Alan Merten, RIP

Alan Merten, former President of GMU, has died after a battle with Parkinson’s disease. I got to know Alan just a little when we visited China together in 2008. Our visit was part of GMU’s 1+2+1 program in which students in China earned their degree by doing 1 year at a partner university in China, 2 years at GMU and then a final year in China. We were touring the partner universities to participate in their graduation ceremonies. It was a great trip. I visiting the Great Wall, stayed in a Hutong in Beijing, and visited Kunming in Yunan province.

I also found it exhausting as we traveled from graduation ceremony to graduation ceremony. One night at the beginning of another such ceremony I said to Alan “I guess your job is to go to a lot of these events” and he turned to me beaming and full of energy and said “Oh yes, I love seeing the students so happy and their parents so proud. It’s the best part of my job.” And he meant every word. I’ve never forgotten that. He was a good university president.