By Cathy Spaulding
Phoenix Staff Writer
July 02, 2008 11:59 pm
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Former Northeastern State University instructor Don Betz was back at home on the wooded Tahlequah campus Tuesday.
“I remember leaving a lot of footprints on the campus,” said Betz, who taught political science and served in various administrative roles at NSU from 1971 to 1994.
Tuesday however, Betz began leaving footprints on campus in his new role as NSU president. Tuesday marked his first day as president, succeeding Larry Williams.
He said he spent most of his first day filling out paperwork and setting up his office technology.
“I found three boxes and couldn’t find 33 boxes,” he joked.
Still, Betz got a chance to get out and see what was different and what was the same at NSU.
“The new NET tower is the most dramatic difference, representing a bold new way of representing what NSU is about,” he said. “We have Sequoyah Suites student apartments to the north, additions to the optometry department, a really lovely science building addition and renovation creates a quadrangle effect with the Seminary Hall and athletic facilities. With the addition of Centennial Plaza, this will rebuild the center of campus. Seminary Hall definitely is the anchor of the institution, reflecting the spirit that built its commitment to education in the 1840s to 1850s.”
The university, which opened as Cherokee National Female Seminary in 1851, will celebrate its Centennial as a state-run institution in 2009.
Betz said he hopes to lead NSU into its second century by helping the university achieve academic excellence, build strong civic partnerships and raise its visibility in the region.
“The three NSU campuses have three distinctive purposes,” he said. “The Broken Arrow campus may not duplicate what Muskogee offers.”
Betz said he plans to meet with Muskogee campus officials, as well as people in Muskogee’s private and public sectors soon.
He said he also plans to build NSU’s relationship with Connors State College. The two institutions hope to build a joint facility on the NSU Muskogee campus, 2400 W. Shawnee Bypass, to house a library and classes taught at Connors’ downtown Muskogee campus. Betz said he has not reviewed plans for the building.
Betz said he also is committed to improving student access to education without sacrificing quality.
NSU is raising its tuition and fees by 9.4 percent, barely above the state average tuition increase. Betz said that even with the increase, NSU costs are “well below the national average and far below the regional average.”
He said he wants to remind cost-conscious students their college “is an investment in the future.”
He said people with a college degree could earn $1 million more over their lifetime than if they only had a high school education.
“We have to find ways to keep costs as low as possible, but if we dilute academic excellence, we are cheating ourselves, which means we have to pay faculty, pay staff and make sure the roof doesn’t leak,” he said.
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Betz