University of Houston-Clear Lake

In 1961 NASA announced that the Manned Spacecraft Center would be located in Houston just off the shores of Clear Lake. Early in the development of the Manned Spacecraft Center, a demand for graduate studies grew within NASA and the nearby space-related industries.

In 1964 the University of Houston (UH) began offering courses in physics, math, and various engineering programs to NASA employees at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC). On Sept. 10, 1965, MSC Director Robert R. Gilruth formally requested that the University of Houston give immediate consideration to the establishment of a permanent graduate and undergraduate educational facility in the Clear Lake area. 

The president is the chief executive officer of the University of Houston–Clear Lake, and the position reports to the chancellor of the University of Houston System. The president is appointed by the chancellor and confirmed by the Board of Regents of the University of Houston System. The president of the university is Ira K. Blake, who came on board just before Hurricane Harvey in 2017. She succeeded William A. Staples, who was president from 1995 to 2017. UHCL administration is located in the Bayou Building.

The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) is separately accredited, offers its own academic programs, and confers its own degrees. Students who graduate from UHCL will have diplomas under the name University of Houston–Clear Lake.

The university is organized into four academic colleges: the College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Human Sciences and Humanities, and the College of Science and Engineering. The College of Business has the largest undergraduate enrollment and awards the most bachelor's degrees annually.

UHCL awards the undergraduate degrees Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Business Administration and Bachelor of Social Work (BSW). At the graduate level it awards the degrees Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA), and Doctor of Education (EdD). The EdD program in Educational Leadership, initiated in January 2007, is the first doctoral degree program offered by the university.