'U' to install 20th president at ceremony
By Mark Luebker
The installation of Lou Anna Kimsey Simon as the 20th president of MSU will be part of the Founders' Day Celebration at 2 p.m. Feb. 11, in the Great Hall of the Wharton Center for Performing Arts.
The MSU Board of Trustees unanimously appointed Simon president on June 18, 2004. She immediately assumed the title of president designate, and retained her title of provost in order to facilitate a smooth transition during the final months of Peter McPherson's presidency. McPherson announced in May that he would step down Jan. 1, 2005, after 11 years in office. Simon began a three-year contract, effective Jan. 1.
Simon and McPherson were the longest-serving provost-president team in the Big Ten, serving in those roles for 11 years. In May 2003, the MSU Board of Trustees appointed Simon as interim president of Michigan State when McPherson accepted the position of financial coordinator for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq. She served in the dual role of both interim president and provost through September 2003 when President McPherson returned.
Simon chose to have her installation as part of the annual Founders' Day Celebration honoring faculty achievements instead of as a separate inaugural event.
“I really wanted to keep the focus on the university and on the work of the people whose passion and tireless efforts have made MSU one of the top 100 universities in the world and among the best research universities in North America,” she said.
At the installation ceremony, Simon is expected to talk about reinvigorating Michigan State's land-grant mission in order to develop and advance the emerging knowledge economy —in Michigan, the nation and the world—and how that will inform our vision of MSU's future as “the land-grant university for the 21st century.”
Simon also plans to continue using her Web site to communicate with the university community and will issue a major statement before the end of her first 100 days in office outlining the goals and prerequisites for enhancing greatness, as well as an assessment of our current assets and the challenges it faces. Her statement will be the prelude to a broad discussion leading up to the State of the University address, as part of Sesquicentennial events in September.
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