SEMO TO INSTALL DOBBINS IN LOW-KEY RITES ON DEC. 10

Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Ken Dobbins isn't much for fanfare.

When he became the school's 17th president, he didn't want an elaborate inauguration, and he won't get one.

Rather, the university will hold a convocation at 3 p.m. Dec. 10 with a procession in academic robes in Academic Hall Auditorium.

The regents will meet that day, with commencement the next day, so the auditorium already will be decorated for the convocation for honors students.

Faculty who rent robes for commencement also could wear the ceremonial robes for the investiture, university officials said.

The regents plan to discuss the investiture at their 2 p.m. meeting Thursday in the University Center Ballroom.

The December ceremony will be far different from the one in April 1997 when Dr. Dale Nitzschke became the 16th president.

Nitzschke's inauguration was a weeklong affair that included a performance by comedian Bill Cosby and a debate between former Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern and conservative commentator William Buckley.

Dobbins said the 1997 inauguration provided an opportunity to showcase Nitzschke to the region.

Unlike Nitzschke, Dobbins isn't new to the university.

"I have been here eight years," said Dobbins, who previously served as executive vice president for Southeast.

Dobbins said an elaborate ceremony isn't needed this time around.

In 1997, the university spent about $20,000 to bring in big-name speakers. Private donations underwrote most of the cost.

Southeast had planned to pay out another $25,000 to Dr. Maya Angelou, a poet, actress and playwright, but she never showed. Her flight from North Carolina was delayed because of snow at the St. Louis airport.

Cosby's appearance at the Show Me Center was paid for through ticket sales, school officials said.

Regents president Don Dickerson said the board has settled on an appropriate ceremony for Dobbins.

Dickerson said the university got a lot of recognition from the 1997 ceremony, but it was a big undertaking.

He said, "It costs money and it is also time-consuming, which also costs money. We think probably to attempt to do another one of that magnitude right now is not a good idea."

The university, he said, has other priorities. It wants to raise money for projects like the polytechnic building and the River Campus project to develop a school for the visual and performing arts.

Coupled with Dobbins' wish for a low-key ceremony, the current investiture plan makes sense, said Dickerson.