The common denominator is learning

This story concludes a series of interviews with the deans of New Mexico State University’s six colleges.

The delta regions of Andhra Pradesh in southern India do not initially remind one of the New Mexico desert or Rio Grande watershed, but Dr. Lakshmi Reddi described several parallels between the village where he grew up and the region he now serves at New Mexico State University.

The importance of agriculture, and therefore water supply and infrastructure, are central concerns in both places; and education is a key driver of social mobility, especially for first-generation students whose parents, like Reddi’s own, are not formally educated.

Seeing the importance of civil engineering for his home community, Reddi studied the subject first as an undergraduate at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in India, moving on to graduate studies at Ohio State University, completing his Ph.D. there in 1988.

He went on to teach at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey and then at Kansas State University, where he chaired the civil engineering department for seven years. He went on to teach and hold numerous administrative appointments and chairmanships at the University of Central Florida and Florida International University.

When the dean’s position at New Mexico State opened, Reddi said he wanted to return to a land grant institution, such as KSU. Under the federal Morrill Act, which enables states to establish land-grant colleges, Reddi said teaching and research are both charged with a public service mandate. That means, he said, “You cannot do the teaching and research exclusively as though you are disconnected from the community you are living in.”

He recalled finding NMSU appealing for other reasons as well.

“I’m a first-generation student myself,” he said in an interview at his office in Goddard Hall, on the road known as the Horseshoe on the Las Cruces campus. “I’ve always had a passion for minority- and Hispanic-serving institutions, and first-generation-serving institutions. New Mexico State was the perfect fit, given all of the above. It’s been seven and a half years and a wonderful ride. I would not change anything.”

Hispanic-serving institutions, if they meet certain criteria, are eligible for federal funding under Title III of the Higher Education Act. Among other requirements, undergraduate Hispanic or Latino students must comprise 25 percent or more of full-time enrollment.

“The legitimate end of the Hispanic-serving institutions or minority-serving institutions is to see that the minorities and Hispanics that we are including are successful,” Reddi said. “Not just during the four years (of coursework), but that they are gainfully employed and successfully providing service.”

The College of Engineering encompasses civil, mechanical and aerospace engineering; industrial, chemical, electrical and computer engineering as well as surveying. Besides the comprehensive scope of disciplines included, Reddi said he was impressed by NMSU’s “student-centric” culture. Smaller class sizes enhance the student-to-faculty ratio, he said, as well as the establishment of an engineering learning community where students may seek academic assistance.

He said the university also provides superior opportunities for experiential learning and connections to product development and marketing, such as NMSU’s Arrowhead Center; and the Ron Seidel Engineering Leadership Institute, which addresses ethics, critical thinking, communication and interpersonal skills.

“A lot of colleges of engineering across the country usually take pride in having leadership and entrepreneurial abilities given to the students outside the classroom,” he said. “Where we are unique is, we don’t charge the students anything. In fact, we pay them.”

A further advantage he attributes to the university’s smaller size, among other factors, is the interdisciplinary research: “We don’t have the silos that bigger schools have. … Let’s take the water problem. It’s not just an engineering problem. It’s a policy problem. It’s a political issue. It’s a business issue. It’s a legal issue. There are so many angles to it.”

In Reddi’s view, teaching and research are distinct enterprises but must also correspond with one another, as “one always feeds the other. … The common denominator is learning, and our learning always has to be contextualized to the community that we are living in.

“A land-grant institution stipulates, be of use. We are giving you land free, so be of use to the community that you’re living in. That’s the beauty.”