STROUP PREPARES FOR SEMO GOODBYE, START OF NEW JOB

Dr. Kala Stroup isn't ready to leave. She has too much to do in her last days as president of Southeast Missouri State University.

The Board of Regents held a farewell dinner for Stroup Friday night at the Show Me Center.

But the goodbyes were premature.

The 57-year-old Stroup is booked up with unfinished university business through Wednesday.

She will begin her new job as Missouri's commissioner of higher education on Sept. 5. Already, she is handling some of the duties of that job.

But even in her last days as Southeast's president, she talks about the university with the same enthusiasm she had when she was hired as the school's president five years ago.

While looking ahead to her new job, Stroup said she will miss the campus.

This will mark her first fall semester away from a college campus since 1954, when she was a freshman at the University of Kansas.

She has worked in higher education jobs since 1959 and has served as a university president for almost 13 years.

She was president of Murray State University from 1983 to 1989. She briefly served as a consultant for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities before being hired at Southeast in 1990.

For many, the start of school is a hot and hectic time. But Stroup loves it. She enjoys the return of faculty and students, the constant activity of a college campus.

"I love seeing all the people come back and the campus come alive," said Stroup. "It is very invigorating."

The school's regents credit Stroup with hiring a good team of administrators. In the past five years, a whole new team has come on board.

Donald Harrison, president of the Board of Regents, said Stroup was a constant cheerleader for the school who thought nothing of putting in long hours.

"She was really a tireless worker. She attacked the job with vigor," he said.

Harrison and other regents said Stroup was an effective lobbyist for the university in the state capital.

Stroup is proud of what she and others have accomplished at Southeast.

Stroup was hired as president in March 1990. She officially took over in July, but in reality she began tackling the job that spring.

When Stroup became the school's 14th president, Southeast was faced with declining enrollments.

Faculty felt the student body was weak academically.

Faculty salaries were below the national average for comparable schools. Few of the university's programs had national accreditation.

Southeast had a topnotch teacher education program, but few people outside the region knew it.

The school was committed to moving to Division I, but hadn't hooked up with an athletic conference yet.

People were just starting to think about a major fund-raising campaign.

The university talked about the need for a College of Business Administration building.

Students wanted a more "user-friendly" student affairs division and major improvements to the residence halls.

Stroup's administration managed to address all of those issues.

The school's teacher-education program won national honors. A number of academic programs received national accreditation.

The school joined the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast's first major capital campaign raised $28.5 million.

Southeast restructured its students affairs division.

Two of the Towers high-rise dorms were renovated at a cost of about $11 million, and construction has begun on the $15 million College of Business building.

By the end of 1996, the university will have spent $40 million in campus improvements over the last 3 1/2 years.

Stroup smiles when she talks about the turn-around in enrollment and how the university now attracts better students.

Overall enrollment increased this fall for the first time in five years.

At the same time, the school has raised admission standards and attracted better students academically.

When Stroup arrived on campus, Southeast had seen only one National Merit scholar in its history. Today, it has about 70 National Merit scholars, including 16 entering students.

The ACT scores of students have climbed as well.

Stroup said many people doubted enrollment would turn around. But she said she knew it would, spurred on by all the improvements.

"People want to go to the best school they can afford," Stroup said.