By Russell Garth

This column typically spotlights independent colleges and universities that are providing national leadership on a particular topic. However, for this issue, I want to address a more subtle and personal aspect of that leadership—the ways in which a president’s own sense of calling can help to foster the institutional story, or saga. This opportunity to consider a different aspect of action leadership stems from CIC’s program on Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission, now in its third year.

The premise of the CIC initiative is that presidential leadership is strengthened by a congruence of institutional mission and personal vocation, and that occasions for reflection and dialogue can help presidents discern and reinforce that congruence. Thanks to a grant from the Lilly Endowment, the program provides a series of structured conversations that occur during a four-day summer seminar and an overnight winter follow-up meeting. Parallel programs are run for current presidents as well as for those who are considering the presidency. (See Vocation,Mission for related story.)

Presidential Vocation
Individuals often bring to a presidency—or discover as president—a deep sense of vocation or calling to the work of leading a specific college. One president said, “The experience of vocation is a constant discovery; it is not a precise moment, but [an experience] clarified in our interaction with persons and circumstances.” Such deep reflection can also shed light on the challenges of the presidency and the limitations of one’s calling.
“I don’t think I could be a president of a large institution; it would not be a good match with my gifts,” said another president.

Institutional Saga
An institution’s mission springs from multiple sources. It may include the values of a founding religious denomination, the history of a place or region, characteristics of a student population, and/or a particular educational philosophy. Each institution, as a result, has a distinctive self-definition that comes to life in oft-repeated stories, beloved campus features, cherished events, and memories of respected individuals. Presidents, more so than others at the institution, must be able to appreciate, articulate, and represent these facets of a lived mission.

The concept of “institutional saga” has resonated with presidents participating in this program championed by eminent sociologist Burton Clark in his descriptions of Reed, Swarthmore, and Antioch, as the narrative that illuminates institutional mission. “The college has its vocation. The president’s job is to help the college find its voice. As presidents, we are the chief story-tellers,” observed a participant. Recalling a particularly painful racist event in the college’s history, another president reminded his peers of the need to embrace aspects of the institution’s story that are not always positive, particularly if the process can be redemptive.

Alignment: President and Institution
The journey of one president poignantly portrayed the intersection between presidential vocation and institutional mission. This individual, in the early years of his first presidency, reflected on the process that led him to the presidency of a church-related college. “My vocation and sense of calling took me in search of a certain kind of college,” he said. His understanding of the history of the place “enabled the college to reclaim the institution’s heritage and legacy. We made the legacy an institutional ‘brand,’” he said. Reflecting on his experience, he commented, “A lot of institutions lose their history. [In the process] they lose their core values.”

Participants in the seminars have noted how the experience of disciplined reflection on the program topics have shaped their leadership of and commitment to their places of service. The program also has created for many a welcomed space in which presidents can reflect deeply on the opportunities and challenges of presidential leadership in a new light. “Given the pace at which we presidents move from one project to another, from one venue to another and from one challenge to another, there is little if any place in which to reflect on questions of grounding, purpose, and personal energy. Yet such an exercise is essential in order to act deliberately and clearly over the long term,” commented another participant.

William Frame, retired president emeritus of Augsburg College (MN) and program director, said, “We are now hearing what we had hoped to hear when we began: that presidents are finding more fulfillment in their work and that prospective presidents feel more prepared and confident for it.” We will learn more about its impact in future years, but at this juncture it appears to be having a significant, albeit quiet, imprint on the presidencies of those who have participated.