Houston Davis has served as UCA president since January 2017, and he said some of his biggest achievements have been the resource optimization initiative and UCA Commitment. 

Davis said he was extremely proud of “how we handled the pandemic and stayed focused on student success, that we were doing proactive work in 2017, ‘18 and ‘19 to get ready for what the next decade would be.”

“All that work led to us being able to do something to make contact with those students that are eligible for UCA Commitment that they would not have to take out loans or put down a credit card to be able to cover their tuition and fees,” he said.

Davis said that when he began working for UCA in 2017, there was a scholarship program for approximately 300 students that gave them 172% of need.

“So that’s 72 cents on the dollar more than they actually needed,” he said.

“We made decisions that we’re gonna start ratching that down,” he said. “We’re gonna get it down. It’s still full scholarship — but it’s not going to be 172%.”

Davis said adjusting the old scholarship program allowed for the UCA Commitment budget.

“Like what we’ve talked about with ROI, it’s right-sizing everything — which includes our scholarships — to make certain that we’re utilizing those dollars wisely,” Davis said. “The fact that we’ve been able to do something like UCA Commitment and see all these students that are being served, but to do that within our existing resources, we’re really proud of that. You don’t start something like that just to do it for one or two years. You start something like that to do it for a decade and see what sort of progress you can make.”

He said the work put into ROI has helped UCA stay in “very good physical shape compared to our counterparts around the state and around the country. Everybody’s really glad we did it.”

The UCA website defines ROI as “an ongoing, campus-wide effort to optimize the UCA budget in the face of unpredictable enrollment trends and limited state funding.

According to the website, “ROI allows UCA to identify and align existing internal resources to support student success, invest in strategic initiatives, build financial reserves and retain employees at a competitive market salary.”

Davis said ROI has involved many proactive decisions.

“I mean, we’re not going to lay off a bunch of folks, but you are going to say that for the next five years, when someone retires, we’re going to pull that position back, and we’re going to think about, does that position need to be filled? Does it need to be reassigned to another department that needs that faculty position, or does that just need to go to reserves for savings, where we don’t raise tuition?” he said.

Davis started his career at UCA after being the interim president at Kennesaw State in Georgia. 

“I remember reaching out to the search firm that was doing the search for UCA and telling them, ‘I don’t know if the timing is going to work’ because I was not going to apply for this job until I was done with my duty at Kennesaw.”

Davis said he got a call from the search firm on the application deadline day.

“They said, ‘Hey, the deadline is at four o’clock today. Do you think you’re in a position to be able to do it?’ And I had just that day got a call that said, ‘Yeah, likely November 1 can be your last day here at Kennesaw,’” Davis said.

Davis said something he is most proud of about UCA is something he “inherited.”

“This place has for decades — and I talked about this at convocation last week — been committed to student success and finding a way to really provide support for students, to allow them to be able to get that degree and do what they’re going to do in this world. I wouldn’t have applied for the job if that had not been true.”

Davis said 55% of the first UCA Commitment participants are first-generation students.

“That’s my proudest statistic,” Davis said. “The fact that we know in our incoming class every year about 25% of students are first generation, that’s why the focus on that. And the fact that in our first cohort, 760 students, 55% of them are first-gen — so we know we’re doing the right thing.”

Davis said UCA aims to focus on breaking down barriers for students.

“What we’ve created with UCA Commitment is breaking down a major financial barrier, but it’s not breaking down all the barriers,” he said. “There is making certain that those students know all the supports that are available to them, and quite honestly, are necessary if you’re going to be successful — it’s hard. It’s going to be a lot of work and it’s important to know that you’ve got support in a lot of different ways.”

Vice President of Student Affairs Robin Williamson, a first-generation college student, said she agrees that it is important for students to know what is available to them, especially first-generation students because they are more unfamiliar with college culture.

“We want you to be successful while you’re here, but we also want to help you build up some of those resources,” Williamson said. “So I think Career Services is a really valuable resource, not just for finding either a job on campus or a part-time job while you’re going to class, but helping you prepare for a career.”

Williamson also listed the Counseling Center, peer tutoring and peer coaching as essential student resources.

“In the peer coaching program, you can actually say, ‘I’m first-gen,’ and they can assign you to a first-gen coach. So, you can be partnered with another UCA student who has the same kind of experience as a first-gen student,” she said.

Williamson said being surrounded by other first-generation students can be very beneficial.

“I think when you find that connection between I’m first-gen and you’re first-gen, it helps you realize that you’re not alone,” she said. “It starts to break down those barriers — you do belong here. Your questions are valid.”

Davis said it is important to look at incoming student populations to stay prepared on how to best serve students.

Davis said there is a “sugar spike” in the incoming high school senior class, but after that, the numbers drop.

“You’ve got the little spike that’s this year’s seniors in high school — its the biggest senior class in probably a 20-year period of time, but its that little sugar spike, that little mini baby boom,” Davis said. “Then the classes right behind them is one of the smallest junior classes in 20 years.” 

Davis said UCA has partnered with The Edge to accommodate students who need housing, and the university will look into other options to ensure every student is cared for.

“You never want to build something permanent [residence halls] until you know that you’ve got the enrollments to be able to carry that out,” he said. “So generally, when people have asked, ‘Well, how would you know whether or not you need to build any new beds?’ You usually would have to see that pattern for about two or three years to know for sure that that’s a safe bet.”

“In the interim, we likely are partnering with entities like The Edge,” he said. “Back in the spring, began that conversation with The Edge, and that was because we saw our returning students applying for housing at a rate that we’ve not seen before.”

Davis also said UCA has been investing in arts with projects like the Donaghey Avenue roundabout art project, where there will be three installations on Caldwell Street and College and Robinson avenues.

“Our arts programs and our athletics are, lots of times, the first way that somebody’s going to develop a relationship with the university,” Davis said. “So if we’re a house that’s our front porch, that gets people to come up onto the front porch of our house and maybe come in to learn more about what we do.”

Davis said he wants students to know that there are “a lot of people” who have “worked really hard to keep our university in really good standing during a time when you may be hearing stories about challenges at other universities.” 

However, Davis said the work is not over.

“I don’t want anybody to think the work’s over. We got there through taking extraordinary steps over a 7-year period of time.”

Davis said his goal is “that this university is in a healthy operational position for the rest of my career. I’ll be very proud of that.”