First candidate for Wichita State president visits campus

Glen Hahn Cope said she’s always been a “city-neighborhood kind of person.”

And reaching out to residents living in some of the poorer areas bordering Wichita State University is among her plans, if she’s chosen as the institution’s next president.

“It would be important to get together with leaders in the neighborhood … to get in to make those connections,” Cope said during an hourlong public forum Monday at WSU.

She said she has similar experiences reaching out to nearly 100 neighborhood leaders yearly in St. Louis.

“It’s part of the university being a good citizen.”

Cope was the first of five finalists for WSU’s presidency scheduled to speak during a series of meetings, hosted through next week on campus. Around 200 people — mostly WSU faculty, staff and students — attended Monday’s meeting.

If chosen, Cope will replace current president Donald Beggs, who will resign on June 30. Last year, Beggs announced his plans to retire after serving WSU for 13 years.

Cope is current provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. She is also a professor of public policy administration and political science at the university. She arrived in Wichita on Sunday.

Cope spent Monday touring the campus and talking to university-affiliated groups. During the forum, she easily compared WSU to the St. Louis university.

“I’m coming from an institution that is very similar,” Cope said, likening the diversity and population at UMSL — about 16,000 students — to WSU’s nearly 15,000 students. Both are urban-serving universities, she added, with strong connections to their surrounding cities.

“I think it’s very important for Wichita State to be prominent — to be known — for academic excellence, for excellence in co-curricular activities and connection to the community,” she said, “… and all other aspects of the community.

“It’s good for the university to be serving the community, and for the community to be serving the university.”

Cope later addressed campus-specific issues, saying she supports WSU athletics, a strong relationship with local businesses, and an increase in technology and online courses.

She also plans to tackle increasing student debt by minimizing tuition hikes and finding more money for scholarships.

“Student debt is a real problem, and it’s something we can’t ignore,” she said. “… It takes a multiple-pronged approach. We can’t expect students to bear the burden long term.”

Chuck Staben, provost of vice president for academic affairs at the University of South Dakota, will speak today. Lisa A. Rossbacher, current president of Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, Ga., follows on Wednesday.

Two others — Bjong Wolf Yeigh and John William Bardo — are scheduled to address crowds early next week.

The meetings will be held from 4-5 p.m. in Hubbard Hall, located near Cessna Stadium on the WSU campus.

Members of a 20-person search committee will pass their recommendations onto the Kansas Board of Regents after the forums wrap up on April 17. The board is expected to announce the new president in May, according to a news release from WSU.

Go to www.wichita.edu/presidentialsearch for more information about the finalists.

This story was originally published April 9, 2012 at 5:00 AM with the headline "First candidate for Wichita State president visits campus."