Dr. Carlos Vargas-Aburto announced as next university president

When Dr. Carlos Vargas Aburto entered the Glenn Auditorium side by side with current president, Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins, on Feb. 4, everyone knew Vargas had the job.

Vargas sat silently next to Dobbins during introductory speeches until Doyle Privett, the chair of the Presidential Search and Screening Advisory Committee, named Vargas the 18th president of Southeast Missouri State University.

It wasn't until Privett made the official announcement, saying the board unanimously voted for Vargas in its first vote, that Vargas teared up and took to the podium.

"I have an internal feeling that I cannot express in words," Vargas said. "Just please believe me when I tell you that this is something that I had never dreamed of. You have in front of you somebody who is the typical low-income, first generation student. I never thought that I would be here. I never thought that I would be able to be at an institution contributing to promoting it, continuing to help the institution educate students. And so for me, this is quite amazing."

Vargas said the university would not find anyone more passionate than him to take the institution to another level.

"Members of the board believe that Dr. Vargas has distinguished himself as an academic leader and fiscal manager since joining Kutztown University in 2006 as its provost and most recently as acting president," Privett said. "For the past eight months, he has begun to implement his strategic vision for Kutztown and his experience and his commitment to academic excellence makes him an ideal choice to lead Southeast Missouri State University into the future."

Vargas earned his undergraduate degree in physics at the national university in Mexico, where he said that he truly was just a number due to it having 200,000 students. Vargas then obtained two masters and a PhD in physics and aerospace science at the University of Michigan, where he met his future wife, Pam.

"When I returned to Mexico, I went to the national university as a faculty member, then returned to the U.S. and was actually interested in looking for a job in industry, but my wife's mother, who lived in Ohio at the time, said to me "There's a university nearby, why don't you go and visit it," Vargas said. "So I went and visited [Kent State] and that day I walked around the hallways of the university and I found the chair of the department. And I said 'I'd like to see if I can talk to you about a job.' He asked if I had an appointment and I said no, and he gave me five minutes. That five minutes became a half hour, and then he called another faculty member. They interviewed me there, and then the next day they asked me if I was availible to go and teach there as a visiting professor."

Vargas worked at Kent State University from 1985 to 2003 as a professor in electronics, as well as their associate dean for research and director of their program on electron beam technology. In 2003, he became the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Central State University.

Vargas said that his transition from a professor to an administrator was not intentional and was more subconscious.

"I started doing things that were more administrative in nature, for example I would develop my own proposals when I wanted to get research money," Vargas said. "And I started to do that, and then the offices started relying on me for doing that, the administrative offices. And at one point, I became very comfortable with it. ... Looking at the administration, I would sometimes say 'why don't you do it this way' and I found myself being able to contribute in terms of new ideas and how to do things, so I thought 'This is something I can do.' So I started drifting more and more into it and eventually took a full-time administrator position."

At Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, Vargas has been acting president, and he said that experience made him apply for the the job at Southeast.

"I had the chance to deal with issues, make decisions and communicate what the institution is all about to many constituencies," Vargas said. "To be in that position has given me confidence and has definitely reinforced the idea that I'm committed to this."

Vargas added that Kutztown and Southeast are similar in a lot of ways due to them being regional campuses, although Kutztown is more controlled by the state than Southeast.

"So the complexity of that system is a little bit higher, but other than that, the institution is very committed to educating the workforce in the region and contributing to the economic development of the region," Vargas said. "So there are many similarities, it's just the environment that they operate under that is slightly different."

A transition team will soon be formed to help Vargas officially take on the role on July 1. Jay Knudtson, current Board of Regents president, said that Dobbins will be instrumental to the transition

"For our new president, we will have the advantage to spend time with Dr. Dobbins on campus, in [Jefferson] City and throughout the state, which will really provide that transition that our new president will need," Knudtson said.

Dobbins announced his retirement during his State of the University Address on September 8th, and the university soon teamed up with Parker Executive Search to find and interview potential candidates. Forty-six people applied for the position, and the final four candidates, including Dr. Margaret E. Madden, Dr. Paul D. Plotkowski and Dr. Benjamin Ola. Akande visited campus over the past month.

Vargas said during his speech at the announcement that he is excited to take on the role of president and to get to work at Southeast.

"I think we need to honor our tradition and, at the same time, make sure that we adapt to the changing environment that we're living in," Vargas said.

Dobbins said that the Board of Regents choose an excellent candidate, and that he was excited to see what Vargas can do at Southeast.

"He has a great desire to build relationships, and that's what Southeast Missouri State University is noted for, building relationships so there's a win-win-win situation," Dobbins said. "You can tell he's very intelligent, analytical because of his degrees that he has in aerospace technology, a Ph.D. So I think that you'll find that he's going to be one that will listen and act when needed.

Dobbins added that Vargas has shown a great desire to improve student retention and to move the university forward.

"There's not a lot of problems that he has to address right away, so that's very good, too, because he can then concentrate on things that are in the strategic plan and work with the different divisions and the faculty and the staff and the students," Dobbins said.

Vargas says that he wants to make sure to continue Dobbins' strong relationship with the community, including local businesses, organizations, community colleges and state legislature.

"Certainly what I want to do at this point is start getting to know people, getting to understand all the details of how the institution operates, the challenges, the opportunities," Vargas said. "I want to start meeting people in the community. I think that's very important. Clearly President Dobbins has been fantastic in terms of establishing those connections. There's big shoes that I need to fill, so I need to connect with those individuals and make sure that they see, to reassure them, that this institution continues to be committed to working with them to make sure that it's a good neighbor and that we are going to be working and doing as much as we can to enhance the relationship for the benefit of the region."

Vargas also mentioned that he wants to connect with the students at Southeast and engage with groups like the Student Government Association to understand their issues on campus, saying students are a resource for an institution.

"I'm very excited about connecting with students," Vargas said. "And I think students like connecting with me. The students enjoy interacting with me and that keeps me grounded. It's the kind of thing that allows me to talk to faculty and say 'I understand what you're talking about. I talk to the students. The students talk to me.'"

He is married to Pam Vargas, who currently works as the executive director of Kutztown University Research Center, and has two children.

Read more about the search and the candidates at southeastArrow.com/presidentialsearch.