The following is a partial report of campus crime between May 23 and June 8. All information is selected from the files of the UH Department of Public Safety. Information or questions regarding the cases below should be directed to UHDPS at (713)-742-333

Burglary of a Building or Habitation: A student reported his apartment in Cullen Oaks was burglarized. The incident occurred between 3 p.m. on May 23 and 6 p.m. on June 4. The case is inactive.

Driving while Intoxicated: At 2:18 a.m on May 29 a student was arrested for driving while intoxicated on 4600 Texas Spur 5, and was booked into Harris County Jail. The incident was cleared by arrest.

Evading Arrest/Education Code Trespass: At 1 a.m. on May 30 a former UH student was arrested for evading arrest, while another former student was issued a Harris County citation for criminal trespass as both were stopped while attempting to steal bicycles from Cougar Village. The former student that was arrested was released to Harris County Jail. Both have theft charges, pending the identification of the bicycles’ owners. The incident was cleared by arrest.

Burglary of a Motor Vehicle: Between 4 and 8:14 p.m. on May 30 a student reported that his vehicle was burglarized on Lot 20C. The incident is inactive.

Burglary of a Motor Vehicle: Between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. on May 30 a student reported that his vehicle was burglarized on Lot 20A. The incident is active.

Theft: On May 31 a UH student reported that a tire from his secured, unattended vehicle was stolen near Bayou Oaks Apartments. The case is inactive.

Burglary of a Motor Vehicle: Between 7:00 a.m. on May 31 and 6:28 p.m. on June 6 a UH DPS security officer reported a burglary of an unattended and secured motor vehicle in Lot 15H. The incident is inactive.

Theft: Between 5:30 and 5:35 p.m. on May 31 a student reported the theft of her cell phone in the East Parking Garage. The incident is active.

Traffic Offense: At 7 p.m. on May 31 a Cullen Oaks employee reported that someone struck and damaged the parking lot gate at Cullen Oaks Apartments. The incident is inactive.

Criminal Trespass: At 8:20 p.m. on May 31 an unaffiliated individual was arrested for criminal trespass in the Child Care Center. They have since been released to Harris County Jail. The incident was cleared by arrest.

Criminal Mischief: The Science and Research 1 building sustained water damage when a water line was cut between 9 p.m. on June 1 and 12:26 a.m. on June 2. The case is inactive.

Possession of Marijuana/Possession of Drug Paraphernalia: At 12:05 a.m. June 3 a student was arrested for possession of marijuana after a routine traffic stop and was taken to Harris County Jail. The incident was cleared by arrest.

Theft: Between 1:05 and 1:14 a.m. June 3 a UH staff member reported that several university barricades had been stolen near Hofheinz Pavillion. The case in inactive.

Traffic Offense: Between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. June 3 a UH contractor’s parked and unattended vehicle was struck in Lot 13A. The case is inactive.

Burglary of a Motor Vehicle: Between 12:01 and 3:30 p.m. June 3 a student reported that his unattended and secured vehicle was burglarized in the Welcome Center Parking Garage. The case is inactive.

Theft: Between 2:30 and 4:10 p.m. June 3 a student reported that his unattended cell phone was stolen in the Armistead Optometry Building. The case is inactive.

Disorderly Conduct: Between 3:10 and 3:11 p.m. June 3 two students were reportedly fighting in the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. Both students were issued Harris County citations and Student Life Referrals for Fighting in Public. The incident was cleared by citation.

Traffic Offense: Between 8:30 p.m. on June 3 and  8:00 a.m. on June 4 a student reported that her unattended vehicle was struck in Lot 12A, and the driver failed to leave their information. The incident is inactive.

Possession of Drug Paraphernalia: Between 12:33 and 1:02 a.m. on June 4 an unaffiliated student was issued a Harris County citation for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and was released after a traffic stop. The incident was cleared by citation.

Driving While Intoxicated: Between 2:40 a.m. and 2:56 a.m. on June 4 an unaffiliated motorist was involved in a car accident, arrested for driving while intoxicated and booked into Harris County Jail. The incident was cleared by arrest.

Terroristic Threat: Between 12:39 a.m. on June 4 and 11:37 a.m. on June 5, UH police received an email with questionable remarks made by a student. Upon investigation the comments were determined to have not been directed at anyone. The incident has been cleared by referral.

Robbery: Between 1 p.m. on June 4 and 11 a.m. on June 5, a student reported that her cell phone was forcibly stolen from her person near the Stadium Parking Garage. The incident is active.

Traffic Offense: Between 1:00 p.m. on June 4 and 11:00 a.m. on June 5, a student reported that his unattended vehicle was struck in the East Parking Garage. The incident is inactive.

Credit or Debit Card Abuse: A UH visitor reported on Thursday that he lost his wallet on Cougar Field, and several unauthorized transactions were made on his credit cards afterwards. The incident occurred between 11:00 p.m. on May 31 and 9:00 a.m. on June 1. The case is active.

Public Intoxication: At 5:10 p.m. on Thursday a student was transported to Ben Taub after being found heavily intoxicated in Cambridge Oaks Apartments, and was issued Student and Residential Life Referrals. The incident was cleared by referral.

Disorderly Conduct: At 2:24 p.m. on Friday a UH visitor was issued a citation for disorderly conduct following an altercation in Lot 15H.

Criminal Mischief/Evading Arrest: At 1:33 a.m. on Saturday, a non-affiliated individual was arrested for criminal mischief and evading arrest after he refused to stop after acting suspiciously in Lot 16J. The incident was cleared by arrest.

Disorderly Conduct/Criminal Trespass: Between 10:54 p.m. and 2:01 a.m. on Saturday a student was issued a Student Life Referral for causing a disturbance and refusing to leave the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center. The incident was cleared by referral.

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Many people believe that children’s relationship with their parents benefits only the child. A new study performed by a UH researcher created an opposition to this belief.

The research indicates that the more a father is involved with his children and family, the more he is benefiting his children’s lives and also his own mental health and well-being.

Hernandez

Daphne Hernandez, an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Performance, performed her research during a span of five years and received data from 5,000 fathers (single, cohabitating and married) between the ages of 25 and 35 who were considered at risk of becoming absent dads. All of the fathers had young children and lived in close proximity to their partner in order to have frequent interaction with their children. The health status of the fathers was self-measured by a survey.

“The role of a father comes with such high expectations before you factor in complications such as finances, proximity or pre-existing health issues,” Hernandez said in a UH press release. “Supporting his mental health is an important way to support the whole family.”

The study showed that the fathers who were more physically engaged with their children, played with them and read to them were less likely to be depressed or stressed. In addition, fathers who had a supportive partner or a former partner had better mental and physical health compared with those who had less supportive partners.

Hernandez’s study also depicted that during the five years of research, the rate of single fatherhood increased and was 45 percent by year five. As this rate increased, the involvement with their children decreased. In addition, there was an increased risk of drug use and depression with these fathers.

“Personally, my father sacrifices so much as a parent for my future that it makes me want to excel and later be able to support him,” said biology junior Sanah Rahman.

“I definitely believe that fathers who physically engage with their children are less likely to be depressed or stressed because at the end of a hard working day, they know all that work was not for nothing. It was for their kids.”

According to Hernandez, the fathers who became single fathers or who experienced strain in their roles as fathers were associated with an increased likelihood of becoming clinically depressed. This dynamic is concerning because mental illness is stigmatizing, and a number of socio-economically disadvantaged men do not have the means to receive mental health assistance.

“An association that I had always wondered about was whether there is a bidirectional relationship between father engagement and mental health,” Hernandez said. “In my study, I found that greater engagement by fathers predicted less depressive symptoms, while fathers who demonstrated less depressive symptoms were more actively engaged with their children.

The results provided by Hernandez’s research suggested that fathering has broader implications than child development. She also said that, as a society, we are quick to blame fathers who are not actively involved with their children. There may be an underlying mental health problem that may need to be addressed.

“I believe that there is just a stronger emotional tie between moms and their children,” said biology sophomore Arif Sajid. “Because of that, I feel like fathers generally have to establish their relationship with the kids. It’s not something that’s automatically there. If a father has a wife and kids he loves and who love him back, he will have minimal stress, resulting in nothing but a healthy mental state of mind.”

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A UH-Clear Lake police officer was one of two men killed Monday morning in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 45.

Segovia

According to the Houston Police Department, the two-vehicle crash occurred about 2:30 a.m. on the outbound Gulf Freeway near Almeda Genoa, the Houston Chronicle reported.

University officials said Joe Segovia of the UHCL Police Department was one of the men who died.

Police said the driver of a Chrysler 300 was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of the freeway when he collided head-on into Segovia’s Scion xB as he was driving to work.

A U.S. Army veteran, Segovia had been with the department only since Jan. 9.

Segovia was an exemplary officer, University officials said, and will be greatly missed.

According to University officials, a fund has been established to help Segovia’s family with expenses. Donations can be made out and sent to University of Houston-Clear Lake Police Department with “Joe Segovia Fund” noted in the memo section. All donations will be given directly to his family.

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Trujillo

A woman is accused of stabbing a UH professor to death in an upscale apartment using a high-heeled stiletto shoe.

Stefan Andersson, 59, a research professor in the Biology and Biochemistry Department, was found dead Sunday morning in a high-rise on Hermann Drive near Jackson Street in the museum district.

Andersson

“The University of Houston community is saddened to learn of the tragic death of Professor Stefan Andersson,” read a UH-issued statement. “Our hearts go out to his colleagues, family and friends during this difficult time.”

According to ABC 13, investigators say Ana Trujillo, 44, who was arrested in the upscale apartment early Sunday morning, is claiming self-defense in the alleged killing of Andersson.

Trujillo remains jailed with her bail set at $100,000 and is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday morning.

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Though she walked away from the exam unsure about her score, construction management senior Nicole Rawlins achieved the highest score in the nation on the American Institute of Constructors’ certification exam.

“This is a difficult exam, and (it’s) not uncommon to require several attempts to pass,” Rawlins said.

”I was even telling my friends and family not to judge me harshly for whatever the results were because I had no idea how it would turn out.”

Rawlins

Rawlins said she was so doubtful about her performance on the exam that she approached it as an “exploratory mission.”

“My plan was to take it this semester to get a feel for it,” she said. “(I’d) really focus on it in the fall when I would need to pass it to graduate.”

All students in the construction management program at UH are required to pass the exam in order to receive diplomas. Many universities recommend their students to take the exam, but only the UH program makes it a requirement.

“It is a great point of pride,” Rawlins said. “It basically tells employers that all of our graduates are certified in a variety of construction principles by a national third party.”

The College of Technology program offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in the field of construction management.

Students learn how to combine construction science, engineering and business in order to learn the knowledge and skills necessary for the construction industry, according to the program’s website.

Internships are a core part of the curriculum as well, and Rawlins has used them to her advantage.

Her internship at Balfour Beatty Construction landed her a full-time job that she has had for the past two years, making her the first intern the contractor has hired that has not graduated yet.

In the future, Rawlins said she hopes to work with sustainable development and renewable energy construction techniques.

After graduation she plans on continuing her work with Beatty and building up her field experience.

“Whether creating a building or bringing infrastructure to it, construction is one of those industries that is an essential part of how we live our lives,” Rawlins said.

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The Valenti Group placed first earlier this year in the regional competition of the National Student Advertising Competition. Last weekend they ranked 10th in the nationals. | Courtesy of Rosario Laudicina

The Valenti Group, a student-advertising agency team representing the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, placed 10th in the National Student Advertising Competition in Phoenix this past weekend.

The American Advertising Federation sponsors the NSAC and is the largest advertising trade association in the U.S. It represents advertisers, agencies and suppliers on a professional level. There are 144 collegiate chapters that compete in NSAC within 18 AAF districts. The winners of these district competitions go on to the national competition held in Phoenix.

“The competition is about putting together the best advertising campaign based on a given product, a budget and a set of marketing goals and rules that the client clearly states prior to the beginning of the competition,” said UH alumna and Valenti Group team member Connie Jimenez.

Jimenez was part of the creative team and was responsible for developing visual compositions and designs that effectively communicate the campaign’s message to the target audience.

“(The competition) requires an immense amount of hours and dedication to make it happen,” Jimenez said. “We sacrificed many weekends and out-of-class hours to come up with a product worth of being top 10 in the nation.”

This year’s sponsor was Glidden Paint, a PPG company brand. The specific challenge was to develop an integrated communication program to help market Glidden paint at Wal-Mart. Each team develops a 24-page book that details the plan.

“The plan covers research, strategy, creative, promotion and public relations executions as well as campaign measurement,” said professor Larry Kelley. “The second part of the competition consists of a 20-minute presentation where each team brings the plan to life.”

Before the Valenti Group made it to nationals, it won District 10, which comprises universities from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and eastern Louisiana. The team also received a special award for the best research that supported the overall strategy.

“The quality of the competition is what makes this meaningful. We clearly outperformed some of the best schools in the country,” said the group’s professor, Larry Kelley. | Courtesy of Kelcey Kochner

“The national competition is a very high caliber competition,” Kelley said. “The best 18 schools out of 144 in the nation compete. Our team placed 10th at the national competition. Only seven points separated first from 10th, so a few points one way or the other and we could have been in the top 5. Regardless of the position, our team is certainly competitive on a national level.”

Jimenez graduated from UH this past May and said her time working with the Valenti Group benefited her in many different ways.

“Not only did I meet some great minds of the marketing and advertising world, but I also made very good friends and gained tons of valuable knowledge about advertising and marketing,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez is quick to encourage other students thinking about majoring in advertising to join the student-advertising agency at UH and participate in the NSAC competitions.

“Sacrifice as much time as you can, work hard and stay focused,” Jimenez said. “Do not miss this opportunity. I can now say NSAC has been the best, most rewarding opportunity of my entire college career.”

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A student was robbed of his cell phone at approximately 4:50 p.m. Wednesday on 3401 Cullen Dr., near the Stadium Parking Garage.

The student reported that she was approached from behind, before having her cell phone taken from out of her hand. She took it back and was then grabbed by the waist as she fought for the phone. The two suspects, both teenage black males and unarmed, then fled from the scene with the phone. The suspects were both approximately 5’9”, with short hair and a thin builds. One was described as wearing a red T-shirt, with the other in a grey T-shirt. The student was unharmed.

With the rash of cell phone robberies at the University, UH Police Chief Ceaser Moore warns students to be careful of phone theft.

“We want the campus to be aware that thieves are targeting cell phones,” Moore said.

“Keep phones tucked away and out of sight when not in use. I also urge people to report any suspicious people or activity to the police.”

Updates to this alert can be found online.

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After being denied access to the names and other information of students who have received parking tickets on campus, University of Oklahoma student Joey Stipek, who was at the time the online editor for the university’s newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily, wrote an article to bring to question what the university might be hiding. Now, he’s taken matters into his own hands by suing university president David Boren for the information.

Stipek

UH parking policy has differs little from the University of Oklahoma. While general statistical information regarding school parking ticket records can be received through the Texas Open Records Request, student names, license plate numbers, vehicle descriptions, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and student ID numbers are not available to the public. According to UH Parking and Transportation director Robert Browand, this is to retain student privacy.

“Students can access their own information via Parking’s E-biz site, the same site they register for parking,” Browand said. “They cannot access information on other students, faculty, or staff.”

When the University of North Carolina and the University of Maryland were revealed to have been ignoring parking tickets given to student athletes, Stipek went to his university to see if similar special treatment was being given to its student athletes.

“Students should have the right to know how the university is administering parking systems. On most campuses students pay a tremendous amount of fees to use parking facilities and build and maintain parking lots,” said Nick Harrison, Stipek’s attorney.

“They’d like to know that their coaches and student athletes, or any other faction, is getting special treatment. That’s what the stories at Maryland and North Carolina were initiated by, and that’s what Joey Stipek was trying (to do).”

In regards to the Universities of Maryland and North Carolina, cases of special treatment were covered by their respective school newspapers and brought to state courts. The schools, as well as the University of Oklahoma, defended themselves under the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law enacted in 1974 that grants students access to their own records, but few else. The courts in Maryland and North Carolina, however, argued that parking tickets may not count as school records.

“What (OU) is counting on for you to just give up. You write a story like I did, people take notice, (but then) the attention goes away for a little bit, and three or four days later you forget about it; it’s just the news cycle,” Stipek said, a film and media studies senior.

“So they hope you lose interest or wait you out by graduating, so you just move on. Well I’ve got three years left, and I’m not going anywhere, unless they kick me out of school. So I figured this was the only way to keep them honest.”

The lawsuit against the OU president was filed in early May, and using the defenses that were successful in Maryland and North Carolina, Harrison expects a smooth case.

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As students and lawmakers across the nation anxiously await July 1, when Congress will decide whether the student interest rate will double, UH students can be at ease knowing that their university was ranked No. 7 nationally among the colleges that have the least debt by U.S. News & World Report. 

A report issued earlier this month by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimates that 38 million student loan borrowers in the United States owe a debt load of more than $1.1 trillion. Yet, the possibility of the student interest rate of 3.4 percent doubling to 6.8 percent still looms.

President Barack Obama is adamantly opposing the increase, saying Friday in the White House Rose Garden that it would cost the typical college student an extra $1,000 annually. The House of Representatives passed a bill already that would allow student loan rates to increase over time with a cap at 8.5 percent, but Obama said he didn’t agree with the bill.

“(The bill) fails to lock in low rates for students next year,” Obama said. “That’s not smart. It eliminates safeguards for lower-income families. That’s not fair. It could actually cost a freshman starting school this fall more over the next four years than if we did nothing at all and let the interest rates double on July 1st.”

In U.S. News’ 2012 rankings, the debt at graduation for the UH class of 2011 stood at $15,613 with 49 percent of graduates borrowing money. As opposed to Washington D.C.’s American University, which ranked among one of the universities with students graduating with the most debt at more than $37,000, UH’s tuition is considerably affordable.

“The net price of attendance at UH is the lowest among comparable universities. Considering that undergraduate tuition was not raised this year, we will continue to be one of the best values for Tier One education in the nation,” said UH President and Chancellor Renu Khator in her 2012 Fall address.

Recently, Student Government Association President Cedric Bandoh, who has student loans himself, stepped into the national spotlight on Yahoo’s The Daily Ticker to represent the student voice on the issue.

“It’s very daunting having thousands and thousands of dollars in debt packed up on you, wondering when you’re going to pay it back when there’s no jobs out there,” Bandoh said.

Bandoh has been an advocate on the issue since it was introduced a year ago.

“Last year on the National Campus Leadership Council, which is a national coalition of student leaders, like myself, lead a campaign to get students rallied up around this issue with the phrase ‘Don’t double my rate.’”

The plan, Bandoh said, is to take the catchy phrase and tweet it to representatives and make your voice heard.

“In this day to double the rate from 3.4 to 6.8 is just not the right thing to do, and I urge all students to get the message around of ‘Don’t double my rate,’” Bandoh said.

Likewise, Obama is continuing to speak out about his opposition toward the increase as the U.S. eagerly awaits Congress’ decision.

The president concluded his remarks in the White House Rose Garden by calling the nation to action to prevent a college education from being “a luxury for a privileged few.”

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The blog publishing tool WordPress, created by alumnus Matt Mullenweg and used by newspapers and blogs such as CNN, the New York Times and The Daily Cougar, celebrated its 10th anniversary on May 27.

Mullenweg, the lead developer, encouraged WordPress lovers worldwide to show their support by organizing a celebration in their respective cities, according to Aaron Baxter, owner and developer of Method 21, a Houston-based web design company.

“As the date drew near, Monica Yoo, marketing communications manager for PAS, and I realized that there was no event planned for Houston,” Baxter said. “Considering that WordPress was born right here, we felt that it was absolutely necessary to represent.”

Two days before the event, Baxter and Yoo teamed up with Leah Mayo, managing director of Start Houston to secure a venue for the event.

To unite the participants of this global event, a website was developed to wp10.wordpress.net, that would host images posted in real-time from event-goers around the globe.

“We had about 30 people show up, which was a pretty good crowd considering that we knew that it might be tough to get a large crowd to come out on such short notice for an event that falls on Labor Day,” Baxter said.

“The event consisted of an open forum,” Yoo said. ” WordPress fans came together and talked about anything they wanted. We saw clusters of people chatting about technical advice, design tips and WordPress bloggers seeking marketing advice. It was amazing.”

Attendees were able to drink, eat a few snacks and share meaningful conversations with WordPress users in Houston.

Mullenweg was 19-years-old when he and Mark Little founded WordPress. Mullenweg attended UH as a political science major until he dropped out to move to San Francisco. He later founded Automattic, the company that runs WordPress.com.

WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and a content management system, which runs on web-hosting services. During the past decade it has become one of the most popular blogging systems to use on the web.

“I was just working on something I wanted to use for myself,” Mullenweg said. “The biggest challenge I faced was creating a product that people wanted to use. I had to learn a lot about design, programming and marketing.”

Mullenweg celebrated the anniversary in San Francisco with about 150 attendees.

“I feel like there is so much left to do (within the company),” Mullenweg said. “I think we can grow to power a quarter of all websites and employ a few hundred more people working full time on WordPress.”

Mullenweg said the company is hiring very aggressively, the limit is really the number of qualified people applying.

“I really miss Houston and can’t wait to come back,” he said. “Houston is where many of my family and friends are, as well as great BBQ.”

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