A Bittersweet Farewell Zinser Raised Expectations And Stress Levels During Her Tenure At Idaho

It was a goingaway party for University of Idaho President Elisabeth Zinser, and Jerry Wallace had a microphone in his hand.

Having worked in Zinser’s sometimes-trying administration, and with her leaving next month, he acknowledged the microphone could be a dangerous thing.

“Uh oh,” said the crowd of 100 or so faculty, alumni and local residents gathered in the Student Union Building’s Vandal Lounge on Friday.

With that, Wallace described Zinser as “the most frustrating and stress-producing person I have ever worked with.”

He quickly amended his remarks to praise her as a willing supporter of change and an advocate of the Moscow campus’s residential learning experience.

With such bittersweet remarks, a host of Zinser’s friends and acquaintances bade her farewell in a public ceremony honoring her six year’s as UI’s leader.

Zinser, who leaves next month to take the presidency of the University of Kentucky at Lexington, earned a reputation as a demanding and even meddlesome taskmaster during her tenure.

The reputation did not pass unmentioned.

“You have given new meaning to the idea of professional disagreement and personal friendship,” quipped Joan Mount of the Ag Consulting Council.

Despite her foibles, many who waited in the lengthy receiving line to hug Zinser and husband Don Mackin had high praise for her efforts.

“Never before have I met such an advocate for students,” said Sean Wilson, student body president.

“Never before have I met someone so willing to share their time and energy and effort for students and this university.”

Bonnie Hultstrand, outgoing president of the faculty council, got downright tearful as she compared Zinser’s work style to her adventuresome and fearless scuba diving technique.

“She’s not afraid to swim with the sharks,” she said.

Gov. Phil Batt sent a proclamation naming the day in honor of Zinser and Mackin, a former state senator and Moscow mayor whom she met and married here.

U.S. Senators Larry Craig and Dirk Kempthorne also sent their thanks and congratulations.

For her part, Zinser owned up to her reputation, with caveats.

Wallace was “absolutely right,” she said.

“I’m not easy to work for and I do create a lot of stress,” she said, describing herself as the “highly intense and focused individual that I am.”

But her fellow administrators also taught her to let up a bit, which showed in the display of two cartoons alongside photos of her reeling in a trout on a fly, cheering in the Kibbie Dome and in mid-flip during western swing lessons at the Farmhouse Fraternity.

One cartoon showed “Queen Elisabeth” - a name she hated - on a throne being carried by an office coordinator, a house manager, a writer-editor and production typist. She was criticized for trying to create the jobs early in her administration.

The other cartoon showed Zinser’s “new map of Idaho,” with a large star in Moscow and a small mark at Boise with the line “some little town with a university” - a reference to her continual battles with Boise State University interests.

Zinser said she long ago got the cartoons from Kev Brockschmidt of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News, but kept them hidden.

“Now that I’m leaving, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I don’t care.”

In other ways, she was vintage Zinser. While she was effusive with her audience, saying she and Mackin “love you, everyone of you,” she admitted to not being a tearful person.

“When he cries, his tears go out,” she said, referring to Mackin. “When I cry, my tears go in.”

She said she learned that’s the way it has to be for a woman in a position of power. And having taken her share of shots as UI’s first woman president, she did not challenge that notion.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo