, general behavioral sciences, criminology and psychology.

A master’s degree program in counseling will begin in spring 2011. The university plans to offer a Bachelors of Science in Management at the Pearland Campus instead of a Bachelors of Science in General Business.

“Additional programs will be added based on student demand and available resources,” Houston said. “Long-range goals are to add up to two additional buildings. Once we exceed the capacity of the current building, the city of Pearland has offered to build a second, and later a third, under terms similar to the first one.”

University administrators anticipate to reach this goal within the next three years.

“We are excited and delighted at the response to the new facility,” Houston said. “With current headcount we are experiencing, this could occur in a relatively short period of time, two or three years. The number of students in the first semester clearly exceeds expectations.”

The UHCL Pearland Campus has staff members from the cashier’s office, financial aid, enrollment and student services to provide students with the same resources and services available at UHCL.

“I want to see as many of the student services at UHCL offered at the UHCL Pearland Campus; that can range from student organizations to career fairs to onsite tutoring and speaker series,” Fulton said. “I’m looking forward to the growing excitement of the students, staff, faculty members and community members about the campus. In the future there will be more academic programs offered on campus to reach a wider array of students.”

“Many student services are available at the Pearland campus. Lindsey comes into the classes and asks students what services they want to see, because they are planning to expand in the spring,” said Udeshika Amarasinghe, psychology major and UHCL Pearland Student. “It’s just like UHCL but smaller, although it definitely has the potential to grow.”

UHCL Pearland is located at 1200 Pearland Parkway, near the intersection of Pearland Parkway and McHard Road. The main switchboard phone number for the Pearland campus is 281-212-1700.