Khator's climb An ambitious president. A Houston university set on change. And the 10 years that elevated them both.

Khator's climb An ambitious president. A Houston university set on change. And the 10 years that elevated them both.

The student's cardboard prototypes were unpolished, but Renu Khator saw promise.

Khator wondered aloud if the most elaborate of the designs was practical.

"I like this one," she told the graduate architecture student. "If you can make it work."

The same could have been said for Khator's ambitions when she started as the University of Houston's president and system chancellor in 2008, promising to turn what was long-denigrated as "Cougar High" into a nationally recognized research university.

Higher education, particularly in Texas, was poised for a grueling decade. An economic recession and sharp state cuts would force tight budgets. Public support of higher education would erode in a polarized nation. And college presidents and their institutions would face increased public pressure from student activists, faculty, athletic boosters and lawmakers.

GRAY MATTERS: Texas culture, UH history: Here's what's on Renu Khator's bookshelf

Now, as Khator celebrates her 10th year leading the university system, UH has made large strides. Graduation rates are up, enrollment is soaring and athletics are ingrained in its identity. UH is officially recognized as a top-tier university and is hustling to nab a medical school. More alumni give to the university, which is in the final stretch of a $1 billion capital campaign.

"I've pinned all my hopes here, that you can build a great institution in this great city," Khator said in a recent interview. "Despite our challenges, we have the biggest opportunity to be innovative - the biggest opportunity to do something different."

Over her tenure, however, UH has not dodged some criticisms common to higher education. Tuition has grown to levels higher than at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, and tensions have emerged over concerns that her vision for UH neglected its neediest populations and the system's three smaller universities.

Though questions remain about the balance between high-caliber stature and accessibility to all, Khator's fans - and there are many - laud her as a changemaker at a university that's long dreamed of growing beyond its reputation.

She's an uncommon figure in U.S. and in Texas higher education. Most college presidents are white or male, and she is neither. She has stayed at UH for a decade, years longer than the average president. She holds a rare dual appointment of both president and chancellor and she's never held elected office in Texas politics, unlike three other state chancellors.

She is one of three immigrants to lead a Texas public university, often sharing her story of moving from India and learning English through "I Love Lucy."

And as she strives for UH's prominence - sometimes butting heads to do so – Khator pays respect to the city's roots.

Many a spring, she's posed for photos at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo – on horseback.

"The consensus around the country is that she is one of the best higher education leaders in the U.S.," said Raymund Paredes, Texas' higher education commissioner. "Houston is lucky to have her."

University of Houston president Renu Khator speaks to graduate students in the College of Optometry, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, in Houston. University of Houston president Renu Khator speaks to graduate students in the College of Optometry, Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2018, in Houston. Photo: Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle Photo: Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 13 Caption Close University of Houston's Renu Khator marks 10-year anniversary with eyes set on future 1 / 13 Back to Gallery

Building a 'powerhouse'

In her wood-grained office overlooking the Cullen Family Plaza fountain, reflecting on the last decade, Khator is adamant about not comparing UH to A&M and UT-Austin.

She instead looks higher, at the nation's top institutions, though she concedes that operating with fewer resources requires precision and strategy. Her goal is for UH to prepare students so they can compete against graduates of "the No. 1 and No. 2" institutions.

"We have made a lot of strides," she said. "We look like a university today that other universities will look like in 20 years. In terms of diversity, in terms of how we (are)...taking first-generation, taking international students, taking students from any kind of socioeconomic condition and giving them absolutely the top-notch, nationally competitive education."

The results - recognition from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the 2015 opening of a Phi Beta Kappa honor society chapter - are their own reward.

"When the needle is moving, it's quite intoxicating," she said.

Her ambition to elevate UH was apparent as early as her job interview, when she told regents she could make UH a nationally competitive university. Reaching Tier One - shorthand for a designation of top research activity by Carnegie - was front of mind for the board.

Khator, who came to UH after serving as the University of South Florida's provost, pressed her staff for details on how to achieve the regents' goals.

Elwyn Lee, then Khator's vice president of student affairs, recalled feeling "drained" from her early cabinet meetings. "You go into the next meeting – it's the same thing," he said.

Finally, after just three years with Khator at the helm, the Carnegie Foundation gave UH the Tier One nod. At the time, the sole other Texas universities at that level were UT-Austin, Texas A&M and Rice University.

"She couldn't believe it," her husband, Suresh Khator, said of the email from the Carnegie Foundation. "She turned her cell phone off and turned it on again."

A new attitude stirred students and alumni.

BUILDING A 'POWERHOUSE': UH students, alumni reflect on changing institution

Not long after she arrived, Khator urged faculty and staff to join her in wearing red on Fridays, an initiative that soon expanded to students. First came UH Red Friday, then Cougar Red Friday. Students traded in T-shirts from other universities for UH apparel.

She regularly drops in on classes, including the recent visit to the graduate architecture class, and to student dining facilities.

And then, in what university officials say is a key indicator that UH's gains meant something more to boosters, alumni opened their pocketbooks. Donations to the UH System reached $154 million this past fiscal year, about three times what it was in the 2008 fiscal year.

The university soon billed itself a powerhouse in an advertising campaign. "This is the house innovation built," read one airport billboard.

Community concerns

Worries surfaced, however, that the university's gains shut out poor and black students. In 2014, six years after she arrived and as black leaders expressed concern, Khator told Lee she wanted to better understand the culture of the Third Ward neighborhood that surrounds UH. He offered to show her.

Lee, who by then was overseeing community relations and institutional access, took her through the Bottoms neighborhood and to the SHAPE Community Center and the NAACP. They drove to the Project Row Houses and the former homes of famous residents, including pop superstar Beyoncé.

To one former senior administrator, the fact that it took Khator so long to explore her university's neighborhood was stunning.

"She was now only suddenly discovering the historic African-American community of which UH was located," said the former administrator, who asked not to be identified for fear of professional repercussions.

Khator explains the delay by saying that her administration focused first on hitting internal benchmarks before intensifying the focus outward to the community.

"You have to be internally strong in order to stand up and say, 'What do I do next?'" she said, adding that she'd previously gone alone but wanted Lee's insight.

Still, tuition has risen sharply in the past 10 years, with full-time undergraduate, in-state tuition jumping 59 percent since 2007-08. Khator's administration says UH's is higher than A&M's and UT-Austin's because of lack of access to the Permanent University Fund, the multibillion-dollar endowment that funnels money into those institutions, and because fewer professorships are endowed by donors.

UH total annual resident costs top A&M, UT-Austin

Students pushed back against the costs with social media complaints and, in 2012, a small walkout.

Further tensions emerged in 2014, when UH said it would require many freshmen to live on campus by 2015, citing data that showed students who did so earned better grades.

But dorm life is expensive. State Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and UH alumnus, said the decision discounted low-income students.

"I think you have overstepped on this one," he wrote to Khator in a text message.

She retreated from the plan and apologized.

Then-state Rep. Borris Miles, D-Houston, raised concerns about hiring diversity, black student enrollment and minority contracting in a sharply worded letter to Khator in 2015. Soon after that, she launched a Third Ward initiative covering education, economic empowerment, health and the arts.

Now, he said in a recent statement, she "listens to opinions that are different from her own" and is a "steadfast leader."

Still, some metrics lag. Fewer black students enrolled in fall 2017 than in fall 2007 despite overall enrollment growth, which UH attributes in part to lower black enrollment in HISD schools and the addition of a multiracial category for student self-identification.

Black students continue to trail white students in graduating within four years, and the disparity has widened since 2007. But black students have recently outpaced white students in participation in a program launched in 2014 encouraging four-year graduation.

Khator said the lawmakers' concerns showed passion toward a common goal – boosting student outcomes. She said she has been open to pursuing other strategies, such as creating a scholarship for on-campus housing. Whitmire was the first donor.

"Renu's done a good job of raising the standards without the fallout that I'm always cautioning about," Whitmire said. "We are a top Tier One school...but you can't forget your core mission."

'Driven' for UH

Eloise Dunn Brice, UH's advancement vice president, first met Khator in Washington, D.C., when Brice was considering joining UH.

Khator set out her latest goal: A billion-dollar capital campaign for a university that hadn't had a formal fund-raising push in two decades. Khator's pitch showed Brice that she wasn't going to do anything halfway.

"She is driven for this university and it is easy to want to be part of that," Brice said. "That's not true of a lot of higher education. A lot of higher education is pretty darn happy with itself."

Khator's colleagues identify her high standards and focus on strategic thinking as important to UH's success. But she doesn't micromanage, colleagues say, and much of her job involves working with politicians and donors.

A photo in her office shows her with Donald Trump at a UH-hosted Republican debate. His hand forms a thumbs up; hers, the university hand sign, folding the ring finger toward the palm. Other photos show her with then-President Barack Obama and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

When the Texas Legislature is in session biennially, she goes to Austin weekly. Amid the ongoing capital campaign, she meets alumni nationwide, with stops last year in Dallas, New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

In private, she compartmentalizes the job from her family and personal life, said her husband, who is an associate dean of graduate programs at UH.

Together, they often walk their rescued German shepherd Sasha, adopted five years ago. The walks, he said, are "therapeutic" for his wife.

"There are times where we have taken an hour walk and she hasn't spoken a single word," he said. "I know she's thinking about something...I don't prod her."

Suresh Khator said his wife is driven in part by a desire to be known by her achievements, including improving student outcomes.

"She derives her energy from that ambition to succeed (and) ambition to move the institution to the next level," he said.

'Two UHs?'

Still, a divide remains between UH and other universities in the system.

At UH, enrollment has grown by more than 10,000 students – to 45,364 – since fall 2007, with an increasing number of Hispanic students and growing interest in engineering and technology. About 16 percent of UH students who enrolled as freshmen in 2007 graduated in four years, compared to 32 percent for freshmen who enrolled in 2013.

The three sister universities - UH-Downtown, UH-Clear Lake and UH-Victoria – have combined enrollment of more than 25,000. The student population at those schools got a boost when the Legislature allowed UH-Victoria to begin enrolling freshmen and sophomore students starting in 2010 and UH-Clear Lake in 2014. Before that, the schools accepted only upper-division and graduate students.

Most of the students at the smaller universities, however, are transfer students who took credits at community colleges beforehand, making comparisons of four-year graduation rates difficult.

Khator points to improved outreach to minorities and other initiatives within the smaller universities as evidence of progress. UH-Downtown, moreover, got its biggest gift in history last year, a $10 million donation for its business school.

Paredes, the state's higher education commissioner, said the smaller universities' focus on undergraduate education has allowed UH to bolster research. UH has spent millions turning land near campus into an energy research park with an "innovation lab" and startup space.

"Rice is a wonderful university, but Rice is small – you need large, public universities that can take the bulk of the load of developing start-ups and incubating high-tech companies," he said.

But Whitmire said he noticed striking differences during a fall visit to UH-Downtown.

"They don't even have basics, if you want to call a student center a basic," Whitmire said. "I don't think there's any question that we have to be concerned that we do not allow the UH System to become two UHs - the haves and the have-nots."

Juan Sanchez Munoz, who started as UH-Downtown president last spring, said a student center was in development before Whitmire's visit and has since been completed.

Philip Castille, a former UH-Victoria president, left the university in 2014, weeks after UH announced it would take charge of all courses at the system's Sugar Land campus. The move ousted UH-Victoria programming from Sugar Land.

Khator said she put students first in making the decision, but Castille saw it differently.

"The system's chancellor is not objective," Castille said. "Her primary goal is serving the interest of her campus, not the broader interest of the system."

Vic Morgan, the president of UH-Victoria who has announced he will resign in the fall, said UH's growth helps the other universities.

"It's beneficial for us to have UH in our name," he said.

Looking ahead

Disparities in state funding remain a point of frustration among UH supporters.

Despite UH's gains, A&M and UT-Austin loom above every other Texas institution, in part because of the funding they get from the Permanent University Fund. They also trounce other state universities in research spending, system endowments and membership in top athletics conferences.

The UT System's endowment was $26.5 billion in the 2017 fiscal year and the A&M System's endowment was $11.6 billion, while the UH System's was $962.3 million, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers and Commonfund Institute.

"You have to have resources to invest in order to continue to build something really big," Khator said.

'FALLEN IN LOVE': How Renu Khator describes Houston

Diana Natalicio, whose 30 years at UT-El Paso make her the longest-serving Texas college president, said Khator has not let a lack of access to the PUF temper her drive.

"One of the things that happens too often is that people use something like the PUF as an excuse not to work toward very ambitious goals," Natalicio said. "The thing that's striking about Khator is that she doesn't let that sort of regret...slow her down."

Khator gives no indication she's letting up on her goals, which include a push to raise the final $200 million of the $1 billion capital campaign and convincing state officials to approve a UH medical school with the necessary $40 million in funding.

Her current contract extends through August 2019, with a base pay of $704,900 annually and additional bonuses. Regents attribute her compensation - which was the highest in the nation among presidents and chancellors in 2014-15 - to her dual role filling both positions as well as her performance.

Khator says she has no desire to leave.

"In 2027, the university will complete its (first) hundred years," she said. "It would be a dream come true to be there for the 100th."

Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.

Interactives and design by Jordan Rubio



