Edward Montgomery says he's ready to help Western Michigan University reach the "next level" as a globally-ranked research institution. Montgomery was officially inaugurated on Friday, September 15, as Western's ninth president during a ceremony at Miller Auditorium. He was joined by former president John Dunn, university trustees, faculty, staff, and students as well as government leaders.
"I have...heard over and over again that there is a thirst to take the next step, to elevate this institution to the next level, to be even more impactful in the lives of our students, and through the reach of our research and creative activities. The campus is incredibly resilient and has weathered many storms over the past years. It is proud of what has been accomplished but ready to fulfill its potential."
Montgomery says Western will continue to build links with the City of Kalamazoo and other communities in southwestern Michigan.
"In my view, being a good partner locally must be a central piece of our strategy to impact the world around us. Far too many universities actively strive to be global players while missing or being indifferent to the problems going on their backyards. One cannot claim to be interested in the solutions to global poverty but ignore poverty in Detroit or Kalamazoo. One cannot be a leader in global water policy but ignore the Flint water crisis."
Montgomery, who served in the administrations of former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, says the university succeeds when its students succeed.
"For me a key element is ensuring more students graduate in a timely fashion with less debt so they may go on to successful careers and lives. We know how to do this for pockets of our students. Our challenge is how to take it to scale as an institution so that everyone who enters our gates is positioned to succeed." Montgomery says all but two percent of WMU's budget comes from either state funding or student tuition. State support has dwindled in recent decades as tuition rates have steadily risen. Montgomery says that's a problem that must be faced.
"To remain accessible, we must continually monitor and fight to minimize tuition increases. This will also require us to be more entrepreneurial, less dependent on people coming to us and more active in actually seeking them out. Being more entrepreneurial will require us to be more nimble, to be willing to take risks, to actively seek new opportunities to reach nontraditional students, to offer more hybrid and nontraditional degrees and programs."
Montgomery took over as Western's president on August 1. Before coming to WMU, he served as dean of of Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy. A labor economist, Montgomery was the U.S. Labor Department's chief economist and served as assistant secretary of labor during the Clinton administration. He later became President Obama's "car czar" as a key player in the effort to pull the U.S. car industry out of a financial crisis.
Edward and Kari Montgomery have three children. Their son, E.J. Montgomery, graduated from WMU with a bachelor's degree in business in April 2017.
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