The wait is over for a name for Lone Star College System’s newest facility in northwest Harris County – it’s now officially the Lone Star College-University Park campus.
As part of their regular meeting, LSCS Board members voted unanimously Thursday night to adopt the name for the property at State Highway 249 and Louetta Road – the property that LSCS had purchased from Hewlett Packard in April. It was at that time that a process began to identify a name for this new facility.
“With the excitement and curiosity of the purchase of that property, the naming of it naturally has received a lot of attention,” said Richard Carpenter, LSCS chancellor.
Dozens of possible names had emerged from internal discussions, based on various criteria such as geography, points of interest, historical references, and the future role of the facility.
On June 25, the college system held a community open house and tour at the 1.2 million square feet facility, and solicited input from community members on the naming of this new campus. An estimated 1,000 visitors toured the facility that day as part of the open house and college officials collected more than 400 ballots with votes for names.
There were three name choices that quickly rose to the top with the most votes – University Park, Cypress Creek and Champions – but the name University Park was selected by the visitors two and one half times more often than the others.
“We feel good about this name choice for our new location,” Carpenter said. “Not only did the selection come directly from our community members, but LSC-University Park is a great reflection of the intended purpose of the campus and its uniqueness.”
Earlier this week, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board approved the learning center during its board meeting in Austin, which officially allows LSCS to move forward with its working agreement with a number of four-year universities.
Beginning in January, universities at the new LSC-University Park offering degrees in a number of programs will be Sam Houston State University, Texas Southern University, University of Houston, the University of Houston-Downtown and Prairie View A&M University.
Renovation is currently underway at the facility to accommodate students by January. Other planned activities for the $42.15-million, 45-acre site will include an instructional satellite campus, a Corporate College conference and training facility, and System administration and support space. Officials aren’t certain which of these additional activities will be completed by the spring but classes will be underway.
Lone Star College System consists of five colleges including LSC-CyFair, LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Montgomery, LSC-North Harris, and LSC-Tomball, six centers, LSC-University Center, LSC-University Park, Lone Star Corporate College, and LSC-Online. With more than 51,000 students in credit classes last fall, LSCS is the largest institution of higher education in the Houston area and third largest community college system in Texas. To learn more visit LoneStar.edu.
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