Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax: 713.743.8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 27, 2004

Contact: Eric Gerber
713.743.8189 (office)
713.617.7130(pager)
egerber@uh.edu

The latest Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) Detachment in Texas – and the first ever in
Houston – is moving into new quarters at the University of Houston.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 3 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 31, in Room 109 of the Susanna Garrison Building followed by an open house. The campus community and general public are invited. Col. John Gaughan, commander of all Air Force ROTC detachments in the southwest United States, is expected to attend. Also on hand will be Col. David L. Mintz, an Air Force Academy graduate and highly decorated F-15 fighter pilot who currently commands the Air Force ROTC Detachment at UH.

The program, which has approximately 50 student cadets enrolled, offers individuals the opportunity to become an officer in the Air Force while earning an academic degree at UH. Those who complete this program are commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force. Students at Rice University and TSU are also eligible to participate in the UH-based program.

The Air Force ROTC Detachment at UH is the first such program to open in Texas in more than a decade. Only two other such detachments have been activated in Texas since 1952.

“Since Air Force ROTC is all about quality and diversity in training future Air Force leaders,” said Col. Mintz, “what better place for that than at UH, with the most ethnically diverse student body among the nation’s research universities?”

The new facility in the Garrison Building includes a cadet training room, computer laboratory, study area and offices for the department staff.

For additional information, visit the Web http://www.uh.edu/afrotc/index.html.

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