UHD President Loren J. Blanchard

Last week, I announced a major plan to advance UHD’s goal to increase student retention and graduation. I am pleased to announce the members of the Student Success Transition Team that will initiate the next steps of our plan. This team includes representation from a broad and inclusive range of University leaders, including those from our shared governance groups, and it will be led by Dr. Akif Uzman, Interim Provost & Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs, and Lynette Cook-Francis, Special Advisor to the President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.

The significant realignment we have proposed will take time to accomplish; however, this team will begin the process by identifying and documenting the necessary steps to accomplish the transition, including but not limited to budget, space, personnel, technology, and systems. The team will be reaching out to members of our Campus Community who possess additional experience and expertise in identifying the details of each area. I expect that the group will meet regularly over the next six weeks, after which it will present me with next steps and action items in preparation for an official start date of August 15.

I thank each member of the team in advance for the important work on which they are about to embark and look forward to charging them in the coming weeks.

Sincerely.

Loren J. Blanchard, Ph.D.
President, University of Houston-Downtown