Interim University President Kathy Wilbur will host a series of talks with students on campus over the next two months.

“A Conversation with the President” will first take place at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the lounge of Troutman Hall.

Assistant Director of Residence Life Cal Seelye was responsible for choosing the lounge for the event. He said the lounge could hold approximately 100 to 150 people.

“I’ve worked in the Towers for 10 years, so I just said this is the spot in the Towers that would work best for this type of meeting,” Seelye said.

Manistique sophomore Kathy Leonard said planning for so few attendants is probably a realistic choice.

“Even if we can’t all fit in there, we could always go to one of the other locations to see the president, if we really wanted to,” Leonard said.

Subsequent conversations will take place Nov. 3 in the lobby of Larzelere Hall, Nov. 4 in the lobby of Sweeney Hall, and Nov. 17 in classrooms 2 and 3 in Herrig Hall.

Zeeland graduate student Katie Kloet is enthusiastic about Wilbur making herself available to Central Michigan University students.

“This is my sixth year at Central, and I never talked to (former University President) Michael Rao,” Kloet said. “I’m not even sure I’d know what he looked like. So it’s cool that she’s taking the time to talk to students.”

Michael Rao served as CMU president since 2000 before becoming president of Virginia Commonwealth University on July 1. Wilbur stepped up to interim university president from vice president of governmental relations and public affairs.

What would you ask?

Kloet said if she could ask Wilbur a question, she would ask something more personal than related to university policies.

“Honestly, if I talked to her, I’d probably just ask her about her — if it’s stressful being the president, and things like that,” she said.

Rochester Hills sophomore Nick Smith said it is important for a rapport to be built up between the president and students.

“She needs to know who she’s representing, and the students need to know who their president is,” Smith said.

Smith is the Student Government Association representative for Kesseler Hall, and said he would go to the conversation in order to better serve his hall.

“I’d probably go, just to see what she’s all about,” Smith said. “I’m the Student Government representative, so that’s why I would go, to see if there’s anything to tell the people in the hall.”

E-mail the author: Brad Canze