Oral History Program Prasanna Reddy Interviewed by Shelly Park 1 April 2016 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Prasanna Reddy Interviewed by Shelly Park 1 April 2016 Copyright © 2023 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Reddy, Prasanna, an oral history by Shelly Park, 1 April 2016, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections and University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Prasanna Reddy, conducted on April 1, 2016 at Weber State University, by Shelly Park. Prasanna discusses her job at Weber’s Learning Center, especially concerning her experiences as a minority leader. SP: Today is April 1, 2016, and we are here with Prasanna Reddy in her office at the Learning Center. Prasanna, could you give me your exact title, please? PR: I’m the Director of the Learning Center at the Ogden campus. That includes the testing centers, tutoring areas, and supplemental instruction. SP: Okay, great. Prasanna, could you please start by telling us about your background? Childhood, teen years, where you grew up, any hobbies, family values, education, or anything else? PR: I could talk for a whole hour [laughs]. I’m from India originally; I was born and brought up there. I went to an English medium school in India. Originally, the first five years, I was in a Telugu school—Telugu being my native language in India. Then I moved over to an English-speaking school and studied sciences. Then I went on to—because I loved reading—I did my master’s on literature. But I am also good at accounting, so I did an MBA after I came here to the United States. I came here when I was 25; a long, long, long time, eons ago. I’ve been working at Weber State for the last 40 years. First as an adjunct English professor, then, later on, the last 17 years, I have been here full-time as a tutoring and SI supervisor. I just climbed up from an assistant director to a director now, and I think I’ve reached my glass ceiling now, so I think I am going to retire soon. 1 My family values? My family is totally focused on education. For instance, my father and mother never thought we could not do anything that you put our minds to. My father, if he had had his way, would have had all four doctors in his house. But there is something about blood that makes me think, so I thought, “Being a doctor is not my thing,” [laughs]. My one sister is a doctor, my other sister has a PhD in zoology, my other sister has a PhD in nutrition and food science and works for Kraft. So all four of us have degrees, a master’s, and I’m the only one of the four that does not have a doctorate. I guess my two master’s don’t count, but what can you do? SP: Heck, that’s huge! So growing up, were you from what would be considered a more middle-to-influential household? PR: Definitely middle, probably upper-middle class. My father was a justice of the Supreme Court, but as a government servant, he didn’t get paid very much. He had a lot of respect and he had a lot of influence. He could come straight into the plane to receive me when I flew to India and nobody could stop him [laughs]. But money-wise, I would put us in the middle class or upper-middle class. We were not poor by any means, but we could not afford many things, like cheese and stuff, that are very expensive in India—or used to be, at least. So a lot of things were a challenge. SP: Great. Okay, what experiences did you have in childhood, teen years, or adult years that led you to believe that you were or could be a leader? PR: Oh, that is a very good question. My father and mother, like I said, always believed we could do things. We always grew up around people who believed 2 that, too. I never consciously thought about being a leader, but in whatever meeting I was in, even in classrooms, I always spoke up; I always needed to be heard. Part of that is because I am a Leo and Leos always need to be heard [laughs]. Definitely my personality. I brought up my children that way, too. There is nothing that you cannot do, and if you have a thought, express it, but always be polite, because when you use bad language, you’ve lost your listener. No one is going to listen to you. What we say should be heard, whether it was important or not. If you feel strongly enough about it, you need to say it. That got me, I think, recognized more and more. Sometimes the reputation is not that good [laughs], but for the most part, people believed I could do things. I’m not sure that’s a good thing, because I am always on a hiring committee, or actually chairing them, and I know how important it is when you make a promise, you keep that promise: to do a good job and to get the job done. I think that’s what put me in leadership positions. SP: Sounds great. What are your core values, and how have they influenced your leadership experiences or abilities? PR: My core values? I think honesty is one of them, and I am maybe getting that to an extent that I shouldn’t, because people have always said to me, “Why do you have to say things as soon as they come to thought?” I have a hard time holding back. Honesty has been one of the things I have valued in others. I like to hear what they think of me, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t express myself either. 3 Other core value is, again, my parents were very influential in this, that things get done on time and do them well, to the best of your ability. Even my kids, it’s the same thing. I always tell them, “Do it. You can do it. Just do it!” One thing I like about them, and about me too, is that if I need help, I’m not afraid to ask. I am very good at delegating. You’ve seen that in our meetings, too. I don’t need to do everything. I do not like looking over peoples’ shoulders to see if they’ve done what I asked them to do. I believe in them, I know they can do it, and I know they will always ask me for help if they need to. I think that has helped me a lot to gain respect from people, and I love that part of my job. I have people sitting around me saying, “Okay, tell us what to do.” The minute I ask, they do it! That’s what I like. SP: That’s important. That’s something I am still struggling with, because I’m the one who’s used to doing everything. PR: Delegating is so important, and having trust. Obviously the final product, you always do check, and we do make sure everything is coming together well, but to constantly nag at the people who report to you, I’m not happy doing that. SP: No, I can’t imagine. Name a person who has had a tremendous impact on you as a leader—maybe a mentor. Why and how did this person impact your life generally, and your leadership abilities specifically? PR: As I said, the people who have had the most impact on me are my own parents. They always made me believe I can do whatever I wanted. There have been so many role models for me; when I was growing up in India, our Prime Minister had such a huge role in global affairs. Indira Gandhi, and looking at her, she was 4 such a strong woman. She believed she could do anything. India was the second-largest populated country next to China, and the largest democracy in the world. Today, they have over a billion, but even as I was growing up, they were like 100 million people, largest democracy. Strangely enough, all my role models were women. Even today, when I pray, I pray to a woman goddess. I don’t pray to a god, I’m sorry, but that’s who I believe in. A woman god, to me, is everything. I’m not really a feminist in any formal sense of the word, but I do believe that a woman can do everything, and she was one. I really am a great fan of Hillary Clinton. I know people say she is dishonest, this, that, and the other, but she is one who has shown that she can get the job done. Her governmental issues I really admire. I think it is very important, especially since I am interested in the same issues. She has done a lot for children. She has promoted diversity and works towards that. Women’s issues have been huge on her plate, and for me, one major issue is the pay. Why are women not getting paid as much as men for the same job? When I first came here to this country 40 years ago, people would say, “What is the biggest shock for you?” It’s a beautiful country, great highways, roads, everything, people are well-to-do, but the biggest shock for me was that women are getting three-fourths of the pay a man is getting for the same job, and that, to me, didn’t make sense. I thought this is the most advanced country in the world, where are we? What can I say, all my role models have been women. 5 SP: Well, I think that’s great to see that women, over time, are being able to advance and become leaders. It’s still going to be a challenge for us, I think. PR: I think so. SP: That brings us to our next one. What do you see as the biggest challenge of being a minority leader in Northern Utah, which is predominantly white and maledominated, and what do you do to overcome those challenges? PR: You know, people have asked me that, but maybe because of my personality, forceful as it is, I have never had any trouble. I have reported to white men, and our vice president is a white woman, you know. They have never really challenged me in any way, shape, or form about it—my being a tinted woman— and I have never felt that was, to me, an obstruction of any kind. Now, if I had gone with my MBA, which I worked on and achieved, too, at Utah State, I may have gone with that to a company. Maybe I would have met that glass ceiling, but there are no glass ceilings here. Weber State University has had a female president, and two of our vice presidents right now are female, albeit they are all white, but I am one to believe that if one of them was not white, we would still have that person as a president or vice president if their qualifications were right. People keep asking, wondering—especially in Utah, where white Mormon men are considered… SP: Prominent? PR: …prominent, and the choice for any job. I have not had that particular experience myself. 6 SP: Have you ever had that experience anywhere else that you have lived, or had any challenges that way? PR: In England, there is a little more stigma. I lived there for five years, and yeah, there is a little more stigma than there is in Utah. I’m sure there are places in Utah that are a little more conscious of the color of one’s skin, but at Weber State, we are really blessed. I think you can look around and see that. When I first came here, I was one of the few people who was tinted, but since, in 40 years, it has really grown. SP: I love Weber State; that’s why I ended up changing and staying here as well. PR: I don’t know, maybe it’s like this at Utah State or University of Utah and all the other universities, but here at Weber State, I have been respected. Doors were always open. SP: Good. What advice would you give emerging young minority leaders in order to be successful? PR: My first bit of advice would be to educate yourself to the nth degree. Even today, when I go to die, my only regret will be that I did not get a PhD, that I did not get that ultimate degree I could have gotten. I have two master’s, as I have said, but I still feel that lack, and if I had had that determination, I could have gotten one. So get the best education you can and do the ultimate degree that you can get. That’s what my kids have done; with them, too, I have been telling them. One has a PhD, one is hopefully going to get his PhD, and one is a doctor. Once you have an education, the skin color and all of that matters not. It is so much easier. 7 The second thing I would say is, seize the opportunities. Apply for the positions. Don’t worry about not being selected because you are a woman or you’re brown or yellow or pink. It’s an opportunity, and if you have the education, if you have the qualifications, and you can be articulate and vociferous about how you feel, you’ll get there. SP: What other insights can you share about being a minority leader in Northern Utah? PR: Insights I can share? When you’re a leader, you come across so many different kinds of people. Don’t judge right away, because I have been wrong on so many different occasions, judging people. Taking your time, getting to know them, and, when they are reporting to you especially, being kind and understanding and seeing where they come from and why they think the way they do. Above all, valuing the diversity of opinions, of ages, backgrounds, learning styles—all of that is very important. I have 18 people reporting to me, and I have 220 hourly employees, and when they come and sit down with me and tell me they want to talk to me, I always think, “What’s this about?” and I keep my mind as open as I can, because I, myself, have come from such a different background that is it important to know where this person is coming from and not make a judgment right off the bat. Listen to them. Listening skills are so important, along with not making judgments too soon. SP: That’s awesome. Do you have other things that you feel are important for a leader to do? How do you typically treat people, or anything else you want to add as a leader? 8 PR: Treating people, as I said earlier, is very important. You get the respect you deserve. That’s it. No more, no less. If you want that respect from people, you need to treat people respectfully as well. That’s important. What’s been very important to me—this sounds mundane—but it’s time management. Being organized is very important. For a leader to get to that position, and to hold that position, you have so many things you have to do. You have to attend meetings, you have to be on committees, you have to chair committees, you have to get your own work done. Because I run the Supplemental Instruction program out of this office, I have thirty SI leaders, and I do the training for them, I hire them, I do their payroll, all of that. That is something I have to do personally, but I also have to manage the people who report to me and all the things they are doing and support them in what they do. That's important. If I don't keep my time organized, if I don't get things done on time, then things pile up and I lose it. I know that's gonna happen, so that's why I pack my day carefully. Another thing that is very important to me is keeping up with the news and not just letting this be my world. I love Weber State, but there's a life beyond Weber State. There are elections happening, there are people in different parts of the world doing amazing things. I wanna keep up with that, which means that I wake up at 4:30, I do a half hour meditation and sit down and read the newspaper or something to that, then I get here and pick up the college newspaper—that's very important. I try to get that done before I start my day of meetings, seeing people and grading papers—because I also teach an online 9 English class. I like to keep current and conduits are very important for me, so I keep current with those. Time management: if I let one thing go, it's sitting there on my mind. “I gotta get it done. I gotta get it done.” My whole day. I keep thinking about it. It's best to get it done and then I can move on. SP: You are a busy woman. That’s all the questions I have. Do you have anything else you would like to share? I told you we were going to go to the Job Corps to present some of these things; anything specific you want them to know? PR: Absolutely! The one thing I will say is don’t give up, and don’t get discouraged. You have to understand, for every job—to tell you the truth, when we have a testing center position, I receive like 85 applications. I can only hire one person, right, and we don’t know that’s not going to be you. And if it’s not, that’s okay. There are other positions. Just don’t give up; stay with it. Just keep plodding on, and somewhere, there’s something that’s right for you. I have to tell you—I’m a Hindu, and I believe in destiny and fate, so whatever you get is what is good for you at that moment. Just believe in that and keep moving on. SP: That’s great. Thank you. PR: Thank you. 10