Forsee meets students, faculty

By Carolina Astrain

Published Feb. 29, 2008

At a meet-and-greet Tuesday, students and faculty members waited in line to shake hands with and speak to newly appointed UM system President Gary Forsee. Since he started the job last week, Forsee visited UM-St. Louis to meet with university stakeholders there. UM system spokesman Scott Charton said Forsee will hold similar events at the other two UM system campuses. Graduate student Sheng Lu, an international student, said he hopes the new president will promote a more “favorable” atmosphere in order to attract more international students to the university. Lu said he and fellow graduate student Ruirui Zhang are the only two Chinese students in their department. This was their first time going to a university event, they said. “With his connection to Sprint, we hope he’ll be able to attract more donations from the business world,” Lu said. “Money is important to run a university well, to make our studying easier and our university more beautiful, as well.” Forsee was Sprint Nextel’s chief executive until December, when the company’s board forced him out. After meeting with students and faculty individually, Forsee addressed the students and faculty who had gathered. “We want to make sure our voice at the university is heard loud and clear, and we’re going to need a lot of voices to make that loud and clear,” Forsee said. “We want to make something great, and it’s going to take all of us to do that.” Forsee was joined by Graduate Professional Council President Jennifer Holland and Missouri Students Association President Jim Kelley. Kelley said he had previously met informally with Forsee. He said he and Johnson would have an opportunity to have dinner with Forsee and the Intercampus Student Council later this semester. “We talked to him a little bit at the Board of Curators meeting and once at the reception and then again over breakfast,” Kelley said. “And a lot of that talk wasn’t policy-based. It was introductory, which is important because you want to try and establish a relationship with someone before you start bringing in policy issues.” He said MSA was has had a strong working relationship with previous UM system presidents, and he said he thinks Forsee would continue that tradition. “We’re looking forward to it,” Kelley said. “He brings a lot of experience, and a wealth of perspective, that’s maybe a little bit different than what we do in higher education, but I think a lot of the things and skills that he’ll be able to bring to the table translate very well, so we’re looking forward to working with him.” Steve Mudrick, associate professor emeritus of atmospheric science, said he stopped by the event out of curiosity. “He wanted to know who I was more than I wanted to know who he was,” Mudrick said. “I know he comes from a business background, and I hope he’ll keep the university-versus-business distinction clear. Since we’re not a business, we shouldn’t be run like a business.”

— Reporter Joe Myers contributed to this report.