Speakers and Panelists :: Lou Anna K. Simon
Lou Anna K. Simon is the 20th President of Michigan State University. Prior to assuming the role of president, Simon was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Michigan State University , a position to which she was appointed in 1993. At the time of her appointment, she was among the youngest to achieve such a position in the Association of American Universities (AAU), and was one of only 11 women to hold the position of chief academic officer among the 62 leading research institutions that compose the organization. Currently, Simon is one of only nine women holding the position of chief executive officer among these AAU institutions.
In May 2003, the MSU Board of Trustees appointed Simon as interim president of Michigan State when then-President Peter McPherson accepted the position of financial coordinator for the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance in Iraq . She served in the dual role of both interim president and provost through September 2003 when President McPherson returned.
Simon has a distinguished history with MSU. After earning her doctorate in administration and higher education here in 1974, she became a member of the MSU faculty and assistant director of the Office of Institutional Research (now the Office of Planning and Budgets). From there, she moved into a variety of administrative roles, including assistant provost for general academic administration during the eighties and associate provost in the early nineties. She also serves as provost of the Michigan State University College of Law.
Simon has taught graduate seminars in the College of Education on evaluation, planning, and budgeting. She is a committed advocate and participant in the Academic Governance of the institution that provides for major, fundamental faculty and student participation in deliberations of departments, schools, colleges, and at the all-university level. Simon has detailed, comprehensive knowledge of university budgets and financial management as a result of the years of experience and responsibility as associate provost, acting provost, and provost. She understands and supports the essential role of diversity in all areas of MSU and its endeavors both on and off campus.
With her extensive administrative experience, active involvement in development activities, and her leadership and participation in a variety of innovative initiatives across the mission, Simon as provost has been responsible for the full range of academic and academic support programs at MSU. She is regarded nationally as a powerful advocate of a research-active, student-centered university that is an engaged partner with society, in the land grant tradition.
Since 1999, Simon has been a member of the Executive Committee of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), an academic consortium of twelve major teaching and research universities in the Midwest including the eleven institutions that compose the Big Ten, along with the University of Chicago. She was elected chairperson of the CIC in 2000, a position traditionally filled by a provost, and served until she was named MSU president.
Her publications, in texts such as "Serving Children and Families through Community-University Partnerships and Universities and Communities : Remaking Professional and Interprofessional Education for the Next Century ," demonstrate continuing commitment to the promotion of university outreach ventures, especially those related to serving youth and families.
Most recently, she co-edited with Maureen Kenny, Karen Kiley-Brabeck and Richard Lerner the book "Learning to Serve: Promoting Civil Society Through Service Learning," published in 2002 by Kluwer Academic Publishers.