Provost Paula Short announced on Monday that the University will be reorganizing its graduate programs, moving the 43 doctoral and 98 master-level programs from their individual colleges and departments to the new, consolidated UH Graduate School.

The new school, which has been in the works as a part of the reorganization of the office of Academic Affairs and mentioned in a consulting report for UH, will be run by Dmitri Litvinov as the interim vice provost and dean.

“The University of Houston has a rare opportunity to build its Graduate School from the ground up, to learn from the best practices of our Tier One peers, and to develop our own unique approaches to help equip our graduates with the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in highly competitive 21st-century world,” said Litvinov, who is an electrical and computer engineering professor.

The University aims to provide new technology and organization to the 1,985 doctoral and 5,657 master-level students, such as automating online graduate admissions, which will go live for the Fall 2014 admissions cycle and will cover more than 70 percent of programs; creating a larger pool of funds to recruit a higher quality of doctoral students; developing the Graduate School website, which will go live this month; and fostering and supporting strong ties with key stakeholders including the recently created Graduate Student Organization.

“There is a need for an effective Graduate School that will not only have a significant impact on Tier One initiatives but also will bring about a paradigm shift in graduate education at the University by strategically leveraging and coordinating existing resources, developing policies and support infrastructures aimed at graduate student success and creating a culture of continuous quality improvement,” Short said.

Short also announced the establishment of the Graduate Assistant Success Task Force. The team, which will consist of both faculty members and graduate students, will provide recommendations on employment policies, tuition and fees policies and development for the graduate assistants who contribute to teaching a research.

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Grade school students between the ages of six to 12 were inspired to create masterpieces during a two-week art workshop that ended on July 19 at the Blaffer Art Museum.

About 25 children explored artsy projects at the annual Summer Arts Workshop. The projects throughout the workshop were inspired by superheroes and alter-egos, and students created “wearables,” including masks, gloves and headbands.

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At about 9:50 p.m. on Monday, a student reported an attempted robbery in the visitors section on the first floor of the Cullen Oaks Apartments parking garage. There was no weapon involved and the student was not injured.

The suspect, who is described as a black male wearing a dark blue, short sleeve shirt and is between 25 and 35 years old, approached the student from behind, grabbed the student’s backpack and demanded his wallet.

The student turned around and struck the suspect in the face. The man fled the scene on foot, leaving the student with his belongings.

A similar incident occurred in the same parking garage in early May. For more information, contact the UH Police Department at police@uh.edu.

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UH has been a bustling construction zone all summer preparing to open two new residential housing facilities in the fall. However, the University has taken on a new, unexpected project in Calhoun Lofts after a small fire burned one room and drenched 26 more on Tuesday evening.

A total of 27 rooms in Calhoun Lofts sustained damages after a fire on Tuesday evening. The repairs are expected to be completed Aug. 6. | Stefani Crowe/The Daily Cougar

The fire, which was contained in one room on the third floor, was put out by the Houston Fire Department, and no one was injured. Slowly, residents were allowed back into the building, but tenants on the first through third floors — where the sprinklers were activated — were last to re-enter their homes.

“The majority of the damages are on the third floor where the fire occurred,” said Melissa Rockwell-Hopkins, executive director of Facilities Management.

“Remediation is ongoing and will take five days. Following remediation, a rebuild of the damaged areas will occur. All repairs are estimated to be completed by August 6.”

Thirteen residents were temporarily relocated to other rooms within Calhoun lofts due to the fire and the water damage, said Don Yackley, executive director for Student Housing and Residential Life.

“It is unfortunate that this situation occurred, but we are thankful that no one was hurt and grateful for the response from the facilities staff and the emergency responders,” Yackley said.

“Everyone is doing everything they can to move quickly with the repairs.”

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