Although the facilities and grounds staff at the University of Houston-Victoria often toil behind the scenes, evidence of their hard work is everywhere: in the well-mowed lawns, the tidy parking lots, the clean exteriors of buildings. And it is to them that credit should rightly go for UHV’s recent recognition with a Beautification Award from Keep Victoria Beautiful.

On Tuesday, December 19, President Tim Hudson and Facilities Director Michael Ruland met with representatives of KVB in front of the University Center building to accept the award. Members of the university community and Chamber of Commerce were present.

“We all stand a little taller when we live and work in clean, well-maintained surroundings,” said Hudson. “UHV is proud to be able to offer such an environment to our students and, by extension, to the community, thanks to the efforts of our hard-working facilities staff.”

Keep Victoria Beautiful presents the Beautification Award to a different Victoria business or institution every month in recognition for their contributions towards making Victoria an attractive place to live and work. Awardees are nominated by members of the community and evaluated based on the upkeep of their buildings and landscaping.

Joseph D’Cater, a representative of KVB, said UHV should be commended for the wonderful job it is doing to beautify the community. “Your landscaping and grounds are really something to be proud of,” he wrote, in notifying the university of the award. KVB, under the direction of the Victoria Chamber of Commerce Beautification Committee, is a nonprofit associated with the Victoria Chamber Foundation. For more information, visit www.keepvictoriabeautiful.com.

The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.