Rao passionate about Central Michigan University
University President Michael Rao is all about CMU from the time he gets up in the morning until late in the evening.
His passion for CMU can be seen by the sacrifices he makes for his schedule, which begins at 6 a.m. and sometimes doesn’t end until 11 p.m.
“It is so all-consuming,” said Rao, in regards to his job, which he said is more rewarding some days than others.
Monica Rao, his wife and university outreach liaison, agreed.
“For our family, CMU is a 24/7 type of deal – CMU is our life and as a result, it can be a challenge to find time to spend together doing non-CMU related activities,” she said.
Central Michigan Life recently shadowed Michael Rao to see what a day in the life of the man who has been university president for six years is like. He usually starts his day at 6 a.m. with a workout or run. On this day he only stretches because he feels like he has exercised too much recently.
In the morning Rao also gets his son Miguel, 6, ready for school. At 7:45 a.m., he is ready to depart to work. Today, that drive is longer than usual as he will go to Flint to testify before the State Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education Appropriations.
Rao is joined by Steve Smith, director of broadcast media relations, who is the driver of the day.
During the hour and a half drive, Rao conducts phone calls – mostly about donors – and also goes over his speech prepared for his testimony, editing the original draft.
He also takes some time to share some of his extensive knowledge about CMU.
Rao said Washington, D.C., is home to the second-largest number of graduates, followed by Chicago and Florida. CMU also is the second-largest producer of business-related master’s degrees for blacks in the nation.
He shares more than just facts about CMU that could be used in a trivia game. Rao talks about his work to change the way public universities are funded in the state. Although it has taken time, Rao said there has been progress in funding universities based on its number of students.
Many people often ask him why he fights so hard for under-funded universities.
“Fair is fair,” he says simply.
Rao and Smith arrive at Kettering University a bit early, so he reviews his upcoming testimony. The statement has changed quite a bit since its original draft.
Once inside, Rao meets up with Kathy Wilbur, vice president of governmental relations and public affairs. He said before Wilbur took the position, he used to spend more time on government matters. Now he estimates only 20 to 25 percent of his time is dedicated to Lansing.
Before speaking, Rao has a quick meeting with Toby Roth Jr., director of federal programs for government relations and public affairs, to discuss his upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., and the meetings he has with Michigan legislators.
Roth mentions Rao’s schedule is jam packed, to which the president responds, “I'm used to it.”
Rao is the first of several university presidents to testify at 10 a.m. His time in the spotlight is longer than anticipated as he is asked many questions by legislators.
On his way out, Rao finds time to meet up with a CMU graduate teaching chemistry at Kettering. Wilbur figures he is trying to get the professor to collaborate with CMU in the future.
“He’s a great salesman,” she said.
On his return trip to Mount Pleasant, Rao calls his office to get information about some calls he has scheduled for the ride home. Rao talks to a few donors, thanking them for their contributions to the university, while putting off other calls.
Rao is amazed by one donor who insists on ending the call because he believes the president must be busy – even though Rao called him.
He said he spends anywhere from 10 to 75 percent of his day on fund-raising, and it has proved to be a worthwhile endeavor. From 1998 to 2004, donations rose from $5 million to $15 million, although Rao admits the numbers slipped a bit last year.
Rao said the part of the day not designated for fund-raising is reserved for academic matters – he tries to have one academic meeting each day on campus.
Rao also keeps current on some of the 200 e-mails he estimates he receives each day through his phone. While Rao can’t take care of many e-mails personally, he reads them all and forwards them to the correct people.
During this time, Rao discusses his past that made him the person he is today, starting with his mother who raised him after his father died.
“It’s probably the reason I grew up so fast,” he said.
Rao never planned on being a college president, it just happened in 1994 at Mission College in California, he said. He got the position after serving as a president’s assistant at the University of Florida.
In 1998 he became chancellor at Montana State University-Northern.
Interestingly, Rao had never been to CMU’s campus before he was selected as president.
He said he was contacted about the job, but wasn’t exactly interested until he was stuck on an elevator with Trustee Roger Kesseler in Montana. Later, Rao did his interviews at the Detroit airport and was given the job shortly after.
Though a packed schedule like his means Rao spends a lot of time away from his family, Monica Rao said it is worth it.
“I know that President Rao feels passionately about higher education and CMU,” she said. “I know that he is making a difference in the lives of many.”
He said he was contacted about the job, but wasn’t exactly interested until he was stuck on an elevator with Trustee Roger Kesseler in Montana. Later, Rao did his interviews at the Detroit airport and was given the job shortly after.
When Rao gets back to campus at 1 p.m., he shifts gears from fund raising and reminiscing to the subject of international academics, as he has a lunch meeting with the chancellor of Kakatiya University in India.
Monica Rao, Trustee Sam Kottamasu and the deans of various colleges also attend the presentation, detailing the areas in which the two universities can collaborate, before sitting down to an Indian-style lunch.
Lunch goes past 2 p.m., when Rao planned to go over his calendar. He skips this and instead rushes to the Health Professions building for a CMU 2010 meeting.
He reviews the information from the Institutional Strategic Planning Committee on the fast walk over.
Once inside the building, he takes the stairs two at a time, and is not the last to arrive. Rao listens to the progress reports of each of the subcommittees before sharing his thoughts.
Although he would have tough decisions to make over what proposals to fund, Rao said in the long run, people would have more respect for those decisions than funding all the proposals.
The meeting – just like the previous one – runs late and Rep. Bill Caul, R-Mount Pleasant, is waiting for the president when he arrives at the office. The two discuss Rao’s upcoming testimony he will give to the House Subcommittee on Higher Education Appropriations.
Rao said he plans to emphasize the need to revamp the funding formula used to allocate money to Michigan universities, a view Caul seems to be sympathetic toward.
They also chat about familiar CMU grads as Rao recalls many by name.
His last meeting is with Richard Juday, a senior development officer for major gifts in development and alumni relations. Juday informs the president about a donor he is scheduled to meet with during the next day’s trip to Washington, D.C.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Rao prepares to go home. He was supposed to have a dinner meeting that evening – which would have been his fifth evening event of the week – but, thankfully, he can go home.
Rao’s flight for Washington, D.C., leaves early the next morning. He jokes about what he did to Charla Miller, his executive secretary, to deserve such an early flight.
The five-day trip is packed with meetings with donors and members of Congress, but Rao seems ready to tackle the endeavor.
