With alumni leading UM system, Rolla ready for turn in spotlight

ROLLA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri curators' meeting here last week was a homecoming for new system president Gary Forsee, a 1972 graduate of the school known for its math, science and engineering programs.

Ditto for curator Cheryl Walker, the board's new chairwoman and a 1986 graduate of what was then known as the University of Missouri-Rolla but is now called Missouri University of Science and Technology.

The school attracts students from across the country and the globe. Its graduates are coveted by tech-reliant Fortune 500 companies. But within the Missouri system, it often plays second fiddle to the flagship campus in Columbia, which has more than four times as many undergraduates and a vast and influential alumni network.

"Down through the decades, the claim has been -- rightly or wrongly -- that Rolla is the stepchild of the system," said chancellor John Carney.

"We're in Rolla -- the middle of everywhere. And let's face it. We don't have the political clout of Kansas City, Columbia or St. Louis. And politics plays a role in everything."

With the ascension of proud graduates Forsee and Walker, Carney and other Rolla university boosters hope that perceived lack of respect, or confusion, will cease.

"We're thrilled that these two people are in a position of power," Carney said. "There's no question they know us, and appreciate the jewel that is Missouri University of Science and Technology."

"That hasn't always been the case," he added. "Perhaps there hasn't been a real appreciation of what Rolla adds to the UM system."

The admiration is likely mutual, but Forsee and Walker are both careful not to appear to favor one school over its three counterparts.

"I'm in this role because I'm a product of Missouri. I moved 10 times around the state," said Forsee, the former Sprint Nextel Corp. chief executive who has led the university since mid-February. He graduated from Central High School in 1968. "I'm a product of Missouri first, and the University of Missouri [system] second and Rolla really third."

At the same time, Forsee acknowledges that his leadership has symbolic significance -- to a point.

"That's PR and marketing. The substance is this is about the university, this is about the state," he said.

Walker, who lives in St. Louis, said her alma mater has no reason to think of itself as a second-class citizen in the Show Me State.

"I already consider its status to be elevated. From my perspective, I think Rolla has always been respected as a vital part of the system," she said. "But certainly it's going to bring more attention to campus" having Forsee and her as system leaders.

When it comes to the financial bottom line, Rolla already does quite well, said Nikki Krawitz, the system's vice president for finance and administration.

Because of the relatively high costs of operating science and engineering degree programs, the amount of state money received by the Rolla campus, measured as a per-student amount, actually exceeds the per-student amount for the Columbia, St. Louis and Kansas City campuses, she said.

National higher education experts say that the Missouri system's campus pecking order is not unlike that found in other states, whether it's the University of California system (dominated by California-Berkeley and UCLA), North Carolina (Chapel Hill) or Florida (Gainesville and Florida State University in Tallahassee).

"Does the flagship get disproportionate attention? It does, in many instances," said Rich Novak, vice president for public sector programs with the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges.

"The flagship tends to have more graduates, a larger alumni base and more legislators who are graduates of the institution."