Fred Ohles, retired President of Nebraska Wesleyan University spoke to us at Lincoln South Rotary Club on September 17, 2021. His topic was on mentoring and a program that he leads through The Council of Independent Colleges called Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission.
Fred shared a bit of his background with us. He was with Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) for 38 years - 4 as a teach and the other 34 in Administrative positions. He said that NWU hired someone that he admired - Paul Dovre of Concordia College. The purpose of hiring him was to mentor Fred to become the President of NWU.
And, in his last year as President - at his encouragement - NWU hired an organizational psychologist to help him prepare for retirement. Though this may seem frivolous he stated that the college president is the face of the institution and to move out of that position is difficult.
Well before his time at NWU, Fred stated that he had many mentors - one was his father. Like his father he studied history and enjoyed writing. The father-son relationship is indeed one of our earliest mentorships.
Fred then told us about a program led by he and his wife through the The Council of Independent Colleges called Presidential Vocation and Institutional Mission (https://www.cic.edu/programs/vocation-and-mission).
It is a year long program with group meetings in the Summer (4 days) and Winter (day and a half) and phone (or zoom) meetings in the Fall and the Spring. There are 20 people and their spouses who are challenged to think deeply about why they want to become a college president.
Some facts and figures about college presidents:
- There are 4,000 institutions of higher education in the United States each with a President
- 1 out of 82,000 people in the U.S. is a college president
- There are 50X more dentists
- There are 350X more attorneys
- College Presidents are Expensive
- $300,000 average salary
- Searching is one-half to two-thirds of the annual salary
- Most philanthropic organizations will not give grants to colleges with a new or outgoing president
- Only one-fourth of the college presidents stay in the position for 10 years
- in 2006 the average was 8.5 years
- in 2011 that was down to 7 years
- most recent study shows it was 6.5 years
The success of the college president has little to do with the institution and how it is doing. It is very personal which is the point of the seminar. Key words in the seminar are vocation (calling) and mission. Both are approached and discussed from the why perspective - there is no much value in being a college president until they know why they want to do it.
College presidents that are most effective:
- People that think ahead about what they may be called to do
- They know what to state as the institution's purpose
Both are about "why" - there isn't much value in pursuing the position of president if the person does not know why they want to do it.
The seminar does not coach about how - they don't talk discuss budgets, interviewing, etc. Instead they talk about who they are - get to know themselves deeply. The couples make sure they know each others needs, joys and limitations.
Intense reading is part of the program. Just a few of the readings are:
Aristotle
Jill Kirk Conway – why she accepted the call contrary to her initial feelings
Martin Luther King
Wendell Barry – farmer and novelist from Kentucky – community, family take care of self
Abraham Lincoln
Fred shared some stories of couples in the program. Though they all found where they needed to be, it wasn't necessarily where they thought they would end up. His coming thoughts on the program:
- Somebody who feels they have to be a college president probably won’t be a good one
- It is a job where it is essential to keep past, present and future in mind at all times
- Preparation time today is longer than it used to be; all fundamental activities have become more complex
- Know when to talk and when to listen