I
n March 2015, President Susan Martin announced that she was moving on, with plans to enjoy a one-year administrative leave before taking a tenured position in EMU’s College of Business. Her last day as president was
July 7, 2015. Here she shares her thoughts about her seven years as president—and the people and moments that shine brightest in her memory.
as its 22nd
When Susan Martin came to Eastern Michigan University president in 2008, she faced the usual, complex
responsibilities of leading a large public institution of higher learning: budgets, tuition, students, faculty, staff , regents, legislators, alumni, athletics, fundraising and everything in between. But at the top of that standard list of duties was an additional and pressing matter: She needed to restore pride in an enterprise that for a century and a half had been a thriving educational landmark for Ypsilanti, eastern Michigan and the extensive community of alums who have walked across its historic campus. The two previous presidents had left under dark clouds
of controversy, the fi rst over funding for the University House residence and meeting center, and the second after the botched reporting of a student murder on campus. The EMU Board of Regents, impressed with Martin’s strong
accounting credentials in state government and at two other Michigan universities, hired her for the turnaround even though she had never been a college president. EMU needed a heavy dose of TLC, but would a numbers-crunching wonk be up to the task? Seven years later, as Martin leaves the presidency, it turns out the consensus answer is: Yes. Martin remembers the glum atmosphere she regularly
encountered in her fi rst few months on the job. Brimming with her trademark enthusiasm, candor and can-do approach, she found a staff , faculty and student body that were understandably cautious about once again singing the praises of Eastern. “I think there was a lack of confi dence in the administration.
Everybody was just kind of like this ...” She shrinks down in her chair, lowers her head and averts her eyes. “I’d go around (and say), ‘This is a great university’ and people would be like ...” She repeats the down-in-the-dumps body language. “It was the Eastern people who were the most down
about Eastern.” By contrast, as she began to meet alums in those early days,
she was impressed by the depth of their commitment to their alma mater. She recalls visiting the Curran family in Dearborn, who had EMU graduates from multiple generations. “How proud they were of what they got from Eastern and what they’ve accomplished. And you talk to them and they’re like, ‘We love this school.’ ” That sort of commitment was exactly why Martin was attracted to the EMU job. A lifelong Michigander, Martin is
an unabashed cheerleader for the state and its educational system, of which she is a product (full-tuition scholarship and bachelor’s degree from Central Michigan, master’s and doctorate from Michigan State). In her administrative leadership roles at Grand Valley State and U-M Dearborn, she further learned how Michigan’s universities are crucial to the state’s overall health. She liked the idea of helping EMU regain its mojo and reinforce its traditional strengths. “Small class size, faculty very engaged, primarily an
undergraduate institution with master’s level programs, serving ordinary Michigan citizens who want to go to college. ... I felt that Eastern was important to the future of this region,” she says. “A lot of people would not go to college if Eastern continued to spiral down. ... (It was) a place that needed to be fi xed up.” Funding already had been approved for a $90 million science building addition but it was on hold, so Martin kick-started the project by scheduling a groundbreaking. Then it was on to aging Pray-Harrold, EMU’s largest classroom building, which Martin described as an embarrassment. “The faculty were right to be yelling at the board meetings,” she says. “People thought it would never happen. And so when we re-did those two, even if you are to this day sitting in a building that needs work, you kind of feel there is hope that they’re going to get around to you.” Those building improvements, along with enhanced
campus safety, expansion of student academic support services and strong enrollment growth, had to be managed amid EMU’s commitment to keeping tuition as low as possible, particularly after the economic crisis in 2008 hit the state hard. In her second year, Martin approved a “zero, zero, zero” budget that attracted national attention. In an age of steady tuition increases across the country, EMU created a 2010-11 budget that asked for no increase in tuition, fees or room and board. “The ‘zero, zero, zero,’ ...ignited alumni pride, community
pride, (enhanced our) reputation (in the legislature) in Lansing as being a good manager, that we were using our resources well. We could not have bought marketing to achieve what ‘zero, zero, zero’ achieved. It was tremendous in terms of how the campus (reacted). Everybody was like, ‘Yeah! That’s my school! I didn’t plan it that way — none of us did—but it had that impact.” Amid all the talk of budgets and buildings, Martin has
remained focused on the reason the university exists in the fi rst place: students. She’s been a popular participant in countless student activities. They have taken to calling her Su-Mar, an
Eastern | SUMMER 2015 9
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