Higher Ground: My American Dreams and Nightmares in the Hidden Halls of Academia
When Linda Katehi was six years old, growing up in war-ravaged Greece, she turned to her mother and said, “I do not want to be poor!” Her mother replied: “Then go to school and be a good student. This is the only thing that can save you.”
She relentlessly pursued the dream that was born that day, overcoming sexism and xenophobia to graduate college as one of two women in her class and become a highly respected innovator in the male-dominated field of engineering. It was an American Dream, embodied in her appointment in 2009 as chancellor of the University of California, Davis.
As a signature proposal, she put forth a visionary plan to share her dream by expanding the university’s reach both locally and globally—adding new interdisciplinary research areas and opening the doors to more foreign-born students to make UC Davis a global beacon of education.
The political backlash from opponents in the University of California system, the Davis campus, and the surrounding communities was familiar and vitriolic. It turned her dream into a nightmare that only ended when she let go of what she thought she wanted most.
Higher Ground is a lyrically written and emotionally devastating window into the hidden world of academia—at once an intimate personal history, a high-tension workplace drama, and an unforgettable spiritual journey.
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Linda Katehi
Linda Katehi is a highly regarded leader in the field of engineering and a Chancellor Emerita of the University of California, Davis—the first woman to hold that position.
She has also served as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Provost and the Dean of Engineering at Purdue University. In a distinguished forty-year academic career, she has received numerous awards, including the Simon Ramo Founders Award from the National Academy of Engineering for her extraordinary impact on the engineering profession, the American Hellenic Council Aristeio Award in Academics, and a Gabby Award for achievements in education. She is an elected member of many US and international academies, and she holds 19 patents.
She now serves as the O’Donnell Chair in Engineering and is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University.
She lives with her husband, Spyros Tseregounis, in The Woodlands, Texas. They have two children and three grandchildren.
