MSU Alumni Magazine, Fall 2004 issue - MSU Alumni Association ...

PRESIDENT’SPERSPECTIVE
MSU Alumni Magazine
Robert Bao
Editor
Geneva Tupper
Advertising Manager
Dave Giordan
Design
Tim Potter
Photography
MSU Alumni Association
Keith A. Williams
Executive Director
Nancy Brent
Associate Director
David Brown
Assistant Director
Louise Cooley
Assistant Director
Andy Henderson
Assistant Director
Sharon Radtke
Assistant Director
L. Patrick Scheetz
Assistant Director
Sandy Soifer
Assistant Director
Bev VandenBerg
Assistant Director
Beverly Carnahan
Executive Staff Assistant
Regina Cross
Marketing and Sales Coordinator
Cheryl Denison
Marketing and Sales Coordinator
Tim Potter
Information Officer
Dominic Schimizzi
Business Manager
Jackie Sweet
Membership Coordinator
Advertising Manager, Geneva Tupper
(517) 432-1951 • fax (517) 432-7769
In
my final President’s Perspective, I want to
thank all of you for your support, counsel, and advocacy
for our wonderful university. These past 11
years have reinforced an already held belief that
Michigan State is not only a great university, but a
caring and responsive one. Indeed, we “advance
knowledge and transform lives” throughout the
world in truly remarkable ways—we always have,
and we always will.
I leave the presidency as Spartans worldwide celebrate
our sesquicentennial. With each event,
with each ceremony, with each retrospective, one
reason we remain the nation’s pioneer and pioneering
land-grant university becomes obvious:
We follow in the footsteps of legends. From great
scientists to great teachers, from great faculty to
great students, from those who created new
knowledge to those who globally applied that knowledge, from visionaries to pragmatists, we have
been led, in action and in example, by the best.
Earlier this fall, the MSU family came together to celebrate and honor our heritage. On September
17 we dedicated the statue of John Hannah, whose presidency from 1941 to 1969 is regarded
as historic not only on the banks of the Red Cedar, but throughout all of higher education.
On the eve of World War II, John Hannah became president of a college already considered a successful
“grand experiment.” But he transformed that well-regarded regional college into a
renowned global university, successfully conducting many “grand experiments” of his own—from
naming higher education’s first dean of international programs to building the largest campus residence
hall system, from bringing the National Superconducting Cyclotron to campus to personally
recruiting highly sought-after young faculty who became internationally renowned scholars at
John Hannah’s MSC and MSU. As I said on that Friday morning, “John Hannah saw the future.
And he led us there.”
The statue of John Hannah captures his spirit, and it captures the spirit of MSU. As depicted in
the statue, John Hannah is not standing still—he’s on the move. Just like his beloved university.
Hannah’s on-the-move statue calls us to follow him. His vision, his values, his example, and
his leadership are part of our present and our future, just as they are part of our past. As I said on the
dedication day, “May his vision and values guide us for generations to come.”
As Joanne and I prepare to leave a place, a time, and people that truly have transformed our lives,
we know that MSU’s first 150 years are a prelude to even greater accomplishments. And we are very
grateful for a university that values its heritage and traditions. What—and who—made MSU
great, will keep MSU great. As John Hannah so often said, “Only people are important.”
COPYRIGHT 2004
MSU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
MSU Alumni Association
MSU Union
East Lansing, MI 48824-1029
(517) 355-8314
Peter McPherson
President, Michigan State University
MSU is an affirmative-action,
equal opportunity institution.
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FALL 2004
MSU ALUMNI MAGAZINE