10-11 / 20
NORTHERN TODAY
10
SPRING 2016
FAREWELL
DR. JAMES SMITH,
who began as NSU’s
16th president in 2009, has left Northern to become
president at Eastern Michigan University.
THE NORTHERN STATE UNIVERSITY
community extends best wishes to Smith and his
wife, Dr. Connie Ruhl-Smith, NSU director of special
initiatives and director of international programs!
“Jim and Connie were involved with the
NSU Foundation and alumni events from
day one.
Actually, they traveled to Florida for
an event before they were officially employed
by NSU. Having a husband-wife team who
attend events, host events and understand the
importance of friend and fundraising is vital
to the success of any campus.”
“Working with President Smith has
been a very enjoyable and rewarding
experience.
He is intelligent and thoughtful,
has a great sense of humor and is extremely
hard-working. His enthusiasm is infectious
and his love for NSU is visible in so many
ways. He’s been dedicated to finding
solutions and generating new ideas in order
to make NSU an even better university.”
V e r on i c a Pau l s on
Vice President of Finance
and Administration
Dr . A l an L a Fav e
Provost and
Vice President of
Academic Affairs
T odd J o rdr e
President and CEO,
NSU Foundation
“It has been an absolute pleasure working
with Dr. Smith. His energy and passion have
been infused across our campus, and his
dedication to excellence is unmatched
.
He
has been an outstanding and inspirational leader
for Northern and a tremendous role model. He
truly cares about student success and staying on
the forefront of higher education issues.”
NORTHERN TODAY
11
SPRING 2016
“I still remember my first week of school here,
President Smith sawme walking toward him
and from a distance, he said, ‘Hey Torri, how are
you?’ and we stopped and talked for a bit.
At that moment I knew this was the place to be!”
T o rr i Barr e t t
Nassau, Bahamas