Opening Convocation Address

September 8, 2005
Daniel Webster College

Good afternoon students, faculty, staff, and honored guests.  As I believe most of you know, this is my first academic convocation at Daniel Webster College.  For some of you, it is also your first.  So, it would be safe to say that this formal assembly signals a new beginning for us, for the College, and for its journey under new leadership.

But I would venture to say that now is the time to recognize and declare the “end of a beginning.”  By that, I mean that I have been in place as President for a little over two months now, and while in most places Presidents take up to a year to make the shift from “President in Transition” to “President as Established Leader,” I feel compelled to shorten that transitional period and “get on with it.”  My good friend and colleague, Bob Collings, who chaired the search that brought me here, confided to me that “the book” on me during the search, from virtually every source and reference, indicated that I was constitutionally incapable of patience.  And so, where many years ago I was characterized as a “young man in a hurry,” I find myself now more advanced in years, albeit still in a hurry.

Notwithstanding the fact that I will want to have more discussion with my colleagues here, particularly the faculty who are returning from summer activities, there are several indicators, in my mind, that the time for looking under the hood and kicking the tires is drawing to a close, and it’s time to start the journey together.  Let me cite the three most prominent of these indicators, and I view these as positive.

One, we have the leadership team in place.  I have, surrounding me, a core of extraordinarily capable – AND TRUSTED – Cabinet members who are committed to both the College and supportive of my vision of our destination over the next several years.  These are individuals who have been here for awhile and who represent internal appointments to the team.  At the same time, I’ve gone outside the institution and I will bring new talent to the Cabinet – in the person of a new Vice President for Advancement – and it is this willingness to blend the considerable skills of those inside and outside that signals to all of us that the “getting to know you” phase of this presidency is coming to an end.

Second indicator that it’s time to get going: people are very willing now to tell me what they really think.  In the beginning of any new relationship, there is a natural reluctance to be totally and brutally honest with a new President, and I understood that intuitively.  Yet, the recent discussions I’ve had with you in groups and individually indicate to me an openness and a healthy desire to move from very general issues to very specific ones, and to start laying out some answers and some commitments.  I’ve not encountered many shrinking wallflowers in the process, and for that I am grateful.

Third indicator that now is the time to move smartly: Thanks to many of you, I’ve developed a pretty good understanding of the College’s “real stories” … i.e. where are the flaws, not just the strengths; what skeletons lurk in which closets; where are the political bodies buried; what are the hot buttons for students, faculty and staff?  Understanding these is important for two reasons: it gives you a sense of the context for many important issues; and, if used wisely, serves as a “minesweeper” to, hopefully, help me avoid stepping on the equivalent of a “Bouncing Betty.”

In preparing all of us to step out smartly, I want to reiterate a few points I made to some of you two weeks ago when we made preparations to open the campus to the new incoming class.

First, we should always pay homage and respect to the history and traditions of the College, as well as to the pioneers who made Daniel Webster College what it is today.

Second, we must recognize that it is time to say farewell to what was and is today, and greet and embrace a tomorrow that will represent in many ways significant departures from the past.  Just as when students sever the apron strings and set off for college they are not repudiating the values they learned from mom and dad, this is not discarding our past, but using it as a foundation, a platform, from which to launch the new Daniel Webster College.  And trust me, this will occur again when I leave Daniel Webster College and you anticipate the plateau that comes after the one we immediately contemplate.

Third, before we can begin to think about launching craft for a new journey together, we will take stock, heal, and nurture ourselves for the challenging road ahead.

Fourth, while we make those important pre-journey preparations, we are going to make some targeted investments that will enable us to get some traction and start the momentum.  Key among these will be in our human capital infrastructure – our faculty and our staff—as well as in fundraising, in tapping the explosive market growth of graduate and continuing studies for adult working professionals, and in the development of new curricula at the undergraduate level for our traditional residential-based students.

Already, we are exploring a revitalization of the Aviation curriculum, and I applaud the efforts of the entire division there.  I anticipate that we will follow suit with a revitalization of Computer Science.  In addition, I believe we have a sound start to the Aeronautical and Mechanical Engineering programs that will give us the confidence and sound experience to explore other engineering majors where we can help the region respond to a professional workforce shortage.  And certainly the possibilities for renewal and nurturing of Business and Management, and the Social Sciences and Humanities represent enticing opportunities for us that could propel us from a regional to a national stage.

It will be my intent over the course of this academic year to guide this preparatory process, to engage leaders of industry, workforce and economic development in helping us to shape our vision, and to establish relationships with industry and with other institutions to provide us with the collaborative environment and friends who can be helpful to us for the long term.

This will be an exciting year.  And it is one that I hope all of you will look back upon in the years ahead and say, with pride, I was there for the launch of the new Daniel Webster College.

Thank you, and my sincere best wishes to all of you.