Introducing NMSU's
20th president, first lady
 

Jay and Susie Gogue

Jay Gogue speaks often of serving the hopes and dreams of those who come to New Mexico State University. So we couldn't resist asking the new president what his hopes and dreams were as a freshman at Auburn University in the late '60s. "Survival!" he said without hesitation. "I just hoped to find a way to graduate." Clearly, here is a university president who can relate to the typical undergraduate student. But with a career that took him to five other land-grant universities before he became NMSU's 20th president in July, he also could relate immediately to the role this university plays in the lives of many New Mexicans. "The hopes and dreams of a people come to us each day - the entering freshman, the rancher in the field, the state legislator, the rural community, the urban mayor, the business leader, the health care provider, and our faculty and staff," he said. "Our most fundamental mission is that of helping people achieve their goals." Jay and Susie Gogue spoke about their initial impressions of NMSU less than a week after moving from Logan, Utah, where he had spent five years as provost at Utah State.

In many ways, Gogue said, NMSU is similar to the other land-grant universities with which he has been associated Ñ in its high percentage of first-generation college students, for instance, and its strong research program. But it is unique in the diversity of its student body, he said.

"This is by far the most diverse university we've been at," he said. "Forty-six percent of the enrollment is minority students. That is a remarkable number."

Except for an emergency root canal during his first day on the job, Gogue lost no time getting to know some of those students, and a good number of faculty and staff too. In fact, much of his time between May 11, when the Board of Regents selected him as the university's next president, and July 1, when he succeeded President William B. Conroy, was spent in New Mexico, meeting with legislators, business leaders and other key contacts.

"I have been impressed by the friendliness, the hospitality, the openness and kindness the people have shown," he said. Las Cruces, he noted, is the largest town he and Susie have lived in. Both natives of the southeast Georgia town of Waycross, the Gogues have known each other since seventh or eighth grade and were classmates at Auburn.

In those days, his own hopes and dreams didn't include a career in higher education. As he recalls now, "I didn't even know what a master's degree or a doctorate was at that time - I thought a college degree was a college degree."

Susie Gogue vouches for his memory of their early college experience. "He was playing basketball at that time," she summed it up with a grin.

It didn't take him long to figure out what advanced degrees were and get some of his own. He and Susie married in 1968 and both earned master's degrees at Auburn, his in horticulture and hers in family and child development.

She put her degree to work at home, raising children. (Daughter Alison is a graduate student at Auburn this fall. One son, Jason, lives and works in Kansas City, Kan.; the other, Barrett, is an undergraduate student in Bozeman, Mont.)

Gogue added a Ph.D. in horticulture from Michigan State to his resume and began a career with the National Park Service in 1973. He was a research scientist for the park service from 1973-77, chief scientist from 1977-79, and chief scientist and chief of the Division of Interpretation, Park Protection and Natural Resource Management from 1979 to 1986.

He worked closely with universities throughout his years with the park service, and held a dual appointment as a faculty member at Texas A&M University for part of that time, so it wasn't a drastic career change when he joined the faculty of Clemson University in 1986.
 

Gogue was vice president for research at Clemson, the land-grant university of South Carolina, from 1988 to 1995.

As provost at Utah State University for the next five years, he was responsible for all academic and nonacademic units at the main campus in Logan and branch locations throughout the state.

"He was a good friend and great mentor," said Craig Petersen, who served as USU vice provost during those five years and now is interim provost. "Jay is a very flexible person, not threatened by new ideas. He is very willing to listen to other people's ideas and to learn and to reshape his own position based on the input he gets from others."

Gogue says his leadership philosophy is based on service.

"I believe leadership is about helping people achieve their hopes and dreams," he said. "It is about celebrating our differences. It is about results, rather than methods and processes. It is about making NMSU a fun place to work, a great place to succeed, and an easy place to enjoy."

Karl Hill
 

The new president gets acquainted  with, from left, men's basketball  coach Lou Henson, donor William  Clay Fiske, who was an Aggie  halfback from 1932-36, and football coach Tony Samuel.

Dr. Gogue meets the press.

Following a luncheon Dr.  Gogue chats with Bill  McCamley, president of  Associated Students of  NMSU, and Melissa  Schlehuser, president of  Panhellenic Council. On  Panorama's cover, the  president also is pictured  with other student  leaders.

Photos by Michael Kiernan
 

President Gogue will greet alumni during the traditional President's Reception in conjunction with the Homecoming Parade at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 14. The reception takes place in the Williams Hall patio. The University Art Gallery, on the first floor of Williams, will open at 9 a.m. Oct. 14. On display through Nov. 5 are works from the gallery's permanent collection.