2026 State of the University

President Renu Khator
October 8, 2026

2026 State of the University

Well, good morning, everyone. Thank you so much, Professor Peters, for your remarks. You are most gracious with your words and sentiments. I really appreciate it. I am grateful to be working with you and look forward to the next year. 

And to our Concert Chorale and Dr. Maglione, great performance, as always. I know most people come to this event to listen to you. My address is just a filler. So, I accept that.  

Colleagues and friends, it is my sincere honor to welcome you to the 2026 State of the University address. I have many people to recognize here today, but I will introduce them in a special way because, after all, today is a special moment.

Today, we stand here on the eve of the University of Houston’s yearlong Centennial celebration. It seems fitting that we travel back in time to 1927 and take this nostalgic journey of 100 years. 

As we smile with pride at our present and look with great anticipation to our future, we must never forget that it is our past that has brought us to this moment here today…our history is the foundation of all our present and future successes.

Before I start this journey, let me thank Library Archivists Katy Allred and Mary Manning, along with Dr. Debbie Harwell, Editor of Houston History Magazine and Associate Professor of History. I also want to thank my excellent team in communications, institutional research and video production. Because  here the words are mine, but the tedious work is theirs! 

We will travel back in time three times over the next 40 minutes: first, to trace the University’s evolution as a place of learning; second, to examine its rise as a research powerhouse; and finally, to follow the journey of Houston Cougar athletics.

On Mission to Educate

Legend has it that in 1926, a group of determined high school seniors met with the Houston Independent School District’s superintendent and requested higher education opportunities for working Houstonians like themselves…people who had the drive to succeed but who could not afford to quit their jobs or leave Houston for college. 

Answering the call, Houston Junior College was born on March 7, 1927. Classes began that summer with 232 students and 15 faculty, most of them borrowed from other colleges. Just seven years since its inception in 1934, the University was granted its four-year university designation. At this time, 1,100 students called the University of Houston their home, except there was no true physical home.

To build that physical home, Houston philanthropists Ben Taub and the J. J. Settegast Estate donated 110 acres of land in 1936 with the stipulation that the first building must break ground before the deadline of January 1, 1938, which was later extended to April 1, 1938. Mr. Hugh Roy Cullen gave his personal guarantee to get the building completed.

The Texas Board of Education did not grant approval of the contractor’s bid until March 28, just four days before the deadline. The groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled for March 31, the first date available on Mr. Cullen’s busy calendar. But heavy rains set in, making it doubtful that the ceremony could ever be held. In the true display of tenacity, President Oberholtzer, the University’s first president, arranged a steam shovel and crew of slicker-clad workmen to stand at the site. The ceremony was completed; the condition was met and the University’s new home at what is now Cullen Boulevard started to take shape.

The first building, Roy Gustav Cullen, opened in 1939 with 21 classrooms, a library, a large lecture hall, and offices for the president and his staff. It was the first, and let me repeat, the first air-conditioned college building ever constructed on any university campus in America!

In response to Mr. Cullen’s charity, in 1947, the Houston Chamber of Commerce proposed renaming the university Cullen University, but Mr. Cullen refused and insisted that it remain the University of Houston. Today we have among us two granddaughters of Mr. Hugh Roy Cullen—Beth Robertson and Carroll Robertson Ray. May I ask you to kindly stand so we can honor you and your family?

The 1930s were difficult years for America as the Great Depression was hurting every business and every household. To help students remain enrolled, the federal government introduced emergency student aid in 1934 and expanded it further to support part-time working students.

In 1941, the United States entered World War II. When students left to serve, college enrollment across the country plummeted. The University of Houston, with its mission to serve Houstonians, pivoted to offer courses supporting the war industry and military trainees. 

In 1945, with the war over, the country needed to expand opportunities for higher education to the returning soldiers. President Roosevelt, in 1944, democratized college education by signing the GI Bill, providing tuition, housing and stipends to veterans. This bill became one of the most fundamental pieces of legislation ever to shape higher education in America. It also helped shape the University of Houston’s future. 

By 1945, the University of Houston had matured as an institution enrolling nearly 5,000 students. The time was ripe to give the University its own identity by creating its own Board of Regents, separate from the HISD Board, which had been the governing body thus far. The first board consisted of Hugh Roy Cullen himself along with prominent philanthropists from the city. Since the beginning, 133 regents have carried UH’s responsibility on their shoulders, and we are indebted to them. Let’s honor them. May I ask our former regents in attendance to please stand?

The regents serving on the board currently are our guiding light…they volunteer their precious time and wisdom selflessly because they care for the mission and because they care the students. Please meet:

The Honorable Jack Moore, Chair of the Board

The Honorable Ricky Raven, Vice Chair of the Board

The Honorable Gregory C. King Secretary of the Board

The Honorable Beth Madison

The Honorable Bryan F. Clark

The Honorable Tommy Lucas

The Honorable Alonzo Cantu

The Honorable Lynden Rose

And the student regent, The Honorable Christian A. Pepe

Thank you, regents, for your gift of support, time and wisdom! 

In a short span of 20 years, UH enrollment had grown to over 10,000, many of whom were part-time students. Those who enrolled during this time were motivated and resilient and made their mark on the local and national scene. One of those students was Jack Valenti, the son of Sicilian immigrants who grew up poor. Jack earned his bachelor’s degree by taking evening classes, which allowed him to work in the day. He served in World War II, went on to Harvard after graduating from UH and then became special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson before becoming president of the Motion Picture Association of America. 

The 1940s were also the time of academic expansion. As demand grew, so did UH’s offerings in disciplines, adding an architecture program and new colleges of pharmacy, law, engineering, and business.

The first student housing came not out of meticulous planning but out of urgent necessity. It was built… I should say cobbled together…by arranging dozens of residential trailers and military barracks on campus. This area later became known as the Veteran’s Village and became a precursor to the construction of UH’s first planned residential complex, The Quad. 

The E. Cullen Building, an iconic landmark not just of UH but of Houston, opened in 1950 with 46 classrooms and a large auditorium. Back then, it was the hub of public service, housing our public broadcasting radio station and KUHT-TV, among others.

In the 1950s, our students were mostly working individuals who commuted to campus. But they were full of determination, dreams and aspirations. The UH Debate Team was competing in state and national tournaments and defeating the best of the best. One of those early teams consisted of Edwin Black and John Niebel. If the name of John Niebel sounds familiar, it is because he later became a professor at the University of Houston Law Center and subsequently served as its dean.

The 1950s were the golden years for American higher education. Prompted by the Cold War, the federal government made massive investments in universities. UH also benefited from this boom. By 1960, the enrollment had surged to more than 11,000 students. More buildings and more land were needed. UH acquired adjoining tracts, as they became available, doubling the original footprint. 

Despite this remarkable growth, the University’s future as a private university was in jeopardy. The population that the university was serving and the tuition that it was charging were inconsistent. At the brink of bankruptcy, university leaders requested state intervention, a wish granted in 1963 when the Texas Legislature made UH a state university. The impact on students was immediate…tuition dropped to mere $4 per semester credit hour. The impact on the institution was also tangible as the University began to dream of its future as a research university, a topic I will address later.

The 1960s were the years of turmoil but also of maturity for American higher education. Campuses across the country witnessed civil unrest and intense student activism against racial injustice. UH desegregated its campus by enrolling its first black student in 1962. 

Owing to desegregation and state funding, the 1960s and 70s became the decades of rapid growth for UH. To support this growth, a staggering number of buildings…25, to be precise…were built in 15 years. Colleges of engineering, optometry, hospitality, fine arts, social work, law and pharmacy all moved to their own buildings. A new iconic dorm, Moody Towers, came off the ground. To support student life, a University Center was built, and to give boost to the Cougar basketball, a new arena—Hofheinz Pavilion—became a reality. 

UH was expanding beyond its founders’ dreams. Nearly 25,000 students were enrolled by 1970. Students graduating during this time had experienced a world where they believed that they could change the future. One of those graduates was Rod Canion who co-founded Compaq computers, changing the world of personal computing forever. Another graduate was Tommy Tune, theater director, producer and choreographer, who went on to win 10 Tony awards, and the National Medal of Arts. 

The University of Houston had immense strength and interest in the arts. In a bold move, UH Board of Regents voted to designate a portion of construction budget toward public art. The first acquisitions were Takiguchi’s Orbit I and Orbit II. Today, the Public Art collection of the University of Houston System owns more than 700 works, many of which are displayed across its campuses and universities.

As the 1970s knocked on the door, the University of Houston’s destiny was about to change one more time. To make college education more affordable, Texas Legislature opted to establish regional universities. First came UH-Victoria in 1973, followed by UH-Downtown and UH-Clear Lake in 1974. Within two years, UH was transformed from one university into a system of higher education with four universities. Today, UH-Downtown and UH-Clear Lake are thriving as sister universities serving over 13,000 and 8,000 students, respectively.

 At this point, let me recognize current presidents of UH Clear Lake, Dr. Richard Walker, and 
Interim President of UH Downtown, Dr. Deborah Bordelon.

As the 1980s rolled in, UH enrolled nearly 31,000 students, served by nearly 2,000 faculty and staff. But the financial crisis was once again around the corner. The U.S. economy was showing significant signs of weakness. Nationwide, states started to reduce university budgets and universities felt forced to turn to student tuition to fill the gap. In Texas, tuition was still set by the legislature and therefore very affordable.

Then came the oil bust of 1982. By the mid-80s, the global oil crisis forced oil prices to fall from $30 a barrel to $10 a barrel, tanking Houston’s economy. 212,000 Houstonians lost their jobs. It once again fell upon the University of Houston to pivot and offer courses that could directly retool the displaced workers. New programs in space architecture, digital media, and engineering technology were introduced. 

To tell the tale of boldness, UH built the physical home for the College of Architecture in a striking postmodern design. To this day the building leaves a lasting impression on University visitors. 

For the University of Houston, the 1990s were vibrant times. UH expanded its reach in Sugar Land in 1998 on the 248 acres of land given to the University of Houston System by TxDOT. Today it is a thriving campus of over 4,000 students.

In Houston, tuition was low, and jobs were abundant. By 1990, UH was enrolling more than 32,000 students and graduating nearly 6,000 students from its 14 colleges. University of Houston had truly become Houston’s university.

UH’s ambitions were bolstered by its donors and alumni. In 1989, the first successful comprehensive campaign, Creative Partnerships, was launched and completed a few years later, exceeding its goal of $350 million, benefiting UH System universities. One of the campaign gifts shocked the philanthropic world and set a new standard in giving. That gift came from UH alumni John Moores and his wife Rebecca…the gift of $51.4 million in 1990, [was] the largest single-year donation made to any public university by anyone at that time. The gift supported the school of music, athletics, scholarships and building this stunning opera house where we stand today.

Thanks to the comprehensive campaign, the endowment grew from $32 million in 1980 to nearly $200 million by year 2,000. 

As John and Rebecca Moores were breaking barriers in philanthropy, another UH alumnus was climbing new heights in space…I mean the real space. That graduate flew on board of Space Shuttle Columbia in 1993 and then on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1995, becoming the first African American ever to walk in space. Astronaut Dr. Bernard Harris couldn’t be with us today, but he is watching live, and Dr. Harris we salute you. 

The new century arrived with big promises for the University of Houston. By now, Ted Bauer, co-founder of Houston-based Aim Management Group, had become familiar with the graduates of the College of Business Administration. Impressed by their tenacity and their role in building his own company, in 2000, he made a transformational gift of $40 million to name the college. That gift changed the college’s trajectory forever. 

For Houston and for the University of Houston, adversity and momentum have always gone together. Adversity was about to come again but not from the oil bust or economic downturn. It came from an entirely different source. In June of 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped 37 inches of rain, damaging 90 of the campus’s 105 buildings. The UH Law Center’s O’Quinn library, those of you remember, sustained 12 feet of water. 

Before we could recover, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, displacing over a million people. While UH was not directly impacted, the community still was. UH opened its facilities and academic programs to house evacuees and students. As if to test our will further, Hurricane Ike came in 2008, shutting down the University for many days and crippling the city for multiple weeks. Ike was also my introduction to the University of Houston, as it arrived during the week of my investiture. Instead of taking the oath of office amidst fanfare, I spent those days and nights sequestered in a room answering questions from anxious and sometimes angry students and faculty. However, I was immensely proud to see how the University rose to the challenge students and staff came out in hundreds to serve the community. By the way I had bought this jacket to wear to the investitures; so, this is a historic jacket too. 

In 2003, saddled by a nearly $10 billion budget shortfall and seeking greater flexibility to improve student outcomes, the Texas Legislature deregulated tuition. As state support declined, UH increased tuition over several years to support student success and other priorities. Today, however, UH’s cost of attendance, after adjusting for inflation, is 12% lower than it was a decade ago. 

As students assumed a greater share of higher education costs through tuition, attention increasingly focused on accountability and outcomes. In 2005, UH’s six-year graduation rate was 40%, significantly lower than its peer institutions, a trend that had to be reversed. During the next 15 years, UH initiated targeted support programs for students. Graduation and retention rates climbed, as did the academic achievements of our students. Results transformed UH’s national standing, giving it the coveted status of a tier one university in 2011 and the Phi Beta Kappa chapter in 2016 — a rare honor held by only 10% of U.S. universities and colleges. 

Starting in 2010, UH experienced another era of academic expansion with more colleges added to the already robust roster: Hobby School of Public Affairs, the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts, College of Nursing, which later became Andy and Barbara Gessner College of Nursing, and Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine, which started in 2020. Let’s pause for a second and think. It is difficult to start a new medical school no matter when and what year, but we had to start ours during the peak of COVID. Again, it goes to prove that defying odds is in our character. 

In 2016, the University of Houston System also purchased 45 acres of land in Katy to build a campus in the fastest-growing region in Texas. Today the UH-Katy campus offers 119 courses and many degree programs. 

The University experienced strong growth in all areas: student demand, degree completion, and reputation. Forty buildings were built in the last 15 years … football stadium, new basketball arena, the Durga and Sushila Agrawal Engineering research building, Health One and Two buildings, Cougar Village One and Two, the gorgeous John M. O’ Quinn Law Center [building], and the iconic medical school building are just some of the new additions. 

And this construction boom continues. The University Drive and the Centennial Plaza, with its iconic fountain, will open in May. Centennial Hall will be ready for occupancy by next fall. There are also new projects that will finish by 27, which include Dining Commons, as well as the Hobby School for Public Affairs and Innovation Hub. The other programs will continue next year including the Medical Research Building. In case you have not heard, the Conrad N. Hilton College of Global Hospitality will add The Patio, a place you can wind down, tailgate or just gather with your colleagues. 

Today, students, for whom we built this University, are writing the new chapter, victory chapter for the University of Houston. They are proving that every national championship is attainable and every national honor is achievable…Goldwater, Gates Cambridge, Knight-Hennessy, Marshall, Truman, Phi Beta Kappa and Fulbright scholarships — they are winning them all. 

This journey reflects the hard work of many, including often the unsung heroes, our amazing staff. From maintaining lawns to advising students, from sweeping floors to balancing books, our staff have been the backbone of this university. It is time for us to show our appreciation. So, let’s give our staff a big round of applause. 

Building the Research Powerhouse!

I promised to take the nostalgic journey on research and athletics separately. So, let’s start with research. 

Today, we know the University of Houston as a research powerhouse, but it was only in the early 1970s under President Philip Hoffman’s leadership that research and scholarship gained true significance. He began the process of hiring researchers and expanding graduate programs. 

I recall, vividly, my meeting with President Hoffman shortly after my arrival. I went to his apartment for a 30-minute scheduled meeting, but we spent over two hours talking about what is possible for UH. As I got up to leave, he put his hands on my shoulders and said, “With you at the helm of UH, I can rest in peace.” He passed away a few months later. I have always felt his hands on my shoulders and still feel that I am here to complete what he started … to build a powerhouse right here at the University of Houston.

In 1976, the University made its boldest move thus far by attracting Dr. Neal Admundson, the University’s first-ever National Academy member, who eventually would make his department one of the nation’s leading Chemical Engineering departments. The following year, the University witnessed one of its own faculty become a member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Abraham Dukler, also from Chemical Engineering. In 1978, the University filed its first patent for a topical Poison Ivy relief and prevention ointment. 

Bold and fearless, few but mighty, our faculty went on a path to break records. In 1986, Dr. Leon Thomsen published a groundbreaking paper reshaping geophysics, which remained our most cited article with over 6,800 citations. 

In 1987, Dr. Paul Chu shattered temperature limits with his superconductivity discoveries, earning the National Medal of Science from President Reagan and leading to the creation of the Texas Center for Superconductivity. May I ask Dr. Paul Chu to please stand? Please give him a big applause. 

Today, one of Dr. Chu’s students, who graduated, then left to work in industry and finally returned to UH, is taking the promise of superconductivity to new heights. He is able to manufacture high-temperature superconductor wires that, among other uses, can modernize electrical grids and at lower costs. Dr. Selvamanickam earned membership in the National Academy of Engineering this year. Will you please stand? 

Despite success in scientific research, our faculty never forgot their roots in the community. Records indicate that as far back as 1928, a faculty member published an article advising Houstonians how to kill webworms using fire. In 1988, Professor John Lienhard launched his iconic public radio program, Engines of Our Ingenuity, blending historical scholarship, engineering heritage and public communication to reach millions worldwide. He is with us right now, Dr. Lienhard, will you please stand and let us recognize you?

The 1990s saw even more amazing successes. 

Dr. Harold Kohn discovered Vimpat, an anti-seizure medication that eventually generated $500 million in royalties, directly funding our new research infrastructure. 

In 1998, Dr. Edward Hirsch received the University’s first “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation, another signal of the University’s growing recognition on the national scene. Today, we have many faculty who continue to earn these types of prestigious honors. Winning the Guggenheim Fellowship this year is Dr. Haleh Ardebili. May I ask you to please stand? 

With great faculty and even greater ideas, UH was gaining national attention and increasing its share of research funding. Since 2010, UH research spending began a period of sustained, accelerated growth, more than doubling from about $120 million to $276 million last year.

Excellence was in faculty’s DNA; now it was a game of numbers. University leadership soon recognized that while our researchers were competitive, in comparison to others, they were few in number. Fortunately, a donor stepped up to make an anonymous gift of $50 million as a challenge match to raise another $50 million. This gift of $100 million allowed the University to launch its most aggressive hiring program in decades. In 2023, one more piece fell in place in the form of the Texas University Fund, approved by the Texas legislature, allowing the university to reap the benefits of a $1.3 billion state endowment fund to support its research ambitions.

Today, our faculty are discovering treatments for cancer, leukemia, Alzheimer’s and building devices so people who are paralyzed could walk. They are preventing chronic diseases — keeping deadly diseases at bay — prolonging battery life and developing stretchable, bendable batteries to power the next generation of wearable techs.

As celebrated as discoveries in science and engineering are, the scholarly work in the arts, humanities and social sciences has been deeply meaningful and instrumental in advancing the University to greater heights.

By the 1960s and 70s, these programs attracted artists who would go on to earn critical acclaim, like painter and movie director Julian Schnabel, who has won a Cannes Film Festival award for best director, a Golden Globe award for best director and received multiple Academy Award nominations. Actors like Dennis Quaid and Brett Cullen who graduated at the same time, making UH a destination for thriving artists. The Houston Shakespeare Festival that started in 1975, and more than 50 years later it’s still thriving.

In 1979, Professor Nicolas Kanellos brought Arte Público Press to UH, which is now the nation’s largest and oldest publisher of U.S. Hispanic literature. He was later awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Biden for his amazing contributions to the field. 

By the 1980s, UH’s creative writing program, with giants like Edward Hirsch and Richard Howard, had already risen to the top rankings in the nation. The Theater program attracted Edward Albee, a two-time Pulitzer winner who won his third Pulitzer while at UH in 1994.

Jody Williams, winner of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, joined UH faculty in 2007, bringing international gravitas to the Graduate College of Social Work. 

Brene Brown, known all over the world for her work on shame and vulnerability, is the author of six No.1 New York Times bestsellers. She is a faculty member in the Graduate College of Social Work and a graduate of UH as well. 

Every year, our faculty win highly competitive national awards and often more than one, setting new records. Cristina Rivera Garza and Pradeep Sharma are the most recent recipients of multiple national awards. 

Today, our momentum is simply unstoppable. 

We are reporting $300 million in research spending this year. Faculty are receiving over 125 million directly from the federal government through a competitive process. Technology Bridge, launched in 2014, has spurred 83 start-ups. Faculty members are among the world’s 1% , top 1% most cited faculty, leading among them is Dr. Zhifeng Ren who, as a scholar, has been cited over 132,000 times by other scholars all over the world. 

One hundred years…from advising on how to kill webworms to curing diseases, we have built a world-changing legacy at the University of Houston. But we are not stopping here. As we look to the next horizon, our goal is to drive this innovation engine to $500 million in annual research expenditures. With the newly launched UH Health, cutting-edge UH Energy, and fast-growing defense spending, achieving this goal is not a question of if but of when. 

Houston Cougars’ Pursuit of Excellence

If momentum in research is making you dizzy, wait till you hear about Houston Cougars sports. When academics were building the interior of the house, Athletics was building the most impressive front porch in the nation. If Houston Cougars have proven one thing over the century, it is that we have courage to defy the odds. 

To understand Cougars’ tenacity, we will have to go back to the1930s.

Who would have thought that in Houston’s heat, the first sports program to be launched by the University of Houston would be ice hockey…yes, ice hockey! In 1934, a faculty member started the ice hockey team, which soon captured national attention by going undefeated in its first year. The 1934 yearbook described the players as a "fighting bunch of puck-pushers" who played entire games without a break! 

If I must select one year to call the most defining year in our sports history, it would be 1946. It was in 1946 that UH sported five intercollegiate varsity teams: Men’s Basketball, Football, Tennis, Golf and Track and Field … of course, all of them were men’s teams. The year also gave birth to lasting traditions like the Cougar Marching Band, campus bonfire and student pep rallies. In case you are wondering, no, campus bonfires are no longer allowed.

Students wanted to have a live Cougar on campus, and by 1947 they raised enough funds to buy a 75-pound Mexican Puma from Brownsville, Texas and house her on campus. Students organized a competition to name this mascot. The winner, Joe Randol, suggested the name Shasta as a clever rhythmic twist on “She Has To.” 

It took Houston Cougars only one decade to create a dynasty in Men’s golf by winning consecutive national championships in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960, establishing a fierce track record of dominance!

Cougar football also matured fast, winning the conference championship within seven years of its inception. UH also launched baseball in 1947.

Let me bring your attention to one athlete, Carine Cone, a swimmer. She broke seven world records before becoming the first UH student athlete ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. 

The message to the nation was clear: Houston Cougars had arrived! The 1960s were the years of innovation and creativity in Cougar sports. In 1964, Houston athletics became one of the first in the nation to embrace integration of black athletes when Football Coach Bill Yeoman signed Warren McVea and basketball coach Guy V. Lewis recruited Elvin Hayes and Don Chaney. 

The following year, in 1965, Houston Football moved to the Eighth Wonder of the World, the Astrodome. It is during this time that Coach Yeoman engineered his famous move, the Veer Offense, which made Houston Cougars a team to reckon with. By the end of the decade, football was ranked No.12 in the nation!

Three years later, the Houston Men’s Basketball program was to change that sport forever. On January 20, 1968, UH hosted the legendary "Game of the Century." Playing under the lights of the Astrodome, the Cougars defeated UCLA 71-69 in front of 52,693 roaring fans. As the first prime-time televised college basketball game, this historic matchup made basketball a national mainstay. 

The 1970s arrived with a big bang as Houston entered the Southwest Conference and soon dominated the league. In its very first year, football shared the conference title and won the Cotton Bowl. Dominance continued through the decade as Cougars took the championship trophy two more times. Cougars also moved to their own campus stadium, Robertson Stadium.

But all of this was just a prelude to the golden era about to begin in the 1980s. Phi Slama Jama, Texas’ tallest fraternity, emerged on the national scene. Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwan started to display the ultimate athleticism with their explosive, fast-breaking, and dunk-heavy style of play. You do know our Regent Lynden Rose was also on that team, by the way. The team advanced to three Final Four appearances in 1982, 1983, and 1984. Houston Cougars had once again redefined the game. 

Not to be left behind, Cougar football made its own history by winning its first and, so far, the only Heisman Trophy in 1989. Quarterback Andre Ware received the trophy for shattering all passing records by using his famous Run and Shoot offense. 

Carl Lewis, a timid kid from New Jersey, arrived to run track and field wearing a Houston jersey. In subsequent years, he will go on to win 10 Olympic medals … nine of which were gold! 

This truly was the golden era!

The next two decades were the years of regrouping and rebuilding. All three winningest coaches: Yeoman, Lewis, and Williams retired, and the Southwest Conference dismantled itself, leaving Houston outside of the newly formed Big12 league. It was a perfect storm causing casualties that took many years to rebuild. 

But quitting is not in the Cougar DNA. 

Today, our athletic programs are experiencing a brilliant renaissance, perhaps shaping the golden era 2.0. Coach Kelvin Sampson joined UH as head coach of Men’s Basketball in 2014 and, within a short span of seven years, took the team to the NCAA Final Four. Two years later, in 2023, the team claimed the No.1 AP spot for the first time since the days of the Phi Slama Jama. In 2025, the Cougars played in the championship game, and this chapter of excellence continues. 

Willie Fritz arrived in Houston as head coach of Houston Football in 2023. In his second year, he led Cougar football to win ten games, including the Texas Bowl against LSU. 

This year begins with great anticipation as both teams — Football and Men’s Basketball — started ranked in the top 25 in pre-season polls. Expectations are also high from other teams as well, as new coaches in, Baseball, Men’s Golf, Women’s Golf and Tennis … have taken the helm of their teams.

From the ice rinks of 1934 to the Big 12 stage today, our Cougars continue to roar. 

100 years of history!

From 232 students to 49,000 students!

From one degree to 12,000 [annual] degrees!

From 110 acres to 1,813 acres!

From one building to 165 buildings!

From one win to national championships and gold medals!

This is our journey, this is our legacy and we have captured the spirit of it in a short centennial video, which we will be playing, among other videos, during every Centennial event next year. You get to see the preview today, so let’s roll…

UH100 - 100 Years of Excellence

As we stand at the turn of the century, the question is: where do we go from here? The founders and builders of the first century took decisions that shaped the last century. They were bold, they were defiant, and they were resilient.  

We are entrusted with that same responsibility today, for we stand at the threshold of our second century.  The decisions we make today and the actions we take now could shape this century.  For us, opportunities are boundless: a medical school, a new campus in Katy, growing demand in Sugar Land, Houston’s diversifying economy and the strength of Texas. Our university will continue to thrive as long as we don’t forget our core mission.

And that core mission is our students…opportunities for them to transform their lives.  But that mission — obsessive goal of student success — cannot be an excuse to not excel in everything else.  We must excel and compete against the best of the best on every front. We are here to discover solutions to the world’s toughest challenges. We are here to win every national championship. 

So, what do we do?  Good question, and I believe the answer lies within us.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who are changed by time and those who change time.  

Let’s have courage to change the time.

Let’s have courage to defy the odds

Let’s do what no one thinks possible.

Let’s build the boldest century for the University of Houston.

Because this is our time!

All the best and Go Coogs!