ROARING IN UNITY

Here are some examples of community partnerships that took place in 2019-2020:

• The American Electric Power Foundation awarded a $50,000 grant to UHV to cover tuition for 25 students a year enrolled in the university’s Summer Bridge Scholars program in 2020 and 2021.
• The UHV Center for Regional Collaboration was launched to help facilitate partnerships throughout the region in order to promote job growth, economic prosperity and greater stability.
• UHV partnered with South Texas Blood & Tissue Center and GenCure to host the Lone Star Circle of Life Bike Tour. The purpose of the weeklong bike tour in Texas was to spread awareness about the need for blood, tissue, organ, bone marrow and stem cell donations.
• UHV offered the 2019-2020 Robotics, Programming and Simulation Course, a free after-school robotics class for area high school students that was funded through a grant from Alcoa Foundation.
• UHV hosted Hispanic Heritage Week events that included a Baile Conmingo dance class, Mexican Independence Day celebration, Lotería “Mexican Bingo,” Crossroads Café performance by Mariachi Tapatio, and a showing of the movie “Cesar Chavez” in downtown Victoria. At the end of the week, UHV hosted the 33rd annual Martín de León Symposium on the Humanities, which explored the topic “Mariachi: History and Music.”
• The Victoria Advocate donated part of its archives to the Victoria Regional History Center based at UHV. The donation included photographs and negatives from 1985 to 1999, as well as bound issues of the newspaper up to 2005.
• The university gave $2,000 to the Food Bank of the Golden Crescent through the annual Food Fight fundraiser. UHV students donated the value of meals from their UHV dining plans to the cause, and the meals then were converted into dollars for the donation.
• Goliad High School hosted its first UHV Day. University recruiters and faculty members provided information sessions about dual-credit courses and opportunities for students who choose to pursue a degree at UHV. Goliad students who committed to attending UHV were invited to a mixer to meet faculty and staff from the university. UHV also hosted alumni activities during the school’s varsity boys’ and girls’ basketball games that evening.
• UHV opened a Pearson VUE testing center that offers the Texas Educator Certification Examination Program, including the tests required for new and current educators.
• UHV hosted Black History Month events, including a Poetry Slam featuring award-winning poet Ebony Stewart and performances of original poems by UHV students, a performance of the UHV Jag Steppers at the Victoria Black History Month Celebration, and a Black History Month Poster Contest for area fifth-graders. The top three winners of the poster contest were awarded UHV scholarships and vouchers to Victoria College summer camps. The theme for the contest was “African Americans and the Vote.” The winners were honored at a poster contest reception, and about 70 participants’ posters were displayed in the UHV University Center throughout February. The annual contest is a partnership between UHV, VC and the Victoria Black History Committee Inc.
• The UHV Small Business Development Center hosted its third annual webcast of the Leadercast Women worldwide leadership conference. The theme for the conference was “Take Courage.”
• The Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art began hosting the new American Book Review Porch Readings as part of the UHV/ABR Reading Series. The porch readings featured authors from the reading series and took place on the porch of artist Travis Whitfield’s installation, the “Shotgun House,” inside the museum.
• The UHV history program hosted its inaugural History Day event, featuring Columbia professor and author Karl Jacoby, who gave a lecture titled “The Strange Career of William Ellis: The Slave from Victoria Who Became a Mexican Millionaire.”
• UHV brought Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute to Victoria for two days to discuss how to implement effective growth in area communities. During a Victoria Chamber of Commerce Luncheon, McMahon gave a presentation titled “Place-Making & Economic Development.” His public presentation, “The Secrets of Successful Communities,” was delivered at the Leo J. Welder Center for the Performing Arts and was cosponsored by Victoria College.
• UHV business students helped Faith Academy and the Victoria Ballet Theatre develop social media and marketing strategies as part of their marketing courses. Students in the university’s “E-marketing” elective course worked in groups to create social media strategy proposals for Faith Academy. Another group of students in the undergraduate “Marketing Research” class conducted both qualitative and quantitative studies for the Victoria Ballet Theatre to help provide insight into what current and prospective patrons think of performances, fundraising events and outreach.
• The Dickson-Allen Foundation donated $25,000 to UHV for scholarships of up to $2,500 for students from Lavaca, Wharton and Gonzales counties.
• A Victoria Generals collegiate baseball game was sponsored by UHV. In addition to free admission to the game, fans received UHV swag, took part in contests between innings and had photos taken with jaX, UHV’s jaguar mascot.
• The UHV School of Business Administration hosted its 10th annual Alumni Week on Microsoft Teams and Zoom. During the event, the school’s alumni from different areas of the business world were invited to speak to students.
• Texas State Technical College entered into a transfer agreement with UHV to allow TSTC students with an Associate of Applied Arts & Sciences to seamlessly transfer to the university and earn a Bachelor of Applied Arts & Sciences.
• The Victoria Regional History Center, which is based at UHV, began collecting submissions from area residents for a project called “Stay Home, Stay Safe Stories.” The stories will serve as a historical record of the area during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Geico and UHV created the Employee Partnership Program to help Geico associates finish a bachelor’s degree while working for the company. Geico employees have access to deferred tuition, tuition reimbursement and scholarships.
• Caterpillar Victoria donated $10,000 toward UHV’s pandemic relief and recovery efforts. The funds were earmarked for general use during the pandemic and covered needs that included emergency grants and other continuing education initiatives.