Seth Slabaugh

seths@muncie.gannett.com

MUNCIE — The Ball State University fight song and a standing ovation at packed Sursa Performance Hall welcomed new President Geoffrey Mearns to campus on Tuesday.

The 57-year-old Mearns is not a typical Ball State president, having practiced law -- including a term as an assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted gangster Carlo Gambino's son in Brooklyn – before joining academia. He is the current president of Northern Kentucky University and a former provost at Cleveland State University.

From the stage at Sursa, Mearns said he would start at Ball State no later than Aug. 1.

He signed a five-year contract with a base annual salary of $450,000. It also allows for annual performance bonuses for achieving various goals, such as his full cooperation with an onboarding plan developed by the university and a transition consultant. But recognizing that achieving performance goals set by the board of trustees “is dependent upon the collective efforts of many people, including the faculty and staff,” the contract requires Mearns to give half of any bonus he earns to the university foundation.

Mearns also said his initial goals included working closely and collaboratively with the trustees and all members of the university community to develop a new strategic plan.

Trustee Matt Momper called Mearns “the total package,” referring to his background both inside and outside of higher education as a plus.

Mearns succeeds Interim President Terry King, who served for an entire year after the resignation of President Paul Ferguson, a toxicologist and the first scientist to head Ball State.

“It’s a changing legal environment in higher education,” Bruce Geelhoed, a BSU history professor, told The Star Press. “Obviously it doesn’t hurt to have some experience in law to kind of inform your decisions. What you have it seems to me is a man with a variety of professional experience.”

Ball State faculty told the presidential search committee they wanted a president with teaching experience. Mearns spent 4 ½ years as dean and professor of law at Cleveland State. While practicing law for more than 15 years, he also served as a federal prosecutor in the Oklahoma City bombing case.

The only other Ball State president who practiced law would appear to be Benjamin Burris (1924-27), who served as a county attorney.

“Most Ball State presidents started out as young professionals in education and pretty much stayed in that,” Geelhoed said “But of course presidents now come from a variety of backgrounds … some not academic at all.”

Professor Kourtland Koch, chair of University Senate, expects Mearns to vigorously advance a new strategic plan with measurable benchmarks. Koch hopes the new president will focus on branding and marketing as well. “As interim President King likes to be quoted: ‘Everything is moving ahead as we hoped it would. We want to make sure that everybody understands that this university is not slowing down. We’re moving ahead very quickly,' " Koch told The Star Press.

In a brief private interview, Mearns was asked his opinion of taglines. Ball State’s last one, “Education Redefined 2.0: Advancing Indiana,” was dropped by Ferguson and not replaced. “Those things are important,” Mearns said. “What I would say is a great tagline without any substance is not worth much. You’ve got to have a quality product that you are marketing and branding.”

He told the crowd at Sursa that Ball State has a “bright and bold future” thanks to excellent teaching, scholarship, bright students, generous donors, outstanding facilities, a beautiful campus, social responsibility, inclusion, impactful research, community engagement, a statewide reputation for economic development, and beneficence.

Interim President Terry King said in an interview that his first impression of Mearns is that he has “a good grasp of the institution; he connects with the core values.” Acting Provost Marilyn Buck called Mearns “genuine” and a president whose personality people will enjoy. Ball State football player Vinnie Palazeti found the new president to be “very articulate,” attributing that to an English education at Yale.

Born in Charlottsville, Mearns earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. He has eight siblings, which impressed local resident Ed McNary, a retired GM employee and member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Team whose wife has several more siblings than Mearns. “He plans to reach out to the community,” McNary said of Mearns. “That’s so important.”

During opening remarks, Rick Hall, chairman of the board of trustees, told the audience, “The appetite for a Ball State education has never been stronger.”

Three years ago, when he introduced Paul Ferguson as Ball State’s new president, Hall had said the trustees saw Ferguson as an “evolutionary” leader, “not a revolutionary” leader, because Ball State was on the right track.

The Star Press asked Mearns what kind of leader Hall expected him to be. “I think as he mentioned in his remarks, he expects me to be a collaborative, transparent leader on campus to work collaboratively with the board and with the faculty, staff and students to develop a collective common mission … and strategic plan.”

With boards of trustees taking on a more active role in recent years, the newspaper also asked Mearns if he expected to be more than just an administrative assistant to the board. “I’m going to be a collaborative partner with everybody on the university campus,” he said. “That’s why we talk about shared responsibilities (a term he prefers over shared governance). We have different responsibilities but it’s a shared responsibility to the mission of the university.” The responsibility is shared by all, including students, faculty, staff and alumni, he said.

“It is all our responsibility,” John Jacobson, dean of the Teachers College, told The Star Press.

The contract specifies the president's responsibilities include fundraising, positive relations with government officials and alumni, budgets, enrollment, faculty recruitment and dismissals, hosting receptions, dinners and other events at Bracken House, and being a guest in the homes of alumni and donors.

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.

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