The University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering recently gave the highest contributions on campus for the State Employee Charitable Campaign (SECC). This is the second year in a row that the college received this honor for faculty and staff contributions.
With gifts totaling $13,771, Engineering beat out other UH colleges and departments. "We are not the largest college on campus, but engineering faculty and staff are caring and like to give," said Gerald Davenport, college campaign coordinator and director of Cooperative Education. Approximately a third of the college made contributions.
"We have a good organizational structure in place - we have a representative from each department in charge of answering questions and collecting forms," adds Davenport.
This year's departmental coordinators included Shelia White (Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering), Pam Moses (Dept. of Chemical Engineering), Kim Jordan (Dept. of Electrical & Computer Engineering), Mary Patronella (Dept. of Industrial Engineering), Charlotte Palm (Dept. of Mechanical Engineering) and Jeanie Conklin (non-academic departments).
Each year, the dean supports the campaign. "Dean Flumerfelt is behind the campaign and encourages our faculty and staff to participate," says Davenport. "We don't believe in doing a hard sell, because charity comes from the heart."