Catching up with Michigan State University’s 19th President Peter McPherson

<p>McPherson’s wife Joanne, who as First Lady of Michigan State University founded <a href="https://safeplace.msu.edu">Safe Place</a>, the first shelter at a university to provide support for victims of domestic violence and stalking, died in June.</p><p>“She was so dedicated to Safe Place and so committed to having it work. Of course, now after all these decades really, it's worked very well. She always had an idea, like when we got here, Beaumont Tower’s bells weren't ringing, and they hadn't rung for about a year. She said, ‘What's this? The Beaumont Tower bells need to ring.’ In short time, the bells were ringing, and they've rung ever since. Safe Place and the Beaumont Tower bells, and the signs at campus entrances were a couple of her accomplishments.</p><p>“When we got here, for whatever reason, the signs entering campus were a set of wire structures and they looked pretty bad. Joanne never wanted things to look bad. They're now stone and permanent, and they look really good. They've been that way since about 1994, and that was Joanne saying ‘What's this?’"</p><p>McPherson talks about growing up in West Michigan and always knowing he would attend MSU, just like all his siblings did. And he says “MSU opened up the world to me.” Then a stint in the Peace Corps inspired his lifetime of work on international issues. He describes working in both the Ford and Reagan White Houses. He was working for Bank of America in San Francisco after the Reagan years, and that’s when the MSU presidency opened.</p><p>“Running Michigan State was a dream I never really expected to even have an opportunity to do. You can imagine what my seven brothers and sisters living in West Michigan thought. By that time, unfortunately, my father and mother had passed away. I think often, and certainly did back then, how sad it was that they weren't around because, for my father especially, this would have been special.”</p><p>McPherson talks about a couple of his accomplishment he’s most proud of like bringing the Detroit College of