Miami Student

Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Campus

President David Hodge addresses a small audience at a press conference Thursday.

Addressing an unexpectedly low turnout, Miami University's 21st President David Hodge fielded questions and concerns from a gathering of mostly journalism and communication students at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

The conference was the third event of its kind sponsored by Miami's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).

Patricia Gallagher Newberry, lecturer in the journalism program and adviser of SPJ, was surprised at the small audience of about 15 and cited a few reasons to explain the reduced numbers.

"Through no fault of his own, the president is no longer as newsworthy," Newberry said. "He's not brand-new anymore. He gave his Annual Address just a month ago. I think it's a little less novel now that journalism students have had other opportunities to be in his presence and ask him questions."

Newberry also explained that the event was not scheduled early enough for professors to build the press conference into their syllabi, as was the case for the previous two conferences.

According to Newberry, those students who were present received a high quality experience. Students raised questions on a wide variety of topics varying from academic advising to the future student center.

During the conference, Hodge emphasized the differences between his first year as president and the current year.

"The first time around, there was a lot of listening and learning and not so much doing," Hodge said. "Now we are listening and doing. There's a lot more heavy-lifting going on behind the scenes. Our initiatives that we started last year now require attention."

One of Hodge's leading concerns is the Bicentennial Celebration in 2009.

"The bicentennial is enormously important to our future," Hodge said. "The real value of the bicentennial is as the launching pad of our future-of our third century as a university. It's a moment to bring back our alums and deepen their connections with Miami."

Hodge said that he believes one of the ways to reconnect with Miami alumni is through a new student center, which he termed the Bicentennial Student Center. He said that a large donor's name would precede the center's official title-but that donor is yet to be established. Hodge sees the new center serving as a crossroads of the Miami experience.

Continued...

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