Alma Mater

A new college president ponders liberal education and the changing landscape of academe.

Campus Crisis

February 1, 2012 - 5:15pm

Last weekend we came far too close to every college president’s nightmare.

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Footprints

January 17, 2012 - 3:00pm

For all of our talk about the college’s carbon footprint, we at Alma have lately been discussing the many ways in which even a small college impacts the local community and environment.

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Road Trip

November 17, 2011 - 5:45pm

A few years ago, as I was contemplating a step from provost to president, I asked a college president how he managed the demands of the job with young children who were just then entering high school. He replied that he had never found a satisfactory answer to the question but that ensuring daily conversations with his children, no matter where he was in the world, and building time into the schedule, were key.

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Calculating Value

November 6, 2011 - 3:00am

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Taking One for the Team

October 3, 2011 - 11:06am

When our communications director suggested that I “star” in a jesting video for an event celebrating the College’s 125th anniversary last spring, I was extremely apprehensive. As an undergraduate, I was without question the worst actor in a troupe that included a stray cat, blind in one eye. I did not make a keepsake of the review that described my acting as “wooden,” but I well remember it. It should not have come as a surprise for a reserved, self-conscious English major, not given, in the end, to theatrics.

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Reflections on Year 1

September 7, 2011 - 9:17pm

Last June, I passed my one-year anniversary as a college president. It was an exciting year, with a major anniversary (125 years), my inauguration, an extensive alumni “welcome” tour, trips to China and Ecuador for academic program discussions, and campus-wide strategic and master planning dominating the landscape. As I contemplate this past year, I've been thinking about one particular piece of advice I heard often in my transition to the job.

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Reflections on Year 1

September 7, 2011 - 9:17pm

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The Liberal Arts for the 21st Century

August 25, 2011 - 12:28pm

As we begin the academic year at Alma College, we are working to re-imagine what a liberal arts education is all about. For two centuries, liberal arts colleges across our nation have provided students with a life-changing education centered on the values that will sustain them for a lifetime. They have focused on the growth of the whole person and on the development of a whole life. It worked in the 1800s. It worked in the 1900s. But does it work in the 2000s?

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Alma College at 125

April 11, 2011 - 6:30pm

Last Friday, Alma held a joint celebration of our 125th anniversary and the inauguration. So many in our community contributed to an event that was a great success: turnout was terrific for an event that was full of uplift and promise, despite the challenges. We used the opportunity to feature a symposium on building community and a related workshop, signaling the importance of Alma's efforts to help Michigan thrive in the years to come.

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Likealittle

December 9, 2010 - 12:00pm

College presidents find themselves with long lists of cares and concerns, and I was prepared for the usual list: tuition discounting, economic challenges, deferred maintenance. But Web 2.0 flirting sites? I hadn't figured to spend much time in that arena. To their credit, Alma students came to me this week with concerns over Likealittle.com.

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