The Millsaps Board of Trustees in February announced the selection of Dr. Frances Lucas-Tauchar as the 10th president of the 110-year-old college. A Mississippi native who spent the last eight years as Senior Vice President of Campus Life at Emory University, Lucas-Tauchar recently moved to Jackson with her husband, Paul, and their two young children. She took her position at Millsaps on July 1.

Sun staff writer Jason Otis recently spoke with Lucas-Tauchar about her new job, her old job, getting acclimated to Millsaps and about her short- and long-term goals for the college.

Why were you interested in the position at Millsaps?

"Well, I always wanted to be the president of a liberal arts college, and Millsaps is one of the best in the country, so it was an incredible opportunity. Additionally, of course, Mississippi is my home. I grew up in Hattiesburg. So it was a great opportunity to come back to a lot of family and a lot of friends, but also to have the privelege of being the president of Millsaps."

I know you've met members of the faculty. What do you think of them?

"I was interviewed by many groups of faculty during the interview process. Very impressed with the faculty. That was a large part of the pull. And, of course, the faculty at Millsaps has historically been some of the best in the country. So for any president to have premier faculty is the name of the game, and Millsaps certainly does."

I recently read an article about the profound improvements to Millsaps that took place under George Harmon's presidency, but is there any area that you think is in need of additional improvement?

"I think George has left me an incredible legacy here, and he will still be assisting me in the next five years. He and I will work together to complete some of the goals that have already been set by the leaders of the college. And those goals are to build a new performing arts center, a new Christian life center and a new library. But there are many other goals that all of us will set together in the coming months, things to really enhance our prominence."

Enrollment has remained roughly the same for several years now, and there seems to be very little open space left on campus to develop. Are there any plans to try to boost enrollment and, if so, where will you put the students?

"We're going to be talking about that in the coming weeks because we already know that we're going to need more residence halls for the opening of fall, 2001. So we are going to be working in the next few weeks, literally, to see if we need to build something this year to house more students. And we'll be talking, too, about what our ideal enrollment should be, but I can't say right now what that will be. What I can tell you, though, is that as a result of all these new, wonderful buildings and terrific things that are going on here, our deposits this year are up pretty significantly over last year."

Fund raising is very important for Millsaps, as it is for any private institution. Did you gain fund raising experience at Emory? And are you planning yet for your first capital campaign at Millsaps?

"To answer your first question, I believe that fund raising begins the minute you meet prospective students and their parents. I think that everyone on campus does fund raising every day, all day long. It's part of our being. I think we've all participated and will continue to. As far as our future, our first priority will be to decide what the most important things are that we want to do at Millsaps and then to find friends of Millsaps who are excited about our future and want to be a part of that future. As far as a capital campaign, we are in the process of searching for a new Vice President for Institutional Advancement. We hope to have that person aboard in the next six months or so, and if so, we will ask the new person to assess our areas and let us know when the timing to the next campaign would be."

Are there any new academic programs you'd like to see at Millsaps?

"One of the things that we will be working on this fall is an academic visioning proposal that the faculty has already been working on for a good while. What I can say is that I'm incredibly impressed by the work that they are doing, and we'll be announcing those initiatives as a part of our strategic plan when we get to it later in the year. The academic program here is just stellar. That's a premier part of Millsaps history - always has been and hopefully always will be. I think that my role as the new president will be to support them. I'd like to get far more chaired professorships that are endowed with private money so that we can reward very well our stellar faculty and also continue to attract some of the best faculty in the country."