Lamb and university president to tour state

By Robby Lewis

Published Oct. 12, 2007

Interim UM system President Gordon Lamb will be spreading the word across Missouri about higher education's contributions to the state.

At the system Board of Curators meeting last week, Lamb announced to the board his plan to travel the state.

He said he would be traveling with other university presidents to talk about the universities' contributions to human capital.

"We will talk about where we are, where we need to go and where our graduates will take us," Lamb said at the meeting. "Our message will be one of optimism, combined with some pretty straight talk. We will discuss the public good rendered by public higher education, and we will encourage support for this public good by our citizens in a variety of ways."

UM system spokesman Scott Charton said the tour was organized in 2006. He said all of the universities on the tour have the same ultimate goal.

"Even though our universities have different missions, we all still have to be accountable to taxpayers, accessible to students and our diplomas must be quality diplomas," Charton said. "All of the universities are going to talk about the good higher education brings to the city."

Charton said Lamb will speak about the benefits of the UM system.

"This tour will focus on the economics of the University of Missouri on our state including the impact of research on the state's economy," he said.

The tour will also promote proposals to the state legislature on the need for more health professions, Charton said.

"We are going to propose more seats for students in the health schools at the University of Missouri," Charton said. "Missouri has a growing population of seniors, and many health care professionals may also be retiring. Many areas are underserved with health professions' workers."

Charton said big cities are not the only cities in Missouri that need these workers.

"It is not just the major cities in Missouri that are underserved," Charton said.

He said Lamb met with the mayor and city administrator in Trenton earlier this week.

"This is a town of 6,500 residents, and they are in need of health workers," Charton said. "There are always needs for the various health professions."

Charton added that the planned proposal fulfills the major missions for the university.

"The university's four formal missions are teaching, research, service and economic," Charton said. "This ties them all together."

Charton said he also organized a similar 2005 tour for former UM system President Elson Floyd.

"We had an excellent response from citizens," Charton said. "In traveling the state, there was a resonance with the people about higher education. There were a lot of things they didn't know the university was doing."

Charton said the tour dates for the planned tour have not yet been set in stone, but he also said the first stop will be Oct. 29 at the Springfield Area Chambers of Commerce.

Lamb will speak with Missouri State University President Michael Nietzel. Jim Anderson, the Springfield Area Chambers of Commerce president, was present for Floyd's tour and will be present for Gordon's tour.

"It shows the solidarity of the University of Missouri system and Missouri State University," Anderson said. "It also shows the importance of higher education to Missouri."

Anderson said he believes this is beneficial for the people Lamb is speaking to and for Lamb himself.

"The outreach Dr. Lamb is doing is important because it doesn't just bring the message to the people, but it allows him to hear the issues on the minds of Missourians, which are issues that need to be heard," Anderson said.