Millikin Forward

Good morning,

Today is a good day. We are here, all together, welcoming the newest members of our Millikin faculty and staff community, gaining new insights into our incoming class and understanding what community engagement opportunities are available to us. As still a relatively new member of our community, I can’t express enough gratitude to you for welcoming Kris and me to Millikin and to Decatur. 

I would also like to take a moment to thank members of the President's Leadership Team (formerly the President’s Council), who have helped me hit the ground running. So that everyone is aware who is part of this team, let me introduce them and ask them to stand:

• Molly Berry, Executive Director of Admission
• Amy Besser, Vice President of Financial Services
• Dr. Nancy Curtin, Interim Provost
• Rick Darnell, Vice President of University Advancement
• Lori Kerans, Vice President for Athletics & Community Engagement
• Dr. Sarah Kottich, Executive Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer
• Kylee Roney, Executive Director of Marketing & Communications
• Dr. Wallace Southerland, Vice President of Student Affairs
• And Corinne Mose, Executive Assistant, who also joins us for our PLT meetings.

Please join me in offering a special welcome to Rick, who just joined us in May, and thanks to the other members of the leadership team.

When I greeted new students and their families, I have shared that I have something in common with them … that just like they will be new to Millikin as a student, I am new to Millikin as its president. That we will be experiencing this community for the first time together. I share that we’ll be meeting people together, navigating campus and our schedules together, attending performances and games together, and experiencing our dining services’ meals together — maybe even looking for the best pizza or burger in town together. And I also share that, based on my time here so far, I know that we’ll both experience the love that our faculty and staff have for this University, and their commitment to supporting our success and SENSE OF BELONGING! I fully believe this!

Since we have new people here today and some I have yet to meet, I hope you would allow me to take a couple of minutes to introduce myself to you, since I think it’s important to get to know one another and seek multiple points of connection. I was born in Wisconsin and lived there the majority of my life, with the exception of eight years growing up in Iowa and the last five years in Elmhurst, Ill. So, yes, I’m a Badgers, Packers, Bucks and Brewers fan. I’m also a PK … and for some in the room, you may know that stands for “pastor’s kid.” I have five siblings, and I’m grateful that we all remain connected and thoroughly enjoy our time together. I attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, an institution not entirely different from Millikin, which profoundly shaped me as a person and a professional. (For those playing close attention, you will notice that our opening football game this season is against Luther in Decorah. Yes, I will be there, and, yes, I will be cheering for the Big Blue!) My doctoral work is in higher education leadership, so I consider myself a “student of higher education,” approaching my work with commitment and curiosity, continuously trying to understand and improve this great gift we have in our institutions of higher education.

With the exception of three years teaching high school English, I have been in higher education my entire professional career, including the last 21 years in private higher education. My wife, Dr. Kris Mickelson, and I have a blended family with six adult children (four boys and two girls) ranging in ages from 19 to 26. Many of you will meet our family dog, Marlin, a Tibetan Terrier, and some of you may encounter the felines in our house.

Kris is a tenured full professor of Education at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa, where she holds a fully remote position. In our downtime, you will find us enjoying the great outdoors hiking or biking, seeking out live music, exploring small towns, and immersing ourselves in the local arts and culture scene. 

As we get ready for the start of the fall semester, I want to take this moment to personally say thank you for such a warm and genuine welcome since I began as President in July.  Over these past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of you who have taken the time to share your Millikin stories, answer so many questions and help me feel right at home. Kris and I are proud to be part of this special community. 

It certainly has been an active summer. Although I was only here for half of the summer, I know that so many of you were busy improving the campus from the time students graduated until the arrival of our new students:

• We’ve made updates to our residence halls to make them more inviting and inclusive for students.
• We also have several exciting new facilities that will greatly benefit our student-athletes, including our newly constructed indoor hitting and pitching facility for Big Blue Baseball and our state-of-the-art indoor golf center at the Decatur Indoor Sports Center.
• Principal construction of the David J. & Debra C. Rathje Athletic Center has been completed, so we are now focusing our efforts on the interior of the facility and getting it ready for the upcoming season. We will officially dedicate the facility during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the Friday of Homecoming Weekend.
• We surpassed our overall goal of 500 total new incoming students. These recruitment figures — our best in over five years — are the result of the dedicated efforts of Millikin faculty and staff, driven by the leadership of the Office of Admission, Marketing & Media Relations and Athletics.
• The University sponsored three 2025 Nyberg/Summer Study Groups: Academic Advising, IN 140, and IDEAS. Thank you to all faculty and staff for their involvement and commitment to continued excellence in teaching and student success.
• Millikin recently earned national recognition for commitment to first-generation student success and was selected for inclusion in the Class of 2025 FirstGen Forward Network.
• We’ve successfully onboarded our new students — completing new student move-in days and looking forward to Welcome Week activities. Thank you to everyone who played a part in welcoming them to the Big Blue, from our financial aid staff to IT, to our faculty advisors and Student Success team.

Together, these achievements highlight the dedication of our community, and we look forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead.

Since I arrived, perhaps among the most frequently asked question I’ve received is this: What is your vision for Millikin? I’ll confess, this is a challenging question to answer. Do I have my early assessment? Yes. Do I have ideas of new directions based on my past experience? Yes. But the vision for Millikin University has, in part, to emerge from all of you … those of you who have devoted your professional lives to making Millikin what it is and have a vested interest in envisioning what it can become. My task is to listen AND challenge us to move in new directions based on the needs and opportunities of students, Decatur and the region.

Related to this, I would like to spend a few minutes unpacking what I introduced in my July 1 email: the “four P’s” of Presence, Purpose, People and Partnership. In that letter, I framed these as promises that I was making to all of you. Today, I would like to suggest that these are promises that we all make to one another, our students and the broader community. As I talk about each promise, I encourage you to think about what it means for you to make this commitment in the context of your own work.

Presence

During the interview process and during these first few weeks, there was an abiding message: You and the broader community are seeking a President who is visible, engaged and present; I trust my early actions are evidence that I heard you! I would suggest that this is an opportunity for all of us — to be there for one another, for our students and for those in the community who have expectations for us to not just be IN the community, but to be OF the community.

The call to presence is a call to…

• Show up
• Pay attention
• Engage.

It’s not lost on me that demonstrating presence is a homophone of presents. When we are present, we are, in fact, giving the gift of our time, talents and attention. In my short time, one example of this stands out. I know that when we think of presence, we often think about off campus and in the community, but this applies to on campus as well. In mid-July, staff members from Admission, Athletics and Student Affairs dedicated an entire day together (despite a full slate of other obligations) to understand their shared commitment to student success — how do they each understand their work with students, where are opportunities for sharing information or collaborating, how can units with distinctly different responsibilities work together in support of our common cause — the students. Something important about “presence” is attending to the moment despite other priorities that might sidetrack us. Early signs are that this commitment to presence is bearing fruit.

Purpose

Every day on my way into the office, I walk past a quote on the walls of Shilling Hall: “Millikin University is where the scientific, the practical and industrial shall have a place of equal importance, side by side with the literary and classical.” Many of you will recognize this quote from James Millikin. I believe he was ages ahead of his time. He believed in the integration of theory and practice, of the classroom and out-of-classroom, of content and application … which, of course, is represented in the many expressions of Performance Learning — a practice that is central to our identity and our purpose.

But, what are we called to as an institution? Those of you who saw me during my interview process heard me speak about my understanding of vocation — or calling. As individuals, I believe we are called to the intersection of our unique gifts with the world’s greatest needs. David Cunningham, who leads the Council of Independent Colleges Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education, or NetVUE, writes that colleges have vocations, too.

To what is Millikin University being called? In some circles, I’ve sensed that the Millikin that some believe we are, is not necessarily the Millikin we have become … or need to be. Do we truly know our students? Are we committed to being a “student-ready college” and changing how WE do things to meet the needs of our current and future students? Who aren’t we serving that we need to be reaching? What can we deliver well with the resources available to us? Certainly, these questions do not diminish the importance of what IS here now. Instead, I think of purpose in terms of continuity and change. Tradition is important, to be sure, and there is much good to be continued. At the same time, it’s not a secret that we have run institutional operating budget deficits nine out of the last 10 years, which is not sustainable. Change will be necessary to regain our financial stability.

I recognize that questions of purpose may be uncomfortable. I’m asking you to lean into that uncomfortableness as we consider new approaches, new programs, new arrangements that might be something we haven’t considered before. A willingness to explore our purpose will take courage and creativity, and I’m asking you to be open to honest, critical reflection on our purpose. It’s not an overstatement to say that our future as an institution may depend on our willingness to consider options such as seeking new student populations and educational partners, expanding graduate programs and online education, alternative designs of existing programs and new program offerings that haven’t been considered.

People

The third “P” is people. I’m sure that no one in this room would challenge the statement that what makes Millikin great is its people. We live our mission through our people and their relationships.

We create a culture of inclusion, belonging and excellence through our people. New programs and innovative ideas emerge from our people. We improve our community and our neighborhoods through our people. Any wise organization that relies so deeply on its people to fulfill its core mission will invest in its most valuable resource. In fact, at Millikin — like nearly all institutions similar to us — people and people-related expenses comprise approximately two-thirds of our operating budget. We DO invest in our people.

I know all of us in this room want Millikin to be recognized as one of the best places to work. And yet, I know that the last couple of years — and particularly the last year — were difficult for the campus community. While interviewing and in the weeks prior to arriving, I heard the challenges: some talked about low morale, others described issues of mistrust, lack of communication, unclear priorities and concerns regarding a lack of transparency. A degree of these concerns on any college campus might be expected. We are, after all, like small city in scope and complexity. But when these issues become pervasive or part of the dominant narrative, they interfere with our ability to serve our students, work together collaboratively and care for one another. 

I was delighted to learn that you had participated in the “Great Colleges to Work For” survey. That’s a courageous step — as a campus, to look at yourself in the mirror and assess the extent to which Millikin reflects the culture, qualities and conditions that define a healthy workplace. Like any campus, we have work to do, but you have my promise that learning from and taking action based on the results will be a priority. I understand that since the results were shared last year, some action is already underway. Because I am new to this and so are many of the leadership team, our survey consultant will be on campus on September 3 to meet with members of the President’s Leadership Team, to re-engage the results, discuss progress and consider next steps.

Some of you have probably heard the saying: “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” Leaders ignore culture at their peril. Some of the best-designed processes and strategies have fallen short because of culture and climate issues. I recognize that I have the benefit of only six weeks as your President, but my early assessment is that faculty, staff and students love Millikin, and that level of commitment is a solid foundation upon which to ensure that Millikin is a great place to work for everyone!

Partnership

My fourth “P” is partnership, and I won’t shy away from telling you that you’ll be hearing me talk about community partnerships at every turn. At my core, I believe that colleges and universities like Millikin will rise or fall depending upon the depth and breadth of their partnerships. In fact, I believe that as Decatur goes, so goes Millikin, and as goes Millikin, so goes Decatur. 

It’s why I set a challenge of meeting with 30 community leaders in my first 30 days, and I’m happy to share that we exceeded this goal. These meetings ranged from individual and small groups to the gathering of over two dozen leaders hosted last week by Kara Demirjian Huss, President of DCC Marketing, and Dr. Cris Valdez, President of Richland Community College. This gathering had the purpose of welcoming me to the community and discussing how Millikin’s strengths can align with the needs and opportunities of the regional economy and key stakeholders to benefit students, employers and the community.

As I alluded to earlier — the messages from these meetings are clear: Decatur and surrounding communities are firm in their beliefs. Millikin is an anchor in the region and has a responsibility to ensuring that the community is healthy, safe, productive and sustainable. At the same time, some of those I met with noted the “Milli-Bubble,” which signifies a dual meaning. Yes, the “bubble” emphasizes safety and campus community, but it also connotes being apart from the community, having impermeable boundaries — a place not for others. But, I KNOW that’s not our intention. As an institution, we must model what we expect of our students…to be active, engaged, contributing citizens of the communities within which they and we reside.