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Presidents in Action: Engaging with Students
By Trudie Kibbe Reed
As presidents, we have myriad obligations and responsibilities
that keep us traveling, meeting, speaking, and forever on the go. In the
course of a week, we must attend to both the planned and the unplanned.
College and university presidents are the ultimate multitaskers—it
is a fact of our professional lives and the nature of the work that we
have accepted. The mistake that many of us make, however, is in our
failure to appreciate that among our ongoing and unchanging tasks must
be a thoughtful and genuine interaction with our students.
Upon first consideration, my words might appear to be something
out of "The Man of La Mancha," like Don Quixote's "Best of All Possible
Worlds" mantra. On the contrary, it is a simple case of knowing that
students matter. What they think and how they feel is extremely
important to me, to the institution that I lead, and to the nation. I
recognize that, for many students, being enrolled at college is an
entirely new experience for both them and their families. I understand
that what happens to our students—in terms of their growth and
development, and how they see themselves connected to their communities
and to the global village—is absolutely inseparable from what
happens to the rest of us. It is precisely because of these
realizations, because of what I understand and the conclusions that I
have reached, that I know their academic and social journey requires my
presence. If we are honest with ourselves, we will accept that in the
hearts and minds of students, there simply is no acceptable substitute
for the president. . . .
Excerpted from the spring 2006 issue of The Presidency. To
subscribe to the magazine, please call (301) 632-6757, or order online
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