It will be at least two years until UH-Sugar Land opens a new 150,000-square-foot academic building at its site near the corner of University Boulevard and Hwy. 59. The $54 million expansion will allow the university to expand on-site course options for the College of Technology and the College of Education.
Plans include an exhibit hall in the new building and a water feature made out of water retention channels on-site. No designs are finalized. UH-Sugar Land has about 5,000 students, and McPherson expects the campus to be able to support up to 8,000 students upon full build-out. A second building, also 150,000 square feet, is planned after the first building opens in the 2018-19 school year.
The southwest corner of the property is proposed for public-private partnerships, McPherson said. Fluor Corp. gave the school $1 million to create the Fluor-UH Industrial Construction Management Education Partnership for research and professional development.
The University of Houston at Sugar Land held a groundbreaking ceremony at the campus Friday for its new College of Technology building.
Local and state officials were present, including Sugar Land Mayor Joe Zimmerman, Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert, Fort Bend County Precinct 4 Commissioner James Patterson, state Senator Lois Kolkhorst and state Representatives John Zerwas and Rick Miller.
Senior university officials spoke at the ceremony, including UH Chancellor Renu Khator and Jay Neal, associate vice president and chief operating officer at UH-Sugar Land and UH-Katy.
“The activities, research, instruction and projects that come from our new College of Technology building will be fueled with the drive and innovation that is UH—tier one in Greater Fort Bend County,” Neal said.
So is the entire College of Technology moving off-campus?
If so, then I’d regard this as a mistake.
We’ve been trying to attract more students to live on campus for years now. Suppose someone comes to UH, lives on campus, and then decides to study technology?
Is that person now going to be forced into commuter status by having to drive out to Sugar Land? It seems to me that this would represent a bit of a step backwards in our efforts to shake the whole “commuter school” image.
Why couldn’t the College of Technology put its new building on the main campus?
No, I believe this is just an off-campus location to try to utilize the technology companies over in Sugarland. College of Technology will still have on-campus buildings and be housed at the main campus.
As far as commuting, UH provides a shuttle from the main campus. From the College of Technology main site:
The University of Houston provides no-cost shuttle service to UH Sugar Land. To ride, students must provide a copy of their current schedule (indicating enrollment in at least one UH course at UH Sugar Land) to the UH Sugar Land Student Services office in the George Building (AMG 101). IDs will not be checked for the first two weeks of the semester to allow students to get their required UH Sugar Land ID.
The new College of Technology building; located on the UH at Sugar Land site at U.S. 59 and University Blvd., offers state-of-the-art classroom, training and research spaces where students can study biotechnology, construction management, digital media, human resource development, mechanical engineering, supply chain and logistics technology and technology leadership and innovation management.
In Katy, UH recently opened the new UH College of Nursing and UH Cullen College of Engineering facility located near the intersection of Interstate 10 and the Grand Parkway. The College of Nursing offers classes toward the traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Master of Science in Nursing. UH at Katy will also share the building with the University of Houston-Victoria at Katy where classes in business, education and liberal arts are offered.
The University of Houston-Sugar Land campus officially has a new College of Technology building. Campus officials, along with Fort Bend County and Sugar Land officials and residents, gathered Sept. 12 to celebrate the grand opening.
“The University of Houston is a story of momentum,” UH System Chancellor Renu Khator said. “Everything that is at the main campus of the University of Houston—all of those resources, all of the expertise, all of those programs—they also belong here to you in Sugar Land.”
Anthony Ambler, dean of the College of Technology, said the college is working on collaborations to share facilities with other local colleges, such as Houston Community College, Texas State Technical College and Wharton County Junior College—which already has a branch housed at UH-Sugar Land.
“We are actively participating with local schools to excite them about gaining a background in all levels of technology so that they can participate in the expanding opportunities that we have here,” Ambler said.
Not to revive this old thread, but I was recently surprised when I read this article. I didn’t know the move was happening. I have friends who are CoT grads and I believe this will be a short term risk for the school.
I think UH is positioning itself, for the long-term, to be a more traditional academic university. Moving all the applied schools to the suburban campuses that will become their own schools: University of Houston - Sugarland and University of Houston - Katy. Move the nontraditional students to an in-system alternative, but increase graduation year metrics to position main campus as an AAU research level institution. It’s exciting that something this bold is occurring, but also concerning that such an old pillar of the school’s history is going to be transitioned off. I hope the COT is maintained with the respect it deserves.
Could you expound on that statement? I graduated from the COT with a BSEET in 1976 and spent over 30 years employed as an electronic engineer in the oilfield. I also worked with quite a few other engineers with degrees from the COT and they were quite successful.
IMO if the graduates are successful in their careers, who cares what these ratings say?
