Vargas takes over as Southeast president

As Carlos Vargas-Aburto neared the end of his first day as Southeast Missouri State University's president on Wednesday, he said each experience so far has reinforced his belief that Southeast is where he should be.

Vargas and his wife, Pamela, arrived in Cape Girardeau on Sunday evening. They spent the next two days familiarizing themselves with what the area has to offer, from trying local restaurants to watching barges travel the swollen Mississippi River.

Vargas, 66, was acting president of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania when he was announced as the 18th president of Southeast in early March. He succeeds former president Kenneth Dobbins, who retired Tuesday after 16 years as Southeast's president.

Vargas was raised in Mexico City, where he received his bachelor's degree in physics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. He then attended the University of Michigan and earned a doctorate in physics and aerospace science.

Pamela Vargas also began her new role Wednesday as director of the Office of Research and Grant Development on campus. She had served as executive director of the Kutztown University Research Center since 2006.

Before starting his new role, Vargas made two weeklong trips to Cape Girardeau, where he was introduced to students, staff, faculty and members of the community with guidance from a university transition team formed to help him ease into the presidency.

Brady Barke, senior associate to the president and board of regents' secretary, co-chairs the 15-person transition team that includes university faculty, staff and students.

"It'll be a constant learning process for him," Barke said, adding one priority will be continuing to introduce Vargas to people on the campus and in the community.

During the coming weeks, Vargas also will learn more about current initiatives and projects at Southeast.

"All of the divisions here on campus -- finance and administration, enrollment management and student success, advancement, academic affairs -- they all have annual division retreats, generally daylong retreats, to do some strategic planning, those types of things," he said. "And we're going to have him participate in all of those to help educate him on things that have been done in the past, but also to help see some of the plans and goals for each of those divisions."

After the division retreats, Vargas will attend another retreat with Southeast's board of regents.

"I want to make sure that I understand clearly what the expectations of the board of regents are and to make sure that I am in alignment with what they want," he said.

Vargas also asked to meet with each member of the board of regents individually to learn more about them and where they're from.

"That's a very critical part," Vargas said. "I want to make sure I go to the location where they live, where they work at and visit them and make sure I understand what their views are individually."

Barke said there's a level of excitement on campus that comes with a new president, as well as some anxiety.

With Vargas' arrival being about the same time as the university's new branding initiative, Barke said, "It just happened to work out and be convenient that there's a buzz around both of those things that are both new identities and moving forward into a new era."

Barke said he think there also is some anxiety as people wonder what it will be like with Vargas as president, what his style will be and whether anyone's role will change.

"Those types of things I think are inherent with any type of leadership change," he said.

But Vargas said he doesn't plan to make sweeping changes, and during his first day, he met with his office's staff members and the executive staff to learn more about how things operate.

"I'm not the person who likes to go someplace and change things," he said. "I like to see how things operate. And I adapt to things. If they're working, I'm perfectly comfortable with that. If not, then based on what I observe, then we talk about possible ways of changing."

Vargas said he also had some anxieties of his own.

"I am so impressed with the university, so I'm always worrying about making sure that I make the right decisions, that I live up to the expectations that the community has," he said. "I want to make sure that I do my best job in the leading the institution at this point and make sure we continue to excel."

Vargas said in the future, he wants Southeast to continue to be an innovative institution that holds student-centeredness as its hallmark.

"I want the university to be a destination school, increasingly, for all kinds of students," he said. "And I want to make sure we continue to have high-quality programs. I always say that we don't have to do everything, but what we do, we should do it well."

klamb@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

One University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo.