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MSU Board Names Two Presidents Today Including Bob Davies

The Murray State University Board of Regents named two presidents today during the Board’s quarterly meeting.

Current President Tim Miller has had “interim” listed before his title. Today, the board officially named Miller the 12th President of Murray State. A teary-eyed Miller was “completely surprised” by the announcement. 

Miller is the only MSU alumnus to serve as President of Murray State.  Miller has spent more than 40 years with MSU in various roles from professor to foundation president.  This is Millers second stint as an interim president. By the end of this term President Miller will have around 18 months  in this role.

Shortly after naming Miller the 12th President, the board unanimously selected current Eastern Oregon University President Bob Davies to serve as MSU’s 13th President. Board Chairman Constantine (Deno) Curris says Davies will receive an annual salary of $300,000 and start July 14th, barring any mitigating circumstances.

The Board selected Davies over Northern State University President Jim Smith. Curris says the unanimous selection of Davies is a result of the positive reports from various constituency groups across campus and his reputation from his current and previous institutions.
 

“I think his passion, his excitement and desire to be president here,” Curris said.  “His interpersonal skills really struck the committee very well. And the fact that he had been a very successful president.”

Board relationship issues were at the heart of the dismissal of MSU’s 11th President, Randy Dunn. Consequently, Curris says that the Board looked into each candidate’s board relationships, both of whom were sitting presidents.

“I think there’s going to be very effective working relationships,” said Curris. We felt that way about all the finalist candidates. The consultant was very much aware of that situation and gave us full briefings of each of the candidate’s board relationships.”

Davies was en route to his current home, LaGrande, Oregon and was unavailable for comment.

Davies received a bachelor of science in management from the University of Nevada at Reno, a master of business administration in finance and marketing from the University of Oregon, and a Ph.D. in higher education administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Davies has been president of Eastern Oregon University since 2009. He has a wife, Cindy and a teenage daughter.

Other positions served by Davies include vice president of university relations with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, associate vice president for alumni relations and development with State University of New York at Buffalo, and executive director of the alumni association with Boise State University. 

Davies interviewed with university officials and constituency groups on Monday and Tuesday. 

Chad Lampe, a Poplar Bluff, Missouri native, was raised on radio. He credits his father, a broadcast engineer, for his technical knowledge, and his mother for the gift of gab. At ten years old he broke all bonds of the FCC and built his own one watt pirate radio station. His childhood afternoons were spent playing music and interviewing classmates for all his friends to hear. At fourteen he began working for the local radio stations, until he graduated high school. He earned an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Murray State, and a Masters Degree in Mass Communication. In November, 2011, Chad was named Station Manager in 2016.
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