Dr. Carlos Vargas-Aburto transitions into Southeast presidency

Dr. Carlos Vargas-Aburto was named the 18th president of Southeast Missouri State University on March 4. He has been working for the past two months to transition from his current position as the interim president at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania to his new position at Southeast.

"He's been on campus twice, one week about three weeks ago -- I believe it was, probably about three weeks ago," current Southeast President Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins said. "We set up a lot of appointments for him all five days, and it was very important for him to start hearing about what's going on, what are some of the issues."

Dobbins has been a helping hand during Vargas' transitional period considering he has worked with American Association of State Colleges and Universities to consult with and train more than 200 new presidents of universities around the nation.

"When individuals become new presidents, they, a lot of the times, don't know what they don't know. So we try to give them a crash course on a lot of things -- financial, athletics, leadership, your cabinet, all of those kinds of things," Dobbins said. "So one of your real issues is how do you do transition from one president to the next, and that's why we have had him in for one week, and he's talked to a lot of people so he can start to feel what's going on at the university."

Dobbins said Vargas was in attendance for Southeast Day at Busch Stadium on April 18 and watched Dobbins throw out the first pitch. He was able to meet alumni of the university and was introduced and announced as the 18th president of Southeast.

Vargas will officially take office on July 1 but is still planning his move to Cape Girardeau.

"I'm still in the process of working that out, but my first day officially at the university is on July 1," Vargas said. "Right now I'm working to organize my move and all of those logistical aspects that are always somewhat tricky."

Vargas, along with his wife, Pam, will live in the Rust House on Pacific Street. He found the house to be the perfect place for visitors and for entertaining.

"One of the things that I'm really excited about is getting to know more about the institution but getting to know the people, being able to establish relationships with the staff, with the faculty, with the students and with the community in general, so I'm very excited about developing some schedule to be able to meet the various groups and learn more about what their expectations are and how we can move the institution forward," Vargas said.

Dobbins said he has been working to help clue Vargas in on the issues and projects going on at Southeast so that he will be prepared once he takes office.

"I keep him informed on some of the issues, like we both went to the provost search meeting on getting that ready to go, so I'm starting to send him things that I know he needs to be aware of that I'm not going to finish, we have a file for that," Dobbins said. "He and Brady Barke, the senior associate to the president, talk quite a bit."

Dobbins said Vargas has also met with the Higher Learning Commission and several of the deans at Southeast to discuss the accreditation process that he will be in charge of next year. Vargas has also had the opportunity to attend a Chamber of Commerce meeting and was able to attend the unveiling of the new branding initiative on campus.

"One of the things that I mentioned when I was appointed is that I want to continue to look at the strategic plan," Vargas said. "I think it is important to continue to move in that direction now that they have the new plan. I think making sure that I understand what has been done to move towards the implementation of the plan, prioritize the various activities, that's going to be very important. The fact that I was able to attend one of the workshops of the Higher Learning Commission in Chicago with a dean from the institution gave me an opportunity to get a better sense of the activities that are going on and the actual projects that are being developed to satisfy our accreditation."

Dobbins said he is confident that Vargas will be a successful leader for Southeast.

"He really cares about the university, he cares about students, he cares about what we do and how we serve our region and our state, understands where we are both academically and financially, and he really wants to be the president here," Dobbins said. "I think you're really going to like him. I think he'll do a wonderful job as president. I think everyone will be very pleased."

Vargas said he is thankful for how welcoming and excited the faculty, staff and transition team have been during his transition to Southeast.

"I cannot wait to get there," Vargas said, laughing. "It's now a little bit of a challenge because I'm still working here (Kutztown), so I am in the process of transitioning out of here, of my current institution, while at the same time transitioning into Southeast, and that, of course, is challenging. ... I really am so excited. My wife and I are excited to be able to be there and start to immerse myself fully in the institution."