Grand Valley State University students plan to bid farewell to retiring President Arend D. Lubbers with speeches and presentations in his honor on Thursday, April 19.
Hail to the Chief, a celebration planned by the GVSU Student Senate, will be held from 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Fieldhouse Arena.
A presentation of note will be the GVSU Crew Team's christening of the President's Pairs, two two-person boats which will be named for Lubbers and his wife, Nancy Lubbers. Students Becky Wimsatt and Matt Jousma, president and vice president of the Crew Team, will christen the boats on stage and present Lubbers with an award for his continued support.
Ben Witt, president of the Student Senate, is encouraging students to come and bid farewell to the man who has given us all so much to be proud of at Grand Valley. Faculty and staff are invited, as well.
This is a way for the student body to say good-bye to the guy who's built what he's built because he's in tune with the students, said Witt. President Lubbers has done a good job of working together with the student leadership. The university's success can be attributed in large part to that.
Lubbers' retirement after 32 years as GVSU's chief will be effective June 30, 2001.
