Linda Katehi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Linda Katehi
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| Sixth Chancellor at the University of California, Davis | |
| In office August 17, 2009 – August 9, 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Larry N. Vanderhoef |
| Succeeded by | Gary S. May |
| Provost and Vice Chancellor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | |
| In office 2005–2009 |
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| John Edwardson Dean of Engineering Purdue University | |
| In office 2005–2009 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
Pisti Basile Katehi
January 30, 1954 Athens, Greece |
| Residences | Davis, California, USA |
| Alma mater | National Technical University of Athens (Greece) Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Profession | University Administrator, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Women and Gender Studies |
Linda Pisti Basile Katehi-Tseregounis (born January 30, 1954) is a Greek-born American engineering professor and former university administrator. Katehi was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering (2006) for contributions to three-dimensional integrated circuits and on-wafer packaging and to engineering education. Katehi worked as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's provost from 2006 to 2009 and dean of engineering at Purdue University from 2002 to 2006. Beginning in 2009, she served as the sixth chancellor of the University of California, Davis.
On April 27, 2016, University of California President Janet Napolitano removed Katehi from her post and placed her on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into possible violations of university policies over nepotism. On August 9, 2016, the UC President announced that she had accepted Katehi's resignation after the investigation found "numerous instances where Chancellor Katehi was not candid, that she exercised poor judgment, and violated multiple University policies". Katehi remained in her post as electrical engineering professor. Since the fall of 2019, Katehi has been Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station.
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Early life and education
Katehi was born in Athens and grew up on Salamis Island in Greece. After graduating from high school, Katehi was admitted to the National Technical University of Athens.
In 1977, Katehi graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. She was one of the two women in her class of 189 students and has stated that this led to many difficulties and biases against her during that time. Katehi has stated that this motivated her to mentor women and other underrepresented minorities pursuing careers in engineering and the sciences.
Katehi has stated that she was drawn to electrical engineering as a teenager in 1969, when she watched Neil Armstrong’s Apollo 11 Moon landing. While captivated by the astronauts, she was most inspired by the engineers in mission control on Earth.
After two years working as a researcher at the Ministry of National Defense's Naval Research Lab in Athens, she was encouraged by a mentor to apply to graduate school at University of California, Los Angeles. She came to the United States in 1979. She went on to earn her master's degree and doctorate in electrical engineering at UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1981 and 1984, respectively.
Career
Katehi began her teaching career in Greece, as a lecturer. She taught at the National Technical University of Athens Greece between 1977 and 1978. She then became a researcher at the Ministry of National Defence's Naval Research Lab in Athens, Greece.
In her early US career, Katehi worked at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor from 1984 to 2001 as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, and as associate dean of academic affairs and graduate education starting in 1994. She was hired as the engineering dean at Purdue University in 2002. While there, she increased both the faculty by 15% and research funding within the engineering department. In 2005, Katehi became the first female provost and vice-chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. After four years at the University of Illinois, Katehi became the 6th Chancellor of the University of California, Davis in 2009, succeeding Larry Vanderhoef. She was the first female chancellor of the university.
Katehi's expertise is in circuit design and her research focuses on antennas. She currently holds 19 patents. Through her academic roles she has been a mentor to over 70 postdoctoral fellows.
In addition to her university roles, Katehi was appointed by President George W. Bush to the committee on the National Medal of Science. She chaired the 12-member committee, along with the Secretary of Commerce's committee for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, until 2010. She was appointed to the FBI's National Security Higher Education Advisory Board in 2010. Katehi is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in 2011, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering where she chaired the committee on K-12 engineering education for two years.
For her academic work, she has received awards including the AHC Aristeio Award in Academics in 2011 and a Gabby Award for her achievements in education and academia, also in 2011.
In 2014, she received an honorary degree from the American College of Greece as part of their annual commencement ceremony.
In 2015, the National Academy of Engineering presented Linda Katehi with its Simon Ramo Founders Award recognizing her "extraordinary impact on the engineering profession" and "leadership in engineering research and education."
In 2019, Katehi was hired as Professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, College Station.
Board memberships
- Member of the Board of textbook publisher John Wiley & Sons
- Member of the Board of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation
- Member of the Board of The Cyprus Institute
- Member of the Board of Valley Vision
- Member of the Board of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute
- Member of the Board of the Business Higher Education Forum
University of California, Davis
Katehi was appointed chancellor by the University of California Board of Regents on May 7, 2009, effective August 17, 2009. She holds UC Davis faculty appointments in electrical and computer engineering and in women and gender studies. Katehi charged a committee with creating a new "Vision of Excellence" for the school. She also launched several blue ribbon committees: tech transfer and commercialization, research, information technology excellence, and organizational excellence. Katehi also created the Chancellor's Colloquium Distinguished Speaker Series As of 2009, Katehi's base annual salary was $400,000.
In response to demonstrations on campus in 2010, Katehi launched the Hate-Free Campus Initiative to reaffirm the campus's values and commitment to one another. The initiative included creation of "Beyond Tolerance Tuesday," collaboration with the Museum of Tolerance, and the creation of a speakers series and the Civility Project, which began with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Under Katehi's leadership, UC Davis co-hosted the Governors' Global Climate Summit 3: Building the Green Economy in November 2010. Participants included Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the United Nations Development Programme, and the United Nations Environment Programme. The summit's focus was to continue to build subnational collaboration on policies and strategies to stimulate economic growth, reduce dependence on fossil fuels, create green jobs, promote clean energy solutions and reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
In 2013, Katehi launched the UC Davis World Food Center, with the publicly stated goal of amplifying UC Davis' numerous programs involved in food, health and sustainability. In January 2015, she announced that UC Davis plans to build a new location for the World Food Center in downtown Sacramento. The location could also serve as a satellite campus for UC Davis. Katehi stated that a plan for the new location could be formed by the end of May or June.
In September 2014, Katehi announced a partnership between Mars, Incorporated and UC Davis to create the Innovation Institute for Food and Health. According to Katehi, the institute will serve as the innovation branch of the UC Davis World Food Center. Chief Science Officer at Mars Inc., Harold Schmitz, called the relationship both research and innovation-based. Mars has pledged to contribute $40 million to the project over 10 years while UC Davis has committed to contribute $20 million over 10 years. Additionally, Katehi announced a partnership with a government agency in Chile to expand research on a global level in conjunction with the UC Davis World Food Center.
Days after the announcement of the Mars partnership, Katehi and UC Davis announced that it will install a solar array on 70 acres of land south of Interstate 80. The power plant will provide 14 percent of all UC Davis's power consumption. The array will be built in conjunction with SunPower who previously built a 4-megawatt solar array at the UC Davis West Village neighborhood, which is a net-zero community.
Increasing the percentage of Latino students at UC Davis is a goal of the university, as stated by Katehi. UC Davis aims to become a Hispanic Serving Institution by having at least 25% of their undergraduate student body made up of Latinos by the 2018–2019 school year.
In March, Katehi invited the public to participate in the construction of the Shrem Museum in UC Davis's Gateway District. Participants were invited to sign a steel beam that would be installed and visible after construction. Upon completion, the museum will house the UC Davis art collection which consists of over 5,000 items.
Administrative leave
On April 27, 2016, UC President Janet Napolitano placed Chancellor Katehi on investigatory administrative leave from her position as chancellor, pending the outcome of an investigation into multiple possible violations of several University of California policies.
According to Inside Higher Education (IHE) "Linda Katehi has held on as chancellor despite numerous controversies, but she is placed on leave over issues related to employing her daughter-in-law." IHE continued stating: A letter from Napolitano to Katehi said that the chancellor's daughter-in-law has received "promotions and salary increases over a two-and-a-half-year period that have increased her pay by over $50,000 and have resulted in several title changes. During that same period, you put forward a pay increase of over 20 percent and a title change for your daughter-in-law's supervisor." Further, Napolitano's letter said, the academic program that employs Katehi's son has been moved into the department where her daughter-in-law works, and "placed under her direct supervision." The letter said that it "does not appear that appropriate steps were taken to address, document or obtain approval for the fact that your son now reported to your daughter-in-law, who, in turn, was supervised by one of your direct reports." An independent investigation will now be launched, Napolitano said."
In its 28 April 2016 article entitled "Probe of nepotism, conduct and lying targets UC Davis head", the San Francisco Chronicle reported: "Katehi’s daughter-in-law, Emily Prieto-Tseregounis, was hired as an executive analyst at UC Davis in 2013, earning $77,000. In less than three years, she was promoted to assistant vice chancellor earning $130,000, said Dianne Klein, a UC spokeswoman. In February, a UC attorney advised against promoting her again, Klein said. The daughter-in-law’s boss, Vice Chancellor Adela de la Torre, reports directly to Katehi, who raised de la Torre’s pay by 22 percent in July." The San Francisco Chronicle further stated, as to 2009: "Questions swirled then about whether the new chancellor had known, in her previous job, about the improper admission of 800 under-qualified students to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a prestigious public university where Katehi was provost and oversaw admissions."
Involvement in STEM
In August 2011, Katehi voiced her support of the California STEM Learning Network in her Huffington Post blog. The California STEM Learning Network, otherwise known as CLSNet, was starting in 2008 with funding provided by the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. CLSNet promotes the importance of STEM fields as well as pushes to increase the number of students graduating high school with the intent to go into STEM fields in the state of California.
In September 2012, Katehi was awarded a $3.725 million grant over 5 years from the National Science Foundation to establish an ADVANCE program at UC Davis, with the goal of increasing female participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. Katehi serves as the principal investigator and chairs the project's steering committee. According to UC Davis, the grant money will be used, in part, to create the Center for the Advancement of Multicultural Perspectives on Science (CAMPOS). The CAMPOS initiative's primary focus is increasing cultural diversity and supporting Latinas in STEM careers.
In October 2012, Katehi was included on the California STEM Learning Network's list of twelve "Leading Women in STEM." The Network recognized Katehi for her work in increasing STEM opportunities for women and girls and serving as a role model in the field.
In March 2013, Katehi was chosen to speak at the 26th annual Yolo County Women's History Month luncheon. Katehi also gave a keynote address about her work in STEM at the Consortium for Women and Research's annual Distinguished Women in Science Lecture Series in April 2013.
Resumption of academic work
In July 2017, the Sacramento Bee reported that Katehi would begin teaching at UC Davis again in the 2017-18 academic year as a "distinguished professor". She would receive a salary equivalent to her salary as chancellor. Public interest experts criticized the move as atypical, noting that Katehi's salary would be higher than any other professor in her department, even those with full teaching loads. While UC Davis officials initially announced her position as being an engineering and gender studies professor, they revealed a few weeks later that she would only be teaching one engineering class every academic quarter. Salary experts again criticized the situation as inequitable in comparison with Katehi's high salary.
