Bidding adieu to Darlene Biggers, the UHCL student’s advocate

Darlene Biggers, associate vice president of student services, never expected that she would be living in Texas, let alone in Houston. However, her love for students overrode her preconceptions of the state, bringing her to the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL).

Starting her career as a high school English teacher in Chicago, Biggers found herself wanting to pursue higher education because of her love for helping people.

“I didn’t want to just put a band-aid on the situations students were bringing to me,” Biggers said. “I wanted to create and foster an environment to inspire them to learn and discover new ideas,”

As a poor graduate student in the 1980s, Biggers and some of her peers piled into a van and drove to Houston for a conference. The oil crisis hit Houston hard during that time, leaving the city ravaged of restaurants, hotels and other businesses. Biggers was left wondering, “why would anyone want to live here?”

Nevertheless, when Biggers was presented with the opportunity to interview at UHCL for the associate vice president of student services position, she fell in love with the campus and the community.

Biggers has been at UHCL since 1994, and she is set to retire on Aug. 3 after 24 years at UHCL. In her time at the university, Biggers said that the main thing that drove her to continue in higher education was her love for the students.

“The highest reward of this position is seeing students grow,” Biggers said. “Being a part of helping this campus grow towards accepting a diverse range of students, from 18-year-olds to doctoral students, has been so wonderful.”

In 2014, the first group of freshmen arrived at UHCL, which Biggers said was the biggest change in her 24 years at the university.

“The decision to become a four-year institution was the biggest moment in my time at UHCL,” Biggers said. “Including freshmen and sophomores allows us to offer people the opportunity to experience their full career here.”

Often times Biggers could be seen out at the resource fair for student orientation which was one of the ways that she connected and created personal relationships with students.

“Seeing students go from being anxious on the first day to succeeding at the university is something that I can only see by meeting them on day one,” Biggers said. “Seeing them grow in their confidence and then eventually walking across the stage at graduation is what makes this job so wonderful.”

“Dr. Biggers has pushed for us to create a more inclusive and inviting campus community.”

– Brian Mills, director of Campus Recreation and Wellness

After 24 years of service at the university, Biggers is stepping away from her role at UHCL. Biggers said that people continually ask if she is excited to move on from UHCL, and her answer is a resounding no because there still is so much that she wants to get done. However, Biggers said that it is time for her to move on to the next stage of her life, which is retirement.

“I am looking forward to having more free time, and more time to sleep with no alarm clocks,” Biggers said. “I’m planning on spending more time with my friends and family and taking vacations to relax.”

Even as Biggers prepares for retirement, she continues to think of ways for UHCL to improve in the future.

“The university will continue to find its niche in the Clear Lake community,” Biggers said. “I think that the university can continue to expand its campus life, perhaps even adding a student center in the future.”

When Biggers heard that Daniel Maxwell, associate vice chancellor for student affairs of the UH system, would be filling in as the interim associate vice president for student services she was very pleased because of his experience with the UH system and in student services. She offers one important piece of advice for him as he enters UHCL.

“There will be competing demands in meetings, but continue to focus on the students and ask yourself ‘how will this affect the students’ when making your decisions,” Biggers said.

This question is what Biggers says helped guide her decisions at UHCL.

“Dr. Biggers is the university’s chief student advocate.”

– Tim Richardson, executive director of Academic Support Services

Biggers said she is appreciative that she was open to the idea of moving to Houston when initially applying for jobs, and the university community echoes this sentiment.

“Dr. Biggers only cares about one thing— student success,” said David Rachita, dean of students.  “Student success both in the classroom and in outside experiences.  She has always focused on the whole student, so that not only does a student develop academically, but develops as a person.”

Biggers has also influenced the university’s mission in her time at UHCL.

“She is the university’s chief student advocate and has been a true leader in keeping the University community focused on our students and their needs,” said Timothy Richardson, executive director of Academic Support Services. “As we continue to envision the University moving toward a new era of providing higher education in Houston, our initiatives and programs to support our students will be built on the student-centered legacy of Dr. Biggers.”

Biggers also fought for the building of facilities for student services.

“I once heard Dr. Biggers referred to endearingly as ‘Battlin’ Biggers’ because she goes out and fights for students,” said Andrew Reitberger, director of Student Life. “I think it is a well-deserved nickname, she fought for the SSCB, for experts during the time of transition and for many other things.”

As Biggers prepares to leave the university, she says that the biggest thing she will miss is the students.

“The students keep me young, in a sense,” Biggers said. “By continually introducing me to new ideas and new technologies, [the students] give me new ways to think of the world. I will miss the students most of all, and I will miss the interaction with them.”

Biggers wants to leave the students with a word of advice regarding the state of the university.

“The university is in a time of transition, yes,” Biggers said. “However, have faith in the university and know that we have a great amount of support from our community and from our legislature.”

Biggers suggested participating in the Student Government Association, writing letters to the editor of The Signal and participating in surveys and advisory boards as ways to make your voice heard at UHCL.

“In the meantime, be the change that you wish to see,” Biggers said. “Don’t sit back, let it be known what you need and what you want. Learn as much as you can and develop yourself while having fun.”