Indian American becomes Univ Chancellor

Fifty-two-year old Renu Khator, landed in the United States as a young bride some 34 years ago from a small town of Farrukhabad in Uttar Pradesh. On Monday, she was appointed Chancellor of a major American university with more than 56,000 students on its rolls. With this, Khator has become the first Indian-American to have been appointed as head of a major US university - a remarkable achievement for someone who came to this country with a simple Bachelor's degree from a small time college in Farrukhabad affiliated to the Kanpur University. The University Of Houston Board Of Regents following its meeting announced Khator not only as President of the University of Houston, but also Chancellor of University of Houston Systems. This implies that Khator, who as of now is provost of the University of South Florida, would be administrative head of four universities in Houston, which has a combined students' strength of more than 56,000. University of Houston is a system of four universities, with three smaller universities and one large main university. Khator has been made the President of the main big campus. All the four presidents report to the Chancellor of the University of Houston system. Khator was selected as the Chancellor as well. In fact, she would be the eighth Chancellor and 13th President. ''It is a phenomenal university in this great city of Houston. I need to take it to next level of excellence,'' Khator told NDTV.com, hours after her selection. She would formally take office from the current incumbent Jay Gogue in January 2008. Khator, who besides her normal administrative and academics works teaches Hindi in the University of South Florida, attributed her success in the US academics to the Indian value system and the education she had back home. ''I think, I brought right values with me from India. More than Indian education, I think it is the Indian value system; it is ethics of hard work, ethics of working as a team living in expanded family in India teaches us the value of valuing everybody's opinion as you move forward. All this has played a very critical role in my administration and leadership success,'' said Khator. Making ''research and education with a global edge'' her top two priorities as the head of the University of Houston, Khator said: ''The University has a strategic plan and a vision. The vision is to become a national premier research university -- become a tier one university. This is what I have to do -- to look at more creativity and innovation and another is to make sure that the university can provide access to students and when they come to the university, they can be successful.'' ''In order to accomplish those, I have to look at the resources of the university, which means that I would have to do a lot of private fund raising,'' she added. Later in the evening Khator was given a grand welcome by the University. ''We have found an incredible person to lead this University and this system into 21st century,'' said Welcome W Wilson Sr, Chairman, University of Houston Board Of Regents in his address. Khator was appointed Provost and Senior Vice President at the University of South Florida 2003