Politics one-on-one
CMU’s government
liaison remembers the personal touches
By Sarah Chuby, ’03
Kathy Wilbur places a CMU teddy bear and baby clothes into a gift box. As she begins to wrap the present, her cell phone rings.
With the phone tucked between Kathy’s shoulder and ear, the CMU government relations and public affairs vice president discusses Governor Jennifer Granholm’s proposal on higher education funding with the person on the other end.
“What is the purpose of putting three schools in one budget and 12 in another?” Kathy asks. “We should be collaborating not separating.”
Her hands keep creasing the paper’s edges and taping the baby gift as
she talks.
After ending her phone conversation, she pulls a “Congratulations” card out of her purse and addresses the card to Ryan Wenburg, ’98, Rep. Bill Caul’s (R-Mount Pleasant) chief of staff.
“My mother was a great teacher of gift wrapping. Trust me, it’s not a natural skill,” Kathy says, carefully placing the Scotch tape on the blue package. “Ryan’s a CMU grad. I get our grads CMU gifts so they can remember where they came from.”
Details, details, details
The aroma of quiche, bacon, and pastries fills the air at a fundraising breakfast for Michigan’s House Minority Leader Craig DeRoche, ’91. But Kathy just grabs a cup of grapefruit juice before she starts connecting with the legislators.
She remembers small details about each
person’s life.
“How’s the diet going?
“How’s the mother-in-law situation?
“So is your wife still planning on getting her teaching degree? As you know, we have a great program at CMU.”
So how can one woman remember so many tidbits about people?
“That’s what I am here for, my dear,” Kathy says before chatting to the next person about Central.
Kathy serves as CMU’s primary liaison with the Michigan legislative and executive branches, state and federal agencies, and all elected officials. Kathy, who started working for CMU in 2002, has served in state government for more than 25 years.
“I understand how the legislature works, and I have a strong network of folks I’ve known throughout the years in Lansing – acquaintances, associates, and friends. All of that goes to benefit CMU.”
Kathy worked in Governor John Engler’s cabinet for 12 years, ending in 2002. From 1983 to 1990, Kathy served as chief of staff to Senator William Sederburg, former chairman of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. She also served as a member of the MSU Board of Trustees from 1985 to 1991.
Because she believes in preserving higher education and its funding, Kathy wanted to represent CMU in Lansing.
“I was immersed in higher education. I recognize the role higher education could play, should play, and does play,” she says. “I am committed to a stronger higher education system in the state.”
A political past
Kathy helped put together her first campaign – for her dad – when she was 11.
“Dad campaigned to be the precinct delegate (for the northwest side of Detroit),” she says. “It ended up in a tie. They drew straws, and he didn’t win it.”
That didn’t discourage Kathy. She just kept asking her family more questions about the political process.
“In my family we discussed politics. My grandma was committed to politics in Indiana. She was the executive director of the St. Joseph County Democratic Party,” Kathy says. “I spent a lot of time with my grandma. I remember, when I was young, how she was thrilled when I read an FDR biography and I pronounced him my hero.”
Another person Kathy admired was Martha Griffiths, who served in Congress from 1955 to 1974 and was Michigan’s lieutenant governor from 1982 to 1991.
“Growing up I lived in her congressional district, and she was fascinating to me. I think I was drawn to her because she was held in high regard in Washington, D.C., and she was a successful woman in politics.”
Although politics always appealed to her, Kathy didn’t see a career connection until college when she visited Washington, D.C., with friends who were attending a conference. While sightseeing, Kathy ventured to Griffiths’ office and talked to her staff about politics.
“They told me to consider applying for an internship. I thought, what do I have to lose?” she says about the 1974 visit. “So in a bizarre twist of fate, I ended up as an intern in Martha Griffiths’ office in Washington, D.C. I couldn’t have planned that better.”
The ultimate fight
With all of the campaigns Kathy helped run, her hardest fought win is personal. Kathy is a breast cancer survivor.
A voicemail message after an annual mammogram was the first sign something wasn’t right.
“I wondered why my internist was calling, because she never calls. But I was very busy, so I didn’t call her back for 24 hours,” Kathy says of the June 2005 phone call.
Kathy was instructed to get a biopsy when she talked to her doctor. And then all she could do was wait. “There is nothing like waiting around for results. It is horrific.”
Kathy says she’ll never forget the conversation from the next doctor’s office call.
“When I said I was on my cell, the woman on the phone asked, ‘Are you driving?’ It was then that I knew I had breast cancer.” Kathy was numb. And then the first thought that went through her mind was: “Thank goodness this is me and not one of our boys.”
Kathy and husband Tom Wilbur, who met while working for Senator Sederburg, have sons Tommy, 20, and a CMU junior; twins Sam and Will, 16; and Ray, 12.
Kathy says she worried how the disease would affect her family, and she wanted to work toward a solution as soon as possible. Kathy told the doctor’s office she’d be available the next day.
“I was told that it didn’t work that way.
I needed to go through an education process and talk to my family and see what the best options were,” she says. “Taking that time was good for me.”
Kathy had a lumpectomy and started chemotherapy that summer. She finished radiation in February 2006 and is in remission.
“I am proud to be a breast cancer survivor, but I’d be less than honest if I said that I didn’t worry about it reoccurring,” she says. “When you finish treatments, things look good. I’m sure it looked good for Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow, too. You never know with cancer. But I do know that it puts life in perspective.”
Family, times two
Kathy says she has accomplished a couple of her main life goals.
The first was to have a family and to raise productive happy members of society. “And so far, so good,” she says with a laugh. “But I suppose the jury is still out.”
The second was to follow her heart when it came to her career.
“I wanted to have a job where I thought I could make a difference. I wanted a job where my coworkers are like family. I have that,” she says.
“When the message went out about my breast cancer, we had more offers of food than even our large family could eat. The folks on campus were very gracious. If I couldn’t attend a meeting on campus, I could do it by phone.”
So Kathy knows what it is like to be in the CMU family. And that makes her seek out potential members.
“My job is to talk people’s ears off or get them to campus so they can see it for themselves,” she says. “I enjoy interacting with folks and having the opportunity to educate people about CMU. People become charged up when I tell them how many undergraduates our business college graduates annually – about 600 – and people will say, ‘I had no idea you did that.’”
And just like a favorite aunt, she likes celebrating the life milestones with others in the CMU family.
When meeting in her office, Kathy hands Ryan Wenburg the blue-wrapped gift, and his face lights up. “People still get presents after the second child? I thought it stopped after the first,” he says.
With a laugh, Kathy replies, “You especially need gifts after the second one.”
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 Kathy Wilbur,
Kathy Wilbur talks with House Minority Leader
Craig DeRoche, ’91.
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