University of Houston

Nerds FTW! UH Nets a Pair of Finalists in Microsoft's Video Game Design Contest

The video game industry is massive. Video game sales outpaced music sales years ago and they continue to grow. And Houston has been home to many a video game programmer over the years. Perhaps it is because of the success at the University of Houston. For the fourth straight year, UH is the only sch ... More >>

Bill Evans Leads UH Students On a Jazz Odyssey

"Jazz is a language," Grammy Award-winning jazz saxophonist Bill Evans said to a small crowd gathered inside the University of Houston's Moores School of Music Opera House green room Tuesday evening. He and Noe Marmolejo, the band director, were prefacing a night of music performed by the UH Jazz En ... More >>

How the University of Houston Became Home of the Food Trucks

Phi Nguyen, a University of Houston alumni who had recently started his own food truck business, The Waffle Bus, after spending a year unemployed, found himself right back at his alma mater last spring when the school's University Center was closed for reconstruction. Little did he know that he was ... More >>

Robertson Stadium Goes Boom as UH Releases Renderings for New Football Stadium

After 70 years, this is what has come of fabled Robertson Stadium. The photo above was taken on Wednesday as crews demolished the University of Houston campus football venue to make way for a brand new stadium in its place that will look something like this: The new facility is scheduled to be read ... More >>

There Be Pirates Here: UH Ranks Third on List of University Students Using BitTorrent

According to a survey of Internet usage by TorrentFreak and ScanEye, the University of Houston ranks third on its list of universities that most utilize BitTorrent technology. For the non-nerd, BitTorrent is a technology that allows incremental downloading of very large files that can include pirate ... More >>

The New UH Football Helmet Gets A Thumbs....DOWN

The University of Houston has revealed the design for this year's football helmets, marking the last season at Robertson Stadium. And the motif seems to be Go Out Loud. Which is good if you're a stadium full of crazed fans, but when you've already got a helmet design that, for UH, is refreshingly ... More >>

UH Hires Developers for New $105 Million Football Stadium

Look at the University of Houston, acting all grown up and everything. They are so cute at that age. UH, long suffering in grand old Robertson Stadium, particularly in recent years when the football team has been, you know, actually good, finally is moving forward on a much ballyhooed stadium plan ... More >>

LitFuse

An Afternoon with the Artists

Historic UH Chicano Mural Could Be Destroyed

Since 1973, César Chávez, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata have had steady presences at the University of Houston. That's when Vietnam War veterans and then UH students Ruben Angel Reyna and Mario Gonzales painted the icons into the "Chicano Mural," located on the basement level of UH's University ... More >>

Dumb-Ass Arizona Law Keeps University of Houston-Published Books Out of Schools

Like the dreaded butterfly effect (the phenomenon, not the Ashton Kutcher movie, although that was pretty bad, too), a bizarre decision by an Arizona school official to shutter a Mexican-American studies class means kids won't be reading a few well-regarded books published by the University of Houst ... More >>

Coog Radio Signs Online As UH's First-Ever Student-Run Station

Charne GrahamThe Faces of Coog Radio: Operations Director Sofia Straus, Music Director Josue Garcia and Co-founder Conner Clifton (first picture), and DJ Janet Quiroa (second).​The University of Houston finally has its first student-founded and student-run radio station, Coog Radio, which laun ... More >>

UH Is Not a Tier 1 School When It Comes to Geography

​This picture is making the net rounds, of a campus-map sign at the University of Houston. Geography can be so confusing....

UH Among Best Colleges To Work At, Study Says

Study give the Coogs props​If you're working at the University of Houston, you should be happy. Not just because anyone who has a job in higher ed should be happy, but because you're employed at one of the best colleges to be working for, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. The p ... More >>

Distinctly American: Texas Music Festival Jazz Project

Aggies Not Hospitable to Transgender Conference, So It's Coming to UH

UH seems more welcoming, group says.​The third annual Texas Transgender Nondiscrimination Summit had been scheduled to take place at Texas A&M this summer, but organizers now say, "In the interest of safety for the participants" it will be moved to the University of Houston. A conservative gr ... More >>

Augie Busch Replaces the Late Mark Taylor as UH Swimming Coach

Courtesy of the University of Houston Athletic DepartmentAugie Busch becomes UH's fourth swim coach.​Late yesterday afternoon, the University of Houston announced the appointment of Augie Busch as its swimming coach. Busch, the son of USA swimming national team director Frank Busch (a six-time ... More >>

UH Students Go Inside Bon Jovi's Space-Age Stage

Photos by Matthew Keever​As if he hadn't done enough already, we can add philanthropy to the list of John Bon Jovi's accomplishments. Already world renowned for his music, the rock icon and No. 1 worldwide touring act of 2010, according to Billboard and Pollstar, is out to help people, and a l ... More >>

UH Holding Out for More Tier One Funds, Blocking Legislative Deal

Coogs pushing hard in Austin.​The University of Houston is the last holdout in a vote to set the funding distribution method out of a voter-backed endowment devoted to ramping up the number of nationally ranked universities in Texas. The University of Texas and Texas A&M University are the st ... More >>

UH Student Senate Supports Gays In The "Family Values Centers" Budget Fight

Coogs embrace the unchaste​The student senate at the University of Houston has decided that even if some Aggies are wailing about "unchaste" gay sex, UH students oppose the bill mandating "Family Values" Centers on any Texas campuses that have gay resource groups. (Maybe the Coogs just don't ... More >>

For Earth Day: Solar Help From Hurricane Devastation

UHGBCThey may not look like much, but you'll be thankful​As we honor Mother Earth on this her day, let us remember that she can be a bit cruel at times. Like knocking out power via a hurricane. It tends to happen in Houston every once in a while, and the University of Houston and the city hav ... More >>

James Franco Enrolling In UH's Creative Writing Writing Program?

Is the University of Houston's well-respected Creative Writing Program about to get as a student James Franco, the actor known for post-grad studies, 127 Hours and not being the greatest Oscar host? Possibly. Burndownblog takes note of page 13 of the CWP's newsletter listing incoming students. Amo ... More >>

KTRU Lives On At KPFT In Seven-Year Lease

Marc Brubaker​KTRU (91.7 FM), the student-run station at Rice University sold to the University of Houston just before the start of school last fall, will begin broadcasting on Pacifica station KPFT's (90.1 FM) high-definition channel, it was announced today. This means the station won't be r ... More >>

Texas Watchdog Unearths More KTRU Sale Documents

Brittanie Shey​We're all still waiting to see if the Federal Communications Commission will approve the proposed sale of Rice University's student-staffed station KTRU to the University of Houston, which (among other things) would more or less be the death knell for local music on Houston's ai ... More >>

UH's "Tier One" Talk Gets a Little More Legitimate

UH: We're (kinda) Tier One!​Just as Houston officials throw around "world-class city" ad nauseam, boosters of the University of Houston throw "Tier One University" into every other sentence, it seems. The mysterious and vague "Tier One" description is reserved for the nation's elite schools; ... More >>

UH Wins Gowalla Challenge, $10K

UH didn't go to a bowl, but did win this contest​Gowalla is the Avis to Foursquare's Hertz when it comes to apps that tell everyone where you are, because Lord knows everyone needs to know that. In a bid for publicity, they had a contest to see which college could drum up the most check-ins ... More >>

E-Mails May Reignite Court Fight Over KTRU Sale

KTRU supporters still battling on​Lawyers for the group Friends of KTRU are reviewing potentially damaging e-mails, which were obtained and first reported on by Texas Watchdog, and are weighing whether to file an action against the University of Houston for possible open meetings act violations, s ... More >>

Dear Renu Khator: Use KTRU To Spread UH Sports

KTRU could be a UH sports resource​Dear Dr. Khator:Now that some time has passed, I thought I would offer up my congratulations on the University of Houston's purchase of KTRU from Rice. I know that you have probably been hearing from some angry people, but seeing as how the station didn't even ge ... More >>

KTRU Protest Draws Staff, Students From Both Universities

Photos by Brittanie Shey​At least 100 staff, students, alumni and music fans from Rice University, the University of Houston and Rice's student-run radio station KTRU gathered on the Rice campus this afternoon to protest the sale of the station to the University of Houston. Houston Press firs ... More >>

KTRU Protest Draws Staff, Students From Both Universities

Photos by Brittanie Shey​At least 100 staff, students, alumni and music fans from Rice University, the University of Houston and Rice's student-run radio station KTRU gathered on the Rice campus this afternoon to protest the sale of the station to the University of Houston. Houston Press firs ... More >>

The New UH Fresh Food Company -- Not the Dorm Food You Remember

Times are changing...​Collegiate dining usually conjures up thoughts of boring, fattening, borderline-inedible food. But those of us who had to suffer through sad dorm room cuisine will be astonished to learn about the brand new dining concept being rolled out at The University of Houston's M ... More >>

Media Embargo: UH And Rice Get What They Want From The Chronicle

They probably played this on KTRU​If you're going to kill off the last station in town that epitomizes "college radio" (for better or worse), you have to work hard not to come off looking like a villain.The University of Houston and Rice sure did, using a media embargo in cooperation with the Hous ... More >>

KTRU: Is UH About To Buy Rice's Station And Transform It From Unique To Bland?

R.I.P., KTRU as we know it?​Could the end of KTRU as Houston knows it be upon us? Our sister blog Rocks Off has heard that Rice student station at 91.7 FM, long one of Houston radio's few outlets for underground, avant-garde and local music, may about to be acquired by the University of Houston f ... More >>

KTRU: Is U Of H About To Buy Rice Student Station?

​Could the end of KTRU as Houston knows it be upon us? Rocks Off has heard that Rice student station at 91.7 FM, long one of Houston radio's few outlets for underground, avant-garde and local music, may about to be acquired by the University of Houston for use as a sister station to KUHF. So ... More >>

UH & TSU Get A Little Closer To Each Other

​The University of Houston and Texas Southern University are near-neighbors across Scott Street, but that hasn't always made them the best of friends. UH has had a (under-the-table, to be sure) tendency to look down on the chronically troubled, historically black school.But these days, it's gettin ... More >>

THE COUGAR DEN'S COUGAR COOLER

Stirred and Shaken: The Cougar Den's Cougar Cooler

Photo by Troy Fields​When I attended University of Houston, the only on-campus watering holes I frequented were the stadium parking lot and the Communication Building. (During one end-of-the-semester newspaper party, a colleague who also went on to write for this very column nearly pissed on m ... More >>

Late Night Scene: Coffee Groundz

​For such a small space, the Coffee Groundz has a United Nations-like ability to bring together a crowd of people who normally operate in different layers of the social stratosphere. The front of the bar is sparsely populated by midnight, with a few solo guys working on the laptops and a gay c ... More >>

Impulse!

UH faculty gives us a future perfect

2 x 2

The MacAdam-Somer Quartet performs a world premiere of a work by UH Professor Robert Nelson

Homeless Man Killed On University of Houston Main Campus

Sometime late Friday night or early Saturday morning an older man, who the Houston Police are saying was homeless, was shot in the head and killed at a campus bus stop outside Hofheinz Pavilion. His body was discovered by a student around 7 a.m. Saturday morning.HPD is investigating the murder, and ... More >>

Chances The Next Issue Of UH's Alumni Magazine Will Feature A Photo of Renu Khator With The "BP Buggy": 100 Percent

In recent history, BP has faced a few public relations challenges. But the company has a vehicle for refurbishing its image: the BP Buggy. It's been gifting them all over the place, to parks, nature centers and universities. And the latest recipient is the University of Houston, which received its v ... More >>

UH-Downtown Gets Set To Vote On World's Least Necessary Name Change

Max Castillo, president of UH-Downtown, confirmed to the Houston Chronicle what he told us last month: he really, really wants to change the name of his school.And now he's taking it online!The school has put up on its webpage a whole collection of facts, lists, criteria and suggested names for stud ... More >>

The Strange Advertising Deal No One At UH Wants To Talk About

The University of Houston's Communication Department has taken bold, groundbreaking steps to preserve the study of journalism for future generations.It just depends on how you define "journalism."The Daily Cougar, the student newspaper, recently inked a sweet deal with a local company called Inverte ... More >>

UH Study Shows People Willing To Keep Diaries About Their Feelings May Have Too Many Feelings

A new study out from the University of Houston claims some people need to get a life. Okay, maybe it doesn't exactly say that, but it does talk about a phenomenon called "relationship-contingent self-esteem," which happens when people "place too much emotional weight" on their relationships. People ... More >>

UH Reporters Ordered To Hand Over E-Mails