HIV-positive Houstonians may soon have more employment and housing opportunities thanks to a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, which will fund Project Coordination of Resources and Employment.

Project CORE is a collaboration between the Graduate College of Social Work, AIDS Foundation Houston — a nonprofit that offers support services to HIV-positive people — and Avenue 360 Health and Wellness — a federally qualified health clinic that operates in medically underserved communities.

Nike Blue, chief program officer at AIDS Foundation Houston, said housing and supporting HIV-positive individuals is the project’s most important goal.

“If you are HIV-positive and struggling in any of those areas, the likelihood of you being able to maintain your medication adherence decreases gravely,” Blue said. “If you’re not in medical care, the virus in your system and in your body has a very easy chance of making you sick or sicker, and it can kill you without treatment.”

Half of all new HIV infections occur in the South, and Houston has 1,200 to 1,300 new cases a year, according to a UH news release.

“There’s less resources in the South, and of course there’s a lot less health education surrounding (how) HIV is transmitted,” said Escamilla, who helped create S.M.A.R.T. Cougars, a free HIV testing program at UH. “So there’s a lack of knowledge and awareness.”

Escamilla, who also serves as an administrator at Avenue 360, said that another chief aim of the grant is to help HIV-positive individuals achieve viral suppression, in which the virus is undetectable and cannot be transmitted. He said they want patients to be comfortable with their disease and be able to manage it.

“Once people learn how to empower themselves with their health, then they won’t feel so stigmatized, because they know they can’t infect anyone else if their viral load is undetectable,” Escamilla said.

People with HIV are considered to have a disability, Escamilla said. Through their employment training at Project CORE, participants will teach people to advocate for themselves and receive accommodations in the workplace.

“That’s the whole thing: really educating people who are willing and want to work (and) making sure they are aware of their rights and not feel stigmatized about their HIV condition,” Escamilla said. “Of course we want people to disclose in a safe manner, but the people should know their rights in the workforce.”

Funds will go toward providing HIV-positive individuals with employment training and coordination as well as technology development to help share data between the organizations involved, Blue said.

Blue said that the number of HIV infections in Houston has not decreased, like the virus has in other areas, due to Houston’s huge square mileage and its many economically challenged communities.

“We are pretty high up,” Blue said. “A lot of that has to do with our geography. A lot of that has to do with how many people in our city have easy access to quality medical care, quality transportation and education.”

AIDS Foundation Houston estimates that 4,000 Houstonians do not know they have HIV, Blue said. She said that spreading awareness and getting tested for HIV will help end the epidemic.

“If you’re not getting tested— why? What’s the stigma related to why an individual or community isn’t getting tested?” Blue said. “Having those conversations to reduce that stigma and then connecting to the resources that are in your community.”

The Graduate College of Social Work will conduct the evaluation component of Project CORE with assistant professor Samira Ali, Escamilla said. He said they hope to find sustainable funding beyond the grant to continue providing these services.

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Ellen DeGeneres gives Game 4 World Series tickets to freshmen Damian Falcon, Jesus Quiroga and Tahj Bell Tuesday during her segment at UH. | Thom Dwyer/The Cougar

Three University of Houston students won World Series tickets to Game 4 in Houston from The Ellen Show, which filmed a segment of Wednesday’s show in front of the Ezekiel W. Cullen building Tuesday afternoon.

The winners were biology freshman Jesus Quiroga, computer information systems freshman Damian Falcon and human resource development and pre-law freshman Tahj Bell dressed up in inflatable bull costumes and called themselves “The Three Young Bulls.”

“I was contemplating going to my math class, but I said, ‘Ellen or math? I can take math again, but I can’t meet Ellen and have the opportunity to go to the World Series again,’” Bell said after winning his ticket.

Over 2,000  people were gathered in front of Ezekiel Cullen for the taping of the Ellen Show, said Jeannie Klisiewicz, host of the filmed segment.

For a chance to win tickets, attendees had to dress up in their biggest outfits and be chosen by one of The Ellen Show’s producers to compete on the show.

Those selected had to sing their own rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the show, with lyrics explaining why Ellen DeGeneres should pick them to go to the World Series.

“We just started spitballing (ideas),” Bell said. “I got the beginning going, and Jesus threw in, Damian threw in— it just came together like a cupcake batter.”

Bell said they went to Party City to buy the costumes and picked the bulls because “it was the cheapest inflatable.” He said that he has rooted from the Astros since they were almost Triple-A in performance on the field.

All three freshmen said they skipped class or classes to attend the event.

Falcon said that he has been watching the Astros since he was 3 or 4.

“I didn’t make any of my classes today, but I think it was worth it.” Falcon said. “I figured it was something fun to do. You really have nothing to lose— might as well take the chance.”

Hotel and restaurant management senior Hannah Grasso came dressed in a baseball mitt costume and said she had been out waiting since 10 a.m. for a chance to win tickets.

“I think that she is such a great icon and everything,” Grasso said. “Whenever I was growing up, my parents were like really against her, but I didn’t realize how great her being out and in media was so important to the LGBT community. Being here in general and having her visit our campus is such a huge thing.”

Corporate communications freshman Paige Wright dressed in her halloween costume as Tinker Bell. She said she occasionally watches “The Ellen Show” and DeGeneres’s comedic sitcom from the ’90s, “Ellen.”

“I wanted to win World Series tickets, because I wanted to take my mom,” Wright said. “She loves her Astros. We’ve gone to maybe four or five games together with our church. We’ve always been really high up, and I wanted her to have good seats and see the game.”

The @TheEllenShow Twitter account thanked the university for the turnout after filming.

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UH President and System Chancellor Renu Khator extolled the University’s successes and achievements over the past 10 years in her annual Fall Address. After the speech, Khator visited and took pictures with guests in the foyer of Moores Opera House. | Marissa Reilly/The Cougar

UH Chancellor and President Renu Khator gave her ninth annual Fall Address at the Moore’s Opera House on Wednesday morning, focusing on the University’s growth since she arrived on campus 10 years ago this week.

In her speech, Khator discussed rising graduation rates and $1.2 billion of investments into facilities.

“The numbers are good. They tell a story — the real story is true,” Khator said. “So let’s celebrate our past successes, let’s make even bigger and bolder dreams, but let’s never forget that plan and program do not make them come true — people do.”

In an interview with The Cougar, Khator said that she received the offer to become the UH president and system chancellor 10 years ago this week.

Khator’s first point of the University’s transformation was student success. She said the number of degrees granted went up 43 percent from 2008 to 2017, with more than 76 percent of freshmen taking 15 credit hours per semester, helping speed up their graduations.

“Our research shows that those recent additional graduates are adding $44 million just in their salary differential to the state’s economy each year,” Khator said. “And faster graduation means a more efficient use of taxpayer money going to higher education.”

An investment in facilities was needed to accomplish the University’s goals of growth and recognition, Khator said.

“To do what we wanted to do required space — good quality, functional space.” Khator said. “Therefore, we invested $1.2 billion in facilities during the last decade.”

That number, she said, is $1 billion more than the total investment spent in the previous decade.

With the increase in facilities spending, fundraising has increased greatly, Khator said. Annual fundraising has increased to $138 million, up from $50 million in 2007. She said the University’s “Here, We Go” campaign is still on track to pass its $1 billion fundraising goal before 2020.

The campaign has received $96 million in donations in the last few months, she said.

Khator said that in 10 years, the number of UH alumni has increased from roughly 148,000 to 255,000 — an increase of 58 percent.

Khator also gave updates on a medical school the University has been planning for several years. Lawmakers in the most recent legislative session requested that UH conduct a study evaluating the need for another medical school in Houston. Khator said the findings will most likely be presented at the Board of Regents meeting Nov. 16.

During a meeting with UH staff in April 2016, Khator said the planned medical school is scheduled to open in 2019 and will equip doctors to practice community medicine.

Alumna Johanna Thomas, who graduated in 1966 from the College of Education, said Khator has made tremendous changes over the past 10 years. Thomas said she donates to her former college today. 

“She has really brought the alumni together, which to me had not been done previously before she came to our university,” Thomas said. “As a part of that, I have come back to UH. I had not been that close to UH since I graduated almost 50 years ago.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated the number of credit hours many students now take each semester. It is 15, not 30.

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Thomas Dwyer/The Cougar

While social media play a big part in the life of college student, new research shows it is probably not a good idea to post videos of yourself taking shots.

University of Houston psychologist Mai-Ly Steers is taking a more in depth study  on student’s drinking levels with a $251,010 grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Grant funding for the project is expected to continue for five years.

“The research has found that heavy-drinking students typically overestimate how much others drink relative to what they drink,” said Steers, a lecturer and postdoctoral fellow. “That is, they think they drink at or a little below the norm.”

Steers began researching social media during her time as a graduate student at UH. She was influenced by Clayton Neighbors, director of the social psychology program, who researched alcohol and drinking norms. Steers will work with Neighbors and researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison and Palo Alto University in this research.

Steers’ goal for this research is twofold: measure how often students post about alcohol on social media and understand what the average college student thinks about when they see these posts.

Steers will then get feedback on students’ drinking, what students think is the average amount of consumption and the norms related to how often people post alcohol-related content to social media.

Although there’s a clear link between the two, the reason for this is unclear. The normalizing influence social media creates among college-aged students could be a factor, Steers said.

“I think social media has a major effect on alcohol consumption,” said exploratory studies freshman Daniella Acosta. “As college students on social media, we tend to see a lot of drinking and partying on Instagram, Snapchat, et cetera, so I think this influences us a lot more to drink.”

Creative writing junior Gabriela Torres disagrees that there is a correlation between social media and student’s drinking frequency.

“I personally am an underage drinker, but my drinking has nothing to do with what I see on the Internet, not inherently,” Torres said. “It’s just a fact that my peers drink and post about it. They just happen to occur at the same time. It’s like if there is drinking, there are posts of them drinking.”

Steers, however, said she believes the positive feedback from alcohol-related posts may encourage the drinking and partying because it leads students to believe it’s the norm.

“There is a large body of literature which supports that the more a student posts about alcohol-related posts, the more likely they are to drink more and the more likely they are to experience alcohol-related problems,” Steers said.

Social media can exacerbate this because it can create this a bubble among students that post about alcohol, so they think everyone else drinks and posts about it, Steers said.

Biochemistry senior Akash Ramesh also believes there is a relationship between social media and college-aged drinking.

“I think there is some sort of correlation, because by psychology, there’s always the feeling of peer pressure,” Ramesh said. “Although in the case of social media it’s not direct, it is a passive way of promoting it since there are a lot of underage kids drinking. It makes people feel that if they’re doing it, then it’s probably OK for me to do it.”

There are also larger concerns that can result from social media’s alcohol consumption influence, such as unwanted sexual advances, Acosta said.

“I’ve heard of stories of girls getting taken advantage of during college events while consuming alcohol,” Acosta said. “I think that is a major problem on college campuses, and I think drinking is a major part of it sometimes.”

Social media can have significant effects on alcohol consumption, especially when famous individuals show off lifestyles that reflect an image that college students want to imitate, said junior marketing and advertising double major Andrea Herran.

“The hype people build relating to alcohol makes it that much more desirable to be like the rest and go out drinking as well,” Herran said. “I think people with no social media probably drink less because they don’t have that influence.”

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“The Big Bang Theory’s” Jim Parsons credits UH and the city of Houston for his start in acting. | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

From walking Butler Plaza to starring in “The Big Bang Theory,” Jim Parsons, the highest-paid actor in television, has come a long way.

Parsons, a UH alumnus and native Houstonian, has been named the highest-paid TV actor in 2017 by Forbes magazine for the third consecutive year. The actor, who plays genius physicist Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom, earned an estimated $27.5 million this year after earning $25 million in 2016 and $29 million in 2015.

Parsons graduated from the UH’s School of Theatre and Dance in 1996. He credited the University and the city of Houston for his start in acting in an interview with the UH Alumni Association.

“I was very big into school. The University of Houston was huge for me,” Parsons said in an interview with the UH Alumni Association. “While I was at U of H, we had such good facilities. No learning like the doing, and I got a chance to do.”

Though never working with Parsons directly, Director of the UH School of Theatre and Dance Robert Shimko spoke about how the department feels having such a notable alum attain such success.

“I can say that we in the UH School of Theatre and Dance are of course very proud of his accomplishments — not only in television but also in theatre and film,” Shimko said.

Originally from Spring, Parsons got his start in acting at Klein Oak High School, crediting his role in “Noises Off” as an eye-opening experience in terms of learning to be truly honest on stage.

In an interview with Visit Houston, Parsons said receiving his education in Houston influenced him.

“Not only did I grow up (in Houston), but very specifically the career I’m participating in, acting — that’s where I got the majority of my education,” Parsons said. “I was at the University of Houston acting, and I worked with Bridegroom, which was a theatre troupe. I find that there’s no city that I’ve lived in that the overlap (among art genres) is so common.”

Though a successful actor, Parsons did not begin his collegiate career as a theater major. During his early years at UH, Parsons majored in radio and television. In his interview with the UH alumni association, Parsons credits the switch to his first elective, Acting I, and rooming with a theater major.

“The best thing that could have happened to me was I roomed with Greg Stanley, who was my best friend in high school and still is,” Parsons said to the UH Alumni Association. “What was so great was living with Greg … I watched him rehearse, I watched him warm up, I watched him go to auditions, come back from auditions, talk about what he was doing, and it was the last wake-up call I needed.”

In the interview with Visit Houston, Parsons said that since leaving Houston, he missed many things about the city, including the food, the cultural diversity, the art community and the museum district.

“This is one of the most diverse museum districts in the country. It’s a one of a kind interactive experience,” Parsons said. “You can get lost in amazing worlds, and each museum is a totally different experience in itself.”

Parsons said Houston is responsible for shaping him as a person and an actor.

“I consider myself so lucky to have grown up in Houston; it was so beneficial to me as a person in general, but very specifically as an actor,” he said. “And that had a lot to do with the amount of arts that I was surrounded by that informed me and inspired me.”

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Mechanical engineering senior Jarrett Lonsford used robots to test more secure ways to transmit data from the seafloor to the ocean’s surface. | Michael Slaten/The Cougar

More than 200 undergraduates presented their research with posters or oral presentations at the 2017 Undergraduate Research Day on Thursday at M.D. Anderson Library.

Undergraduate Research Day allowed students who participated in the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship this past summer or had a substantial research project to present their findings.

SURF is a 10-week research program for undergraduates who are at least sophomore and have a research topic they want to tackle under the guidance of a faculty mentor.

Mechanical engineering senior Jarrett Lonsford, who presented at the event, said he tested a more secure way to transmit data from the seafloor to the ocean’s surface for his project. He said remotely operated robots were placed in the water to deploy sensor modules, which collected data before resurfacing.

“The main ways that data is transmitted currently is through acoustic communications, which has a low data-transfer rate and is not very secure, because anyone can listen in on the sound,” Lonsford said.

His mentor on the research was electrical and computer engineering assistant professor Aaron Becker. Lonsford had been working in a research lab for a year when he was approached if he would help with the project, he said.

“I learned a lot of basically waterproofing and how to operate different things underwater (and) buoyancy control,” Lonsford said.

English senior Aubrey Cowley worked with English professor Ann Christensen to develop a modern edition of the Renaissance play “A Warning for Fair Woman” with footnotes and definitions. Cowley said she did her research under SURF after reading the play in Christensen’s class.

“Dr. Christensen approached me when I was in one of her classes, and I’ve really been enjoying discussing it,” Cowley said. “I learned a lot about the time period and how complicated it was overall. Early modern England, we have kind of a picture of what Shakespearean times were. But there were a lot of conflicting cultural ideas, and this was a great demonstration of that.”

The edition of the play Cowley worked on received an advanced publication contract with the University of Nebraska editorial board, according to her presentation poster at the event.

Cowley said that undergraduates are recommended to do research even if they do not plan to attend graduate school.

Director of the Office of Undergraduate Research Karen Weber said that engaging in research allows students to make contributions to their fields of study.

“After a 10-week project like SURF, then you’re really the expert for all purposes on one narrow aspect of your field,” Weber said. “And not only can you present at Undergraduate Research Day, but at conferences within your discipline.”

Weber and Cowley said the best way for an undergraduate to get started in research is to ask professors if they can assist them.

“I think it’s probably the best way to get to know a professor within your discipline,” Weber said. “You’re going to know them outside of the classroom, working on problem-solving, troubleshooting and bringing a problem to fruition.”

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After the Orlando shooting at a gay nightclub, where 49 people were killed, Pride Portraits began taking photos and sharing stories of those in the LGBT community to bring awareness. | Jennifer Gonzalez/The Cougar

In honor of National Coming Out Day, Pride Portraits came to the Student Center on Wednesday to promote awareness and representation of Houston’s LGBT community.

After the 2016 Orlando Pulse Nightclub shooting that killed 49 people, Pride Portraits began taking photographs and sharing individual stories of the LGBTQ individuals.

“I started this campaign outside on Tuam and Bagby.” said Eric Schell, Pride Portraits creator and photographer. “There was a paint wall that was rainbow colored, and I put on Facebook, ‘Would anyone like to come and take pride portraits,’ and about 100 people showed up.”

From there, the campaign grew rapidly. Participants told their stories and took photographs in front of a rainbow backdrop, painted by Hugo Perez. Schell typically prompts participants by asking, “What do you want the world to know about you?”

“So far, I’ve photographed around 3,000 people around the country,”  Schell said. “I’ve got a lot of great support from celebrities, which has been really awesome and fun, but the thing that I find most rewarding is finding people in communities that don’t have a place to talk about themselves.”

Last year, Pride Portraits took photographs and stories at the Gender Infinity conference at UH, where he met Jamie Gonzales, program coordinator at the UH LGBTQ Resource Center. Gonzales invited Pride Portraits to photograph all students, not just conference attendees.

“I’m hoping to just create visibility and awareness for the LGBTQIA+ community,” Gonzales said. “I don’t think everyone thinks about each individual story of the members of the community.”

While students and staff were photographed, transgender model Jessica Zyrie explained Pride Portraits’ importance to her.

“I didn’t have any faces to look up to, and whenever I did find some, it was a comfort for me,” Zyrie said. “I like to put myself out there and be a visible face for people to know that it’s OK to be yourself and to love yourself for who you are.”

Zyrie said she has witnessed people from all walks of life participate.

In a community that is often homogenized, Pride Portraits not only gives individuals a voice and a platform; it provides a community with support and role models.

“I encourage people to step outside their box and educate themselves about who we are,” Schell said. “Whether it’s sexuality, gender identity, race, religion, because they’re all things that encompass human beings.”

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The transparency bill was criticized for its formatting, information overload and grammatical errors, senators said. | File photo/The Cougar

A bill that would require the executive branch of the Student Government Association to post all its transactions online was rejected Wednesday over concerns that the bill needs to be improved.

The bill was rejected by a 10–9 paper ballot vote. Speaker of the Senate Fahad Rehan said he completely agreed with the measure’s intent, but it needs an “immense amount of work.”

“I think it’s very important to have this bill in place, not only for the current administration, but for future administrations,” said College of Education Sen. Ayodele Shofoluwe, who drafted the bill.

Shofoluwe said he plans to bring back the bill for another vote, but it will need to receive another vote in the Internal Affairs Committee.

The bill was criticized by Rehan and SGA President Winni Zhang for its formatting and grammatical errors. Amendments were passed during the meeting to correct some of the errors, but it wasn’t enough for the bill to pass.

“A lot of this could have been avoided if we just learned how to do effective bill writing and research and legislation,” Zhang said.

Zhang said she will go over effective bill writing this week with senators later in the week.

Other criticisms were raised aside from the formatting and grammatical errors. College of Architecture Sen. Devon Bush said he felt the bill would be an information overload.

“While I understand the necessity for transparency within this organization as far as having to count out every single expense, I feel that’s just drowning in information and not necessary,”  Bush said.

Committee appointments

College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Sen. Sara Alia Rehman was appointed as chair the Academic Affairs Committee. She served on the committee in Spring 2017 and said one initiative she wants to accomplish is the creation of a UH 101 course for freshman that provides a rundown of everything on campus.

She said freshmen still feel overwhelmed despite the required new student orientations.

“CLASS already has a class in the works, so I kind of want to push it to making it University-wide, implementing it into the UH core,” Rehman said.

The second appointment of the night was management information systems junior Andrew Bahlmann to the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee. He worked on the committee in 2016-17 and previously managed traffic operations for the city of Lubbock.

Bahlmann said that he agrees with the 7 percent increase in parking rates for this school year because it will help fund future parking garages.

“While we own quite a bit of land, a lot of the land that we have we are building up to increase the academic and business institutions,” Bahlmann said. “So with that being the process we are going through, we are building parking garages because they can store more vehicles in a smaller square footage. With that being said, there is an increased cost in order to fund those.”

Bahlmann said Parking and Transportation Services is evaluating parking counters, which track how many cars are parked in each lot, to see if they could be implemented, as well as how much they will cost to build and maintain. The committee did not discuss prospective locations for the counters, he said.

Harvey Relief Fund

Briget Jans, the executive director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, said just over half of $800,000 collected to help UH students affected by Hurricane Harvey has been dispersed.

“We have received only 440 applications for Harvey assistance, and some of those were duplicates,” Jans said. “That’s less than 1 percent of the student population filing appeals for being affected by Hurricane Harvey. Having watched the newscasts for all of those days on end, I’m pretty certain that we have more than one percent of our students impacted.”

If students have any proof of damage, which can be provided through photos or documents, they can apply for additional financial aid, she said. Even ruined textbooks might quality for extra aid.

Click here for a link to the application.

“We have money, and we want students to submit these applications,” Jans said.

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Former Houston mayor donated special archives to the M.D Anderson Memorial Library Special Collections, including documents and audio recordings chronicling Houston’s LGBT past. | Autumn Rendall/The Cougar

Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker and her wife, Kathy Hubbard, made a significant donation of archival material to the LGBT History Research Collection in the special collections department of the M.D. Anderson Memorial Library, according to their website.

Parker and Hubbard donated an assortment of LGBT and political-related ephemera, such as meeting minutes, newsletters, articles and audio-visuals. According to their website, the majority of the collection comes from the Houston GLBT Political Caucus, which was founded in 1975 as the South’s oldest civil rights organization dedicated solely to the advancement of LGBT rights.

Parker and Hubbard are co-cabinet members of the library’s Special Collections Department, which is part of Dean of Libraries Lisa German’s initiative and capital campaign for UH libraries, said special collections archivist Vince Lee. 

“(Parker and Hubbard) want to contribute and make their primary source materials available to the next generation of students that may not know about Houston’s LGBT history,” Lee said. “They have been strong advocates for the library and also our LGBT research collections.”

Parker and Hubbard have been active members with the LGBT community for decades. In 1986, Parker was president of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus. In 1997, she won a seat on the Houston City Council, becoming Houston’s first openly gay elected official. She then made history in 2009 by becoming Houston’s first gay mayor.

Documenting activism

In the early to mid-2000s, the Special Collections Department received Parker’s political papers, which Lee said included nine boxes related to her political career as city controller and city council member prior to becoming mayor.

“I think she realized there is another component to her career, an activism that she wanted to contribute to UH libraries, which documents her LGBT involvement within the community, both politically and as a member of the community to raise awareness and promote equality,” Lee said.

Part of the audio-visual materials donated are cassette tape recordings of threats the caucus received in the 1970s and 1980s. Lee said these tapes are still frightening 30 years later.

A box filled with an assortment of gay and lesbian yellow pages from across the country is also a part of the collection. Lee said he believes these are great resources because they document services, activities and businesses that have served the LGBT community.

“It’s super important to keep these pieces of history because it’s easy for queer history to be overlooked and ignored since we’re a minority community,” said biology sophomore Ethan Tullos.

The Special Collections Department comprises the rare books, archives and manuscript section of the library, which has 13 different areas of focus. Lee said the LGBT History Research Collection has grown exponentially within the last year.

“It’s a very new collecting area that we have created,” Lee said.

According to the the LGBT History Research Collection’s website, its collecting area includes library collections, personal papers and organizations records, which preserve and promote understanding of Houston’s and the region’s LGBT communities and service organizations.

UH Libraries is also involved with the Houston Area Rainbow Collective History group, a team of historians, archivists and collectors who document the LGBT community in Houston, said Head of Special Collections Christian Kelleher.

Kelleher said the department provides materials to students and researchers that is relevant to their scholarship and learning, allowing them to explore their scholarly interests. The department focuses on primary source materials that require students and researchers to do critical thinking. 

Exploring history

Kelleher said that the library looks to find community members who can represent and help build each of the priority special collection areas.

“Having community members who have had the foresight to collect this material and now to preserve it and make it available to students and scholars here at University of Houston libraries is really going to support vibrant scholarship, vibrant teaching and vibrant engagement within campus and our local community,” Kelleher said.

The library wanted Parker and Hubbard to become co-cabinet members for the LGBT research collections because they wanted people who are known within the community to support and raise awareness, Vince said.

“Mayor Parker and Ms. Hubbard are leaders in Houston, Texas, and indeed, the country,” German said. “Their papers and materials that they’ve collected over the years tell the story of our LGBT population and culture.”

Vince said students, faculty and staff are welcome to go through the materials to utilize them for course plans, research opportunities and paper topics.

“Since queer history and discourse throughout history isn’t really taught in schools, this memorabilia is super important to newly out or questioning people to explore their history and identities and to see how far we’ve come and how far we have to go,” Tullos said.

Students are currently able to access the donated materials, but the librarians ask that students reach out to them in advance because it is a newly acquired collection, and they have not had the chance to fully process and rehouse the items.

A finding aid will be published online at a later date, allowing people to view available items. 

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Students and organizations displayed their favorite sneakers and competed for prizes at Sneaker Expo. | Thom Dwyer/The Cougar

Students were able to discuss and showcase their favorite sneakers at the Student Program Board’s first sneaker expo event Thursday in the Student Center South’s Houston Room.

Tables showcasing shoes were set up by students, on-campus organizations and retailers in the Houston area. Students could buy or trade shoes on display, and a speech was given by UH alum Bryan Angelle, who founded Sneaker Summit in Houston.

“People have comic cons or sneaker cons,” said Aditya Shah Fashi, a design student at the Art Institute of Houston, who was showcasing his shoes at the event. “You just come together, you appreciate the art and it’s pretty dope

Fashi said that sneaker culture has been growing for years now, and when he comes to UH he sees sneaker culture on campus. He said he was contacted by a friend asking if he would like to have his own booth at the sneaker expo.

“I’ve actually never been on this side of it,” Fashi said. “I’ve always gone to sneaker cons, but I’ve always been looking around and never really had my own booth, so I thought this was a great place to do that.” 

Sport administration sophomore Andre Jones said he has been into shoes since he was 10, and he enjoyed the event because he was able to see Yeezy’s and other popular sneakers in person for the first time.

“I’ve seen them on TV and the internet, but I’ve never seen them in person,” Jones said. “It was kind of cool to finally see them up close, touch them and see how they look and stuff.”

Students could have their own table to compete for prizes and trade and sell shoes to other students. Hospitality management sophomore Tommy Tran had his own table with his sneakers and said one problem with sneaker culture is all the hype behind them.

“Right now, honestly, it’s all hype. Hypees, hype can bring the value of shoes from like $200 to a thousand,” Tran said. “Sneaker culture is buying, selling, appreciating sneakers. Other people are just like, ‘Oh, they are just shoes you know.’ But we see sneakers in a different perspective.”

Sneaker Summit founder Bryan Angelle came to talk about how he got into sneakers and created one of the world’s largest sneaker events, Houston’s Sneaker Summit. He graduated from UH in 1994 with an electrical design degree but left a career in electrical design to pursue his passion of sneakers.

Sneaker Expo was the brainchild of SPB Social Media and Programming Chair Glende Killough.

“The idea came from my love of tennis shoes and sneakers and wanting to share the culture of that with the University of Houston,” Killough said. “I feel like everybody has tennis shoes, and everybody has a story to tell behind that.”

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“Students showcase favorite kicks at Sneaker Expo” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar