Lasting Lessons

by Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, Ed.D'97, president of DePaul University

Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, Ed.D'97

Memories of what I learned from senior lecturer Judith Block McLaughlin, director of the Higher Education Program

Judith Block McLaughlin's research and lectures are the memento mori of university leadership: Presidencies fail, transitions matter. Balanced budgets and endowment growth may be welcome news to trustees, but nothing substitutes for knowing and respecting the organizational culture.

I'm not certain how Judy first came upon her fascination with university presidents. She studies us as if she were studying the introduction of a nonnative species into an ecosystem. Many new presidents successfully meld into their organization's life and aspirations. Some are rejected by their institutions, and others transform them. Judy wonders what makes the difference.

When I arrived at DePaul University, the institution had earned some bragging rights. DePaul had become the nation's largest Catholic university. New faculty and new facilities were enviable. The Princeton Review had determined that DePaul's students were among the happiest in the nation. The faculty was proud that 38 percent of DePaul's students were the first in their families to attend college and that DePaul was consistently rated as one of the best places in the United States for students of color.

Underneath, I knew the organization was frustrated. I took Judy's cautions to heart, and spent my first six months on a "listening tour." With a blank pad in hand, I hosted nearly 60 meetings and found that the organization was feeling stretched trying to accommodate the growth, but also that a new set of aspirations had begun to emerge, focusing more on academic prominence than market share. Those conversations guided immediate decisions and helped us set the university's strategy for the next six years.

Now, nearly two years into the job, I've learned that I'm not the kind of president who comes with a fully formed direction for an organization. I'm the type who tries to absorb as much information as possible, ask hard questions, and help the group come to a reasoned strategy together. It was an instinct--piece of wisdom really--that Judy repeatedly emphasized, and that guided me through the beginning of my presidency at DePaul University.

About the Article

A version of this article originally appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Ed., the magazine of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.