UH-Clear Lake boosts health sciences
College plans to construct facility and considers operating Pearland satellite
The University of Houston-Clear Lake will break ground on a 52,000-square-foot, $24.6 million health sciences facility next March.
In addition to the expansion, which relates to increased local demand for those in health-care professions, the university is considering establishing a satellite location on the Pearland campus for its Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities.
“We have a significant waiting list of people waiting for (autism-related) services related to their children, or in some cases adults, so the idea of having an additional site with this new building — it’s one we’re taking a serious look at,” UH-Clear Lake president William Staples said.
An announcement regarding a possible satellite autism center is expected around when the health science facility’s opening date in fall 2018.
The Pearland campus, 1200 Pearland Parkway, serves around 700 students, and that number is expected to grow when the new building opens.
To prepare for the growth, the Pearland Economic Development Corp. vacated the existing campus building this month. The corporation
moved to the Business Center, 11233 Shadow Creek Parkway, Suite 235.
Its phone numbers and email addresses will stay the same: info@pearlandedc.com and 281-997-3000.
“The original building is a little over 30,000 square feet. Of that, about 8,000 square feet is occupied by PEDC,” Staples said. “Our plan is to move the nursing faculty into that space and move the campus administration, director of campus operations and staff support into that office suite. The space that will be vacated by that move will be used to expand the library … and expand the area for student and enrollment services.” 5-year projection
“Whenever we add a new program, we do a fiveyear projection of what enrollment may be,” Staples said, adding that the analysis will start soon and be conducted over two years.
As part of the projection, he said the university will conduct indepth conversations with Pearland Independent School District and Alvin Community College to evaluate which programs will best serve students arriving from those districts.
UH-Clear Lake officials will also discuss the possibility of making the Pearland campus a four-year university.
“Typically there are three areas that always seem to be in high demand: business programs, education programs to educate future teachers, and the third, believe it or not, tends to be psychology,” he said.
Those core programs exist at the Pearland campus and may be expanded, along with increasing the nursing program, Staples said. Economic impact
PEDC President Matt Buchanan said: “The health care and life sciences industry has been a long-standing priority for the PEDC and city of Pearland, and this new addition will have a strong economic impact for the many health care-related employers in our community.”
“There’s a significant growth in hospitals in Pearland,” Staples said. “The whole area of health care would serve those communities. Right now at the Pearland campus we have eight baccalaureates and five master’s degrees. One thing we’re looking at is: What other master’s degree programs can we bring in?”