Genovese hits the ground running on first day in office

NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State University President James Genovese dove into his first day on the job Monday by engaging with several different constituent groups in local and nearby business and education communities.

"It really has been a bundle of mixed emotions. It's such a wonderful and exciting and energetic feeling to come back to Northwestern, to my roots, to Natchitoches. Spending the night last night, a lot of things were going through my mind," he said. "I'm so excited to come back."

Genovese began the day at 7:30 a.m. as a guest on "Open Line," a local call-in radio program where he pledged to promote the university and its programs to prospective students and their parents.

"I'm going to meet with every strategic person there is so we can get the word out and let them know what a jewel Northwestern is," he said. "We've got a great institution, a beautiful campus, relatively inexpensive tuition, scholarships. We have so much to offer."

His enthusiasm continued at a welcome assembly for all Rapides Parish School Board employees before joining a luncheon at Louisiana Christian University in Pineville hosted by the North Rapides Business and Industry Alliance, where he was a featured speaker, along with Louisiana Surgeon General Dr. Ralph Abraham and Rapides Parish Superintendent of Schools Jeff Powell. To an audience of policymakers and leaders in business, education and healthcare, he continued to sing the praises of Northwestern State.

"There's not a person in this room that has not been touched by Northwestern State University. We want to let them know what a good product we have. It's one of the finest institutions where you can get a good, solid education with a good student to teacher ratio, where everyone knows everyone, and we're a family. And it's relatively inexpensive," he said.

Later Monday, he was scheduled to attend a Natchitoches City Council meeting before meeting with the Demon football team and new head coach Blaine McCorkle.

"We've got a lot of things working together, we've got a lot of cutting and pasting to do. People have just been wonderful," he said. "I've been reaching out to every person that is key to the success at Northwestern. Look what it did for me. I owe Northwestern. It's my foundation. I'm so grateful to come back at this stage in my life and do my best to bring Northwestern to a state of deserved prominence. That's what I want to do."

NSU students and faculty will be returning to the campus over the next two weeks in advance of the schools' 140^th academic term. Fall classes will begin Aug. 19. Registration will remain open through Aug. 27. More information is available at www.nsula.edu.