Cougar First Impressions

What is Cougar First Impressions? Cougar First Impressions is sponsored by Staff Council and offers students a chance to receive campus maps, directions to class and bottled water from UH staff members stationed at 19 campus locations during the first two days of the Fall semester. The eleventh annual CFI event will take place August 25-26, 2008, and is made possible by generous contributions without student fees.

CFI NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS:

>> 2008 Cougar First Impressions: The 11th annual CFI event will take place Monday and Tuesday, August 25-26, 2008, the first two days of the Fall 2008 semester. Everyone is welcome to participate on the Planning Committee and lend their ideas. Planning meetings for the event will take place on Wednesdays, July 1 and 15 and August 5 and 12, , 2-3:30 p.m., Room 106T in the M.D. Anderson Library. The CFI Training Session will take place Wednesday, August 19, 2-3:30 p.m., in the Farish Hall Kiva. For more information, contact the CFI 08 co-chairs, Gloria Robinson at 713-743-9696 or gloria.robinson@mail.uh.edu or Rebecca Szwarc at 713-743-6030 or rszwarc@central.uh.edu.

See the volunteer page to find out where and when you can volunteer and to sign up for your shifts. Sign up by July 25 to make sure a T-shirt is ordered for you. Table Host organizers can submit their volunteer and T-shirt information online with the Table Host page.

>> 2007 CFI "Cool to be a Cougar" The tenth annual Cougar First Impressions was held Monday and Tuesday, August 20-21, the first two days of the Fall semester. Big thanks go out to over 450 staff members and others who volunteered at 18 locations across campus between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. both days. This year's event was a big success, with over 25,000 student questions answered and over 40,000 bottles of water and other donated drinks distributed to grateful students. Additionally, 132 parking applications were collected and students picked up thousands of informative brochures, maps, pens, calendars and other useful items provided by departments across campus.

Another special addition for the tenth anniversary event was an air-conditioned "cool tent," from which staff volunteers distributed over 9,500 ice cream and frozen treats to hot students. The cool tent also featured "cool facts" about UH and snow in August! Additionally, UH was visited by two radio stations, Majic 102 and Mix 96.5.

>> PHOTOS: See the CFI 07 "Cool Cougar" volunteers in action on the photos page.

>> AWARDS: Several awards were presented at the CFI 07 thank-you luncheon on August 30.

Outstanding Achievement Award
Judi Goodman & Ty Houston (Founding CFI Co-Chairs)
Dick Cigler (Staff Council President who initiated CFI)

Outstanding Contribution Award
Houston Coca-Cola & Shasta's Cones and More (for support of CFI)
Watson Riddle & Stan Le (for creating special designs reflecting the CFI spirit)

Leadership Award
Joe Papick & Rebecca Szwarc (CFI 2007 Co-Chairs)

Achievement Award
Gloria Robinson (Banquet Co-Chairs)
B. Renae Milton (Budget Chair)
Jerry Muye (Maintenance & Supplies Chair)
Delores Crawford (Marketing & Publicity Chair)
Troy Christensen (Staffing & Volunteers Chair)