[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 25753-25754]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DR. JAMES MICHAEL SMITH

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, today I recognize Dr. James 
Michael Smith on his inauguration as the 16th President of Northern 
State University in Aberdeen, SD. Dr. Smith comes to Northern State 
from Bowling Green State University where he had served as vice 
president for economic development. He is a veteran organizational 
leader, with experience leading educational institutions at both the K-
12 and postsecondary levels. Prior to joining the senior administrative 
team at BGSU, Dr. Smith was dean of the School of Education at Indiana 
University South Bend. Dr. Smith also served in administrative 
capacities at West Texas A&M and Butler University. He will begin his 
tenure with the knowledge that Northern State University has been named 
for the third year in a row to the U.S. News and World Report's Top 
Public Undergraduate Institutions in the Midwest. Dr. Smith has said 
NSU is ``excited to once again be named to this prestigious list, and 
will continue to build momentum at Northern State by focusing on new 
programs, expanded technology and increased graduate offerings.'' 
Everyone in the region is excited to help him join in these goals.
  At the investiture of Dr. Smith, history will literally be at his 
fingertips. The pen used in this ceremony will be the same one used to 
swear in the 15 Northern presidents before him. It was

[[Page 25754]]

used to sign the bill that created the Northern Normal and Industrial 
School in 1901 and it went up in the space shuttle Discovery in 1991.
  I would like to offer Dr. James Smith the very best as he begins his 
tenure with one of South Dakota's finest institutions of higher 
learning.

                          ____________________