Mount Pleasant Mayor Jim Holton remembers flipping on the TV Friday and stopping in surprise.

Central Michigan University President Michael Rao had accepted the top position at a school in Virginia, and would be packing up in a matter of months.

“There’s no doubt it was a shock, probably to the entire community,” Holton said. “Dr. Rao is very interactive with many aspects of the community, so there is a void we’ll have to deal with.”

City and county-wide leaders alike say the departure of Rao will be a loss felt by many.

“He’s really elevated CMU’s visibility on state and national levels as a first-rate university,” said Lisa Hadden, president of the Mount Pleasant area Chamber of Commerce. “I think CMU and Mount Pleasant are now considered as a leader in the state in terms of education.”

George Dunn, president and CEO of Middle Michigan Development Corporation, noted Rao’s persistence in accomplishing goals.

“Mike has brought a new vigor to both CMU and the surrounding communities, one that is based on striving for excellence, never admitting that something can’t be done,” he said in an e-mail to Central Michigan Life.

“The entire middle-Michigan region is so heavily influenced by the presence of CMU – and the fact that we are first and foremost a university-driven economy – what the university does or doesn’t do is critical to our collective future,” he wrote.

Sharon Tillman, chairwoman of the Council of Governments, a coalition of Mount Pleasant- area leaders, said Rao has created a closer bond between the city and CMU.

“There has been noticeable strides, I think, on the part of community involvement and the vocalization of students,” she said.

Tillman recounted the city’s ongoing mission to make Mount Pleasant more than just a place students find themselves in while attending CMU. Governmental leaders want it to be a home, she said.

In past years, Tillman recalled working as both a mayor and county commissioner and feeling a degree of disembodiment from the university.

Now, faculty and staff are serving on boards and students are attending liaison meetings.

“I see students more engaged in the community. I see CMU staff and faculty, I see a real thrust towards that,” she said. “We can achieve far more working together than as two separate entities.”

Rao’s resignation comes amid a cloud of economic uncertainty in Michigan, Ling said, so CMU’s forward momentum is of utmost importance.

“Timing is not something we can have much control over,” Ling said. “This obviously is a very fine opportunity for him.”

metro@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: Heidi Fenton