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Houston Taps 'Superstar' USF Provost

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By ADAM EMERSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2007

TAMPA - As University of South Florida officials work toward their goal of national prominence, they will have to do so without their sought-after second-in-command.
USF Provost Renu Khator was picked Monday to lead the University of Houston system, a move that comes as USF seeks to position itself alongside the nation's best public universities.

Few of her peers, though, expected Khator to remain at USF much longer. Under her watch, the university has recruited top faculty members who have nabbed hundreds of millions in science research dollars. She also has been key in securing millions in private fundraising, including USF's largest gift ever.

Khator, 52, has spurned advances from most headhunters who have sought her skills to lead universities from Las Vegas to Philadelphia. The University of Houston, however, was 'the right fit at the right time,' Khator said Monday.

'This has been my home, this has been everything so far,' Khator said of her 22 years at USF. 'It's going to be very tough. You just have to leave at some point, and this seems to be the point.'

Khator, who grew up in a small town in India, has climbed steadily at USF from a visiting assistant professor in 1985 to the university's No. 2 executive.

At USF, she helps lead a system of campuses that enrolls 45,000 students and collects more than $300 million in research grants annually. That experience impressed University of Houston leaders, who also aspire to be in the upper ranks of research schools.

'She's a superstar,' said Welcome Wilson, chairman of the University of Houston system's Board of Regents, whose nine members unanimously chose Khator among three candidates for the job. 'Her enthusiasm and her zest are so contagious that we feel like she can help us on every front.'

Texas law requires that regents wait 21 days before confirming Khator, but Houston officials say that is mostly procedural. Once confirmed, Khator will be president of the University of Houston and chancellor of its system of three regional universities and two teaching centers.

Her appointment takes effect in January, and Khator said she plans to stay at USF until then. Her salary hasn't been determined, but her predecessor, Jay Gogue, earned a base salary of $415,000. Khator earns $298,698 a year at USF.

The Houston system enrolls nearly 57,000 students, including about 34,000 at its flagship campus. The numbers parallel USF's in many ways, Wilson said, but the University of Houston collects less than a third of the research dollars USF nabs, and its graduate student enrollment has been declining.

By comparison, USF's graduate student enrollment increased 10 percent this fall to nearly 8,300 students. And two weeks ago, USF announced that it received the largest grant in its history: $169 million to study the causes of juvenile diabetes.
USF recently embarked on a long-term plan to secure more research dollars and recruit more students with stronger academic credentials. Many faculty members credit Khator in leading the university to success in these areas, and say her departure may be problematic for USF's future ambitions.

'It's potentially a great blow, and lot depends on who they replace her with,' said Sidney 'Skip' Pierce, a biology professor who spent time as chairman of the department during Khator's tenure as provost. 'USF has certainly risen to much more national prominence since she's been here.'

An 'Impressive' Resume
USF officials haven't decided who will replace Khator on an interim basis, nor had they decided Monday how they will search for Khator's permanent successor, university spokesman Ken Gullette said.

In a written statement, USF President Judy Genshaft said, 'We greet the announcement from the University of Houston with very mixed emotions: thrilled at this exciting opportunity for such a gifted educator, but with full realization of the loss we will experience.'

Khator interviewed with the University of Houston system Board of Regents behind closed doors on Oct. 9. The board interviewed two other candidates, but Wilson would not identify them.

The board probed her fundraising skills, her political savvy and her experience in running a sprawling public university system. Its members found her resume impressive, Wilson said, and comments from her references were overwhelming.

The board was particularly impressed by Khator's fundraising efforts, Wilson said. Khator was instrumental in securing USF's largest private gift, from Tampa philanthropists Kiran and Pallavi Patel, worth $34.5 million. The money launched the Patel Center for Global Solutions.

Khator said the University of Houston has the same challenges that affect USF and other metropolitan universities: lower graduation rates, the need to recruit better-performing students and budget gaps that make it harder to compete for top faculty members.

'I think they have a lot going for them,' Khator said. 'I think they wanted somebody who has a vision, who has an understanding of a metropolitan university's mission. I think I have been able to do several things I wanted to do' for USF.

It's uncommon for provosts to lead the same university at which they started at the entry level. But colleagues say that Khator's talents were evident early in her career.

At 18, she married Suresh Khator, a stranger to her only 10 days before they wed. She thought her dreams of an advanced education were crushed. Suresh, however, urged her to obtain her master's degree, which she later received at Purdue University in Indiana.

After living five years in their native India, they returned to Purdue, where Khator received her doctorate. Suresh took a job at USF, and Khator followed, taking a job as a visiting assistant professor, while both raised their daughters.

Ambitious Climb At USF
Then-USF President Betty Castor named Khator faculty assistant, a job that laid the groundwork for future ambitions. More administrative appointments followed, and in 2002, Khator was named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

She was named the university's interim provost in 2003 when David Stamps stepped down for health reasons. In 2004, Genshaft made the appointment permanent, saying then that 'it was clear to me as I talked to people that she was their first choice, as well as mine."

Many assumed a university presidency was the next logical step for Khator. Headhunters regularly enticed her with jobs to lead schools such as Temple University in Philadelphia, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, Northeastern University in Boston, Kent State University in Ohio and Mississippi State University.

Faculty members warned she was too ambitious - and too smart - to reject these advances for long.

Pierce, the biology professor, called Khator a decisive leader whose style has caused tension among administrators and faculty members whose ideas have clashed with her own.

'But that's the nature of the business,' Pierce said. 'You just can't maintain the status quo, and she has challenged people to do more. Universities are often in the market for people like that.'

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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