Morning Edition; Dr. Ellen Marble

It's morning edition on KRPS. Today is an end of an era at Missouri Southern. As Dr. Ellen Marble retires after seven years as Missouri Southern State University's president. In a way, MSSU was the second act for Marble, who previously retired from 27 years, working at Cratter College in Niosho, which also included seven years as president of the Rough Rhiners. Marble says that he's enjoyed his time as president of Missouri Southern, but he's ready to turn the page on something new. You know, it's a mixed emotions. This has been a good run, but it's time to do something else and must have had to do with crank kids. Initially, Marble was hired as the interim president of Missouri Southern in 2013. After president Bruce Speck was fired by the board with two years left on his contract. A year later, the board of governors announced that Marble was offered the position permanently and he accepted. He was the first graduate of Missouri Southern to lead the university,

and he's proud of his work getting the school's budget out of the black, but admits COVID-19 will be in challenge in the future. You certainly were happy that the budget turned around, but I don't know what's going to happen with the COVID crisis, so things may be back in crisis mode again. But yeah, we did as a campus budget, you know, for a deficit budget to a budget that's in the black and being able to give people some raises and do some good things around campus. But now with COVID, I don't know what's going to happen next year. The job of president of the state university is multifaceted with numerous responsibilities and duties. Marble had success as president at both Crowder College and Missouri Southern. At Crowder's student enrollment nearly doubled his first six years as president. During his time at Southern, a partnership between the Kansas City University of Medicine and Bio-Science was established. According to Marble,

the learning never stops, even once you become president. Well, I think it is accurate. You know, if no president's got for many, many years, we've been friends for a long time. I think that the mentor told me once about being president that nothing prepares you to be ultimately responsible. And I think that is true. You have, you know, there's really sort of, at least it's multifaceted, but you know, there's the office of the president, right? And so you respect that course, but there's a job to be done. And the job is, you know, to try to find the resources for the people that need to really do the work. And so those two things find in the right blend and mixes, something that's kind of growing too. Marble once said in an interview with Emily Younger of the Joplin Globe, when he announced his retirement last August quote, we are not a business. We are a different organization. He said, we don't produce things to be sold or core principle.

Our goal is student success, unquote. Even as he retires, he continues to engage in the community and work to make Southern a better place. You know, I think people sometimes you don't, you know, they kind of, they don't understand all that goes into it. You know, you just can't sit with your feet on the desk all day. You know, there's some work to be done. But there's also some very nice benefits going with the job too. You know, you get to be, you meet a lot of people that are movers and shakers in the community in the state. And so, you know, they're benefits, but there's a lot of work to these jobs too. He says he is looking forward to spending time with his grandchildren, golfing, and living without a calendar for a while. Alan Marble retires today after a 34-year career in higher education in Missouri. The last seven as president of Missouri Southern State University.