The official dedication of the River Campus Center to Southeast Missouri State University President Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins and his wife, Jeanine Larson Dobbins, was irrefutably a thank you, but it was hard to avoid the notion it was also the beginning of a goodbye.

Family, friends, Cape Girardeau residents as well as Southeast faculty, staff and students filed into the Donald C. Bedell Performance Hall on Friday for the first half of the event.

Board of Regents board member Daren Todd began with an opening speech and acted as the moderator between speakers throughout the ceremony.

Student Government Association president Caleb Cockrill spoke on behalf of students to the Dobbins pair. Rhonda Weller-Stilson, associate dean and director of the Earl and Margie Holland School of Visual and Performing Arts, spoke on behalf of faculty and staff. Board president Doyle Privett followed suit as representative for the Board of the Regents.

The three highlighted the couple's unwavering aim for innovation.

"Not because Dr. and Mrs. Dobbins looked at everything and said, 'We need to bring all these wonderful programs to the institution,' but because they brought so many things to the institution that helped make it a competitive university and always kept the student interests at the core of that innovation," Cockrill said. "Whether it's been the development of online programs, the development of the regional campuses, the building of multiple residence halls or, as you can see around us, the wonderful River Campus, this innovation has never come at a cost to students but always at their benefit. For that, I think it's really fitting that one of the most impressive areas on our campus is going to be named in their honor."

Weller-Stilson spoke specifically on the Dobbinses work to create the River Campus. She highlighted the idea conveyed from "Field of Dreams" -- "If you build it, they will come." There was an agreed vision to bring students from near and far to study at a campus allotted to the fine arts.

"Think back to walking the very high hill to get to Academic Hall to attend the symphony, listening to a recital in Brandt Hall and getting lost trying to find the bathroom, only getting to see faculty and students' artwork occasionally in Memorial Hall, going to a show in the Rose [Theatre] with the icy, treacherous back steps and then all the steps inside, watching a theater-led show meant sitting shoulder to shoulder with 50 other people in very hot conditions and you can forget about seeing student dance choreography," Weller-Stilson said.

Privett spoke to the fact that the two surpassed being exemplary colleagues, but that they were good friends. He said a presidential search wasn't needed when Dobbins' predecessor Dale Nitzschke announced his retirement in 1999, they already knew they had the right candidate.

The couple had the opportunity to make their own address to the audience, too. Jeanine Larson Dobbins said expression of self was important and that part of the goal of the River Campus was to provide such an avenue for students. President Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins added that the persistence and patience required to finalize a standing structure was worthwhile, without question. He said when the River Campus initially opened there were around 225 to 230 individuals with fine art majors. Now there are more than 500.

"The River Campus and the Earl and Margie [Holland] School of Visual and Performing Arts have already touched a multitude of lives," President Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins said. "From the students who wander these halls and practice in its classrooms with dreams of becoming great dancers and choreographers, award-winning actors or symphony conductors to professors and instructors who appreciate the state of the art technology that we have here and welcoming environment."

The couple was presented with a plaque for the Kenneth & Jeanine Dobbins River Campus Center. A photograph of the center was unveiled in place of a painting of the Dobbinses not yet completed, but which will be hung in the building as well.

Members of the Board of Regents, Cockrill and the Dobbinses held shiny, gold scissors for a ribbon cutting in the St. Vincent's Commons after the ceremony. The snip of the red ribbon guided the way to a tour of the 90,000-square-foot space. Studios and practice rooms were in use by students to showcase the area.

"He [President Dr. Kenneth W. Dobbins] has certainly proven to be one of the most outstanding presidents in the history of this university," Privett said. "You can certainly understand why the board voted unanimously to name this new building after Ken and Jeanine. It was one of the easiest and most appropriate decisions the board has ever made."