Interviewed, edited and condensed by Berl Schwartz.
MSU won the competition for FRIB — the Facility for Rare Isotope Research — over the Argonne National Laboratory, just outside of Chicago, at the same time then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was being elected president. Did you ever worry his ascendancy might hurt MSU’s chances?
I really felt the concern was the competition between a national laboratory and a university more than the political context around the Obama election.
What put Michigan State over the top?
We obviously won on the science of the proposal. The match that we were able to put together with the state support also made a difference because it permits the federal dollars to go further, and I think we convinced them that we could in fact do a project of this magnitude and do it within the context of Department of Energy rules.
What’s your day like? Do you have routines?
Every week is different. I probably average about 75 hours a week. Some weeks there are more development activities. Some weeks there are events, including athletic events, where we entertain donors in the boxes to be sure we can continue our private support. When the Legislature is in session, then Steve Webster (vice president for government affairs) and I try to trek downtown to tell Michigan State’s story. Then there are all the meetings that go with running a $2 billion corporation.
Do you try to find some time for yourself during the day?
My husband would say not. Roy and I try to eat in the residence halls once or twice a week. It gives us a chance to be together but also to interact with students in a more informal way.
How’s the food?
The food is excellent, but I’m not a very good cook.
Is there time when you say leave me alone to read?
Traveling around gives you some time to read and work in the car, so that helps a bit. There’s a lot of airport time, and I’m able to read and work in a variety of settings. I have a stack of books, and I try to move through those, sometimes in the evening.
Any for your own pleasure?
A little of both. I’m a mystery fan. It’s a way of chilling out. I just finished reading James Patterson’s new one, “Cross Country.” I have a book club of four or five people. We buy books and we share them. Some I like, some I don’t, depending on who bought them.
Is there a favorite place on campus you like to go?
I just enjoy walking around. Roy and I go to the Wharton Center as often as we can for performances. We enjoy the Hort Gardens, walks along the river. I try to walk going over Grand River and every once in a while go into the Peanut Barrel.
How many calls a week do you get from alumni with sports complaints?
Well, since we’re winning right now, very few. But it escalates when you’re losing. But mostly e-mail. I have one person who’s continuing to communicate because he’s unhappy we don’t play a full round robin in the Big Ten for football. People don’t write much about academic programs, but we don’t have a 24-hour news channel that highlights all the things I wish they would about the academic program.
Some state universities are considered in the top echelon, such as the University of Michigan and some say the University of Georgia. Is that feasible for MSU?
It depends on criteria. If you look at the AAU (Association of American Universities), the 62 public and private research universities of North America to which you are elected to membership, Michigan State was elected in 1964. It was founded in 1900. The University of Michigan along with Yale and Harvard and others were founding members. There’s an Asian index that’s being used now on a broader scale of research and in that ranking Michigan’s 21st and we’re 80th in a top 100 research universities in the world. So, I think we have made it, and I think we don’t brag as much as potentially a University of Georgia does.
You joked that you went into education when you realized you weren’t going to be a catcher for the New York Yankees. Were you athletically inclined as a child?
One of the neat things about my parents is the boundaries of gender were not strictly defined by them, so playing sports and pickup games were simply a part of growing up, in the same way early on getting a chemistry set was.
How did you end up at Michigan State?
By happenstance. It probably wouldn’t happen today — we’re too bureaucratic. The vice president for student affairs at Indiana State (her undergraduate school in Terre Haute) had worked at Michigan State and thought that I would fit pretty well with Paul Dressel, who was an expert in higher education. So I drove up here in January 1970, snow all over the place, and interviewed with Paul. He sat in his office and stared out the window for an hour. He sent me off to lunch with the women in his office. I thought this was pretty much a wasted trip, and then a letter came offering me a job in the office to do analytical work and also enclosed was an application for graduate school and a letter saying he would be my major professor. It seemed like a pretty good deal, and I had obviously misjudged the interview, the lunch and the environment, so I decided I better come and find out more.
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