The University of Houston-Victoria may well be one of the first universities in the nation to publish its annual report online only.

John Ellis

“Although more universities are posting their printed annual reports on their Web sites, our research did not find any other university that had built a Web site for its annual report and put it online only,” UHV Marketing Director John Ellis said.

UHV President Tim Hudson said he is pleased with the innovation of the 2007-2008 annual report, which can be viewed at www.UHVAnnualReport.com.

Tim Hudson

“This is another important step in reducing UHV’s impact on the environment, and it highlights UHV’s technological strengths,” he said.

In August of 2007, Hudson became the first president from a Texas public university to sign the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment, an effort involving more than 600 universities working to achieve climate neutrality.

Since then, UHV has taken many steps to reduce its emissions, including publishing the annual report online only. The previous year, 5,000 copies of the 24-page annual report were printed and distributed. In earlier years, UHV had experimented with an innovative annual report DVD, which garnered several awards.

“These are the kinds of steps that leading universities like the University of Houston-Victoria are taking to reduce our impacts on the climate and save money, too. As a signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, UHV is showing the path forward for 21st century higher education,” said Rafael Reyes, program director at ecoAmerica, a co-organizer of ACUPCC.

The online-only annual report was announced during the UHV President’s Annual Report & Excellence Awards event last month. The annual report is accessible from the UHV home page at www.uhv.edu or by going directly to the annual report Web site. The site was created by the UHV Marketing Department with assistance from the Information Technology Department.

This was a good time for an online-only annual report because an increasing number of people are going to the UHV Web site and other Internet sites for information, Ellis said. For example, the UHV home page received 266,667 unique hits from Sept. 1 through Dec. 9 compared to 255,939 during the same period the previous year.

The theme for the annual report was “Dare to Dream. Dare to Achieve.” Video presentations shown during the event and posted on the Web site feature 23 students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members sharing how UHV has helped them achieve their dreams.

The site also features faculty, staff, student and alumni highlights; UHV’s enrollment and financial figures; a list of donors; videos from the event, including recipients of the excellence awards; and an event photo gallery. For those who want a paper annual report, the Web site contains PDFs that can be printed.

All of the information found in previous annual reports is on the Web site along with eye-catching videos, animation and numerous color photos.

“Publishing an online-only annual report allowed us to be environmentally responsible while at the same time providing information to the community in an innovative, visually appealing way,” Hudson said. “We have heard many positive comments from the community and are pleased that people are enjoying the new format. I’m pretty sure we’ve started a trend.”