A love story for academia

I’ve been an academic for more than 30 years. Well, actually, I’ve probably been one my whole life. (True academics are born not made?) But 30 formal years at least. From grad school to full professor. The last fifteen or so years has been focused on leadership. Not the “dark side”. Not the bureaucratic, neoliberal managerialism that some tend to associate with a move to administration. But actual leadership — doing my best to do the right things for the right reasons and to help make people and places and things better. I’ve been at five universities in three countries, in roles ranging from director to dean to provost to president. During that time I’ve seen some amazing things; staff, students and faculty coming together with passion and energy around new initiatives and ideas. And I’ve also seen and experienced things that were not amazing — that nearly caused me to despair and give up on academia. Power plays and politics and ugliness. But the thing is, I didn’t despair. And I won’t, despite the challenges. Because I love academia. It is worth fighting for. Worth saving. The life of the mind, the sandbox of ideas, the idealism of new adults, the hope for a better future. It’s all here. But it needs to change. We have gotten too insular, too far estranged from our mission and role as a public good. We can do better. We need to do better.

This is the work I’ve committed to doing — shepherding change by disrupting outdated habits and patterns. Helping us get from where we are to where we need to be. Looking at the whole of higher education as the complex system it is and asking what needs to change about our approach to our people, processes, and policies in order to be the inclusive, engaged, diverse, and equity-oriented institutions we say we want to be. Asking how can we collectively propose and implement innovative and integrative solutions that will move the needle on our ability to contribute to global environmental, social, and economic sustainability?

I’ve started this Substack to share some of the thoughts, ideas and lessons I’ve learned along the 30 year way. Just expressions of how I see things, not necessarily the whole truth, or even any truth. But even so, for what it’s worth, here is my story.