Feature: Lou Anna K. Simon--MSU President-Designate
MSU moves expeditiously to designate provost Lou Anna K. Simon to replace Peter McPherson as president next year.
It did not take long for MSU’s Board of Trustees to name a successor to President Peter McPherson, who announced in May that he would step down as MSU president beginning Jan. 1, 2005.
At its June 18 meeting, just six weeks after McPherson’s announcement, the board unanimously selected MSU Provost Lou Anna K. Simon as MSU President-Designate. On Jan. 1 she becomes MSU’s 20th president, the university’s first female CEO in history. Simon comes well-prepared for the task, having been MSU Interim President from May to September 2003, while McPherson was serving in Iraq, and having been at MSU as a graduate student or employee for more than three decades, the last 11 years as provost (or chief academic officer). Simon and McPherson have served together longer than any other President-Provost pairing in the Big Ten, and possibly among major universities in the nation.
In recent years, Simon has been very visible to alumni as she has been keynote speaker at many alumni functions both on campus and nationwide. “She has been a tremendous communicator with alumni,” notes Keith A. Williams, executive director of the MSU Alumni Association. “She has an amazing sense of the university’s future as a leading institution in education, research and outreach. I’ve been very impressed with the clarity and passion with which Dr. Simon has articulated to alumni groups what Michigan State University should be.”
That passion and clarity probably arises from her long and distinguished history with MSU. After earning her doctorate in administration and higher education from MSU in 1974, she became a member of the MSU faculty and assistant director of the Office of Institutional Research (now the Office of Planning and Budgets). From there, she moved into a variety of administrative roles, including assistant provost for general academic administration during the 1980s and associate provost in the early 1990s. She also serves as provost of the MSU College of Law.
"As we move forward from today, you have our collective pledge that we will do all that we can for MSU so that three years from now, as we look back on this decision, we know that this was the right decision for Michigan State," said Simon after the board decision. "I accept this new role with great confidence and enthusiasm for the tasks ahead."
Since 1999, Simon has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), an academic consortium of 12 major teaching and research universities in the Midwest, including the 11 institutions that compose the Big Ten, along with the University of Chicago . She was elected chairperson of the CIC in 2000, a position she currently holds.
"This is an important point in our history, a time of transition and change, both intellectually and fiscally," she noted. "It is also a time of unusual opportunity and possibility. I am honored by the confidence that the board has placed in me and I will work tirelessly and passionately to keep MSU on the path of excellence."
Simon has taught graduate seminars in the College of Education on evaluation, planning and budgeting. She is a committed advocate and participant in the Academic Governance of the institution that provides for major, fundamental faculty and student participation in deliberations of departments, schools, colleges, and at the all-university level.
With her extensive administrative experience, active involvement in development activities, and her leadership and participation in a variety of innovative initiatives across the mission, Simon has been responsible for the full range of academic and academic support programs at MSU. She is regarded nationally as a powerful advocate of a research-active, student-centered university that is an engaged partner with society, in the land-grant tradition.
Her publications, in texts such as "Serving Children and Families through Community-University Partnerships" and "Universities and Communities: Remaking Professional and Interprofessional Education for the Next Century," demonstrate Simon's continuing commitment to the promotion of university outreach ventures, especially those related to serving youth and families.
Most recently, she co-edited with Maureen Kenny, Karen Kiley-Brabeck and Richard Lerner the book "Learning to Serve: Promoting Civil Society Through Service Learning," published in 2002 by Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Simon has personally supported MSU Alumni Association events, having spoken at special events, such as Spartan Spirit, the Kedzie Reunion, and Kaleidoscope, club and constituent association events, and at the faculty reception for Evening College. Last fall she was a featured guest in the Alumni Hospitality Tent, which welcomes alumni prior to home football games. She has also served as keynote speaker for the MSUAA’s Leadership Conference, where volunteer alumni leaders learn about the association and receive training on their service.
In addition to earning a doctorate degree from MSU, Simon also holds a master's degree in student personnel and counseling, and a bachelor of arts degree in mathematics, both from Indiana State University.
McPherson said he was pleased the board had chosen a "confident, experienced person who can do the job."
"There is great momentum here," he said. "So many people on this campus have worked hard to achieve so many things. With Lou Anna Simon as the next president, we can ensure that this momentum not only continues, but grows."
Editorialized the Lansing State Journal, “Lou Anna Simon was the logical choice to be Michigan State University's next president.
“In voting unanimously for Simon on Friday—and so soon after Peter McPherson announced he was leaving—trustees demonstrated a conviction that Simon is the right person at the right time . . .
“Simon is the consummate MSU insider. She has been at MSU for three decades. As provost—and recently as interim president while McPherson served in Iraq—she is well-versed in both the academic and administrative realms . . .
“Still, time and money were undoubtedly saved in tapping Simon. And, trustees argue convincingly, a seamless transition into a Simon presidency retains momentum on key projects. Among them: a $1.2 billion fund-raising campaign, shifting parts of the College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids, and remaining a finalist to be the site for a national Rare Isotope Accelerator.
"’We don't have time to have a president get educated about who we are,’ Trustee Joel Ferguson said Friday.”
Nor can the board wait for another candidate to develop as much passion for MSU’s mission. “Michigan State does have a magical quality,” notes Simon. “It's been that way for me, and it's been that way for many others as well. So our task is to make sure it stays that way for many years to come.”
Statement from Lou Anna K . Simon, MSU President Designate, June 18, 2004:
I'm really honored by the confidence that you've expressed in me, and a bit humbled as I indicated at the Board meeting. To repeat some of the comments I made there: Like a lot of people, I was envisioning a national search to fill this position. I believed that I was a strong candidate, but I was genuinely surprised that today followed yesterday, in terms of how quickly you arrived at your decision.
Like many of you, I'm a first generation college student. So I was touched by something that happened when we did the fellowship awards for the Broad students in Detroit last week. I made that same comment to a set of students there—students who will have the opportunity to pursue a full ride at Michigan State in exchange for going back to Detroit and making a difference in their communities—and one of the mothers nudged her daughter in the ribs and said, “Look at that!” Because the daughter also was a first generation college student.
There's a kind of magic in that, but Michigan State does have a magical quality. It's been that way for me, and it's been that way for many others as well. So our task is to make sure it stays that way for many years to come.
Even though times have been difficult, and sometimes realities have been very stark and accord seemingly very elusive, we have formed partnerships. And we must continue to do that, so “Team MSU,” working tirelessly and passionately, will keep Michigan State University on the path of relevant and meaningful excellence.
This opportunity for me is really based on the successful work of many, many others.
I believe that Michigan State University made the correct choice eleven years ago in asking Peter to serve as president. Because I think I've learned from our partnership and have been able to make many, many contributions to the university as a result. Looking back on today from some point in the future, I hope the same will be said about this presidency.
The success of Michigan State is really about the idea of a team. It's about all of the people: the staff, the faculty, the people who work in this building, the alumni and our friends around the world. It's about people who are prepared, not simply to give their time or money, but to give their dedication, their ideas and their love to Michigan State University . And we're going to try to mine that capacity in order that Michigan State can be even greater.
As I said earlier, this three-year contract is based on the fact that we have a running start on a number of initiatives and challenges. And as Trustee Pittman said, we're going to try to exceed all expectations in that three-year period.
So on behalf of “Team Simon”—Roy and I—I accept the new role to lead Michigan State in the pursuit of the great and noble, as well as the practical and humane purposes for which Michigan State was founded 150 years ago. Thank you very much.
