Michael Lane will be the next president of Emporia State University, the Kansas Board of Regents announced today.
This will be the third university Lane has worked for in the past two years. He became provost at the University of Arkansas a year and a half ago and before that held the same position at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania.
“We’re extremely impressed by Dr. Lane’s experience, character and the enthusiasm he will bring with him to Emporia,” regents chairman Nelson Galle said in the announcement. “I’m confident that Dr. Lane’s abilities will serve ESU, the Emporia community and the state of Kansas well for many years to come.”
The Board of Regents had not released a figure for Lane’s salary by press time today.
Lane will be formally introduced to the ESU campus and the Emporia community on Friday morning. A time has not yet been announced. A reception will be held at 2 p.m. in the Colonial Ballroom of the ESU Memorial Union.
During his visit to Emporia earlier this month, Lane said he had no tolerance for micromanagement or for anyone who needed to be micromanaged.
“It’s a waste of my time and it’s a waste of the manager’s time,” Lane told a group at the Trusler Business Center last week. “And if I’m micromanaging the manager, I don’t need the manager.”
During his Emporia visit, Lane said that public universities have to pursue more private funding in light of declining state support. He also said that ESU needs to look at its marketing plan to make sure it’s not just positioning itself as “the cheap school.”
“We need to look at tuition and whether to raise it, but we also have to be conscious that, as a state university, we need to remain affordable for those who have difficulty affording higher education.”
He also said college students need more world experience.
“I’ve often said that if I woke up tomorrow and became the czar of higher education, my first decree would be that every student would spend some time abroad as part of their education,” he told an audience at the Memorial Union last week. “This is a very small planet we’re occupying and it’s getting smaller every day.”
Lane holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and master’s and doctoral degrees in accounting. His wife Peggy is also an academic.
At Fort Smith, Lane was also on the board of directors of the local Girl Scout council, a member of the Rotary Club and a baritone in the Fort Smith Chorale.
Lane has been in education since 1978, when he became an assistant professor at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. He stayed with Bradley until 1994, eventually becoming an associate dean and the director of the MBA program.
From 1994 to 1998, he was the dean of the business school at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. He then moved on to take a similar position at Berry College in Rome, Georgia, which he held until 2000, when he moved to Mansfield.
At Mansfield University, Lane was part of an effort to work with the state, Temple University and a local hospital to establish a free dental clinic. By the time he left for Arkansas in 2005, the clinic was serving 2,200 patients.
The university also increased its recruiting efforts during his time as provost. Minority enrollment grew from 6 to 10 percent and retention of minority students increased from 62 to 69 percent.
His time in Arkansas was a transition period for the school, which has been transforming from a community college to a university.