HISTORY

The University of Houston-Clear Lake (UH-Clear Lake) was authorized in 1971 by House Bill 199 in the 62nd Texas legislature.  The measure came in the aftermath of a 1968 report by the Coordinating Board, Texas College and University System, calling for a second University of Houston campus, offering upper-level and graduate programs for commuting students in the Houston metropolitan area. In 1973, the Texas Senate authorized construction of a permanent campus at Clear Lake.

UH-Clear Lake is located on 487 acres donated by the Friendswood Development Company.  The university is midway between downtown Houston and the historic port of Galveston and adjacent to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center--the hub of space shuttle operations, astronaut training, and space station planning--and the Armand Bayou Nature Center.

Construction began early in 1974 with the first phase of the Bayou Building, the largest of the university's five principal buildings. September 1974 marked the beginning of regularly scheduled classes on the UHCL campus under the leadership of UHCL's founding chancellor, Alfred R. Neumann. Opening day enrollment totaled 1,069 students and 60 professors comprised the charter faculty. Today, the university has approximately 7,500 students and more than 600 full-time and adjunct faculty.

Thomas M. Stauffer became UH-Clear Lake's second chancellor in September 1982.  On September 1, 1986, the title of chancellor was changed to president.  Glenn A. Goerke was appointed president of UH-Clear Lake on August 1, 1991.  The current president is William A. Staples who has been with the university since 1979.

UH-Clear Lake and the other UH campuses are governed by a board of regents and the chancellor of the University of Houston System.  Administrative responsibility for the Clear Lake Campus is vested in a president, who is advised by a statutory council made up of the heads of public community colleges in an eight-county region.