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Kent State President Beverly Warren: Good leaders know how to step aside, let people do their jobs
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Posted Oct 4, 2014 at 11:00 AM
Traveling far and wide on her “presidential listening tour” Beverly Warren, Kent State’s 12th president, is exploring what makes the university “unique and amazing.”
She also wants to know how best to share those unique experiences with the world.
Since she took office July 1, Warren has been meeting with students, faculty and staff to discover Kent State’s strengths and weaknesses and what should be the university’s future priorities.
Over a six-month period, she will have attended roughly 50 events on campuses and in noneducational settings -- many in Northeast Ohio, others to come in Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix to hear from alumni.
“Since I wasn’t from Ohio or Kent State, I felt I needed to listen and learn, so we crafted this listening tour calling it, ‘What is the heart of Kent State?’ so that I can hear from people who have been at Kent State a lot longer than I have to tell me what their thoughts are,” Warren said in a recent interview. “One of the really strong themes is the connection between faculty and students. There’s a strong learning environment, and when I ask people to describe Kent State, they call it ‘a family,’ so there’s a real sense of community within Kent State.”
A North Carolina native, Warren earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and her master’s from Southern Illinois University. She holds two doctorates: administration of higher education from the University of Alabama and exercise physiology from Auburn University.
Before coming to Kent State, Warren had served as provost and senior vice president at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond since 2011.
One university
Warren said she considers Kent State as one university rather than one main campus and eight regional campuses.
“It’s the idea of we are one university within Ohio, and as a university we are greater than a sum of its parts, which I think makes us one of the largest universities in the state in terms of the number of campuses we serve within Kent State,” she said. “I have appointed a university commission chaired by our provost, and the first step in this ‘one university’ idea is to just make sure our policies and procedures are creating a seamless environment within the system. The One University Commission is going to address policies and procedures that align with the idea of ‘we are one university with multiple campuses.’?”
Provost Todd Diacon, who is chairing the university commission, said being one university is something to celebrate.
“One of the reasons we are so strong and so vital to the state of Ohio is because we are not just one campus in Kent. We are a large residential campus, but we are also able to provide higher educational opportunities to a variety of different publics in different towns and regions,” he said. “The One University Commission is a reminder that it’s important to remember we value each of our employees on each of our campuses equally. The faculty, no matter if they are in a federally funded research program or if they are in an associate degree program, they are valued equally.”
Diacon, who has been provost for two years and four months, said there’s a practical side to the One University Commission.
“It doesn’t mean everything is done the same on all of the KSU campuses. We aren’t going to offer every degree that we offer on the Kent campus on each and every regional campus; that’s not what ‘one university’ means,” he said. “One university means whatever programs that we offer on any of our campuses are highly valued and they exist and thrive and continue to reflect the particular mission of each one of those campuses. We have to make sure we are taking advantage of our built-in strengths of each of our campuses.”
Diacon said the commission will release its initial report by March. He said it will deal with such practical matters as distance learning and how to schedule so the university isn’t offering too many sections of the same course.
Major priorities
Warren announced her five major priorities for her first year at her first board of trustees meeting, about two weeks ago. She told the board and KSU staff she wanted everyone to “be well-aware that we are in this together. It’s not just one person; it’s not just the president. It’s not the president that makes things happen; the president sets the stage, and when she’s smart enough, she gets out of the way and lets people do the good work that they do.”
When naming her top priorities -- students first, a distinctive Kent State identity, global competitiveness, local and regional impact, and a sustainable and vibrant future -- she recognized members of her staff and the student body as stellar examples of those priorities.
Warren recognized the admission staff that brought in a freshman class with a record grade-point average and record average ACT score. Staff was applauded for being responsible for the record enrollment of 28,457 students this fall.
She also recognized those in charge of diversity at the school and introduced Upward Bound students who experienced traveling to Florence, Italy, this past summer.
Secret weapon
Warren said KSU will launch a search in October to hire a vice president for research -- a new cabinet position. It won’t be an additional position, but a reorganization of a current position that will be vacated. The vice president for research will provide leadership in guiding institutional strategic planning and provide support services for research, outreach and sponsored program development.
Faculty members said they have found Warren approachable and never without a smile. They see her as their secret weapon for hiring successful people to join the university.
“We’re getting ready to run some searches for deans and when we bring those finalists to campus our secret weapon is Bev Warren, because she has enormous people skills,” Diacon said. “She has a very long and successful experience in higher educational administration. Nobody outworks Bev Warren. When those candidates come to campus and they meet with her, she’ll seal the deal.”
Staff, faculty and students said Warren is full of energy.
“It has been fast and furious and we have been burning the candle at both ends since I started,” she said. “Part of it is that I am picking up on the energy of the people I meet. That keeps me going.”
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com. |