Rossbacher: Southern Poly Needs New Ideas

Lisa Rossbacher would happily spend the rest of her career at , but she’s afraid she has run out of fresh ideas after 14 years as president of the Marietta university.

That’s the message Rossbacher brought to Wichita, KS, on Wednesday in explaining why she wants to become the 13th president of Wichita State University, The Wichita Eagle reported.

Talking about Southern Polytechnic, the Eagle reported, she said she sees "ways in which the institution could benefit from new ideas.”

to visit Wichita and address a university forum this week. She’s trying to replace Donald Beggs, who is retiring June 30 after 13 years as Wichita State’s president.

Answering questions from a crowd of about 200 people Wednesday, the Eagle reported, Rossbacher said Wichita State offers her the chance to lead a university that’s the dominant academic force in its city after she has been part of small university in a huge metro area at Southern Polytechnic.

With more than 15,000 students, Wichita State is almost triple the size of Southern Polytechnic, which has fewer than 5,800. The Wichita region in south-central Kansas has about 750,000 people, according to the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition, compared with 4.1 million just in the 10 innermost counties of the Atlanta metro area, according to the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Rossbacher also has family ties to the Wichita area, the Wichita Business Journal reported: Her husband, Dallas Rhodes, is from El Dorado, 30 miles from Wichita, and his sister lives in Wichita. She told the forum she has visited the city many times.

Still, this is not the first time the Southern Polytechnic president has sought another job. She was one of three finalists for the University of Alaska presidency in early 2010, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported, and was one of five finalists for the top job at New Mexico State University in late 2009.

The Kansas Board of Regents is expected to name Wichita State’s new president in May.