Daniel M. Maxwell, Ed.D., Interim Vice President of the Division of Student Success and Student Life, has been approved by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Board of Directors as a candidate for its upcoming Board Chair election. NASPA is the leading association for the advancement, health, and sustainability of the student affairs profession, providing high-quality professional development, advocacy, and research for 15,000 members in all 50 states, 25 countries, and 8 U.S. territories.

Ever notice that the most prominent image on the official City of Houston seal is the locomotive? When the seal was designed in 1840, Houston served as a regional railroad hub. It seems only fitting, then, that UHD’s Marilyn Davies College of Business (MDCOB) is near the site of one of Houston’s earliest economic drivers: the railroads.

MDCOB, built in 2007, stands where a former warehouse and tenement homes of rail workers once stood. In 2017, the college received a historic $10 million endowment from native Houstonian Marilyn Davies, CEO of Seismic Bailey LLC, to support the college's growing programs. In recognition of the gift, the college is now the Marilyn Davies College of Business.

Actor and film director Woody Allen famously said, “80% of success is showing up.” How about if success is actually showing up for other people? Mary Jo D. Parker, Ed.D., who received the first Trailblazing Women Leaders in STEM Award last spring from the Women in STEM at the University of Houston Clear Lake, believes that’s her most trailblazing attribute. “I show up for people! I believe in my ability to positively influence almost any situation,” she shared. “I give my time, talent, and positivity to our undergraduates and faculty…I believe in the inherent goodness and rightmindedness of student potential, especially for underserved students.”

A little secret about writing these sort of profiles for a university: You are never, ever, ever, supposed to use the word I. The first-person pronoun is off-limits, and is eschewed in favor of a focus on the collective, a writing move that, the thinking goes, engenders a kind of objectivity. This is, of course, a fallacy, albeit one that can be comforting. After my conversation with Alexis Mondragon, a recent graduate of UHD's Master of Arts in Strategic Communications (MASC) program, I decided to do away with that stifling rule, as he is too engaging, too likeable to not write in a way that is completely and utterly personal.

The promises we make to ourselves are the easiest to break, despite the fact that they are, among all the many types of promises, the most important to keep. They do, after all, inform our self-confidence and our sense of integrity. All too often, though, we find excuses that we'd never use on a friend, loved one, or family member.

For those reasons, Dulce Martinez Rangel, a student of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program with a concentration in Curriculum and Instruction, is all the more impressive. "I promised myself that when my children were older, I would go back to school. Eighteen years later, here I am."

When Constable Alan Rosen, Harris County Precinct 1, graduated from UHD’s Police Academy, his goal was to practice criminal law. “What better way to learn the system than to work in the system and gain an understanding of its inner workings,” said Rosen. That was the plan, at least. The UHD alum instead decided to run his own specialty chemical business and manage other investments. It wasn’t long, however, until Rosen decided to follow in his family’s footsteps and pursue politics and a passion for law enforcement.