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McPherson to move to Va.

President to work with 'U' from new home after Jan. 1

December 3, 2004

MSU President M. Peter McPherson will move to Arlington, Va., in January to work with several international development groups, but will stay on the university's payroll as a consultant.

The $143,650 consultancy position will pay McPherson to be involved in university issues after he resigns as president on Jan. 1, including the Rare Isotope Accelerator project and the move of part of MSU's College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids.

McPherson will work out of an office at the Partnership to Cut Hunger in Africa, which he co-chairs. He also is chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Study Abroad Fellowship Program Commission in which he will help distribute scholarships and plan study abroad programs.

On Thursday night, McPherson received an award in Traverse City and could not be reached for comment, MSU spokesman Terry Denbow said.

But McPherson told Booth News Services earlier in the week that he was ready to continue his involvement with study abroad.

"This is exciting," McPherson said to the news service. "I'm really committed to see the country have a huge growth of students studying abroad."

Denbow said although McPherson will be involved in international issues, he will "definitely" continue his relationship with MSU.

"A lot of the things he will be doing have MSU relationships, but they aren't necessarily MSU projects," Denbow said.

MSU Board of Trustees Chairman David Porteous said those projects could include Africa issues MSU is involved in and the RIA project.

"This is great news, that that's where Peter and Joanne (McPherson) will be, because that is certainly a location that's sort of the center of the university for some of the major projects," Porteous said.

Howard Gobstein, associate vice president for governmental affairs, said McPherson's close location to government groups could be advantageous to MSU in its bid for RIA.

"With McPherson, anything is possible," Gobstein said. "I know he will continue to be a loyal and dedicated promoter of MSU wherever he is. It's always helpful to have a senior-level official as a former administrator."

Porteous said he was not surprised to hear about the move because the D.C. area is a perfect nesting space for the McPhersons.

"He and Joanne are very familiar with the Washington, D.C., area, and so I'm not surprised that that's an area where they would be locating - they have so many friends in the area," Porteous said, adding that as he heads off to Washington, McPherson will leave a mark on MSU.

"His legacy is deep and it is broad, and I think in his 11 years, he touched almost every aspect, if not all aspects of the university," Porteous said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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