Renu Khator, president of the University of Houston and chancellor of the UH System, has been appointed to the board of directors of the American Council on Education (ACE). She will serve through March 2012.

ACE is the major coordinating body for all of the nation's higher education institutions. It provides a unifying voice on higher education issues and attempts to influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives. Its areas of focus include expanding access to higher education, diversifying the next generation of leadership in higher education and enhancing the vitality of institutions of higher learning.

“This is a special opportunity to help shape higher education’s response to the challenges that our students and our society are facing today,” Khator said.

In addition to the ACE appointment, Khator recently was accepted as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an independent, nonpartisan organization founded in 1921 that is devoted to providing a better understanding of the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. Membership is by nomination and acceptance within the CFR and is a highly competitive process. CFR publishes Foreign Affairs, a noted journal of international affairs; maintains a “think tank” that produces reports on foreign policy issues; and supports an independent research program as well as a variety of symposia and conferences.

Khator, who earned a Ph.D. in political science from Purdue University, is a noted scholar in the field of global environmental policy and has published numerous books and articles on this subject.

Staff reports