With new president at the helm, Metropolitan State forges onward

-- Meghan Dusek

"The best things and best people rise out of their separateness; I'm against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise." -Robert Frost

Fall 2008 will see the beginning of a new academic year, the election of a new president, and-in a more local sense-the first semester of Metropolitan State University's newly appointed president, Dr. Sue K. Hammersmith.

"As your new President, I'm thrilled to be here and to have the opportunity to work with all of you,"Hammersmith said in her opening remarks at the Fall Convocation. "As I have learned more about the institution, I've become more and more proud to be affiliated with Metropolitan State University."

Hammersmith has called Metropolitan State a "pioneer"in its endeavors and contributions to higher education over the past decades. Metropolitan State University is accurately described as 'unconventional' in the university sense. Founded in 1971 as the "University Without Walls,"it stood out in the nation with its individual student-designed curriculum, written evaluations versus grades (imagine transcripts that were hundreds of pages), awarding credit for past experience and classes taught by working professionals versus doctorates. Its purpose: to serve the underserved; and provide a degree program in alternative ways (including one of the nation's first online programs) for people who could not otherwise gain one.

Formerly the provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB), Hammersmith sees similarities between the two universities. "The Green Bay campus is devoted to interdisciplinary education,"Hammersmith said, also noting that the campus is only a decade older than Metropolitan State, and was founded on similar principles but with a more environmental emphasis. Hammersmith sees the interdisciplinary aspect of education as indispensible: "The future's problems will require attention that calls for more than a singular knowledge base, or information from just one discipline.

"Metropolitan State has remained unconventional in its focus on education,"Hammersmith continued. "Every age is served; all diversities are serviced."

Metropolitan State is poised to continue in the forefront of providing flexible education for adult and non-native students. Minnesota State Colleges and Universities chancellor James H. McCormick has set the projection for Metropolitan State's student population to swell to 20,000 within a decade-nearly three times the current student population. "We are about to see an exciting period of growth,"Hammersmith said. "We need to remain open to serve the underserved but also to grow to meet the needs of the Twin Cities area with resources, space, and professors."

The university is already welcoming 38 new faculty members this year, and plans to expand the list of offered baccalaureate and graduate degrees. The newest additions include a Doctorate of Nursing Practice; an Oral Health Practitioner program; and a largely online Doctorate of Business Administration degree is in the development process at the behest of the Minnesota Association of Certified Public Accountants, who hold Metropolitan State's MBA program as their program of choice.

These additions display Metropolitan State's ability to adapt to its surroundings without giving up any of its core mission values of integrity, excellence, diversity and inclusion. In Hammersmith's experience, it is the differences in people that draw them together to create cohesive units.

Prior to UWGB, Hammersmith served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, and as founding dean at the University College at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Her teaching career began as a sociology professor at the Indiana University-Purdue. Hammersmith received her Ph.D. and Masters degree in Sociology and Bachelors in Anthropology, all from Indiana University.

This background led to breakthrough research with the Kinsey Institute resulting in numerous publications and appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning, America, and The Today Show, as well as numerous awards for her contributions in the areas of leadership, service, scholarship and civil rights.

The diversity of Metropolitan State was a draw for Hammersmith. "I'm fascinated by how our culture is so enriched by the enormous differences between cultures and people…our diversity makes us a richer, stronger community. It's the human mix regardless of gender, culture, region, sexual orientation."In this sense we are not so much the popularized conception of a melting pot, where everything is melted down and formed into one, but "…more of a salad, composed of different textures and flavors that enhance each other,"explains Hammersmith with a smile.

"I am thrilled and happy to join this community,"Hammersmith said. "I've engaged on a kind of 'learning quest' in learning about the institution and in getting to know the students, faculty and staff."In addition to Metropolitan State's president, Hammersmith is the mother of five children, the youngest nineteen years old, and wife to a retired optometrist. As former host parents to children of many countries, she and her husband enjoy visiting them in return and are currently planning a trip to Chile.