http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/...359943.php

And you're posting this here, why?

Aww, how cute. The Cougars are achieving their goal of reaching a fabricated status.

*pets cannibal's head*

When you can't earn a real degree, just make up your own!

Even if this announce that UH was now the 100th best university in the country, why would it be posted on a rice site? There are certainly some owls who have uh connections and might post on their site, but nobody on here 'fears' uh succeeding academically, nor do we particularly celebrate it.

That's nice cannibal. Should we put it in the fridge? That's snarky and I'm sorry, but I wonder why you think we care that much?

If anything, this article makes clear the point that UH is not "Tier 1." Excerpts:

Quote:The University of Houston is on the verge of accessing additional state money that could help catapult the school closer to prestigious Tier 1 status, according to a preliminary report from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

And the finale:

Quote:The University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Rice University are Texas' only Tier 1 universities.

You guys are adorable.

I would prefer that we not even be referred to as "Tier 1." It is largely a bogus designation, and one that we certainly don't need.

Agreed.

(02-25-2012 02:01 PM)Barrett Wrote:  Agreed.

My favorite part:

"Only 38 percent of the freshmen were in the top 25 percent of their high school class, and the average SAT score was 1,200 in 2010, the report said. UH did not have a "freshman class of high academic achievement" or "high quality graduate education."

I'm confused.

According to a UH press release...

Quote:January 18, 2011-Houston-In what promises to be a transformative moment in the history of the University of Houston, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching announced Tuesday that UH has been categorized as a research university with “very high research activity,” the highest classification given to research universities and the equivalent of Tier One status.

...UH already has Tier One status.

I don't mean to be snarky. I really am perplexed. Who is defining what Tier One status is? I hope it's not USNWR.

Like many things, there are the common definitions, which are all over the place, and then there is the legal definition(s)*. Texas has benchmarks for "emerging" universities to meet as they work towards legal tier one status. Meeting these benchmarks means more state money to the university.

Texas Higher Ed Coordinating Board:
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/index.cfm?o...D01A404487
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/index.cfm?o...2D16FCE61B





*An analogy for this board would be the consensus #1 baseball team who ends up as the #4 seed. There's what everyone thinks, and then there's what the people in charge think.

And there's what UH thinks.

(02-27-2012 11:11 AM)Barrett Wrote:  And there's what UH thinks.

To be fair, if 15 publications call us the number 17 university in the country, and one calls us the number 5 university in the country, I'm sure you're going to see a lot more #5's on Rice materials than #17's.

But here's the thing: nobody outside of UH has actually called it Tier 1. Only UH calls itself Tier 1. The basis for the claim is that the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching recently included UH among the 300 or so schools with “very high research activity." UH took this and, completely on its own, declared that this is the equivalent of Tier 1 status, without ever defining what Tier 1 status means.

So for the analogy to be more appropriate, it would be as if 15 publications call Rice the #17 school in the country, and the Princeton Review labels Rice as having among the best student-teacher ratios, and based on that Princeton Review ranking Rice triumphantly declares (on billboards, t-shirts, and websites) that it is the best school in the country.

I don't begrudge UH trying to improve itself. What doesn't sit well is this incredibly cynical notion that if you say something enough, people will believe it's true, regardless of whether it is actually rooted in fact. By that token, given that Kazemi has the best rebounding stats in the country, we should start declaring the Rice men's basketball team to be the best in the country.

Tier 1 status for uh is about money. When they get the money, it will be because the state sees them as tier 1

Even the , why would Rice care?

(02-27-2012 11:00 AM)texd Wrote:  ...Texas has benchmarks for "emerging" universities to meet as they work towards legal tier one status....

Thanks for the links!

This February 2012 report appears to be the basis for the Chronicle article in the original post. It shows how the seven schools seeking funds from the National Research University Fund compare.

(02-27-2012 12:55 PM)Barrett Wrote:  What doesn't sit well is this incredibly cynical notion that if you say something enough, people will believe it's true, regardless of whether it is actually rooted in fact.

There was a European politician in the second quarter of the 20th century who said as much in his political bible, and who went on to become one of the most consequential leaders in history (especially if you measure consequence in deaths).

Wow. Godwin's law on a Tier 1 thread?

(02-29-2012 02:31 PM)texd Wrote:  Wow. Godwin's law on a Tier 1 thread?

Yeah, I know ... but I made the post only because I thought it was mildly interesting, not because I was really trying to draw an analogy.
Still, my defense is pretty lame. Guilty as charged.

http://xkcd.com/261/

Surprised this passed without notice or comment: http://www.texastribune.org/texas-educat...ize-money/