Meeting & Reception with new Bradley President Dr. Gary Roberts

[tornado]

Now that Dr. Roberts is on campus and fully engaged with his position as new President, there were three receptions for people to meet, greet, and talk with Dr. Roberts yesterday & today.

one meeting was yesterday for faculty & staff, then one meeting this afternoon was for the students & other people on campus...

Then a nice formal reception was held in the Hayden-Clark Alumni Center Thursday evening for alumni & media.
Bradley Board of Trustee members, Peoria City Council members and other long time fans, boosters, and supporters filled the Alumni Center.
From what I hear () it was an amazing event celebrating a tremendous turnaround and renewal for Bradley - just about everyone agreed - things are so much different & so much better all over campus and from the top to bottom.
People remarked that there hasn't this much upbeat atmosphere, enthusiasm about the future, and optimism in 6-8 years...go figure...and some
interesting comments were heard regarding the alumni & fans' role that was so important in these changes getting made.
Hope the media who were in attendance give it fair coverage.

http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/bradley-university-welcomes-11th-president-gary-roberts#stream/0

http://www.bradley.edu/calendar/index.dot?id=80fad223-0226-406b-9fdd-4fd813bd8db0

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Week has a video report

http://www.cinewsnow.com/news/local/Bradley-says-hello-to-their-new-president--366147871.html

https://twitter.com/bradleyalumni/status/690330547533516800

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some more on the reception

http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/peoria-welcomes-bradley-universitys-11th-president#stream/0

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Some recent comments to the Bradley Scout by Dr. Roberts

http://www.bradleyscout.com/news/univ-president-reviews-plans-for-future-position-at-bradley/

http://www.bradleyscout.com/news/campus-anticipates-change-led-by-president/

[Da Coach]

I had a chance to talk with President Roberts at the recent reception. He was a friend of mine from our days as Bradley students, and I have kept in touch through the years. Despite his great intellect and success in his professional fields, he is a truly humble guy with a funny, self-deprecating sense of humor. As those articles say, he is determined to see many things improve and succeed under his leadership at Bradley. He welcomes input and help from any Bradley grads, and anyone else who follows Bradley athletics, or just loves Bradley. He has been at every Bradley home basketball game since he arrived in Peoria, and he'd be happy to meet anyone who wants to greet him at the games. I hope to have a chance to have lunch with him soon and talk about some other issues, including athletics, and fan support at Bradley.

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video interview with Gary Roberts & wife

http://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/living-well/living-well-welcomes-the-president-and-first-lady-of-bradley-university

[PhiAlphaBoy]

video interview with Gary Roberts & wife
http://www.centralillinoisproud.com/...ley-university

Thank you for sharing. We are very lucky to have them here.

[tornado]

Dr. Gary Roberts announces Bradley lands a $1 Million+ gift from past CAT CEO Glen Barton & his wife

http://www.pjstar.com/news/20160621/bradley-university-convergence-center-gets-seven-figure-gift-from-glen-and-polly-barton?page=2

Nice to see President Roberts so successful in fund raising after a couple awful years financially for BU
Now ...hopefully we will soon hear freshman enrollment is back up substantially again this year after tanking under the former admin..

One other thing Dr. Roberts did was to discontinue the trend of paying huge amounts for commencement speakers that nobody really cares to hear.
Some speakers demand upwards of $100,000...

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/29/bradley-university-forgoes-guest-commencement-speakers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/24/ann-curry-wheaton_n_588159.html