Scholarship for students based on merit; UH matches donation.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Renu Khator, the system chancellor and president of the University of Houston (UH), has donated $100,000 towards the creation of a “tier one” scholarship in the university’s name.
The scholarship — which was founded jointly with Khator’s husband Suresh, who is the associate dean at the university’s Cullen College of Engineering — will be called The Renu and Suresh Khator UH Tier One Scholarship Endowment. Further funding matched the Khators’ donation, increasing the scholarship’s total to $200,000.
“The University of Houston offers more than $150 million in aid and scholarship [money] each year,” said Renu Khator. “Few, including tier one scholarships, are based on merit [and] offering scholarships to freshmen, whether need-based or merit-based, encourages them to attend college [and] to choose UH.”
Because of its tier one status, the Khator Scholarship Endowment can only accept students with a combined math and reading SAT score of 1300. Applicants must also be in the top 10% of their graduating class academically, and must be applying to attend undergraduate classes the fall immediately following their graduation from high school.
Khator is the 13th president of the University of Houston System of colleges. She is the first female president in the school’s history, and is the first Indian American to be the president of a major research university anywhere in the United States. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1973 from the University of Kanpur, followed by her Master’s degree in political science in 1975 and her Doctor of Philosophy degree in political science and public administration in 1985, both from Purdue University.
In 1985, she began working for the University of South Florida. She would stay there for 22 years, ultimately serving as provost and senior vice-president of the University at the time of her departure. She was confirmed to her current position at UH on November 5th, 2007.
Her husband, Suresh, also attended Purdue University with her, and holds a Ph.D. in engineering. They have two daughters, Pooja and Parul, who are both ophthalmologists.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com