Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 16, 2004

Contact: Eric Gerber
713/743-8189 (office)
713/617-7130(pager)
egerber@uh.edu

Houston Teachers Institute (HTI) is launching another edition of its successful program to help local teachers develop innovative classroom subjects and instructional methods.

HTI, a collaborative enterprise between the University of Houston and the Houston Independent School District, will have its sixth annual convocation at 5:15 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 20, at UH’s Athletics/Alumni Facility. Andrea White, the wife of newly elected Houston Mayor Bill White, will offer welcoming remarks to the new class of HISD teachers selected to participate in HTI. Joining White will be Jerald Strickland, interim provost of UH and vice chancellor the UH System, and Robert Stockwell, chief academic officer for HISD.

The upcoming class of 130 HTI participants, who come from more than 60 HISD schools, will be attending evening seminars on campus each week led by UH professors. Sessions include “America at War,” “Wild Habitats in Urban Landscapes,” “The New Houston – New Immigrants, New Ethnicities and New Inter-Group Relations,” “Where Justice Is Served – How American Courts Work.” The HISD teachers use these sessions to create specialized lesson plans for their respective schools and the district in general. Additionally, these HTI-inspired lesson units are available online for teachers everywhere. Since its inauguration in 1998, more than 400 HISD teachers have already participated in HTI.

HIT Director Paul Cooke will give a convocation address.

Upon completing the HTI program, each teacher receives a $1,000 honorarium and 32 credit hours from the Texas Association of the Gifted and Talented. HTI is part of a national project led by the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.