Published: July 09, 2009 11:44 pm         

Interim Rose pres ‘keeping momentum’

TERRE HAUTE — Since his start this month as interim president, Matt Branam has one overriding mission he intends to accomplish at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute: “keep momentum.”

“We are in transition from being the best in academic year 2008-2009 to being the best in academic year 2009-2010. We want to keep that momentum going,” Branam said.

As an experienced executive who served as a vice president at United Parcel Service and as chief operating officer of the American Red Cross, Branam recognizes the challenges facing private institutions, from higher health-care costs to recruiting students during a national recession.

“Every campus across the country is seeing a change from the economic pressure that families are feeling on making enrollment. We are seeing families that could have perhaps sent kids to college last year who can’t this year. We are doing everything we can to bridge that gap,” he said, noting the effort to help more students obtain federal student loans.

The number of new freshman students committed to attend Rose-Hulman later this year stands at 468, as of Thursday. “Our goal was 450,” Branam said. “That was a revised goal based on what the economy would do to enrollment. We anticipated about a 10-percent reduction and have been able to do better than that” in attracting new students.

The private engineering school on Terre Haute’s east side has about 1,900 students.

Branam said Rose-Hulman has “not made any reduction to health-care benefits here on campus, and I don’t think we will have to in the next year or two.” Branam said the institute also continues to have a strong alumni base.

“We recognize that most of our alumni and families have been impacted by the economy, but we really don’t measure alumni participation in terms of dollars or something like that. We expect a strong showing for homecoming in the fall, so we have a very strong alumni network,” he said.

Branam spoke from his office Thursday just prior to meeting faculty and staff in a summer ice cream welcome reception on campus. Next month, a search committee will meet to start the process of finding a permanent successor to former president Gerald S. Jakubowski, who resigned effective June 30..

The interim leader said he does not plan to seek the permanent post.

“That is not my intention,” Branam said. “I have not spent the past 30 years of my life preparing to be president of Rose-Hulman or any other college of this stature, but someone out there has. So our challenge is to find that someone and introduce them to the Rose-Hulman community, and the community will take care of the rest of the recruiting.”

Branam said he accepted the presidency because he “loves Rose-Hulman. I grew up in this area. I was reared at the [former] Glenn Home. My parents ran the Glenn Home right close by and I lived there as a kid.”

The former orphanage, east of the campus, is now a Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. Branam said he recently visited the home. “In fact, the president of the fraternity lives in my old bedroom,” he said.

Branam was born in Union Hospital on the city’s northside.

“I always aspired to come to Rose-Hulman, and when finally I was able to come to Rose-Hulman and graduate from Rose-Hulman, it has continued to occupy a very special place for me,” he said. “It is the epitome of education to me.”

Branam has experience in new assignments, pointing to 10 different assignments at UPS during 24 years with that company. “Ten times at UPS I stepped into an organization, an assignment, that was already up and running, and kept momentum. I did the same thing at the American Red Cross.

“So I have actually been trained, if you will, to be an interim president, if not a permanent leader in academia,” he said.

Branam attended Indiana State University from 1972 to 1973, majoring in psychology, then went to Taylor University for the 1973-1974 academic year. He returned to ISU for the academic year of 1974-1975, continuing to major in psychology. That was a career field he said he learned was crowded in the early 1970s.

He then fulfilled his childhood goal of attending Rose-Hulman, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1979.

In 2000, Branam was one of eight Republican primary candidates to seek the former U.S. 7th Congressional District, a post left open after incumbent Rep. Ed Pease, now a senior vice president at Rolls Royce and a member of ISU’s Board of Trustees, did not seek re-election. Branam finished fifth in the primary race, won by Brian Kerns, who also won the general election.

Before coming to Rose-Hulman, Branam worked as a self-employed management consultant for eight years, serving clients such as the National Academy of Public Administration and UPS.

Prior to that, starting in 1997, he was chief operating officer for the American Red Cross, serving at the request of former Red Cross president Elizabeth Dole. He was COO for just more than three years.

Branam worked for just more than three years, starting in 1993, as vice president of public affairs in Washington, D.C., for UPS. Prior to that, he worked as a regional engineering manager for the company.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com