UHV gets real-life jaguar mascot

jaX the jaguar makes his debut Monday at the Texas Zoo in Victoria. The University of Houston-Victoria made a donation to the zoo to bring jaX to Victoria and renovate the former lion enclosure for the male jaguar. The jaguar came from the Wild World of Animals in Pennsylvania and will be 5 years old on Aug. 14. jaX, which stands for “jaguars are eXceptional,” gets his name from UHV’s mascot. After former UHV employee and artist Harold Nichols donated a life-sized jaguar sculpture to the university in 2009, UHV held a naming contest. About 250 suggested names came from UHV employees and students, the community and local school children, and the name “jaX” was unveiled at a UHV Jaguar “X”travaganza on Jan. 21, 2010.

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.