Full Circle: From First Year to Finish Line

Every Cougar has a story. Some rush from work to evening classes. Others squeeze in study sessions between family dinners or long commutes. They share different paths but the same passion for education, fueled by the unshakable grit that defines what it means to be a UH student.

That same motivation inspired alumna Dayna Salter (M.Ed. ’96) to give back, creating scholarships that help students cross both the first and last miles of their UH journey. Salter was working in Houston as a geophysicist for an oil and gas company during the early 1990s when gas prices began to plummet. Many companies in the industry started restructuring as a result. Employed at Mobil (now ExxonMobil) in Houston with only two years of experience at the company and 12 years in the industry, the Californian was apprehensive about keeping her job.

“When prices fell, I remember wondering if I’d made a mistake,” Salter said. “It made me think about what I’d do if I suddenly had to start over.”

Salter believed in the power of education. She had already received her bachelor’s degree in geophysics from the California Institute of Technology and her master’s in geophysics from the University of California, Berkeley. “I’d always been interested in teaching,” she said. “I used to tutor math and chemistry when I was a high school student.”

Ready to pursue this passion for education and embark on a new path, Salter researched area universities with educational psychology programs. She discovered that the University of Houston College of Education provided courses she could take at satellite locations and on campus.

Salter was accepted into the program in January 1994, taking two evening classes per semester. After a full workday, Salter would leave ExxonMobil’s offices, battle rush-hour traffic and arrive just in time for her 5 p.m. class.

“I’d walk in with my notebook and coffee,” she said. “Some nights, I’d think, ‘What am I doing here?’ But then I’d remember, I wanted options. Education gave me that.”

Salter graduated in 1996 with her second master’s degree. In the end, she kept her job, but the experience changed her. What began as a backup plan became a new way of thinking about learning, growth and resilience.

She applied what she learned in educational psychology to her role at ExxonMobil. It became second nature for Salter to hone her presentations for managers with engineering backgrounds. Because the managers typically have a just-the-facts attitude, she would refine her message to keep them engaged. Salter retired from ExxonMobil 10 years ago after surviving 35 years in the oil industry, but teaching still appealed to her, so she joined Lone Star College as an adjunct instructor in math and physics.

Salter’s passion for education inspired her to give back to UH. Her gift to establish the Dayna J. Salter Endowed Scholarship for Incoming Freshmen in 2018 supports students taking their first step, their First Mile. Her recent gift to the Last Mile Scholarship ensures others can finish strong.

“If somebody’s gone that far, you hate to see them drop out because of a lack of funds, so it was to encourage people to finish,” she said. “The Last Mile Scholarship is across all departments … so that was appealing.”

Salter is a proud supporter of the College of Education. In addition to the Salter Endowed Scholarship for Incoming Freshmen, she has given to the Educational Psychology Program and the College of Education building renovation campaign. She also made a planned gift to support scholarships for the college’s students.

For alumni facing uncertainty about how best to help UH, Salter offers this advice: “If they want to give back, and they want to make an impact, I think helping the students that are there today is a good way to do it. There are other ways to give back to one’s department or college, whether extra equipment or something like that, and I certainly wouldn’t discourage that. I think it’s important for alumni to give back to the school that’s helped propel them in their careers.”

Salter’s journey, from working professional to UH student to lifelong supporter, reflects what makes the Cougar community unstoppable. “UH gave me the tools to keep going,” she said. “Now I want to make sure others can do the same.”

Now retired, Salter still sees education as the foundation of everything that matters and, through her scholarships, she is helping future Cougars find their own way forward. Though she has left the classroom, her impact continues every time a UH student keeps going, from the first step to the last mile.