Chancellor Venkat Reddy, Ph.D. - Creating the Workforce of Tomorrow

Venkat Reddy, Ph.D. & Chancellor of the University of Colorado Colorado Springs

Photo by Don Jones | Studio 9 Photography

UCCS Chancellor Venkat Reddy, Ph.D.

Building a Home, a Mission, and the Workforce of the Future

By Anna Squires | Photo by Don Jones, Studio 9 Photography

I BELIEVE THAT WHEN WE HELP OUR STUDENTS SUCCEED, WE HELP OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY TO SUCCEED AS WELL.”

The people who love you most always see you more clearly than you see yourself. That’s how Venkat Reddy’s mother knew he would follow one of two paths: stay in Hyderabad, India, where he grew up, to become a doctor — or move to the United States to follow a new dream.

Reddy chose to move to the U.S. to earn master’s and doctorate degrees. In the years that followed, he would arrive at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS) and swiftly rise through the ranks, becoming an instructor of finance, then professor, then dean of the College of Business, and finally the chancellor of UCCS, a role he has held since 2017. Each promotion, each decision to stay, came from a central philosophy: to grow where you are planted.

But the lesson didn’t come easy.

“My mother, Prameela, was the driving force behind everything I did,” Reddy says. “She told me I was either going to be a doctor or go to the United States.” After earning a bachelor’s degree in agriculture in India, he sat for the exams to earn a spot in medical school in India — and lost the chance for a seat by two points.

He could have tried again, but instead, he chose to apply for a graduate program in agricultural economics at Pennsylvania State University. “Deciding was the easy part,” Reddy says. When he read his acceptance letter, he immediately sat down and wrote a three-page reply to Dr. Frank Goode, then the chair of the Ag-Econ department. He told Goode two things: that he was passionate about the program, but even if he sent Penn State his dad’s entire annual paycheck, it wouldn’t cover the tuition for a single semester.

Goode wrote back with a scholarship offer covering two and a half years of tuition and living expenses. Reddy packed his bags and left for the U.S. a few weeks later, landing with $250 in his pocket and a dream of starting a new adventure.

But after a month, he was so homesick that he was desperate to return to India. “I couldn’t take it any longer,” Reddy says. “I missed my mother, my home, and — of course — the spicy Indian food.” So he did what every homesick college student does: he called his mom.

“My mom was a great listener,” Reddy says. “She understood what I was going through and how badly I felt. She told me to book a plane ticket home, and I felt an amazing sense of relief: It could all be solved. I was going home. But then she said, ‘I just want you to think about your family honor before you book that ticket.’ And she hung up.”

“I sat on the sidewalk and cried for hours,” Reddy says. He couldn’t imagine continuing on this path.

But his mother knew that he needed to commit to being where he was, and finish what he’d started. He took the lesson to heart, and never looked back.

Reddy now tells this story each year at Convocation, the UCCS ceremony marking the start of the academic year. “My mom believed in me more than I believed in myself,” he says to each new class of first-year students, “and her belief gave me the strength I needed to continue. Know that I see myself in you. Each of you is gifted to achieve the impossible because someone believes in you.”

More than 30 years after he chose to stay in the U.S., Reddy considers Colorado Springs home for him and his family — wife Lata, daughter Divya, son Karan, and son-in-law, Parth.

Reddy has spent those three decades on a mission: to make a college degree possible for all those who seek one, especially first-generation, minority, lowincome and military-affiliated students — many of whom come from circumstances similar to his. His goal is to prepare students to become good citizens and well-rounded members of the community, and often working towards “building the workforce of the future.”

But just as the decision to leave home wasn’t easy — or the decision to stay in the U.S. — working to make college possible for those students has become more and more difficult over the years. As state support for higher education has fallen, tuition has risen at UCCS. Though the university is a public institution, state funding makes up just 13 percent of the campus budget. A “reasonably funded public university,” Reddy says, “would receive about 40 percent.” Like all universities, UCCS tries to make up the difference for students with financial aid, but Reddy says the gap between what UCCS wants to and can provide is more than $7 million.

“That gap is why many of our students work two jobs. We want to be able to do more for them through fundraising,” Reddy says. “We had one of the best fundraising years in 2021, and we hope to continue doing that so we can support the workforce needs of the community.”

Tight budgets, ballooning costs and the pandemic have all presented major challenges for the university. But that hasn’t stopped Reddy, or UCCS, from launching new programs, building new facilities and striving to become the university of choice in southern Colorado.

Central to Reddy’s work over the years have been two beliefs. One belief is in the power of relationships — and one is in the possibility of transforming lives for the better. Both are rooted in his early experiences, and have shaped Reddy’s work as the leader of a public university.

This philosophy of connectedness, Reddy says, has helped UCCS to grow from a fledgling satellite campus of CU Boulder to a campus that enrolls roughly 12,000 students a year.

“Our amazing faculty and staff have huge hearts for our students, and are committed to transforming their lives for the better. On top of that, we have deep roots in our community, which wants UCCS to succeed,” Reddy says. “I am truly blessed to have the support of alumni, donors and community members who all believe in our mission.”

In 2018, the Ent Center for the Arts became the first project to open with Reddy as chancellor, followed by UCCS Downtown, the university’s downtown presence. The William J. Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center followed in 2020, and the Kevin W. O’Neil Cybersecurity Education and Research Center in May of this year. All four projects were funded with public-private partnerships that included state funding, major donors for whom the buildings are named, and individual gifts.

“We partner with entities all across the community, including Centura, UCHealth, the City of Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Catalyst Campus, defense contractors and many others to make these projects happen,” Reddy says. “Our success is the community’s success, and vice versa.”

Each of the flagship projects has at its heart a mission to not only educate students, but to also serve the community of Colorado Springs and surrounding regions. In this way, Reddy works towards his belief that universities can be a vehicle to transform individual lives and communities for the better.

UCCS’ Hybl Sports Medicine and Performance Center, for instance, was born from a dream of creating a space where students could learn, experts could conduct research, and health professionals could support elite athletes, first responders, and everyday citizens. The 104,000-square foot center was the second of four City for Champions projects funded in Colorado Springs. It’s home to special equipment for training first responders, — like police officers and firefighters — and athletes with physical disabilities. It also serves elite athletes looking to gain an edge in their sport. And for everyday citizens, the Hybl Center provides physical therapy services and year-round programs for running, strength, and physical conditioning — all available to the public.

Just across the street from the Hybl Center is the Ent Center for the Arts, which has a mission of supporting arts, culture and community for UCCS and the entire Pikes Peak region. The Ent Center includes a 774-seat theater and concert hall, a gallery of contemporary art, rehearsal spaces, a sculpture garden and a full calendar of visual and performing arts open to the public. Its plays, musicals, concerts, dance performances, lectures, and art exhibitions are meant to weave the arts into the everyday life those in the Pikes Peak region.

UCCS Downtown, too, serves as a public resource in downtown Colorado Springs. Many of its educational programs are offered for free to the community, bringing opportunities for continued education into the public realm.

Under Reddy’s tenure, UCCS has also focused on preparing students for careers in a critical field: cybersecurity, an industry where more than 500,000 jobs have gone unfilled year after year.

“Colorado Springs is a strong military community, and the O’Neil Center is a way to support our defense-related companies and other businesses in the region,” Reddy says. “Former Governor John Hickenlooper wanted to create a National Cybersecurity Center in Colorado Springs, and we provided the space. We built these facilities and programs for our students to have great opportunities” in one of the fastest-growing sectors of the nation’s economy.

The $7 million Kevin W. O’Neil Cybersecurity Education and Research Center opened in May 2022 in a former satellite manufacturing plant south of the UCCS campus. It houses cyber labs, offices, conference rooms, classrooms, “collaboration spaces” where students can work together on projects and a “cyber range” lab used for cyber-warfare training and software development. The 135,000-square-foot center is now UCCS’ cyber education hub, and also houses a cybersecurity-focused think tank and cyber business incubator.

Under Reddy’s leadership, UCCS also launched the Lyda Hill Institute for Human Resilience. Founded in 2020, just weeks before COVID-19 swept the globe, the Institute embarked on a mission to advance human resilience. Through research, healing therapies, and community training and empowerment programs, the Institute aims to support the mental health of the nation and help individuals and families heal from trauma.

Each project was created with a vision to serve students as well as members of the Colorado Springs community, Reddy said. They were each accomplished thanks to strong partnerships with local organizations to make them a reality. They are a “win-win” for everybody involved, Reddy says.

As a former international student himself, Reddy takes time to speak with new UCCS international students at the start of each semester. He tells them about the difficulty he had adjusting to life in the U.S., and the decision he made to stay.

“I learned that luck is very important, but passion will take you much further,” he told a new group of incoming international students this January. “I was very lucky that Dr. Goode at Penn State took a chance on me. And I was very lucky that the department was able to sponsor my scholarships. But it was my passion for the program that made me stand out. If you are passionate about doing something, you will find a way to make it reality.”

“The message for me has been that you can make it, if you believe in yourself, and with persistence,” Reddy says. “But you are only as strong as the people surrounding you, who make you who you are. I believe the same is true for our students at UCCS. And I believe that when we help our students succeed, we help our entire community to succeed as well.”

WWW.UCCS.EDU | 719.255.8227

UCCS Chancellor Venkat Reddy, Ph.D.

Photo by Don Jones | Studio 9 Photography

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