Behind the Title

As the 2024-25 Faculty Senate President at the University of Houston, Holley Love brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the role. A lifelong Houston Cougar, Love’s connection to UH runs as deep as her commitment to its continued growth and success.

Love is passionate about advancing faculty interests and fostering collaboration across the University. In addition to her role as Faculty Senate President, she serves as an instructional associate professor in the Cullen College of Engineering Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Love recently sat down with us to share insights on her goals, her academic journey, hobbies and her vision for the future of the Faculty Senate.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and your background?

HL: I was born in Houston to parents who are also native Houstonians.  Since I was little, I loved nature and science — I did a lot of home science experiments and nature explorations with my mom and a lot of work fixing things around the house with my dad (or at least I tried to help!)

I ended up focusing my studies on the intersection of biomedical and mechanical engineering.

How long have you been with UH?

HL: I was a student from August 2003 to May 2013. [Editor’s note: Love earned a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UH] I returned as an instructional faculty member in Fall 2016, and I’ve been here ever since.

What inspired you to pursue a career in academia?

HL: Reflecting back, it’s difficult to pinpoint a single event. When I was graduating with my bachelor’s degree, I didn’t feel “ready” to leave school and go to work. I stayed on just to do a master’s degree …  but I ended up really enjoying my work and wanted to keep going. The girls on my floor at Moody Towers started to call me “Dr. Love”— even though I was only starting my graduate studies … but, honestly, it felt pretty good!

When the teaching position at UH in the mechanical department opened, I was nervous about applying. I had gotten some exposure to teaching in my graduate studies and supervising interns in my post-doc. I am so glad that my family encouraged me to apply — my time teaching and advising are very rewarding.

And I am very grateful to Dr. Jagannatha “JR” Rao, who has been a kind and supportive mentor throughout my career — he believed in my capabilities before I did. He’s helped me grow into my multifaceted role at UH — and taught me a fair amount of south Indian cooking along the way.

What motivated you to take on the role of Faculty Senate President?

HL: I was [a student] at UH during our push to earn a Carnegie Tier 1 designation in research. I heard President Renu Khator speaking about the goal of UH being ranked among the Top 50 public institutions by U.S. News and World Report. I thought that my service in undergraduate academic advising, and on the University’s Undergraduate Committee, would be valuable in supporting that aspiration.

I also saw many faculty feeling burned out or stretched thin, particularly after the onset of the pandemic. I believe that achieving a Top 50 goal or AAU [Association of American Universities] eligibility cannot come at the expense of the wellbeing of our faculty and staff. Without faculty and staff wellness, I think it will not be possible to achieve student wellness and student success. So, I ran for a leadership position in the Senate to advocate for keeping both of these in balance: faculty wellness and student success.

In your words, how would you describe the role of the Faculty Senate? And how do they represent UH?

HL: Faculty Senate is important for advocating to the administration on behalf faculty. It is important for shared-governance — that idea that we as faculty should take ownership of and have a voice in the operation of the University. Through open communication and respectful discourse, my predecessors in the Senate have fostered a productive working relationship with the administration. I intend to maintain that mutually beneficial arrangement while pressing forward concerns raised by faculty.

What are your main goals for your term as Faculty Senate President?

HL: I want to support the University’s mission of student success, and I want to enhance faculty wellness, particularly by making faculty realize that they are welcome and belong to the vibrant UH community. [I want them to know] that they are seen and valued for their work: not only their major creative or research works, but their teaching, mentoring, administrating, advising, volunteering, speaking, advocating — all the little things that together make UH a place that accomplishes big things and improves the lives of its students, staff, alumni, community and faculty.

How would you describe your leadership style and how do you inspire your committee?

HL: The executive committee is a mixture of senators who are appointed by the president and senators who are elected by groups within the Senate. Each of the executive committee members brings their own unique set of strengths and background knowledge. I trust the leadership of the committee chairs, and I have encouraged them to explore the issues that they and their members find most pressing, relying on their expertise and experience.

I view my role as facilitating conversations with the Faculty Senate executive committee about items that cut across the individual committees. And connecting information from various sources to the folks who can make meaningful contributions and improvements.

What is your field of study, and what drew you to this area of research?

HL: I was drawn to study engineering because I wanted to do something where I could make a difference, make a living and learn more about math and science — engineering seemed to provide all three.

When I came to orientation, I was still undecided about which specific engineering major I should choose.  I saw a brief presentation about biomedical engineering, and I knew that’s where I wanted to be. It fused the experiences I had with machinery to my interest in space exploration, because at the time I wanted to work on life support for long-term shuttle missions.

But as I got into the major, I stumbled onto a different path: I had the opportunity to work with heart assist pumps.  And that led me to get my graduate degrees in mechanical engineering, to work as a research engineer at the Texas Heart Institute as a post-doc, and then to return to UH as an instructional faculty.

What are some of your hobbies and interests outside of your academic work?

HL: Outside of work I really enjoy spending time outdoors — but I’m less a “ranger” and more a “hobbit” when it comes to my activities: choosing to take part in hiking at a laid-back pace; looking at rocks, flora, fauna and fungi; and enjoying picnics.

I also really enjoy music; I learned the term “polyJAMorous” from my students, which is a much more fun and passionate descriptor to describe my listening than just saying I have “eclectic” musical taste.

What do you want our UH community to know about you?

HL: I’ve spent the better part of my adult life here.  My two best friends and I are all three UH Alumni Association Life Members, our spouses are all UH grads and our sons were all born in 2017. My father, two aunts and dear family friend (the late Robin Lee) are all Cougars. Even my son was a Cougar of sorts through his early years enrolled at the Children’s Learning Center; he’s in elementary school now and still loves coming to campus.

What do you plan to do after your term is over?

HL: Celebrate!  And relax a bit before I lean in to a new service opportunity.

What are three words you would use to describe UH?

HL: Vibrant, driven, practical