Philip Castille, president of the University of Houston-Victoria, has formed a strategic planning committee made up of community and campus leaders to provide input on future capital projects to build a destination university.

“The group of leaders I’ve asked to serve on the UHV 2015 Planning Committee cares deeply about UHV’s success and will give valuable guidance for accommodating both short- and long-term growth at the university,” Castille said.

The formation of the committee follows up on a July meeting state Rep. Dan Branch held in Victoria and is intended to involve the community, university and UH System in a common planning effort for student growth.

The committee will look at a draft master plan – titled “University of Houston-Victoria: A Community Campus” – being developed by DesignLAB-Houston, the professional research arm of the UH Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture. Data used in the draft master plan were gathered during the past year by working groups on the UHV campus and supplied to DesignLAB through a UH System Master Plan Committee headed by Dean Patrician Oliver of the College of Architecture.

When fully developed, a master plan for the four universities in the UH System will be presented to the UH Board of Regents. The plan will identify the need for facilities through 2030 based on projected student enrollment growth and demand.

“In the short term, the key finding of the master plan process is that we will be out of classroom space on the Victoria campus by 2015 because of growth in our residential student population,” Castille said. “It is clear that we have to start planning now if we are going to meet student needs by the end of 2014.”

Members of the UHV 2015 Planning Committee will meet several times during the fall and will provide a report and recommendations to Castille regarding the draft master plan.

Those who have agreed to serve on the committee are as follows:  

• Will Armstrong, Victoria mayor
• Wayne Beran, UHV vice president for administration & finance
• Emily Bergstrom, UHV Student Senate president
• David Brown, Citizens Medical Center CEO
• Thomas Butler, Victoria College president
• Miles Harrison, UHV Staff Council past chairman
• Joe Humphreys, UHV Small Business Development Center interim director
• Clint Ives, Victoria County commissioner
• Bob Moore, Victoria Independent School District superintendent
• Geanie Morrison, Texas state representative
• Mary Natividad, UHV School of Education & Human Development professor
• Farhang Niroomand, UHV School of Business Administration dean
• Chari Norgard, UHV associate vice president for student affairs
• Don Pozzi, Victoria County judge
• Margaret Rice, UHV chief of staff and interim associate vice president for community relations
• Ron Salazar, UHV Faculty Senate representative
• Marshall Schott, UH assistant vice president for instructional support and outreach
• Don Smith, UHV interim provost and special assistant to the president
• Gabriel Soliz, Victoria city councilman
• Kathryn Tart, UHV School of Nursing dean
• Roger Welder, UH System regent