Though reunions are traditionally a time to focus on the past, when MSU graduates of 50 or more years convened on campus this past weekend, much of the conversation was focused on the future.
While the tone of the 76th annual Kedzie Reunion was altogether positive, some alumni voiced concern over the future of the school amid the upcoming leadership change.
"Do you want to bring in new blood or do you want to keep what we have?" said class of 1953 graduate Duane Vernon, 72, adding Provost Lou Anna Simon should be a potential candidate. "Who knows what the right answer is."
Many alumni at the reunion supported finding a president with strong leadership qualities similar to the late John Hannah, MSU president from 1941-1969 and whose bust greets visitors entering the Administration Building named after him.
Others' concerns were focused on the financial stability of the university amid the state's budget woes.
"It's really, really important to the nation and to the state that people become educated," said Trustee Dee Cook, a 1954 MSU alumna. "This is a tough transition. We have to focus as the state pulls back. We have to continue to grow our private support. We're struggling to find that future."
Other people say MSU should focus its future efforts on including better physical planning that would keep the campus open yet allow for easier travel and parking.
"Our biggest challenge is this campus' physical structure," said Don Bowersox, 1954 graduate and MSU supply chain management professor. "It has gotten so large it's difficult to get around."
About 175 alumni, most from the area but some from as far away as Texas and California, also reminisced during the weekend's activities, which included an ice cream social and a luncheon.
Though the university has undergone both a physical and logistical metamorphosis since 1954, the emotional ties to MSU that Cook and many of her classmates feel has only grown stronger.
"I love this university," Vernon said. "It opened so many doors, it's incredible. If I helped this university the rest of my life I could never repay it, never."
A love developed because the university serves as a backdrop for both academic and personal, independent growth, Bowersox said.
"They're very dramatic years of your life," Bowersox said. "Your mother isn't filling your drawers with clean laundry any more."
Alumni accept that similar experiences can be found at many other colleges and universities, but MSU's interpersonal environment and research accomplishments separate it from the rest of the pack, Bowersox said.
"You just have to travel and see the other universities to really understand," he said. "We have always been on the frontier. If there's something new and innovative, we are always early adopters."
