|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Range of Views
During April and May,
a series of listening sessions was held to gather the input of
different constituent groups regarding the professional experience and
qualities that Baylor’s next president should possess.
Edited by Todd Copeland
Illustration by Mike Lathrop / Photographs by Jerry Lawson, Waco Tribune-Herald, and Meg Cullar
 For
five weeks, from April 14 to May 21, the members of the two committees
formally involved in the search for Baylor’s next president got an
earful (or two) of advice, opinion, criticism, and affirmation. It was
input they welcomed—input they said was important, both for the many
groups within the Baylor family to offer and for the search committees
to collect for use in sketching out the desired profile for the man or
woman who will serve as Baylor’s fourteenth president.
The input came during a series of “listening sessions” held by the
Presidential Search Committee and the Presidential Search Advisory
Committee, both of which were appointed by Baylor’s Board of Regents.
Described on the university’s website as an effort “to engage the
entire Baylor family in the presidential search process by providing an
opportunity for Baylor’s major constituencies to discuss the desired
experience, personal and professional qualities for Baylor’s next chief
executive,” the listening sessions held over the five-week period were
a mixture of private and open meetings.
According to Baylor regent Joe Armes, chair of the Presidential Search
Committee, the listening sessions were an important opportunity to hear
from those who deeply care about Baylor. “It is encouraging to see
members of Baylor’s faculty, staff, students, and alumni investing
their time and wisdom in this process,” he told the Line.
“The search process will benefit from the listening sessions in that
all that we do will be informed by the wisdom and insight we gathered
over the past few weeks. Interestingly, there was great diversity in
opinions regarding the exact skill set, experience, or academic
credentials that are most desirable in Baylor’s next president.
However, there was virtual unanimity in the desire for Baylor’s next
president to be a committed Christian who has a clear understanding of
and a passion for Baylor’s mission and vision who models true servant
leadership.”
The staff of the Baylor Line
attended all nine of the open meetings with Baylor’s various
constituent groups, and the Baylor Alumni Association (BAA) is pleased
to provide its members with the following compilation of the staff’s
reports “from the field.” In addition to those meetings, the two
committees held private sessions for Waco-area community leaders,
Baptist General Convention of Texas leaders, Baylor faculty, Council of
Deans, Staff Council, Student Government, and the administration’s
Executive Council.
Jeff Kilgore, executive vice president and CEO of the BAA, attended
several of the open meetings and described them as significant
opportunities for the members of Baylor’s Board of Regents to hear
directly from Baylor’s constituent groups. “For the regents serving on
the search committee and the advisory committee members to open
themselves up to an outpouring of opinion and emotion was a very
healthy thing for the Baylor family,” he said.
Kilgore added that he hopes whomever the regents hire as Baylor’s next
president will use the search committee’s process of engagement as a
springboard for building increased consensus within the Baylor
community through direct interaction. He encouraged both the
administration and the Board of Regents to demonstrate a welcoming
attitude toward stakeholders’ input—especially from the thousands of
people around the state and beyond who hold Baylor diplomas.
“We’ve all lived through Baylor in the recent years and have either
witnessed or directly experienced divisive actions and the turmoil
that’s troubled Baylor’s recent presidents and the Board of Regents,”
Kilgore said. “If the spirit and process shown by these listening
sessions is allowed to grow and become part of how Baylor lives out its
mission, then we will have made a huge step forward out of this period
of controversy and divisiveness. It’s going to take us all to move
Baylor forward to where she needs to be.”
Two committees are guiding the presidential search process: a
Presidential Search Committee, composed of Baylor regents who
ultimately will recommend a candidate to the full governing board, and
a Presidential Search Advisory Committee, composed of representatives
of Baylor constituent groups. (Go to Guiding the Search
for a complete list of committee members.) While no more listening
sessions are scheduled, alumni are still able to provide input about
the desired profile for Baylor’s next president on the university’s
website at baylor.edu/president/search. The BAA encourages you to share your opinions with the Presidential Search and Advisory Committees.
April 14 / Baylor faculty listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Allcorn, Armes, Bailey, Dagnel, Elliston, Getterman, and Peña
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Diaz-Granados, Green, Parsons, and Phillips
About forty Baylor faculty members gathered on Tuesday, April 14, from
1:30 to 3 p.m. to share their expectations for a new Baylor president
with members of the committees who will be searching for Baylor’s next
leader. Following the meeting, advisory committee member Tom Phillips
said he was impressed by the “commitment of the faculty, their passion
for Baylor, and their dedication to students.” He noted that, although
many people expressed differing opinions, he saw enough common ground
to feel hopeful.
“It seemed to me that the differences were nuanced rather than stark,”
he said. “Obviously, everyone is keenly interested in having a
president who can build consensus and unite the school’s various
constituencies. Most speakers voiced the need for a president who
exhibited outstanding scholarship, academic experience, understanding
of Baylor’s unique role in the academic world, deep spiritual
commitment, and respect for the spiritual journey of others in the
Baylor community.”
Search committee chair Joe Armes told the gathered faculty members, “We
would like to hear from you about the personal qualities and
characteristics and professional qualities and characteristics that you
would expect to see in Baylor’s next president.” He said that the
search committee had decided to gather input from various Baylor
constituencies “before we create a profile, before we describe the job,
before we create an ad, before anything like that.”
University professor of theology and literature Dr. Ralph Wood was the
first to take to the microphone. He said Baylor’s next president needs
to be “a person of very large vision” and “a very large religious
figure.” He also believes, he said, that the next president should
carry forward Baylor 2012, the university’s ten-year vision.
Later in the meeting, senior lecturer Dr. Lynn Tatum (pictured above,
addressing committee members) noted that Baylor was nearing the end of
the 2012 timetable. Saying that it was possible a president would not
be hired before 2011, he said, “I think there needs to be a stronger
emphasis on finding a president who can begin to articulate a vision,
rather than how they can carry out the current vision, which we’re
getting close to the end of.”
Tatum also told the committee that they were “starting a little bit
behind schedule” because they were looking for a “tier-one type
president” with a search committee that was lacking in faculty
representation. “Typically, that happens at a very high level at
tier-one universities,” he said. He encouraged the committee to bring a
faculty member into the process at the “final point” to ask the
candidate “the kinds of questions an academic can ask.”
Associate professor of educational psychology Dr. Eric Robinson also
noted the controversy over the makeup of the search committee, saying
that Baylor’s constituency groups were rebuffed in the process.
Robinson said that any person considered for president would be aware
of the need to “bring these groups together when they didn’t have a
strong voice in bringing that person to the campus.” Robinson asked the
committee to reflect on a question: “How are you going to help that
leader overcome that barrier of not having much of a voice heard from
constituent groups that have asked for that voice?”
Several faculty members, including Tommye Lou Davis—associate professor
of Latin, Master Teacher, and former chief of staff to Baylor President
Robert Sloan—voiced a desire to have a president who understands
Baylor’s commitment to students. “I think that it is extremely
important for Baylor to have a president that is approachable and that
cares deeply about students,” she said. She also said the next
president needs to understand “what the integration of faith and
learning really means.”
Dr. Robert Baird, professor of philosophy and Master Teacher, also said
that the next president needs to understand Baylor’s commitment to
teaching. While acknowledging that Baylor had made a “major transition”
from a teaching to a research university, he said, “Baylor has always
had a niche. And that niche, in large measure, has been the impact
we’ve had on young people. We need a president who appreciates that
history of Baylor and will continue to pursue that vision.”
Baird said to the committee members, “As I look at that table up there,
I see several of you who were, in fact, my students at one time, and
I’m convinced that you have appreciation for the role that Baylor can
play in the lives of students as we focus on teaching.”
Baird also said the committee needs to seek a president who has
“collegiality as part of his or her mindset.” He said, “My genuine hope
is that the new president will have a collegial spirit and will be very
concerned to engage the faculty in conversation about the direction of
the university.”
A bit of back-and-forth conversation between committee and audience
ensued when Dr. Dianna Vitanza, associate professor and interim chair
of English, said that the next president needs a deep knowledge of
Baylor. Other faculty members said that was too limiting, but that
higher education experience was essential.
Dr. Bob Kruschwitz, professor of philosophy, cautioned the committee
that imposing a large number of specific requirements would be
extremely limiting. “I would encourage the search committee to start
with capacity and ability rather than with restrictions on past
experience,” he said.
In response to a question from Tatum, Armes clarified that, as an
ex-officio member of the Board of Regents, the next president would
have to be a member of a Baptist church.
Faculty members came and went during the meeting, which was held in
Tidwell Bible Building’s Miller Chapel, since some of them were
teaching class during that time. Held the day following Easter break,
the meeting was announced to faculty members in an e-mail on April 8.
And while the crowd was well below the capacity of the room, advisory
committee member Phillips said he wasn’t disappointed. “If it had been
advertised for a month and had been the only opportunity for input, I
would say it was disappointing,” he said. “But there will be other
opportunities, and I think the faculty and the search committee
understand that.”—Meg Cullar and Lisa Asher
April 22 / Baylor students listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes, Bailey, Brooks, and Peña
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Saylors
On Wednesday, April 22, between fifty and sixty students gathered in
Tidwell Bible Building’s Miller Chapel for an open student listening
session with members of the Baylor Presidential Search and Advisory
Committees. The atmosphere at the session, which took place between 5
and 6:30 p.m. on the day before Diadeloso, was often lively and upbeat,
with occasional bursts of laughter and applause from the attendees.
During the hour-and-a-half session, nearly thirty students took a turn
at the microphone, and about ten of those returned for a second
comment. Emily Saultz, a junior pre-med student from Amarillo, echoed
what a number of students said when she described the qualities she
would like to see in Baylor’s next president. “I would use the words
‘available, open, and listening’,” she said, adding that the president
should be “just very present on campus.”
Another common concern among the students was the integration of faith
and learning. Zach Rogers, a pre-business major from Cypress, said, “I
personally think we can be a top-tier school while integrating faith
into our academics and by having certain requirements such as Chapel
and religion. I believe that the next president needs to uphold those
values as much as possible.”
Several students cited the importance of Baylor 2012, Baylor’s ten-year
vision, and said it was the reason they decided to come to the
university. “I think it’s important that we have a president that can
take us up to 2012 and then beyond 2012,” said Matt Moore, a sophomore
Baylor Business Fellow from Ruston, Louisiana. “Hopefully, this is a
long-term president. We want someone who can take us beyond 2012, that
can continue to cast a vision for where Baylor’s going to be in the
future.”
Trenton Smith, a sophomore Great Texts major from San Antonio, said
that too much emphasis was placed on Baylor 2012 and Baylor’s goal of
being a top-tier, research institution.
“I feel like we are so obsessed with that U.S. News & World Report
ranking that we lose sight of the fact that this is a university of
students, of people,” Smith said. “We’re not numbers. We’re not
statistics. We’re not just checkbooks. We are people. And we need to
have a president that encourages professors to teach and to love
students first and to love sharing their knowledge first.”
The topics of ethnic and religious diversity prompted several
exchanges, including one between regent Joe Armes and Travis Chapman,
an Oklahoma sophomore, who pointed to a growing “ecumenical spirit” on
campus, citing the renaming of the Bobo Baptist Center to the Spiritual
Life Center. “Do you think it’s important that we try to find a
president with those same goals in mind?” he asked Armes. “And if so,
would you consider hiring a non-Baptist president?”
Armes explained that the university’s bylaws require that regents be a
member of a Baptist church and that Baylor’s president is an ex-officio
member of that board. When Chapman asked him how he would define
Baptist, Armes quipped, “I wouldn’t.” He added, “It doesn’t have to say
Baptist in the name of the church, but it’s more in relating to other
Baptist churches in the theology and the beliefs of the church.”
A number of students noted what one labeled “warring factions” on
campus and called for a president who would be able to unite the Baylor
family. “We need someone who’s been away from the controversy and can
kind of look at everything with a fresh set of eyes,” said Stef
Shrader, a senior political science and film major.
Following the meeting, advisory committee member Chelsea Saylors said
she was pleased by the attendance and by the questions and comments
that students posed. “The students who attended the listening session
were both articulate and passionate,” she said. “They have a clear
opinion and perspective on Baylor’s future.”—Lisa Asher
April 22 / Baylor faculty listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes, Bailey, Brooks, Getterman, and Peña
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Diaz-Granados, Funai, Green, Hall, and Parsons
The second time Baylor faculty members met with representatives of
Baylor’s Presidential Search Committee and Presidential Search Advisory
Committee, the professors came armed with lists—five tasks for the next
president, four things to look for in a president, three models of
faith and learning, two kinds of leadership, and one downfall that got
two presidents fired (at other institutions).
On Wednesday, April 22, at 9:30 a.m., about forty Baylor faculty
members came to Tidwell Bible Building’s Miller Chapel to express their
views to those who are searching for candidates to lead Baylor.
Seventeen faculty members came to the microphone to speak to the
committee members in a meeting that lasted about an hour and fifteen
minutes. One professor apologized for the small crowd—which was about
the same size as at the first faculty listening session—and noted that
the hour of day was “prime class time.”
Religion professor Dr. Bill Bellinger took to the microphone early and
defined the top-five tasks of a president as fundraising, the public
relations task of representing Baylor to its constituencies,
representing Baylor to other universities and to Big 12 institutions in
particular, managing a complex entity, and helping Baylor “as a
community” to craft a vision for the future.
Bellinger also had a list of qualities important to accomplishing those
tasks. He said the new president needs to be “someone who understands
our context.” That person would need to be a Baptist, possibly a
graduate, possibly someone from Texas, “but at least someone who would
understand our setting,” he said. Secondly, Bellinger said
administrative experience in the academic world is important. And
thirdly, he said, he’d like someone who can resolve “what is widely
perceived as the conflict between the Board of Regents and the leaders
of the alumni association, because at least the perception is causing
us difficulty in accomplishing some tasks.”
Other professors also delivered lists of qualities they would like to
see in Baylor’s next president. Dr. Doug Matthews, associate professor
of psychology and neuroscience, stressed the importance of the
challenge of integrating faith and learning at Baylor. “I would
encourage you to look for someone who recognizes that it’s a challenge
and not someone who comes to you with a five-point plan,” he said.
Matthews also said the president should have both a global and local
focus and should be someone who “can value the contributions both of
those who are more research active and those who are more teaching
active.” The conflict between teaching and research was a recurring
theme at the session, as several speakers noted the need to value
teaching even as Baylor pursues a research agenda for faculty.
Fourth on Matthews’s list was for the regents to find “an individual
who really captures what it means to be a scholar and what it means to
be a teacher,” he said. “I strongly suggest you find a president who
has scholarly credentials to command the respect of the faculty, but
also has the credentials of education that can command respect from
faculty and students.”
When economics chair and international business professor Dr. Steve
Gardner touched on the topic of faith and learning, he hit on another
familiar theme. After describing three different models for faith and
learning, Gardner said the important point was that “a president needs
to know there’s not any one model of faith and learning that all Baylor
faculty members are adhering to.” He said that on this and other
issues, the qualities needed in a president could be summed up in one
word: “breadth.” A president needs intellectual breadth, a knowledge
and appreciation of a wide range of disciplines and teaching methods,
and a global perspective, he said.
Speakers also discussed the type of leadership a president ought to
have, with Dr. Barry Harvey, professor of theology in the Great Texts
program, identifying two “basic conceptions” about what a president is.
“Do we need a leader who is a good manager?” he asked. “Or do we want a
manager that does some leadership functions?” Harvey said leadership is
essential. “A good leader will listen and take all perspectives,” he
said. “A good leader will have as capacious a view as possible. At the
same time, a good leader will know that a good university has to set a
direction, a tone, and I hope it’s one that continues to debate before
councils such as yours what it means to integrate faith and learning.”
Dr. Stan Madden, professor of marketing, also had some comments about
leadership style. He said that when he was a Baylor vice president, a
regent suggested, “Let’s just tell the faculty what to do and to sit
down and shut up.” But Madden said, “I tried to explain that we’re a
little bit like the situation that the pope found himself in when he
hired Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel. He was going to be a
lot of trouble. He could have hired somebody to paint it green and been
through with it in two days, but would we remember much about that? We
bring people here to have ideas, and those ideas are almost always a
lot of trouble.”
Associate professor of economics Dr. Chuck North also commented on the
creative nature of a university, saying it should be managed like a
high-tech firm. “The answer is not that there is a president who
decrees from on high what will happen,” he said. “The answer is that
you have all these really weird people running around making weird
stuff, and they come with a whole lot of terrible ideas, but every one
in a hundred or so is brilliant, and that’s how you create new things.”
Several attendees also spoke about Baylor’s Baptist heritage. Dr. Doug
Weaver, assistant professor of religion, said that, as a Baptist
historian, he wants to see Baylor embrace its denominational identity.
“A Christian university in the Baptist tradition does not have to be
confining,” he said.
Weaver also noted his experience at two other Christian universities
where one downfall did in two presidents. In both cases, he said, it
was a failure to communicate well that caused a president to be fired
or asked to resign. “My main message, based on my experience, is that
communication is extremely important, and we need someone who will work
together with all constituencies,” he said. “That doesn’t mean always
agreeing with all constituencies, but it does mean being willing to
work with all.”—Meg Cullar
April 29 / Baylor staff listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes, Bailey, Getterman, and Peña
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Funai and Hall
During an afternoon session in the Baylor Sciences Building on April 29
that lasted more than an hour, general staff members of Baylor
University had their chance to be heard by the Presidential Search
Committee and Presidential Search Advisory Committee. Between
thirty-five and forty people attended, with fifteen of them taking a
turn at the microphone.
Welcomed by Angela Funai, chair of Baylor’s Staff Council, staffers
were encouraged to “make the most of this opportunity to make our
opinions heard.” She introduced search committee chair Joe Armes, who
noted that Baylor’s approximately twelve hundred staff members “really
make the university run” and recognized that many staff members see
their work as a calling.
Jeff Brown ’00, a writer in marketing and communications, was an
example. “I’m here because I believe in the mission of Baylor,” Brown
said, “and I think you have an incredibly high percentage who are here
for the same reason. I wonder if there are any other universities of
this size who have employees who are so united in a mission—the idea of
high academics, high Christian values, Christian leadership, Christian
service, and excelling at such a level.”
Of the fifteen staffers who addressed the panel, almost all were from
departments that directly relate to the public, including university
development, recruitment, admissions, and employees of Mayborn Museum
and Armstrong Browning Library.
Amber Adamson ’04, assistant director of foundation and corporate
relationships, said, “We need a president who can represent the
university well, plain and simple—a good speaker, good communicator,
good listener. We need someone whom we can be proud to send out and
represent us all across the country.”
Eric Abercrombie ’96, MIJ ’98, director of development, seconded her
comments, adding, “In visiting with donors, and with faculty and staff,
I feel like this is our last shot at this, if we’re going to try and go
somewhere with this great university. This person needs to have a good
concept of what public relations is all about—how to interact with the
community, to be a partner with the Waco community.”
While most remarks were general, some questions got specific. Patricia
Pack, operations manager at Mayborn Museum and vice chair of the Staff
Council, asked Armes to respond to a rumor circulating that the regents
“have already made up their mind and have somebody in place.”
Armes replied, “We’re waiting to hear from the constituents, to benefit
from the wisdom we hear and all the information we can get together,
and then take the next step. It would be disingenuous of us to create a
profile, put together all the specs, and advertise the job before we
have a chance to hear from the listening sessions that we’ve set up for
that purpose. So, no decision has been made. Period.”
A number of staff speakers commended interim president Dr. David
Garland. Among them was Jessica King Gereghty, who oversees thirteen
counselors as associate director of admission services. She said
Garland’s willingness to support and recognize the work they were doing
has been invaluable to her staff.
Feelings were mixed when asked how important it would be for a new
president to have a pre-existing relationship to Baylor. While some
thought it would be helpful, most agreed that it wasn’t essential. What
was not negotiable was the spirit the new president would bring to the
job. Jeff Wallace ’87, JD ’91, a director in the Office of Investments,
said the most important thing is “commonality of mission and purpose to
what Baylor is about.”
Wesley Longacre ’04, an admissions counselor, said, “I’m very connected
to the university and have been for a long time. I’ve never seen, as
far as I can remember, what a peaceful administrative environment at
Baylor is or could be.” Longacre believed the most important
presidential characteristics were servant leadership and humility, and
he described “someone who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, someone
who is leading and willing to listen and take input, not afraid to be
wrong and take advice in certain areas.”
Advisory committee chair Ken Hall asked employees, “How critical is it
that this person have knowledge from the Baptist perspective as it is
uniquely lived out in the Baylor world?”
Joann Sharkey ’01, MDiv ’04, assistant director of student services at
Truett Seminary, responded, “Baylor’s commitment to Baptist heritage
and the Christian life is something that does distinguish it from other
schools that have strived to maintain academic excellence but moved
away from their Christian heritage.” She noted, “It would only serve
our purpose better to maintain that Christian integrity with education.”
However, Dana Lee Haines ’85, MA ’90, EdD ’02, associate director of
student activities, said she believed a particular denominational
affiliation was not critical, noting, “The key is how much can we see
in that candidate their real faith in God and how they live that
out—what service they’re actually doing at their particular
institution, what kind of transformation they are having in the lives
of those they work with.”
Finally, Armes acknowledged that the search committee’s task would
involve recruitment of candidates as well as selection, and he asked
for suggestions in how to present Baylor and Waco.
Ella Smith, an administrative associate in the Office of University
Development, said, “It doesn’t have to be a hard sell if we don’t
emphasize the struggles we’ve had in the past, but rather look where
we’re going forward. I think Dr. Garland is a great example of what a
great university we can be when there’s openness, communication, a
president who’s been involved, and the staff and faculty opening up to
this interim president. I think it’s attainable, that goal of being a
Christian university that impacts the world and the community.”—Judy Henderson Prather
May 5 / Houston-area alumni listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes, Brooks, Dagnel, Peña, and Reimers
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Hall, Phillips, and Pullin
After four open listening sessions on campus with various groups, the
Presidential Search and Advisory Committees went on the road to hold
the first of the listening sessions designed to solicit input from
Baylor alumni and friends around the state.
First stop: Houston. Starting at 7 p.m. on May 5, committee members met
with a group of more than twenty alumni and Baylor friends at Tallowood
Baptist Church in Houston, where Baylor regent Dr. Duane Brooks serves
as pastor.
Asked what qualities Baylor’s next president should have, several
attendees ventured initial replies. John W. Rogers ’69 emphasized the
need for a president who could unite the Baylor family. “It’s important
that the president be able to relate to everyone. That’s been a problem
in the past, with the Faculty Senate passing a vote of no confidence in
the president. They can’t seem to get on the same page. The board seems
to be going one way and the faculty another and students another, and
we haven’t been able to unite them.”
Another attendee said, “I’m a 1975 graduate, and we had some good
professors and leaders and we had some, I think, rather liberal leaders
in some respects. I liked [former Baylor president Robert] Sloan and
his conservative theology, and I’m just hoping that you’ll do something
along those lines theologically.”
A theme that recurred at various points during the ninety-minute
discussion was the importance of doing whatever is necessary to find
the right leader for Baylor—someone who would build consensus and stay
in the position for some time. “My priority is to get the right
person,” David Iler ’84, JD ’85, said. “There doesn’t seem any reason
to rush.”
“We’ve got to get it right this time,” said James K. “Chip” Hubbard
’73, immediate past president of the Baylor “B” Association. “With our
last president, Baylor suffered too much of a bruise in Texas and
nationally. Take the time that it takes to get it right. I’d encourage
regents to get the right person in place and let him do the job and not
micromanage the president.”
Several former Baylor regents were present at the meeting, including
former regent chair Fred Cameron ’60, JD ’62; Jaclanel Moore McFarland
’74, JD ’77; and Emily George Tinsley ’61, who is president-elect of
the Baylor Alumni Association.
“Jaclanel and I have been on a search committee before,” Tinsley told
committee members. “We’ve been in your shoes. You have the opportunity
to do the hardest and most valuable job you’ll ever do for Baylor
University. I hope and pray you’ll take your time and do your homework
to find God’s person for that office. Right now, Baylor is very much at
a crossroads with its leadership and governance, and you’ve got to move
forward.”
McFarland said that because many Baylor alumni and faculty are
concerned about how expensive it has become to attend Baylor, it’s
important for the board to hire “a servant leader,” someone who is not
seeking the job in order to get a big salary, but to serve others and
set an example of stewardship. “I hope you’ll look at how candidates
live, how they spend money, and who they give money to,” she said.
Advisory committee chair Ken Hall asked the audience to describe the
importance of Baylor’s president being a Baptist. “It’s critically
important for anyone in a leadership role to have a strong Christian
commitment that’s evident in every area of their life,” Tinsley said.
“But we have to make sure we don’t get swept up in it and make the
university into a church.”
Greg Pratt ’85 noted, “Students who come to Baylor need to know we’re a
Christian university. We need students being taught ethics. But
students from any faith should feel comfortable.”
Asked by search committee chair Joe Armes whether or not a previous
connection to Baylor was an important quality for Baylor’s president to
have, several attendees said that it would be helpful but wasn’t
required.
“Baylor is a university with a lot of tradition,” Susan Spears Pratt
’85 said. “If the person is a Baylor alum, he’s going to understand
that tradition. But it doesn’t have to be a Baylor alum. Someone who
understands and encourages that tradition will be good.”
After a lull in the dialogue, Greg Pratt asked the panel, “What will
you say to a candidate who asks, ‘What in the world’s been going on
here, with people not getting along with other people?’”
In response, Armes said the search committee would be prepared to deal
with that question. He then asked the audience members, “What should we
be telling candidates about Baylor?”
“We’ve had a lot of turmoil, but the students have remained
outstanding,” Bill Mearse ’78, MBA ’79, said. “We need to understand
our selling points. One is our Baptist heritage and our values. You can
look around the world today and see the need for values. Alumni have a
strong loyalty to the university. If a candidate can see that, then he
or she will recognize the value it has.”
Another attendee said, “The real thing for Baylor is that one-on-one
relationship between a student and the professor. That’s the gold
standard at Baylor.”
Armes told the group that a timeline for hiring Baylor’s fourteenth
president had not been established. He said that after finalizing a
profile for the next president, which will draw upon the input from the
listening sessions, the search committees will place ads in a variety
of publications.
He said the consultant hired to assist with the search, Jerry Baker of
Baker and Associates in Atlanta, told the committees they should expect
to receive nominations for candidates for thirty to sixty days
afterward and then they would begin reviewing the nominations during
the fall. Armes added that the search committees will also proactively
seek out potential candidates.
“We are all very comfortable with David Garland and feel no need to rush,” Armes said, referring to Baylor’s interim president.
Giving voice to an opinion widely shared at the listening session, Iler
told the search committee members, “If you think you’ve got the right
person, don’t take no for an answer.”—Todd Copeland
May 7 / San Antonio-area alumni listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes and Peña
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Hall and Phillips
Civil, forthright, honest. Those are some of the ways participants
described the listening session held May 7 at Shearer Hills Baptist
Church with members of the Presidential Search and Advisory Committees
and San Antonio-area alumni.
Unlike the more formally structured listening sessions held on campus
for staff, students, and faculty—where committee members asked
questions, listened, and rarely responded—this meeting was more like a
conversation around the dinner table.
One of the first topics addressed was the timing of the search. George
Cowden ’76, JD ’78, a San Antonio attorney and past president of the
alumni association, expressed appreciation to the committee for not
being in a hurry. Cowden said, “I think that the process is being
watched with a lot of expectation, and some cynicism, by the Baylor
family. I hope the committee will search for the right person, no
matter how long it takes.”
Search committee chair Joe Armes acknowledged there is a tension
between taking whatever time it takes to get the right person and what
he called “momentum issues with respect to interims.”
Armes added, “I think the hardest part of this job may be synthesizing
what we’ve heard in these various listening meetings and trying to
glean what are themes that we’re hearing, then reducing that to a set
of parameters or profile.”
According to comments from the San Antonio alumni, the committee should
look for someone who puts Baylor’s institutional interest before any
personal agenda. Baylor’s next president should be an open, effective
communicator with leadership and vision, respect for academic
excellence, appreciation for teaching and research, and strong
convictions but a loving attitude. He or she should also have an
ability to relate to Baptist life and bridge the gap between parts of
the family who aren’t getting along well.
Advisory committee member Tom Phillips noted, “Academics is a tough
job. The average tenure of university presidents is getting briefer
around the nation, and this is not one of the easier jobs even among
those jobs because there have been some pretty high bars set in the
past. This school rightfully regards itself as the flagship Baptist
university in the world and therefore with something of a unique
mission.”
Randy Patterson ’74, JD ’75, added some historical perspective to the
conversation, telling the group that Baylor’s president during the
Civil War took night trains because he couldn’t afford hotels, watched
who won in the gambling halls and later hit them up for donations, and
was known to pull coins out of spittoons. “You talk about a tough job,”
Patterson said. “That was a tough job, but we made it. This is a tough
job here, but I think the Lord will guide us through.”
Seth Witcher ’72, BA ’74, whose family members include Baylor students
during the Civil War, affirmed the past and acknowledged the high
standards set by previous presidents. “But Baylor’s going to change, by
nature of its vision,” he said. “Somehow this individual is going to
have to develop some common ground.”
When advisory committee chair Ken Hall asked the group to define what
they thought “Baptist” involves, Armes joked, “Where you have two
Baptists in a room, you’ll have three opinions.” Hall acknowledged that
such a definition is made even harder in light of the changes and
denominational challenges Baptists have undergone in recent years.
Sylvia Hutcherson Maddox ’69 said, “When I think of Baptist, I think of
these things—respect and freedom and an emphasis on mission and
service.” She added, “You’ll have to emphasize the mission, not the
denomination, so it becomes not a name, but a calling. People want to
work at a place that is making a difference.”
For some participants, the most significant component of this session
was that regents and Baylor Alumni Association leadership were engaged
in direct conversation. Babs Baugh, Class of ’64 and alumni association
president in 2006, asked Armes, “Do you think this sort of conversation
will cause more conversation as time goes by, even after we get a
president, between the people and the board?”
Armes replied, “I don’t want to predict, but I certainly want to
encourage it. Whether it’s the passion that we hear from a member of
the Baylor family who talks about the multi-generation experience it
has been, or folks who tell you a story about Baylor’s past that I’ve
never heard before, it’s helpful to hear. We probably have more in
common than we have differences. We’ve certainly heard through this
process with faculty, students, staff, Waco community members, and now
alumni that Baylor is a very special place. And we all have valuable
input, so I would certainly encourage it.”
Jane Keath Witcher ’71, EdD ’03, seemed to summarize the feelings of
the group when she said, “We want somebody who doesn’t have a personal,
political, or religious agenda, whose only agenda is to make Baylor the
best it can be.”
Cowden recommended using Baylor’s faculty as the primary guiding hand
in creating the profile for and selecting Baylor’s next president.
“Those are men and women who put Baylor’s interests before their own,”
he said. “I would give more weight to what the faculty and academicians
say. If they are confident in this person’s ability, then they will
rally around them. So if what you’re listening for is a standard by
which to make your decisions, I say listen to the academicians at
Baylor who have Baylor’s best interest at heart.”—Judy Henderson Prather
May 19 / Fort Worth-area alumni listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes, Dagnel, and Elliston
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Hall and Pullin
 A
feisty crowd of more than thirty Fort Worth alumni delivered a barrage
of opinions, criticisms, and encouragements at the listening session
held at the Fort Worth Club on May 19.
Alumni offered opinions and advice about issues ranging from the
organization of the university’s development staff to the importance of
the teaching tradition at Baylor and the make-up of the search
committees.
Addressing an issue that came up at nearly every meeting, Daralynn
Deardorff ’87 told regents that, since they had announced they were
still early in the selection process, it was not too late to make a
change and allow faculty, student, staff, and alumni members to have a
voting role. “I really appreciate having a voice and a seat at the
table; that’s wonderful,” she said. “Now let’s put some teeth to it.”
Advisory committee members said their role has been significant. “I
think our voices are being heard and valued,” said committee member
Randy Pullin. “Although I understand the voting issue, based on the
numbers we would get out-voted anyway. But I think what we have really
is influence, and that is very valuable.”
Another sentiment expressed often in the listening sessions was voiced
by Harriett Briscoe Harral ’66, MA ’67. “I think it is of extreme
import for the new president to have the ability to truly build a
team,” she said. “There’s a need for good teamwork between the
president and the regents, but beyond that the Baylor family needs to
be part of that team: faculty, students, and alumni.” She said the new
president needs to “work in a very transparent way, in a very
collaborative way, in a very inclusive way.”
The Fort Worth crowd was not shy about naming names. In fact, the first
speaker, Arnold Martin ’61, said that the regents—”whom I trust
explicitly”—should select someone with the character of former Baylor
president Robert Sloan. “I still have my button that says, ‘I support
the regents and Dr. Sloan.’ I should have worn it today,” he said. “I
don’t know anybody that has more character than Robert. He lacked some
other leadership skills, and we haven’t found a person that has all of
them.”
Other alumni stepped up to the plate, offering tales of their favorite
president, with several endorsements of former presidents Abner McCall
and Herbert H. Reynolds—and even one for W. R. White. Jim Price ’54
asked, “Would it be out of the realm of possibility to find a candidate
with the wisdom and foresight of Abner McCall and the psychological
acumen and warm heart of Herb Reynolds?”
Betty Gilbreath Price ’59 asked the regent panel if they might select
or eliminate certain candidates if they considered them to be
“political.” She said, “Such a person might be [former Baylor interim
president] Bill Underwood, president of Mercer University.” She also
asked the regents if they would be willing to “remove the name of the
Amarillo pastor [and 2008-09 Baylor regent chair] Howie Batson from the
list of potential candidates as an act of good faith to relieve anxiety
among the academic scholars and donors of the university.” Price handed
her written questions to the regents, but said she realized it was a
“listening” session and she didn’t expect answers to be given.
Max Bennett ’60, JD ’62, delivered a lengthy comment covering a variety
of topics ranging from the openness of the 1970s-era Board of Trustees
to the designation of “A” and “B” faculty several years ago that
indicated whether a professor was focused on teaching or research.
Bennett said a conversation with a retired faculty member during the
Sloan administration had alerted him to numerous problems on campus. “I
am not a fan of the last two [permanent] presidents,” he said. “I think
the board and some members who are still on the board made a bad
judgment on those selections. I hope this process is open and is what
it appears to be. And I hope Baylor will proceed to attempt to regain
some of its prior standing.”
Fred Weekley ’62, LLB ’63, of Arlington, suggested that the regents
change the bylaws to allow a non-Baptist to be president, noting that
Notre Dame only required a certain percentage of its regents be
Catholic.
But Christi Harman Stinson ’71 said that during the middle of a search
process was not the right time to change the university’s bylaws. “If
those governing documents need to be changed, find a leader who knows
how to work through that,” she said. “I want our next president to
understand governance, and that involves transparency.” She suggested
to the crowd and the panel, “If you want to know about the governance
of Baylor University, pull out their bylaws, and if they are not posted
[on the website] today, they need to be posted tomorrow.”
Paul Harral ’66 advised regents to guard against a president with
fundamentalist leanings. “I am very concerned about the religious drift
in Baylor in the past,” he said. “Fundamentalism is not a good thing,
and that wave has passed. I would like to see a president who is
evangelical, but not fundamentalist. If we go fundamentalist again, you
lose me. Last time I got over it, but I won’t do it again.”
Nancy Renfro Miller ’65 said that she doesn’t identify with any
particular “camp” associated with previous controversies. “I don’t know
what the camps are, but I am in the camp of Baylor alumni,” she said.
“It didn’t occur to me that I would be pleased by everything and
everybody, but it did occur that I would always be proud of Baylor.”
Miller said she believes that Baylor alumni have a unique devotion to
their school and that often their loyalty is tied to a particular
person. “I do know that the faculty should be highly respected and be
part of the process, because that’s what made Baylor a great place to
come to school,” she said.—Meg Cullar
May 19 / Dallas-area alumni listening session Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes, Dagnel, Elliston, and Stone
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Hall and Pullin
About twenty-five alumni gathered on the evening of May 19 at Addison’s
InterContinental Hotel to discuss the qualities they believed would
make the best president for Baylor. The meeting began at 7:30 and
lasted about an hour.
Those in the crowd needed encouragement to begin expressing their
opinions. Eventually, after the prompting of regents, Os Chrisman ’57,
JD ’59, shared a few thoughts, specifically urging the committees to
consider qualified women for the job. “I would underscore professional
qualification as the top priority at this point,” said Chrisman, who
had served on an earlier Baylor presidential search committee. “Baylor
is a huge business in a very competitive field, but this is also like a
church in that no person can come into a divided group and be
successful. We are looking to you; we have to have unity to make it
happen. We are counting on you to bring the kind of person to Baylor
University that would lead us to where the good Lord would have us to
go.”
John Chiles ’50, JD ’52, said, “We are looking for a man or woman of
all seasons, and number one on my list is a person of integrity.”
Chiles also said the regents should look for a person of broad
background with “serious administrative experience.”
Curby Ligon ’66, JD ’68, broached a new topic that drew response from
others when he said that experience in fundraising is very important
for Baylor’s next leader. Chiles agreed with him, saying, “The
president is essential to raising money; there is no substitute for a
chief executive in raising money. Baylor is as deserving as any other
school, but we have fallen behind in our ability to raise big amounts
of money.”
Ligon also noted that the president needs to be a person of integrity,
and Chiles said the leader must have an impeccable reputation in order
to accomplish the task of fundraising. Renee Alford Sessions ’76, MA
’77, agreed, noting, “Don’t be so concerned about getting someone who
can fundraise, because I’ve had three sons at Baylor, and I will tell
you that the parents want to see leadership. And when there is
leadership, they do not mind opening their pockets and supporting. I
believe Baylor can come back and once again experience a pouring forth
of love as well as money. We’ve missed that in the past because of weak
leadership.”
Gwin Morris ’63, a fundraiser for Baylor from 1986 to 1999, said,
“Leadership and vision are the most critical aspects of a chief
executive of an institution like Baylor.”
Search committee member Dary Stone asked the crowd what they thought
about a “non-traditional” candidate for the job, such as a corporate
leader as opposed to an academician with a PhD. He noted leaders at
Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and the University of North Carolina as
examples. “These gentlemen didn’t come from academia, but had
demonstrated leadership before they came to that job and were
gangbusters at raising money and managing people,” he said. “I don’t
want to put words in your mouths, so is that something that you are
open to?”
While some alumni responded positively, Chrisman pointed out, “I would
remind you that some of the non-traditional have been very successful,
yet some have been very unsuccessful.” He pointed to Harvard as an
example. There, Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary, had a
tumultuous tenure as president from 2001-06 and eventually resigned
after a no-confidence vote by faculty. Regarding the need for a
terminal degree, Chrisman said, “If we are striving to be one of the
top-tier universities, then that has to be considered. I would say that
if you get a tremendous corporate executive, it would have to be
squared with the idea that it could damage our reputation in the
academic world.”
Rhonda Reynolds Winslett BA/MBA ’83, JD ’86, the daughter of former
Baylor president Dr. Herbert Reynolds, said that she hopes the search
committee would reach out to faculty on this issue. “I hope those of
you who went to Baylor would contact your former professors—teaching or
retired—and get insight from them in their experience on what makes
effective leadership,” she said. “The students’ experience is day-in
and day-out with the faculty, so I hope you will give great weight and
great credence to what the faculty has to say. I couldn’t imagine
having a university president without a terminal degree. If we are
pushing for the upper level as a university, we need a president with a
doctorate.” She also pointed out that former Texas A&M president
Robert Gates, who had been head of the CIA, also held a doctoral degree.
Shelba Shelton Jones ’76 came prepared with a list of qualities the
committee should be seeking. “The first thing is a strong
administrative and leadership experience,” she said. “The second thing
is a distinguished academic, because I do think that is important. And
then a committed Christian. I would love for it to be a Baylor person,
but if not, someone who can understand Baylor and who understands the
history and traditions. We need someone who is a servant leader, with
integrity, someone who is respectful to people and humble. Someone like
that could work with the faculty, the alumni, the community, and the
students.”—Meg Cullar
May 21 / Waco-area alumni listening session
Presidential Search Committee members present: Armes, Bailey, Cunningham, Dagnel, Getterman, and Peña
Presidential Search Advisory Committee members present: Hall, Phillips, Pullin, and Robinson
The Presidential Search and Advisory Committees wrapped up their
listening sessions with Baylor alumni around the state when they
gathered at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 21, on the fifth floor of
Cashion Academic Center at Baylor. Meeting with about forty alumni and
friends of Baylor from the Waco area, the members of the two committees
heard a range of candid, heartfelt input over the course of an hour and
a half.
The first of more than a dozen alumni to speak was Hornor Shelton ’48,
JD ’49, who expressed his desire for Baylor to remain prominently
identified with the Baptist denomination and to reduce the new emphasis
on research among faculty in order to keep tuition costs down. “I would
like to see us do something about bringing tuition down,” he said. “The
average Baylor person cannot send their child to Baylor.”
Shelton also suggested scrapping Baylor 2012, the university’s ten-year
vision, and ceasing to be concerned about how the university ranks
against other institutions of higher learning. “I think we ought to do
away with 2012,” he said. “I think that has been a divisive matter, and
it would be best to put it aside. I think we also ought to forget about
being a tier-one school. We’re not going to be in the top fifty. We
don’t have the money to do it.”
Elizabeth Brient Smith, MBA ’85, emphasized the potential for
collaboration between Baylor and Waco with regard to research and
recommended that Baylor seek a president with experience in working
with a local community in the area of technology commercialization. “I
believe Baylor has the potential to spin off many businesses that could
help our local economy,” she said. “I would hope that, as you’re
looking at candidates, you will keep in mind that some presidents have
more experience than others in the type of collaboration with
communities and economic development.”
David Lacy ’79, president of the Baylor Alumni Association for 2009,
echoed Smith’s comments in saying that Baylor’s next president should
be someone who works with community organizations and encourages Baylor
employees to do the same. “Waco is blessed to have a university like
Baylor in it,” Lacy said. “If the CEO of the university encourages
people to get involved in activities all over the city, it makes an
immense difference to lead by example.”
Other comments by alumni emphasized the need for a person of integrity
and executive experience to occupy the president’s office. “I think we
need to look for a man of the caliber of Pat Neff, Abner McCall, or
Herbert Reynolds, with a background other than in Bible training,” said
Cecil Singletary ’49.
“I think we would all agree that person needs to be a committed
Christian, needs to have strong academic credentials, and needs to have
experience in university governance,” said Kent Reynolds ’75, MBA ’76,
son of former Baylor president Dr. Herbert Reynolds. “But whoever that
person is, I hope you’ll give him or her the flexibility to come into
Baylor and look into Baylor’s strengths and weaknesses, look at
Baylor’s resources, and begin to craft a new vision. I think good
things have come out of [Baylor] 2012 and some not so good
things—probably the biggest would be the divisiveness.”
Search committee chair Joe Armes asked the gathering how important they
thought it was for a presidential candidate to have a prior
relationship with Baylor, or at least some knowledge of Baylor’s
history, traditions, and uniqueness.
“If we can get a president who has real deep Baylor connections—someone
who knows Baylor, knows what it’s about, knows something about its
traditions, loves Baylor the way we do—I think that would be a real
plus,” said Joe Baxter ’49.
Ashley Bean Thornton ’83 said Baylor’s next president should be someone
who values students’ religious diversity and the university’s
atmosphere of openness and inquiry. “Baylor would not be Baylor without
that spirit of being able to ask whatever question you wanted to ask,
specifically about your faith,” she said. “To have people who take that
seriously and help you explore it and think through it, that to me is a
really important part to not just who we pick as president, but what we
identify as our identity going forward.”
A theme that ran through the comments of several alumni was the need
for a leader who could bring people together in support of Baylor’s
mission and help end the recent period of divisiveness that has
troubled the Baylor family.
“The definition of leadership is a person who has people following him
or her that want to follow him or her,” Lacy said. “We’re all going to
want to follow that person initially, but I think it’s going to be more
likely that everyone is still following at some point in time in the
future if that person takes an active role in trying to build bridges,
to communicate, and to listen to the various and sundry different
constituencies that are on campus.”
Cullen Smith ’48, JD ’50, noted that the process of consensus-building
needed to include actions taken by Baylor’s Board of Regents. “There’s
one thing that’s bothered me for the past few years, and it is this
friction that has existed, or appeared to exist, between the Board of
Regents and the alumni [association]. I’ve been told that the board
would not meet with the alumni [association]. Alumni love Baylor, and
you love Baylor, and Baylor will do better in the selection of a
president if we can meet and talk and not be afraid of each other. We
want Baylor to be as highly ranked as possible. But if you study the
rankings system, you will see that the support of the alumni is a
critical issue in a high ranking.”
Dr. Jim Vardaman ’51 said the lack of faculty, student, and alumni
representatives on the search committee reflects the broader sense of
marginalization these groups have felt in recent years and argued that
steps taken to remedy that exclusion would help build the desired
consensus.
“Power resides in you, those of you who are members of the board,”
Vardaman said, addressing the regents on the search committee. “The
members of the advisory committee can only advise. I wish you’d
consider bringing aboard two faculty members. I’d like to see the same
thing happen for the student body. Nobody loves Baylor more than most
of the active alumni I know. They love every brick of the university. I
know that you love every brick, too. I’m not for a minute trying to
deny that. I am saying, though, that you need to share [power] if you
are going to move toward tier-one status.”
The meeting ended with a discussion prompted by a question from
advisory committee chair Ken Hall. “Baylor is the crown jewel of what
it means to be Baptist, but it is getting more difficult in the
environment we live in to define that,” he said. “What is it that makes
Baylor distinctive in the Baptist cause? What do you think we need in a
leader who holds that banner high?”
Reynolds was the first to respond, saying, “It’s important for that
person to truly embrace the traditional Baptist distinctives that we
have embraced for years: the priesthood of the believer, soul freedom,
the autonomy of the local church, and the separation of church and
state. The key is that it would be a person who would embrace those
Baptist distinctives that we’ve held dear for years, whether he calls
himself a Texas Baptist or a Cooperative Baptist.”
Dave Borders ’50 said, “I would rather that we steer clear of the
fundamentalists in regards to looking at a person to be president of
Baylor University. I would rather that the person be a Baptist, but I
do encourage you to be careful about the kind of Baptist as you look
for the presidency.”
Before the meeting ended with a prayer led by search committee member
Ramiro Peña, advisory committee member Tom Phillips offered a comment:
“Thank you so much for coming tonight and sharing your views with us.
The comments we’ve heard around the state and at our various stops
around here at the university will be very helpful to both these groups
as we try to form a profile and send a message to the world about what
kind of special place Baylor is. This is a very important time for the
school. We appreciate your prayers and your help in this process.”—Todd Copeland
|
|
|
|
|
.jpg)
