By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

“Hello, my name is Bruce.”

They are the words that have made the biggest impact to the Joplin community since Bruce Speck assumed his job as president of Missouri Southern State University about six months ago.

In introducing Speck during his official inauguration Friday, both Board of Governors Chairman Dwight Douglas and Joplin Mayor Gary Shaw said Speck’s informal, personable nature was one of the first things they noticed about him.

“I called (Speck’s) office and expected to get some kind of a receptionist,” Shaw said. “Instead, I heard this, ‘Hi, this is Bruce,’ on the other end. He’s made an obvious effort to jump into this community with both feet and has already made a positive impact on Joplin.”

Besides a university president, Speck is also the man who thinks he is better at racquetball than he actually is. He is the man whose father asked him if he was a “slow learner” while getting his doctorate degree because all his other friends had long ago graduated. He is a man whose mother had countless conversations with his elementary school principal about his fights in the schoolyard, whose father taught him the value of hard work through the phrase, “While we’re working, let’s” and who jokes that he’s thankful his children aren’t in jail or a rehabilitation program yet.

But during his inauguration, Speck also showed another side. He spoke frankly, both in honoring those who had come before him and in vowing to do things differently. He spoke highly of former Missouri Southern President Julio Leon who did not attend Friday’s event, and said he helped move the university forward in terms of its international mission, Honors Program and physical plant operations.

Speck said he believes Missouri Southern’s future is bright, but that he is not a “Pollyanna” about the difficult decisions he and the other administrators must make to get the school to that future.

“Revenues must exceed expenses and that means a re-evaluation of all of our business practices,” Speck said. “That will be a painful process.”

In his address, Speck said he will focus on setting up a strategic plan for the school so that everyone knows where the institution is going and what officials must do to get it there. He said he also wants greater shared governance, so there can be open discussions about decision-making.

Most of all, Speck said he intends to do everything as the executive figure in a team structure.

“I have the authority to make decisions, I understand that, I’m not afraid of that, but I believe that authority is best worked out in a team,” Speck said.