Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2004

Contact: Leticia Konigsberg
713.743.8152 (office)
713.617.7143 (pager)
lkonigsberg@uh.edu

HOUSTON, June 10, 2004 – Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine has ranked the University of Houston 15th in its annual survey of the Top 100 schools awarding undergraduate degrees to Hispanics.

UH was ranked 23rd last year.

Currently, nearly 18 percent of the university’s enrollment is Hispanic. During 2003, the university awarded 998 degrees to Hispanics out of the overall total 6,273 students graduating.

“We have recognized the educational imbalance of Hispanics statewide and nationwide,” said Tatcho Mindiola, associate professor of sociology and director of the UH Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS). “And at UH we have been working at to alleviate that problem for more than a decade with programs like Urban Experience Program (UEP).”

Created in 1994, UEP offers support to program participants in the form of mentoring, mandatory tutorial and study hall, internships and skill workshops. Launched with a dozen students, UEP now serves 75 undergraduates, many of who are at-risk students from inner city schools.

In addition to UEP, the CMAS sponsors a high school retention initiative for students at the heavily Hispanic Stephen F. Austin High School: Students Aspiring to a Better Education (SABE) program. Established in 1986, SABE offers career guidance, academic tutoring, mentoring services, skill workshops, self-development seminars and personal intervention.

The magazine also ranked UH among the Top 50 for both master’s and doctoral degrees awarded to Hispanics.

A complete list of the rankings is available at http://www.hispanicoutlook.com/top100.html.

About the University of Houston
The University of Houston, Texas’ premier metropolitan research and teaching institution, is home to more than 40 research centers and institutes and sponsors more than 300 partnerships with corporate, civic and governmental entities. UH, the most diverse research university in the country, stands at the forefront of education, research and service with more than 35,000 students.

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