7/25/08: Welcome to the launch of Houston Futures, please take a look around and send feedback to: houstonfutures@mac.com

Hint: See more good stuff by scrolling the navigation window on the left!

WHAT SHOULD I DO ON THIS SITE?:
If you're a prospective Masters student, welcome, welcome to wonderful world of Futures Studies. Yes, it's a real academic discipline and yes that can lead to interesting work in a wide variety of fields as do the degrees from the handful of other programs that educate on the subject around the globe. To learn more about the field and its practitioners, please visit our links and other resources.The Current Program link will guide you to information on, well, the current program. Also check out the Student & Alumni pages to see the interests and backgrounds of the people you will be studying with. If you find your interest peaked and would like to discover even more about what it means to get your Masters degree in Futures Studies at the University (which can be done in Houston or from a distance) we suggest you get in touch with Peter Bishop (who runs the program) or the current graduate assistant for the program. You can also, post to message board threads so join in the discussion.

If you're an undergrad or post Bach already registered at the UH, sign up for the fall 2008 Future of Energy and Environment class. It's worth three undergraduate credits. Check with your department or contact the Futures department to see if it fulfills an elective requirement for your degree program: futuresga@uh.edu or pbishop@uh.edu. To contact the instructor for the class email racheltspoon@mac.com. You can read about the course here and register through the University of Houston's People Soft System (if you have any difficulties contact one of the people above).

If you are a current student or an alum, register, register, register, let us know what you are up to by filling out your member profile and then let us know (houstonfutures@mac.com) if you are interested in helping out with the site.

For idle passerbys and those with questions about futures studies or anyone looking for qualified futurists we welcome you too knock around the site and get in touch with any one of a variety of people who can answer questions and if they don't have them, point you to someone who might. Good places to get started are Dr. Peter Bishop (see contact page for phone, etc), the current graduate assistant for the futures program (futuresga@uh.edu) or the current faciliator of this site. I can be reached either at racheltu@mac.com or through my member profile racheltu.

IS THIS SITE THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON?
This site is not officially connected with the University of Houston so the information listed here is the opinion of us, students and alums, and should not be taken as authorized by the University.

AND, UM, WHAT IS FUTURES STUDIES EXACTLY, THAT CAN'T BE A REAL THING, CAN IT?
Futures Studies is a multidisciplinary study of change. Futures synthesizes a wide variety variety of fields including economics, engineering, sociology, politics, systems theory, creativity and community building. Since it is such a multidisciplinary field, futurists tend to build up domains, or areas of expertise (check out the Student and Alumni pages and member profiles to get a sense). Futurists do not predict the future; rather we prepare ourselves for alternative futures. So futures studies fuses intuitive strategic thinking with pragmatic strategic planning, it helps organizations prepare for many plausible futures by increasing the adaptability of their strategies should one of the forecasted scenarios take place and by increasing the adaptability of the organization's thinking should a different situation occur. Futurists with a wide variety of values and social commitments make up the field with many choosing the paths of consulting, social action, writer, workshop facilitator, public speaker, teacher and government s as a way to express the tools, information and knowledge they gain during their studies in Futures.