1992-01-08; Central Michigan Life

              SECTION A
Central
Michigan
WEDNESDAY
January 8, 1992
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HANGING  HANDS
Interim President Leonard E. Plachta is ringing in the new year at CMU
with plans to study the school's problems and mend relationships with
students, employees and the local community. He admits itfs a big job,
but he's looking forward to the challenge with hope and anticipation.
Are you ready to assume
the presidency of CMU?
I sure am — definitely,
eagerly. It just flows naturally
for me. I've been here a long
time. I've moved from the
academic rank to the dean's
office, where I've been quite a
while. I know the University, I
think I know many of its problems. I certainly know a lot of
people. I think it's just a
natural thing for me to move
into the president's role and in
a sense keep on doing many of
the things I've been doing but
on a broader front.
How do you think your
work in the academic area
of CMU will help you as
president?
Well I think I understand the
academic environment of CMU
— its strengths and its weaknesses. I know many of its people, I'm fairly familiar with its
programs. I have a sense of
what works and what doesn't
work as well. I also have a
sense of, perhaps, what we
ought to change.
What are the strengths
and weaknesses?
We have a very dedicated
faculty. I think we have the finest faculty that CMU's ever-
assembled in its 99-year history. I think that we have a
variety of programs that serves
well, but I think we need to
expand and change some of
those programs. I am going to
urge the academic division to
rethink some of the product,
some of the programs that we
have. I think it's time for us to
consider some new programs
that are marketable and not
extravagant in terms of cost.
Anything in particular?
Well at this moment I'd
rather not say other than, in
general, I think we ought to
build on our strengths where
we have strengths already in
particular departments and
maybe embark upon new directions, especially at the graduate
level.
What are the weaknesses
from the academic division?
We perhaps should rethink
some of our program offerings.
What are you looking forward to as president of
CMU?
I'm looking forward to making all of this work; solving all
of the problems ihat everybody
thinks we have. And I'm looking forward, with confidence, to
apply my skills. I find it exciting.
What are you not looking
forward to?
I'm not looking forward to
considerable failure. I'm not
looking forward to immense
conflict, although I do know
there will be some failure and
there will be some conflict. I
hope the failure will be minimized and I hope the conflict will
be the right kind of tension
which causes results.
Leonard E. Plachta (left)
assumes  the  presidency
vacated by Edward B.
Jakubauskas  (right).
What do you view as the
duties of the president?
Vast. I think the CMU president should be and the presidency is one of providing leadership and directing. It is one of
relating to a great number of
constituencies, and that would
be the students on campus,
prospective students, parents,
employers and community
nearby, alumni, donors and
prospective donors. I see myself
spending quite a bit of time
identifying and dealing with
those constituencies.
What kind of a relationship should the president
have with University
employees, union leaders,
students and the local community?
I think we're talking about
improved communications.
We're talking about improving
credibility of CMU's administration and the president. We're
talking about getting people to
cooperate . . .Every constituency
has slightly different needs.
Labor groups, of course, have
their specific needs. We have to
balance our budget. Students
love low tuition, but we can't
necessarily favor greater expenditures and have lower tuition.
I think there are commonalities
but there are also differences.
See PLACHTA Page 8A
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Interview By LIFE Editor Karen Emerson
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