The PBSA is given for eminence is one’s field or outstanding work that has enhanced India’s prestige in the country of residence. Kindly throw light on your tenure as President of UH, and the work that you’ve been able to do…
I became president of University of Houston in 2008. Prior to that I was, for 22 years, at the University of South Florida where I started in a temporary position, before rising to become a senior VP. During the past six years at UH, the university has transformed into becoming one of the top 100 institutions in the USA. I was the first Indian born to become presient of any research university in America, male or female. Now, there are five other Indian presidents. When I was appointed, I had had nobody to follow. There were lots of eyes on me, and if anything were to go wrong, they were going to blame and where I came from, that too in a challenging place like Texas. But I am a very goal-oriented person. I put my passion behind my goals. I just don’t negotiate on my goals. I try from every angle to reach my goal. And I’d like to think that’s how I have gone about things at UH in the last six years. I became the first India born president at Houston, but when I went to that city, there were already 150,000 Indians living there. They are doing tremendous work, and are very successful people. So we already had the foundation in terms of a community that is entrepreneurial. My going there was just one added element to this.