Wednesday, June 24, 2009

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement Honoring Dr. Bruce Grube
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor

Mr. President, I am delighted to rise with my colleague from Georgia, Senator Chambliss, and pay tribute to my friend, Dr. Bruce Grube. A lot of times we stand on the floor and say "my friend," when it is a passing statement. Well, it is not for me. I met Dr. Grube in 1989, when he was named the 11th president of Georgia Southern University, and I was with him as recently as commencement last year.

He is a great leader in education in our State, and he will be missed. But he is both remembered and revered and there are three reasons I would like to talk about his distinguished career. No. 1, he did what is most important for college presidents to do--he raised the endowment of the university. In fact, he doubled the endowment of the university. And because of that, as Senator Chambliss said, he doubled the number of scholarships going out to deserving Georgians to come to Georgia Southern University.

That is No. 1.

No. 2, as a former chairman of a State board of education and one whose passion is education, I love what Dr. Grube did when he put in the First-Year Experience program at Georgia Southern University, a program designed to make the first-year experience a lasting experience so student retention improved at Georgia Southern and more kids who entered graduated. Since the inception of that program, retention at Georgia Southern University has gone from 66 percent of the freshman class to 81 percent of the freshman class--four out of five returning and getting their degree at Georgia Southern University.

No. 3, among everything else that a president of a university does in terms of responsibility, it is so important that they outreach to the community. When you go to Bulloch County in Statesboro, GA, if you are at Snooky's Restaurant for breakfast, Dr. Grube is there. If you are on campus in the middle of the day, interacting with students under the shade of a Georgia pine tree, Dr. Grube is there. If there is a charitable or benefit program in Bulloch County, Dr. Grube is there. He is the face of Georgia Southern University, and he will be missed--but only for a year because after a brief sabbatical he comes back to teach political science at Georgia Southern University. He returns to his roots, established in his doctorate degree at the University of Texas in political science and carried on for years to come as a distinguished professor of political science at Georgia Southern University.

I am proud to rise with my colleague, Senator Chambliss, to pay tribute to a great Georgian, a great educator, and my personal friend, Dr. Bruce Grube.