UHCL celebrates 45th year with the opening of first residence hall
This year UHCL celebrated its 45th year with the milestone opening of Hunter Hall, the university’s first student residence hall. This addition represents significant growth for an institution that began as a two-year university serving only upper-level undergraduates and graduates; however, it is only one of many milestones reached in 45 years.
In 1974, UHCL opened its doors for the first time as a single building campus. Gretchen Mieszkowski, charter faculty and professor emeritus of literature, recalls one of the memorable milestones – the opening of the Bayou Building. Until its completion in September 1974, UHCL consisted of one building, and faculty offices were cubicles in an office building at another location.
“Believe it or not, the Bayou Building didn’t exist,” Mieszkowski said. “We were teaching in one small building with a few classrooms and library all in one, this really was the beginning.”
Though it may be difficult to imagine the campus without the Bayou Building, Mieszkowski also remembers the first student to earn a degree from UHCL. The university’s graduating class consisted of exactly one student. In 1975, Literature major Connie Seymour made history by becoming the first student to graduate from UHCL, an institution that now has over 68,000 alumni members.
“It was a huge surprise that I was the only graduate, but more importantly, it was a huge surprise to the university,” Seymour said. “There was a very unique graduation ceremony held for me. We had a lunch at the Houston Yacht Club. The president of the university and his wife were there, along with most of the professors I had that year.”
While most of UHCL’s first students transferred in as juniors, Seymour transferred in as a senior. She waited to be contacted for graduation details only to discover there was no graduation because none of the other students were eligible until the following year.
“Although the university did an excellent job of planning a celebration for me, I was actually a bit bummed,” Seymour said. “For years, when I thought about my graduation, I imagined a cap and gown and a long boring speech as usual.”
Both Seymour and Mieszkowski recall a vast difference in both campus size and demographics. The number of students enrolled in the ‘70s could be compared to the size of UHCL’s faculty and staff alone today. The student body was made up of mostly women and returning students. The average age of both students and faculty were early 30s.
“One wonderful thing about teaching them came with their background,” Mieszkowski said. “They were excited students that wanted to be there.”
It would be nearly 40 years before UHCL saw compelling changes in the demographics of the student body. In the fall of 2014, enrollment was opened to include incoming freshmen and sophomores. UHCL became a four-year university. Today, the average age of the student population is 22-29.
“The university is prospering and continues fulfilling a great need,” Mieszkowski said. “I look at the number each year, and it’s always going up and up.”
In correlation with the increasing student body, the campus continues to expand with more ground-breaking plans in the making. Joining the Bayou Building, the university has now seven other classroom buildings: Arbor, Delta, Student Services and Classroom Building, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Building, Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, and two buildings on the Pearland campus including a new Health and Sciences Building.
Located adjacently to the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center which opened its doors just last year, Hunter Hall is the first on-campus residential hall and presumably not the last. Residential Life Coordinator Cierra Davis anticipates Hunter Hall being the start of future developments in student housing on campus.
“UHCL has had a lot of growth in the past few years, and I believe that the institution will continue to progress and that we will always find new ways to provide resources for the students,” Davis said.
On-campus residential housing is the result of 45 years of growth for UHCL. For Davis and Director of Student Housing and Residential Life Matthew Perry, it is an opportunity to increase the future student population while providing a comfortable living environment for current students.
“UHCL’s future is looking brighter than ever before,” Perry said. “From the dedication of our talented faculty and staff to the unmatched spirit of our students, UHCL is on a positive trajectory to expand its reach and grow student success efforts.”
In addition to boosting the campus’ appeal, Perry believes the housing options will increase diversity, bringing in more students from other areas.
“On-campus housing is a student retention effort that will add to the diverse fabric that envelopes this great institution of higher education,” Perry said.
UHCL’s anniversary represents years of milestones and while there is no shortage of accomplishments to celebrate, university President Ira K. Blake sees it as an opportunity to continue moving upward.
“We can and should take pride in all this university has accomplished in 45 years,” Blake said. “The value in looking back is not only to gain perspective on what we did right but to acknowledge what we can do better. We must always ask ourselves what skills we need to carry us into the future — not only job skills, but our ability to anticipate, adapt and be the agents of positive change in the world.”
