by Allen Snow
photos by Fred Faulk

Dr. Portera's Priorities
First Lady of the University

When Mississippi State's 16th president, Dr. Malcolm Portera, assumed leadership of the university at the beginning of the year, it was a homecoming in more ways than one.

Mississippi State alumnus and West Point native Malcolm Portera has returned to his alma mater as its president after more than 22 years in progressive administrative roles in the University of Alabama system. As an added bonus-and for the first time in more than two decades-he now lives near enough to his hometown for his mom to drop by and visit.

Growing up in a household of five boys-three brothers and a cousin who lived with the family-Mack worked in his parents' shoe shop, played baseball, and was the first student in the West Point school system's history to have perfect attendance for 12 years. He also fell in love with his classmate and best friend throughout school, Olivia Catledge, whom he later married. Olivia, too, is a Mississippi State graduate.

Childhood friends and family members describe young "Mack" with a list of adjectives that easily could have prophesied his life's path: "energetic, determined, hard working, competitive, persuasive, solid."

According to his mother, Dallie Portera, Mack welcomed challenges, knew what he wanted, and could "sell himself."

"He was a hard worker," she said. "All my boys were good citizens. They took after their father."

Dr. Malcolm Portera becomes the first Mississippi State graduate to lead his alma mater since Ben Hilbun (1953-60). He is the sixth alumnus to serve as president.

When the time came to choose a college and plan a career, Portera considered-among other options-medicine and architecture. After enrolling at Mississippi State, he decided to major in general science; his subsequent degrees are in political science.

Portera received bachelor's and master's degrees from Mississippi State in 1969 and 1971, respectively, and in 1974 he went to work for the Board of Trustees, state Institutions of Higher Learning, in the Mississippi Research and Development Center.

The following year, he was named director of extended instructional programs and assistant to the vice president for academic affairs at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, concurrently pursuing a doctorate in political science, which he earned in 1977.

Portera became Alabama's assistant vice president for research and public service in 1979. He displayed impressive leadership skills by coordinating and administering the university's public service programs, operating the university's Washington, D.C., office as well as six other field offices, and teaching part-time in the Department of Political Science.

So well did he perform in this capacity that a scant eight months later he was asked to serve as executive assistant to the president. In that role, he assisted in day-to-day operations of the university, acted as liaison officer with the Board of Trustees and the University of Alabama system office, and directed the work of five campus units.

His efforts were rewarded in 1983 when he was named vice president for external affairs-a position he held for seven years-until becoming vice chancellor for external affairs for the University of Alabama system, comprising the Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville campuses.

In March 1996, he retired from the university and formed a strategic planning company, Portera and Associates.

A year and a half later, the opportunity to lead his alma mater into the 21st century presented itself, and Portera rose to the challenge.

He brings to the job a solid background and broad experience in economic development, and has chaired or served as a member of numerous task forces promoting international cooperative ventures.

In 1993, he coordinated the Japan/U.S. Bioindustry Mission, and two years earlier he chaired the Japan/U.S. Information Technology Conference. He is or has been a member of the Institute for the Study of International Affairs, the Alabama delegation to Japan-U.S. Southeast Meetings, and the [Alabama] Governor's Welcoming Delegation for the People's Republic of China Trade Delegation.

Portera was an adjunct senior associate of the Population Institute of the East-West Center, an international associate of the Foundation for Advanced Information and Research and of the Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policy for the Japan Ministry of Finance, and has been a consultant for Hyundai Precision Industries in Korea.

He is a member of the Southern Growth Policies Board, the American Economic Development Council, the Society of College and University Planners, and the U.S. Senate Committee on Productivity Awards, among others.

He also has been deeply involved in economic development initiatives in the state of Alabama, including serving as chair of the Mercedes-Benz Communications Committee and a member of the Governor's Task Force on Economic Development.

Dr. Tip Allen of Starkville, professor emeritus of political science and Portera's major professor at Mississippi State, remembers his former student as being friendly and unpretentious, but able to achieve goals. "He always came through on any assignment, and he did it in a quiet manner. He made very relevant comments in class; I would describe him overall as an excellent student."

Allen, who had earned his Ph.D. at the University of Alabama in 1961, directed Portera's master's thesis.

"I felt that Mack was the kind of student who would do an excellent job in working toward a doctorate," Allen said. "I gave him a very strong recommendation to the faculty at Alabama.

"He's still the dynamic person he was as a student," Allen added. "He has goals and I think he's going to achieve those goals. He's very determined to move the university forward.

"We have outstanding faculty members and administrators from all parts of the world, but I feel we're very fortunate to have a native son and alumnus as president. He loves this institution, and he's going to give 100 percent."

A lot of other people also are pleased that Malcolm Portera is back home, but probably none more so than his mother. "I swim five days a week in Starkville and I drive by the president's home every day," she said. "Having my son there is going to make it a much more pleasant drive."