News
 

Donations will improve UH art program, support 31 students

by Dusti Rhodes
The Daily Cougar

The Art Department has received two donations totaling $56,500 that will provide financial assistance to graduate students who need more time to focus on their textbooks instead of their checkbooks.

The gifts were provided by the Andrew Delaney Foundation and a Houston donor who chose not to be identified.

The Delaney Foundation gave $19,000 to the graduate program that will provide fellowships to 19 students in the 2004-05 academic year. The anonymous donation of $7,500 this year and $30,000 over the next three years will support 12 graduate students.

Aaron Parazette, a professor of painting and associate chairman of the department, said the gifts will help improve the quality of the program's graduates and attract better students.

Parazette said graduate students already spend as many as 50 hours a week concentrating on their studies and often work part-time in order to cover their expenses.

"We are not a private university — every student has a job, as reasonable as (the tuition rate) is," Parazette said.

Cathy Hunt, a graduate art adviser, said the program — including in-state tuition, fees and supplies — costs each student a minimum of $5,000 per semester. 

The graduate program is highly competitive and accepts less than 33 percent of its applicants. Parazette said the program runs at full capacity, about 45 students, and although the school cannot grow in size, it can use the money to help current students and attract higher-quality applicants.
 

 Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu