New VCU leader meets with students, faculty

Virginia Commonwealth University's next president returned to campus yesterday for what he pledged would be "the beginning of a really good conversation" on the direction VCU will take under his leadership.

"I won't be able to make everyone happy. That's not my goal," said Michael Rao, president of Central Michigan University, who takes over at VCU on July 1.

But he said for VCU to "take not just a step but a leap forward" would require long discussions on campus and in the community.

Rao met with VCU's faculty senate shortly after arriving from Michigan -- where there was no snow, he joked.

He also fielded a wide range of questions for more than an hour at a town hall-style meeting for students, faculty and staff at the Singleton Center on the Monroe Park campus. A similar session is planned today on the medical campus.

It was Rao's first trip back to VCU since the board of visitors selected him last month to succeed Eugene P. Trani.

Rao emphasized VCU's role as a research university in contributing to health and well-being.

"The reality is, we don't know nearly as much as we think we know," he said.

But through research, he said, the university can advance "what it means to be human."

"We have a right to be healthy, to be well," he said.

Rao was quizzed on the lack of diversity among tenured faculty and on the pay disparities for women.

He drew laughs when he pointed out that he was still just president-elect, "so give me just a little time to absorb some of these issues."

Rao said he was attracted to VCU by its accessibility to a broad range of students and by the diversity of its students.

But he stressed the "authentication of diversity."

"It's important to say the right things, but it's more important to do the right things," he said.

There needs to be a level of sensitivity and appreciation for multiculturalism "every second of every day in every place on this campus."

"The authentication comes from every one of us," he said.

The meeting was briefly interrupted by a loud rustling of a paper banner that was hung -- and then quickly removed -- from the auditorium balcony.

"Hey Mike," it said. "Use your salary of $890,000 to pay for 13 professors."

Rao's salary is $488,500. He also will receive $66,500 in deferred compensation, a $60,000 housing allowance and a signing bonus of $275,000 from private funds.

Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .