What was it like to launch Jefferson College?
The legislature had passed the community college law in 1961 that allowed high schools to form community college districts and assess a tax levy to support it, if approved by a vote of the people. The formation of the Jefferson County district passed in April 1963 by less than one percent. My first office had an old Army surplus desk, a typewriter and a ditto machine. When we went back to voters for our first bond issue in February 1964, they passed it by 73 percent. I ate a lot of fried chicken in that campaign process. After seven years, you went on to lead Northeast Missouri State, now Truman University. During your tenure the institution became one of the five most innovative colleges in the country as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Did you have a vision of what you wanted Truman to become? No grand vision, really, just a commitment to excellence. We didn’t try to do everything, but everything we tried we wanted to do well. We applied lots of rigor to the employment process an
