Lonnie Cooper, who was head of the Adawe LifePlan Center during the fall 2010 semester, has left that position for personal reasons.
Provost Dennis Tyner said Cooper left his family in Indiana when he came to the Ottawa Campus.
“It didn’t work out,” he said “When he would go to visit his wife it was very hard for him to come back.”
Tyner said that he will be taking over the position on an interim basis.
“Lonnie reports directly to me,” he said. “You either appoint an interim or you handle the responsibilities.”
Tyner said that he wanted to get involved in the workings of the Adawe center so he could make sure that everything is going as planned.
“I’m going to cover a portion of the load which needs to be covered,” he said. “And I’m going to be observing the people who work there and see if we have the right person internally before we begin an external search [for a new head].”
Tyner said that Cooper leaving should not affect progress on plans like making Adawe advisers available to every student.
Karen Ohnesorge, dean of instruction, said there is a small concern about Cooper’s leaving affecting continuity in the Adawe Center.
“There’s a lot of support for what Adawe does all the way to the president’s office,” he said “I think that that’s going to provide momentum for Adawe.”
Ohnesorge said one thing Cooper helped bring to the Adawe Center was diversity among the various disciplines.
“With Lonnie we had a representative from each of the schools,” she said.
One of Cooper’s other projects on campus was his involvement in the pre-law group.
Danielle Fulmer, senior and president of the pre-law group, said that they were fortunate to have a number of advisers, including Larry Callis, an Adawe center adviser.
“Larry is the pre-law adviser on campus now,” she said. “It was a loss for the group because Lonnie had so much experience and his desire was to help those students who have a passion for the law.”
“As an attorney he brought an expertise in a field [law] that a lot of our students are very interested in,” Ohnesorge said.
Ohnesorge said Tyner’s involvement will help him to be more familiar with the work of the Adawe center.
“It’s different from other kinds of academic work,” she said. “It was a huge influence on me doing this kind of work for 10 years at KU so I know it will be a good experience.”