Celebrating CMU's Board of Trustees

The dedication ceremony featured remarks by CMU President Neil MacKinnon and current Board Chair Todd J. Regis, as well as those of Michelle Richard, senior literacy advisor within the Executive Office of Governor Gretchen Whitmer. 

Richard highlighted the many ways CMU prepares students with the skills and knowledge needed for success in careers and emerging industries statewide.

“None of this good work would have been possible without the leadership of CMU’s Board of Trustees,” Richard said. “Every portrait on this wall honors a public servant who dedicated their life to putting more students on the path to learn more and earn more right here in Michigan…On behalf of Governor Whitmer and Team Michigan, thank you for your leadership and service.”

The event highlighted events from six decades of Board service. 18 current and former trustees attended to participate.

“We share the awesome weight of the responsibility of ensuring the success and sustainability of this amazing university,” Regis said. “We share the joy of victories….yet each of us fully understands those successes are contingent upon the hard decisions that had to be made about funding, operations and more.”

Regis described some of the major decisions made by Trustees over the years, including the decision to establish a College of Medicine and to partner with the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

“These decisions have had ripple effects for decades and will still affect our university for decades to come. Thank you for the deep consideration and leadership you have exercised in service to CMU,” Regis said.

History of the Board of Trustees

The Central Michigan University Board of Trustees was established by Michigan law through the Public Act 48 of 1963 (2nd executive session), which granted powers and duties to independent governing boards for four public universities. The Michigan governor appointed the new board’s eight members with the advice and consent of the state Senate.

The first meeting of the Board of Trustees was held in the President’s Conference Room on February 28, 1964. Items on the first agenda included discussion of room and board rates, as well as proposals for future construction projects and the university budget.  

Over the decades, the Board debated numerous topics that still impact CMU today, including:

• The construction of dozens of important campus buildings necessary to support the growth of academic programs university-wide, including Anspach Hall in 1965, Pearce Hall in 1968, the library in 1969, Bush Theater and Moore Hall in 1971, Foust Hall in 1973, and the North Art Studio in 1976.
• The establishment of CMU’s first doctoral program, the Doctorate in Psychology, in 1972, and, in that same year, the adoption of a new Non-Discrimination Policy.
• The creation of the Cofer Scholarship in 1980, a memorial scholarship that honored Lloyd M. Cofer, one of the university’s first Trustees, and one of the longest-serving. Cofer served as a trustee for 16 years.
• The decision to organize the university into eight academic colleges in 1997, and the decision in 2008 to advance plans for a School of Medicine. In 2010, the Board officially established the CMU College of Medicine at its February meeting. 

Honoring leadership and service

CMU’s Board of Trustees holds its meetings on the third floor of the Bovee University Center, with trustees seated in the President’s Conference Room and general seating available in the Lake Superior Room. 

And, just outside those rooms, a new recognition wall honors the 61 individuals who have served as Trustees since the Board’s establishment in 1964.

“There is no financial incentive to serving on the CMU Board of Trustees — there is no compensation or stock options for service on this kind of public board,” MacKinnon said. “The reward is in the work itself — the benefit of knowing you have changed the lives of students and their families and, by extension, of communities throughout the state of Michigan and around the world.”

Current and former trustees came together for the unveiling of the new installation and later gathered for conversation in the Baber Room of the Park Library. Photos of new trustees will be added to the installation as their service begins; those who attended CMU will have the Action C added to their name.

Explore CMU history at the Clarke

Content for this story was provided by Bryan Whitledge, faculty member and Public Services Librarian for the Clarke Historical Library at CMU, and from archived editions of Central Michigan Life, CMU’s award-winning student newspaper. There’s more CMU History to explore online!