Good mornng, everyone. What a beautiful day it is and I think the combination of the two colors look really nice.
I want to start out by congratulating the students. You are the future. You are the reason why we are doing this today. You inspire us. So, thank you so much for excelling in what you do, and thank you so much for giving us the inspiration to do better. So, one more hand for our students.
I want to really start out by first of all thanking the community here. I've been coming here for several years. Many, many years, in fact, because I've been in this position for 18 years, this is my 19th. During this time, I have seen such a transformation here, and that's because of your commitment, passion, vision and dedication. If universities are here, if they are doing great, it's because of you, because great universities are built by great communities. So, congratulations.
I want to thank you, the (legislative) delegation from the RGV. I have worked with you all, well, some are new, but I have worked with so many members. They have always been super passionate, very committed, and this kind of project would not have been possible, and for the University of Houston to be where it is would not have been possible (without them). We always got support from the delegation from the RGV. So, thank you all so very much.
I want to thank, of course, our chairman, Jack Moore. You met him earlier when he was introduced. But I can tell you, without the vision of the board, chancellors can't do very much. So I'm very appreciative. They're always pushing me hard.
Now, I want to also mention somebody you know, and that is our own board member: for this his seventh year as a regent, Alonzo Cantu. He has been an inspiration for me. I was fortunate to know him even before he became a regent, because he invited me to come here. We have been exploring things here. But I cannot tell you how much indebted I feel. I know you know him very well. Everybody in Houston knows him very well too, because, number one, he's an inspiration that every leader desires to have, and how fortunate I am that I him on my board, so that he can guide me. And so a huge amount of credit for the University of Houston's success goes to our Regent Cantu.
I also want to point out what I have seen all this time, and that is bold vision. It's one thing to have people who are visionaries. It's another thing to see people who are diverse, and they will just implement, execute to the detail. It is very rare to see people who are a perfect balance of both the vision and pragmatism, getting things done. And you have with you somebody, our Regent Cantu, your Alonzo Cantu, who just has those qualities. So one more hand to our regent, Alonzo Cantu.
Also, since I have the microphone, I want to just give my gratitude to CEO Manish Singh, because Manish and I have been working together. He is so dedicated, so committed, and just always looking forward to future things to come. So thank you, Manish for all of your fabulous, fantastic, contributions.
I am really here on behalf of all of our board members, our faculty and students and our nearly 300,000 Cougar alumni. I cannot tell you how honored I am to be here, how excited I am because you have accepted us to be part of the RGV vision, and that is a great honor. We take it seriously. We have many Cougars here in the audience. Could you please raise your hand or show me your paws? Okay, awesome. Thank you. Thank you. And I want all our students to know how important that is. Look at all the successful people who went to the University of Houston. So, you are going to the University of Houston, alright? (Applause)
This is a marriage of two visions and passions. So our vision at the University of Houston has always been transforming lives. We are about opportunities. We are about seeing how much people can do and how high they can rise with the potential and talent they have. And then I have been witnessing DHR's vision as well, and that has been not just about providing healthcare, but community advancement. Both go beyond their goals so therefore this partnership here becomes very, very critical.
Now this partnership with the University of Houston began in 2017 in some real, concrete sense, when the College of Pharmacy started their programming here and presence here. We have the Dean of the College of Pharmacy, Arash Bashirullah here. Could you please stand, Arash? He's very new here. I wanted you to see him because I'm going to hold him accountable for the expansion that happens here. And so that vision that began in 2017, the partnership, strengthened last year as we started to send our medical students here for their clerkship, their clinical rotations. And that is with the Fertitta College of Medicine. The dean of the Fertitta College of Medicine and vice president for entire UH Health, Dr. John McCullers is here as well, and I want you to meet him too. (Applause)
I'm expecting to see more great things here. So it's important to know the face, right? And now, the same partnership is deepening today with this research building. Now, we are doubling down on our mission, which is beyond workforce. Because when you send your students here, when you have educational programs here, you are talking about creating a workforce. We are very proud to do that, because that is our core mission. But as a research university, as a tier one university, our mission goes beyond that. We are the generators of knowledge that will be used to create students or teach the students of tomorrow. So, it's not about just today, let's train. It's also about what is going to be part of the training tomorrow, because world is changing so fast.
So, today, with this research building, and there are a lot of other components here, we will actually have a space here to be able to have people here, to be able to have a presence here, a constant presence here, because it's not too far, very soon, I just want to see red all around here in McAllen and in the RGV, and I can assure you that that is one color that looks super good on every skin tone. Don't even think about it.
Now, why is this partnership is so important? It is because we have to believe in certain things. We have to believe that disparity in health, disparity in health outcomes particularly, should not be acceptable. We have to believe that access to health care should not be limited to where you live, where your zip code is. We have to believe that leaving out a large section of the population from research should not become the norm. It is not normal. We need to make sure that we can do better, that we can dream better, bigger, and that we can perform larger, we can reach greater heights. That is the vision that brings us here. We are dedicated, we are passionate, because we do believe that the dreams can come true and we can dream and dreams become powerful.
So, today, this building is not just space. It's not just bricks and mortar. It is a dream, a much bigger dream, that is starting today. And you have our pledge that you will see us do exactly that. We, of course, need your partnership, from the community, from the leaders, from anybody who can help in any way. But the University of Houston, which right now is at 49,000 students - it is a large university - we want to make sure we can have more presence, a better presence, better opportunities here, and we can serve this community because without that, our mission is not complete. So thank you all very much and congratulations.
Editor's Note: The above guest column is based on remarks made by University of Houston President Renu Khator at a grounbreaking ceremony for DHR Health and the University of Houston's new Medical Research and Education Center. The center is being built on the DHR medical campus in north McAllen.
Renu Khator has been serving as chancellor of the University of Houston System and president of its flagship University of Houston campus, since January of 2008. She broke boundaries and glass ceilings with these appointments, as she became the first female chancellor in the state of Texas and the first Indian immigrant to lead a comprehensive research university in the U.S.
During her first decade of leadership, Renu Khator guided the remarkable transformation of the University of Houston into a top-tier institution that has become nationally recognized for its unique blend of academic accomplishment, research innovation, athletic achievement and dedication to the success of a significantly diverse, determined student body.
Today, UH enjoys an enrollment of more than 48,000 students, awards over 11,000 degrees annually, offers more than 275 undergraduate and graduate academic programs and has a $6.4 billion economic impact on the Greater Houston area each year.
