UH College of Medicine Building Plans Unveiled

The city of Houston has had since 1945 the world class Texas Medical Center that has grown to a 2.1 square mile complex of densely packed medical building and hospitals that do cutting edge cancer and other medical research.

The first college of medicine to be started in the state of Texas in nearly 50 years became closer to becoming a reality after a bill establishing the new UH College of Medicine passed both houses in the 2019 session and was signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott.

The UH College of Medicine will start classes in the fall of 2020 with the goal of 50% of its graduates engaged in primary care.   An anonymous $3 million donation that was announced in July 2018 will cover tuition for the entire inaugural class of 30 students.   Another donation from the John O'Quinn Foundation will cover a third of the second class, with enrollment expected to grow to 480 students over the next 8 years. 

It still has some major steps to pass before classes can start.  UH was recently granted permission in a unanimous vote of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) for the new Doctor of Medicine degree.   In December it will submit its application to the federal accrediting body for medical programs called the Liaison Committee for Medical Education (LCME)

The university is finalizing a partnership with HCA Houston Healthcare, the largest hospital company in the nation, to bring a total of 389 new resident positions to the College of Medicine over its first six years.

Those new doctors will be needed and necessary.  Texas ranks an abysmal 47 out of 50 states in primary care physicians to population ratio, and the new medical school will be a major step towards rectifying that

Hopefully the new medical school will also take some time to teach their students about the medical needs of transgender patients, since we do have a large population of trans folks in the Houston metro area.    UH already has degree programs in nursing, pharmacy, optometry and social work, and the new medical school will be complementary to all those existing programs

“They clearly recognize the need for more primary care physicians in underserved urban and rural communities, and the University of Houston remains laser-focused on creating a new kind of medical school with an innovative curriculum to address the shortage," said founding College of Medicine dean Dr. Stephen Spann said in a statement

The school's four story 150,000 square foot building will be located on a 48 acre wooded plot of land just south of the main UH campus across from MacGregor Park along Martin Luther King Blvd the university purchased in 2008. 

Construction is slated to start in the spring of 2020 and be completed in 2022.

UH and TSU Are Back To Being Harris County Polling Locations

When I was a student at UH, the 1980 presidential election was happening during my freshman year.  While I eventually cast my ballot in my home precinct at Crestmont Park, I was still happy to know that we had a polling location set up in the UC for students to vote at. 

The same was the case at Texas Southern, which is one of the largest HBCU campuses in the nation and just a few blocks west of the UH campus.

When the Republicans got control of ethnically diverse Harris County, knowing that it provides at this point 25% of the vote total in a statewide election, the polling places on the UH and TSU campuses were removed.

At the same time, Texas Republicans when they passed their voter suppression laws in 2011, made sure that student ID's from a Texas college or university were no longer valid identification in order to make it harder for college students to vote.

Elections have consequences, and one of the happy consequences of the 2018 Blue tsunami that flipped Harris County back to dark blue Democratic Party control was the election of Dr. Diane Trautman to replace the odious GOP hack Stan Stanart as our Harris County Clerk. 

The county clerk, for you non-Texans, is the Chief Elections Administrator.  She's the person that establishes the procedures and policies that determine how elections are run in the largest county in Texas by population, where we vote and even the times we're able to do so subject to state and federal election law and approval of Harris County Commissioner's Court.



In addition to the welcome policy of being able to vote at any polling location in Harris County, polling locations were reestablished on the University of Houston and Texas Southern University campuses.

"It's important for young people to be involved in the elections process", said Dr Trautman. "These additional voting locations will make it easier for students, faculty and staff, as well as the surrounding communities to vote " 

That's significant, because UH has over 40,000 students and 7000 faculty and staff, while TSU has over 9000 enrolled students.   They deserve a say in who will govern them while they are matriculating on the UH and TSU campuses at the local, state and national level.

This will be effective for the upcoming November 5 municipal elections.


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POSE's Dominique Jackson Coming To UH!

Been wanting to meet Dominique Jackson from POSE.   Now she's coming to Houston. 

The University of Houston Center for Diversity and Inclusion as part of their fall speaker series is bringing her to H-town.   Dominique will share her story about being a transgender woman and other aspects of her life. 

And she may talk about the show and her role as Elektra Abundance Evangelista on POSE. 

This conversation will take place on October 16 in the Houston Room on the south side of the UH Student Center at 6 PM.   Hope y'all come, check it out and show Dominique some love.     

UH GCSW 2018 Scholarship Luncheon Today

One of the things I've noticed is that i have a lot of people in my social circles who are social workers.  Many of them went to school or graduated from the UH Graduate College of Social Work, and I've gotten to know its dean Alan Dettlaff from my with him time on the Houston Mayor's LGBT Advisory Board

The UH Graduate College of Social Work gets to well deservedly pop its collar over the fact that it was just named one of the top 25 Social Work colleges in the nation! 

It jumped fifteen spots to now be ranked at number 24, and congrats to Dean Dettlaff and his team for their hard work to get it there.   I also like the fact that the UH GCSW has a social justice mission as part of its vision statement.

Today I get to spend a few hours chilling with them at their annual scholarship luncheon, and their guest speaker for it is an old friend of mine in Laverne Cox.

Some awards will also be given out during this luncheon as well .

Yes, I know her.  Met her during a 2012 OUT on the Hill when she was the moderator for that all Black trans feminine panel I was on with Rev Carmarion Anderson, Danielle King and Valerie Spencer.

Back to the post.

The 2018 UH GCSW Scholarship Luncheon is being held starting at 11:30 AM CDT at the Post Oak Hotel in Uptown Houston (AKA the Galleria area). 

The 30 story hotel owned by billionaire UH Board of Regents chair Tilman Fertitta is so swanky it has its own Rolls Royce showroom.

I get a chance to check it out, or at least the conference center ballroom part of it today, and see a few friends in the process. 

Go Coogs, and see y'all in a few hours.

50th Anniversary of the 'Game Of The Century'

Would have been nice if on this January 20 date the University of Houston and UCLA would have played at NRG Stadium on the 50th anniversary of  'The Game of the Century'. 

 But alas, just like ten years ago, we couldn't get UCLA to agree to play that game,

We ended up on this historic day playing and beating #7 ranked Wichita State for our first win over a Top 10 ranked team since 1996. 

 Probably why UCLA was 'scurred' to play us

During halftime of the UH-Wichita State, several members of that 1968 Cougar squad were honored with framed photos to commemorate the 50th anniversary of that seminal game. 

It was a game that set the stage for how we view college basketball today and fueled March Madness. The 1968 game at the Astrodome was not only the first time a collegiate game was played in a domed stadium, it was also nationally televised in prime time.

It also drew the then largest crowd of 52, 693 people to watch the unbeaten number one ranked Kareem Abdul- Jabbar led Bruins take on the also unbeaten and number two ranked Cougars led by Elvin Hayes.

The Coogs upset the Bruins that night 71-69 to end their 47 game winning streak and avenge their 1967 NCAA championship semifinal drubbing at the hands of UCLA.

Deray Mckesson At UH Tomorrow

Going to be an interesting event happening at UH on Wednesday night as as part of the UH Graduate College of Social Work Social Justice Solutions series of discussions and community conversations

Social Justice Solutions invites activists, thought leaders, and the community to explore action-oriented strategies to affect social change. Through an examination of social justice issues in their current and historical contexts, the goal is to inspire first, conversation and then action in keeping with the College’s vision of achieving social, racial economic and political justice, local to global.
The latest of these conservations brings civil rights activist Deray Mckesson takes part in a moderated discussion in the Cullen Performance Hall on the UH campus starting at 6 PM    Because of overwhelming demand for this event, the venue was changed to accommodate all the people who wish to see him and hear this conversation

Actually looking forward to seeing him again, since the last time we chatted with each other was for a few minutes during the joint NABJ-NAHJ convention in Washington DC last year.

The Cullen Performance Hall is on the UH campus near the UH Student Center, and the address is 4800 Calhoun Road.

Looking forward to hearing and seeing Deray again

MAJOR! Screening and Panel Discussion November 20

I had the pleasure of meeting the legendary Miss Major Griffin-Gracy back in 2012 when I was the keynote speaker for the TransSaints conference in Charlotte

In addition to getting to know our trans elder and hear her tell me her stories about being a trans human rights warrior in a much more regressive time period, I've had the pleasure of seeing her at other events over the last few years including BTAC.

And I get the pleasure of having her call to check in on me from time to time as a bonus.   Even better, she's not too far away in the Little Rock, AR area..

While I've seen the film, I'm still pleased and proud to be in the house for the Houston premiere of MAJOR! at the University of Houston. from 6-9 PM CST.

The screening is sponsored by Transform Houston, and will take place in the Agnes Arnold Auditorium 2.   It will be followed by a panel discussion that includes Jessica Zyrie, Fran Watson and some blogger y'all know. 

Address is 3553 Cullen Blvd and hope to see y'all in the house for the film and the discussion afterward.

Karma Kicks UT In The Behind

While rolling up to Austin along 290 yesterday for the SB 4 rally that Ana Andrea Molina was speaking at,  noted a lot of cars with burnt orange clad passengers and UT bumper stickers headed in the same direction.

That's when it hit me that 23rd ranked UT's season opener was happening with Maryland under their new head coach they stole from us at UH, kept us out of the Big XII and fired Charlie Strong after three seasons to make room for Tom Herman.

Anticipation was high because Herman in his short time at UH went 22-4, won a championship in the American in his first season (13-1) on the UH campus, beat top five ranked teams such as Oklahoma, Louisville and Florida State in the Peach Bowl and returned the swagger to UH football that we had when I was going there in the early 80's.

With the H-Town Takeover in full effect, UH became once again a serious and cool recruiting destination for local high school talent considering where to play college football.

They also underscored their renewed commitment to keeping our best players in the 713 by recruiting Ed Oliver, a marvelous defensive tackle that was coveted by Power 5 schools like Alabama who people were shocked when he signed to play and stay here.  

Oliver has become a nightmare for offensive lines across the AAC and the college football landscape.

So anticipation was high with the Longhorn fanbase that Herman and his coaching staff that included former UH defensive coordinator and interim head coach Todd Orlando would bring that success to Forty Acres.

Well, Herman's debut game in front of the Longhorn faithful at DKR-Memorial Stadium didn't go so well.   The Longhorns shockingly lost 51-41 to an underdog Maryland team at home that was picked in the preseason to finish sixth in their Big 10 East division.

Guess it's gonna take longer to fix UT's problems than they thought, huh?  The arrogant and impatient UT fan base was throwing stuff on the DKR-Memorial Stadium field after the game.

FYI Longhorn fans, Charlie Strong won his debut game yesterday at USF 31-17.

As a Cougar alum, I laughed all the way back to Houston when I heard the news.   Serves them right for screwing Charlie Strong the way they did.   At least he never lost a home opener while he was UT's coach.   And yeah, my dislike of everything burnt orange runs back to when we were members of the dearly departed Southwest Conference and I was walking UH's campus.

One of the other things that Herman and others (Kevin Sumlin) who have used UH to get Power 5 head coaching jobs elsewhere tend to forget is that UH sits in the middle of the most talent rich area for Texas high school football talent in the Houston metro area.  

UH is also a school with a chip on its shoulder.  We have always been condescendingly looked down upon by the UT's of the world.   We were supposed to be part of the Big XII during its 1996 formation but were screwed out of it.  

Being dissed by the Big XII last year only increased the size of that chip on UH's shoulder.

That chip on their shoulder attitude also filters down to the folks who eventually come to UH to play football there.  UH gets the kids who were overlooked by the Big XII and SEC schools who want to prove they are as good as those 4 and 5 star recruits that go to UT, Texas A&M and other Big XII and SEC schools who are part of the entitled football elite.

It's why Herman was able to go 13-1 in his first season and were in the running last year for a spot in the College Football Championship before injuries and a three game losing streak dropped us from being ranked number 6 in the nation to out of the polls.  

We do have talent here at UH.   If we could keep a quality coach as long as we did Bill Yeoman it would be able to sustain that success  It's probably why every time UH finds that coach the Power 5 schools steal him.

It's probably why the Big XII is 'scurred' to make us members because they know a UH that is a member of a Power 5 conference will be instantly competitive and the non-Texas Big XII schools are afraid they will never have a shot at recruiting Houston area talent if we are.

Ask Oklahoma about that.   I repeat, the UH player has a chip on his shoulder, is hungry for success and will work harder to beat the so called elite Power 5 player at Texas or A&M who because they play in the Big XII or SEC assume they are better than someone who plays in a 'lesser conference'.

And you can't replicate that 'us against the collegiate football world' mentality you have at UH and took advantage of to get your Power 5 conference school job with the phat contract.   It will be interesting to see if Herman can do so after becoming the first coach since John Mackovic to lose his UT debut game.

But until then. I'm going to enjoy watching karma kick UT in its burnt orange behind.

UH Coogs Take On San Diego State In The Las Vegas Bowl

It's not the New Year's Six Bowl or the College Football Playoff game that we Cougar fans were hoping to get to at the beginning of this season, but it's another bowl game trip for the 9-3 UH Cougars,

This is the 25th anniversary edition of the Las Vegas Bowl, and the game will feature two explosive offenses and stout defenses in the Cougars and the 10-3 San Diego State Aztecs,

The #HTownTakeover will face the Mountain West Conference champs and their all everything back Donnell Pumphrey, who could break Ron Dayne's FBS all purpose yards record.

But he'll have to do against a Cougar defense that features our all everything freshman nose tackle Ed Oliver, who wreaked havoc on AAC offensive lines along with Oklahoma's and Louisville's , had 19 tackles for loss and is probably going to be a handful for a San Diego State team that hasn't seen or played against anyone like him in the Mountain West.

On the offensive side, I get to watch our all everything quarterback Greg Ward, Jr in his final game as the Cougar signal caller.

This will also be the first game as head coach of Major Applewhite, our offensive coordinator who was elevated to the top job after Tom Herman left to go to UT.

I'll be parked in front of the TV watching it starting at 2:30 PM CST

2016 UH Cougar Watch- Battling SMU

The 6-1 University of Houston Cougars rebounded from their 46-40 AAC West Division conference loss at Navy and falling to number 13 in the rankings to come home to the comfy confines of The Cage and see the defense literally win the game for them in the last 81 seconds.

The Third Ward Defense forced a fumble from Tulsa QB Dane Evans that linebacker Emeke Egbule scooped up and raced 24 yards for a touchdown to take the lead with 1:21 remaining in the game..

 After the UH offense punted.  Tulsa drove from their own 11 yard line to the UH 1.  The defense then made two huge plays with freshman defensive tackle Ed Oliver stuffing a running play for a one yard loss,.

With seven seconds left on the game clock, after blitzing and flushing Evans out of the pocket, kept Golden Hurricane defense end Jesse Brubaker from turning and scoring after he caught a pass on the goal line from Evans and was kept out of the endzone by safeties Khalil Williams and Austin Robinson as the clock expired to cap a thrilling 38-31 win.

It was also redemption for a defense that got shredded for 306 rushing yards in the loss to the Midshipmen and 365 passing yards by Tulsa.  The win also made them bowl eligible for the tenth time in the last 12 seasons.

The number 11 ranked Cougars head up I-45 today to face off at Gerald J. Ford Stadium with an old Southwest Conference rival in the SMU Mustangs.

While the Mustangs are 2-4, and at the bottom of the American West Division standings, they do have weapons on the offensive side to make this a problematic game if the Cougars repeat the turnover filled performance they had in that Navy loss.

It would make the Mustangs season if they could pin another loss on the Cougars and wreck their chances of playing in a New Years Six bowl and their chances of repeating as The American champions.

The game will be televised on ESPN2 starting at 6 PM CDT.

TransGriot Update: Cougars were upset by SMU 38-16

2016 UH Cougar Watch- Battling Navy

The number 6 University of Houston Cougars (5-0, 2-0) are in Annapolis for another The American conference game with Navy  (3-1, 2-0)..

This game will determine early control of The American West Division, and once again will be a challenge for the UH defense to stop Navy's unique in college football triple option attack.

Navy's challenge will be to stop or contain Cougar quarterback Greg Ward, Jr, who is bidding to become the second UH quarterback to win the Heisman trophy.

The Coogs are also trying to stay unbeaten and on track for a possible spot in the College Football Playoff and a repeat The American title.

We'll see if they are successful  in accomplishing all those goals starting at 2 PM CDT.

TransGriot Update:  Coogs were upset by Navy 46-40

The Battle For LGBTQ Non Discrimination Policy Panel Tomorrow

I always love it when I get a chance to come back to my alma mater for panel discussions, and tomorrow I'll on the UH campus taking part in one sponsored by the University of Houston College of Social Work, Texas Rising UH/ Texas Freedom Network and the UH LGBTQ Resource Center.

It's the middle portion of a series of events focusing on LGBTQ issues and intersectionality, with a screening of the documentary The New Black closing it out on October 11.

It opened with a September 27 event discussing 'Gender Identity and Social Justice' that featured Dr Colt Keo-Meier and Becca Keo-Meier.

The panel discussion I'll be a part of is entitled 'The Battle For LGBTQ Non Discrimination Policy', and includes Houston GLBT Caucus President Fran Watson, Brad Pritchett of the ACLU of Texas, and Caucus vice president and advocate Michael Webb .

We'll be talking about the fight for LGBTQ inclusive policies, the pushback against them, and what we can expect when the 85th Texas Legislative session starts in Austin in January.

It will be in Room 110J the UH College of Social Work building next door to Agnes Arnold Hall, and I'm looking forward to seeing as many people as possible there for this discussion.

Number 6 UH Takes On UConn

After finishing a stretch of three games in 14 days with a 64-3 demolition of Texas State in San Marcos, the number 6 ranked University of Houston Cougars (4-0, 1-0 AAC) face at TDECU Stadium the team that ruined their bid for a perfect season last year in the Connecticut Huskies.

UH was unbeaten at 10-0 and ranked number 13 in the nation when they rolled into Rentschler Stadium on November 15 to play UConn.  A questionable targeting call against star UH linebacker Elandon Roberts in the first quarter got him tossed from the game.  Kenneth Farrow and QB Kyle Postma were injured, and they turned the ball over four times, the final one being an interception tossed by Ward with 55 seconds left to seal the 20-17 upset loss..

Needless to say UConn will have the Cougars undivided attention despite the fact the Coogs are a 24.5 point favorite to win this game..

There's a lot more at stake for the Cougars besides avenging that loss in front of the home crowd. In addition to UH having their highest poll ranking since 1991 and being a spotless 4-0 on the year, they are also a serious contender to play in the College Football Playoff.

The Coogs are also determined to continue their mission of repeating as The American champs.

Greg Ward. Jr played only the final four snaps in that UConn game because of that injury and being forced to play because Postma got hurt late, but that isn't the case this year.

He will be in the TDECU Stadium house in full effect and ready to lead the Cougars to what he hopes will be their fifth victory of the season and second in AAC play..

We'll see starting at 7 PM CDT on ESPN.