Video
Michael Lane Press Conference
Michael Lane gives his first speech as President of Emporia State University. Part 1 of 2.
Video
Michael Lane Press Conference
Michael Lane gives his first speech as President of Emporia State University. Part 2 of 2.
Emporia State University officially met its new president, Michael Lane, in a press conference this morning.
Applause rang across the Plumb Hall rotunda for a long time as Lane stepped up to the microphone, his wife, Peggy, standing nearby.
“Thank you very much,” he finally said with a broad grin on his face. “That’s a little bit overwhelming.”
Lane will be the 15th president of ESU when he begins the job Nov. 1, succeeding President Kay Schallenkamp and interim President John Schwenn.
Lane is the provost of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, Ark. His wife teaches at the university’s Fayetteville campus. She will come to Emporia in mid-December after finishing out the semester.
Lane outlined some of his broad goals for the campus, starting with developing a strategic plan for where the university should be four or five years down the road. He also said he wants to continue the progress that has been made in fund raising, maintain a strong relationship with the community and focus on faculty hiring.
“When an institution’s reputation is primarily based on preparing teachers, of one thing I’m sure — it takes excellent teachers to prepare excellent teachers,” Lane said.
Most of his first weeks, he said, will be spent meeting with the board of regents and university officials to get his feet on the ground.
“I will meet with President Schwenn ... and meet with President Schwenn ... and meet with President Schwenn,” he said as the audience laughed.
Lane will receive a base salary of $190,000, which can be supplemented with private dollars up to $200,000.
Several dignitaries attended the conference, including State Rep. Don Hill; regents Janice DeBauge and Nelson Galle; the regents’ chief executive officer Reginald Robinson; and U.S. Rep Jerry Moran, R-Kansas.
“A university president makes a huge difference to the state of Kansas,” Moran said afterward. “We have many students from across Kansas who come to ESU, acquire their education and then go back to the community and provide their leadership. So who is the president of ESU is a matter of great importance.”
Moran added that he was very impressed with the new president.
“It seems to me the selection process has worked very well for Emporia State University,” he said.
Lane had been at his previous university for only 19 months. He had gone there, he said, to serve under Chancellor Joel Stubblefield who had become something of a legend in Arkansas. But Stubblefield grew ill after Lane arrived and died 11 months ago. Lane has since been part of the effort to find Stubblefield’s successor.
The Emporia opportunity, he said, came at just the right time in his career.
“I’m looking forward to the next 10 or 11 years, to make this one of the finest regional institutions in the United States,” he said.
In their spare time, both Lanes sing. Michael Lane also plays golf — although, he added, not especially well.
“Have you ever noticed what word you get when you reverse the letters?” Lane said. “I flog my way around the golf course. My handicap is my swing.”
Retired Emporia teacher Carol Strickland asked what Peggy Lane’s vision for the campus was. Lane responded that she expected to be very involved with both the community and the campus.
“I was a student,” Peggy Lane said. “I am a faculty member. So I think I can relate on every level — except for that ‘parent’ thing.
“But then,” she added with a smile to her husband, “we have 4,000 kids now, isn’t that right?”