UHV open house to go virtual
A free University of Houston-Victoria Virtual Open House will allow current and prospective students to “visit” the university and get all their questions answered from the comfort of their homes.
The online open house will take place from 2 to 6 p.m. April 23 and is open to the public. The open house is for those interested in earning a bachelor’s or master’s degree online from UHV; attending the main UHV campus in Victoria as a freshman, transfer student or graduate student; or attending the UHV Katy instructional site in Greater Houston as a transfer or graduate student. Registration for summer and fall classes opens Monday.
“We are excited to be able to have this for our students,” said Billy Lagal, UHV director of admissions and student recruitment. “We don’t want people to forget their college goals. This event will help us keep higher education in front of current and prospective students even though they can’t visit UHV or UHV Katy because of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Initially, an open house was being planned for UHV Katy, but it was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns, said Karla DeCuir, UHV Katy senior director of enrollment management and external affairs. However, students still needed to be able to connect with recruiters, advisors and other staff members to get their questions about the university answered.
“After all UHV spring semester classes went to online only on March 25, we thought it made sense to move the open house online, too,” she said. “UHV has offered courses online for about 20 years, so it just made sense.”
The UHV Virtual Open House will feature a main page for the virtual event, and from there, participants will be able to choose from separate channels for incoming freshmen, transfer students and graduate students, with various sessions offered within those channels.
Sessions will include information about admissions, academic programs, financial aid, residence life, student services, athletics and military benefits. Some faculty members also will be available to speak to participants, and current and prospective students can learn about scholarships available to them.
“We will have people available to answer any question in real time,” Lagal said. “This open house will be a comprehensive event, just as it would be in person.”
Each session will be about 30 minutes, and there also will be a drone video tour of both the Victoria and Katy locations.
“Thanks to technology, this is an opportunity to reach out to all our future students,” DeCuir said. “This virtual event creates a new platform that we can use in the future for those who may not be able to attend in-person open houses. What is going on in the world is terrible, but this is an opportunity for us to think outside the box about how we can serve our region.”
For more information about the UHV Virtual Open House and to register for the event, go to GoHere.uhv.edu. After registering, attendees will receive an email with more details so that they can participate in the open house and select the sessions that interest them.
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.
