From the President

The ‘GOOD’ is shorthand for 

THE VARIETIES OF VIRTUE AND EXCELLENCE CONDUCIVE TO WELL-BEING.

At Catawba College, we know that GOOD GOES FAR.

Let me explain. 

At Catawba, we have an Ideal: 

SCHOLARSHIP WITH CHARACTER AND CULTURE FOR SERVICE.  

• We do scholarship. We’re a college. 
• We do so in a particular way: with character and culture.
• We do so with a particular aim: for service.

When we asked a group of creative people from outside the college to help us think about how to tell the story of Catawba in a compelling, effective way, so that more people would know about who we are, and so more students could have an opportunity to benefit from a Catawba education, they spent considerable time visiting with us. 

They talked with students, faculty, staff, and alumni who have experienced Catawba from the inside. 

They listened to what people outside the college think of us. And for all the storytelling they are helping us do, I asked them to conceive a tagline that sums up the remarkable story of Catawba College. 

They came back to us with a few ideas, which we then took to groups of Catawbans. 

People had different opinions, but one tagline rose above the rest, and it was no surprise to our friends at MindPower, because it was also what resonated with them as they got to know us. They saw that there is so much good that occurs on and emanates from our campus, that ‘GOOD GOES FAR’ is an apt way to tell our story. 

I couldn’t agree more — because I understand ‘GOOD’ to be shorthand for 

THE VARIETIES OF VIRTUE AND EXCELLENCE CONDUCIVE TO WELL-BEING.

The “to what end,” the goal, the aim is well-being, the kind of flourishing and thriving that Dr. Flocken just spoke about. 

The English term “well” is a way we refer to the “good.” How are you? “I’m good.” 

My mother, who was fussy about grammar, taught us to reply with the adverb – not “I’m good” but “I’m well.” 

We say “well-being” not “good-being” in American English (though that could change because languages continuously evolve!). But the point remains. 

The aim of what we do here at Catawba is the well-being of people and the common good of all – like our Ideal says. “SCHOLARSHIP” –  done a particular way –“WITH CHARACTER AND CULTURE – and toward a particular end – FOR SERVICE” – on our campus, in our community, in our state, nation, and around the world. 

When we commit to VIRTUE AND TO EXCELLENCE in our service, that helps bring about WELL-BEING, for our neighbors as ourselves.      When we serve in that way, Catawba’s GOOD extends well beyond this campus.

It GOES FAR. 

Why not “best” or “great”? 

Good question. 

When we say “GOOD” in Good Goes Far, we mean it as a noun, not an adjective, not as a comparative. 

Some of us grew up with good/better/best – for those of us of a certain age, we recall this from Sears, the department store. 

You could buy a “good” socket set – it basically did the job – or a better one, or the best one. And the better and best came with comparatively high prices and, for Sears, comparatively high profits. (though apparently not enough to keep Sears thriving)

But when we say “GOOD GOES FAR,” we’re not being comparative. 

We’re being declarative. 

GOOD itself GOES FAR. 

We at Catawba are participating in the GOOD, as are so many others in the world.

It’s bigger than us. 

And why not ‘great’? 

Because after all, we’ve heard business guru Jim Collins tell us we should go from good to great – that we shouldn’t settle for good but should strive to be great. 

But we don’t say “Great goes far” because you can be “great” without ever being “good.” Can you be great and good? Sure, but one can be great in the sense of possessing much power and riches, while utterly lacking VIRTUE AND EXCELLENCE. 

Greatness isn’t always good – for us or for those around us. History is replete with people, groups, and nations that were great, and not at all good. 

But at Catawba, we aim to be better than great – we aim to be GOOD. 

SCHOLARSHIP, WITH CHARACTER AND CULTURE, FOR SERVICE. 

Our Ideal isn’t just about what we do. It’s about who we are, and how we do what we do, and why we do what we do. 

Our Ideal is inextricably tied to a moral imagination that aims for “the GOOD” — all THE VARIETIES OF VIRTUE AND EXCELLENCE CONDUCIVE TO WELL-BEING. 

Good people, doing good work on campus, in our community, and wherever Catawbans go. 

Indeed, at Catawba, GOOD GOES FAR.

We’re all here today because we’ve been impacted by the GOOD at Catawba College. 

So many people before us have invested in this place, for 100 years in Salisbury and for 75 years before that up in Catawba County. 

We’ve inherited much from them — a rich liberal arts tradition, a legacy of caring deeply for our students, the cultivation of a genuine sense of vocation, a stewardship of our natural environment, and a commitment to forming good citizens. 

Many of those peoples’ names we don’t even know, but their GOOD made a tangible difference that has made its way all the way to us. 

Their GOOD has come FAR! 

And now it’s our moment. 

We have a sincere sense of stewardship of all the GOOD that has been entrusted to us — this campus, the financial resources, our students. It’s up to all of us to carry this GOOD into the next generation. 

That’s why we’re launching this ‘Campaign for the Future of Catawba College’ and calling it

WHERE OUR GOOD GOES. 

That GOOD can’t just be measured in dollars — it’s measured in lives changed, our community strengthened, and GOOD extending from this campus to make the world more like the place we all want to live. 

This campaign isn’t just about dollars. It’s about impact — the impact that our participation in the GOOD, has on Catawba’s future. 

So, we don’t have a dollar goal. 

Our goal is to engage as many folks as we can in what’s happening here at Catawba College—whatever size the gift. 

Our goal is for as many people as have been impacted by Catawba’s GOOD to get engaged and pay that GOOD forward.

How has Catawba’s good impacted you?

How do you hope Catawba’s good will impact others?

Join us, as we imagine where Catawba’s good could go from here.

Introduction

• WELCOME to new members of our campus community: students, staff, faculty. To those of you who have come to Catawba from outside the United States, let me add a very warm welcome to you!
• CATAWBA IDEAL: We are called together to mark the beginning of the academic year and to remind ourselves of the Catawba Ideal and the values that we hold together
  • Scholarship with character and culture for service
  • Remember our motto: Sit Lux
  • Our Values: We believe:
    • All persons have inherent worth and dignity.
    • Intellectual curiosity and reasoned learning inspires, transforms, and uplifts the human condition.
    • Learning is best done in community, and our lives are enriched when we share experiences with people different than ourselves.
    • An education, grounded in personal formation, generates self-knowledge, understanding, and wisdom that frees people to explore the world and discover their place within it.
    • All persons share the responsibility and joy of ensuring a sustainable world where all can thrive.
  • If you pay attention to the history of the college, you recognize that the Ideal was very much in mind as the college opened its doors on its new campus, on lands that more recently had been used for pastures and in generations past had been part of the lands inhabited by native Americans, including the Catawba Indians whose tribal name is associated with the river that bears their name (they are “the people of the river”) and the county in which our college was founded. The founders chose that name, associated with the place and the people of the Catawba Nation as the name for our college. When the college relocated from Newton NC, in the foothills, to our current land, they kept this name that is so rich with history.
  • During the early years on this campus, we see evidence of the Ideal as a guiding light for the college, and, among the “aims” of the college curriculum at that time – and to this day – is the education of students to be responsible members of their community, to be good citizens.

• I want to consider “good citizenship” for a few minutes this afternoon, and do so from two different angles.

Be a Good Citizen on our Campus and in our Local Community

• On our campus, we know it's a year with a lot of disruptions and inconveniences. Three major projects are already underway – NRH, Stanback, and District Energy – and a fourth will soon be underway – Smokestack. Construction fences disrupt the flow of traffic around campus, there is considerable noise associated with this work, and we’re all adjusting to changes in parking. While the prospect of a vastly improved and beautified campus is thrilling, living and working on campus during this time can be a challenge and sometimes is simply irritating!
  • So I’m calling on all of us to be good citizens while we undergo a genuine transformation of campus. Years from now you’ll be able to say you were here, just as those students at Catawba’s new campus in 1925 could say when places like Hedrick Hall was opened, when Zartman Hall was built, and Williams (music), and the first Gymnasium (Hoke Hall). While other buildings were built across the decades, at no other time since the 1925 to the early 1930s was so much done in such a compressed period of time as is occurring right now. You all have inspired donors to support this work, and you all are a part of seeing the future built in our midst. When I say to students that “this is your time” and I hope that at college you have “the time of your life,” I hope you see that we all have the privilege of being at this college at a truly extraordinary time in Catawba’s history.
  • So, with all the disruptions, and challenges, and irritations, appreciate what you are a part of, and be a good citizen through it all – and do be kind!
  • Take advantage of parking alternatives: park where assigned (students, don’t park in faculty parking), take advantage of Food Lion parking lot, and use CatawbaGo.
• Also, be a good citizen in our community. Wherever you go in Salisbury, you represent Catawba College. Please do that well. We want to be good citizens and good neighbors to those on campus, and those around our campus.
  • For those living in houses around campus, please be good neighbors to those who live around you!
  • To everyone, be a good neighbor crossing Innes St.: be alert (not on your phone), wave to acknowledge drivers who stop to allow you to cross the street safely.
• The Ideal reminds us why Catawba college exists – to pursue scholarship – and how we do so – with character and culture – and to what end, or for what purpose we do so – for service.
  • Note then, how the Ideal – a statement, a brief phrase – serves as a north star for the ways in which we think, act, live, and participate in the life of our campus community and our local community of Salisbury. Be an active participant in enacting the Catawba Ideal (and our motto) – live it out!
  • The Ideal lifts our eyes to the significance of our callings as members of this community – don’t be indifferent to it, because then you end up being indifferent to your stewardship of your education and your role as a vital member of our campus community.

Be a Good Citizen in our Nation

• Catawba is experiencing a set of significant anniversaries –
  • 100 years in Salisbury – our “Centennial”.
  • Last Spring, 60 years of integration.
  • In 2026, 175 years as a college. 100 years=centennial and 175 years=dodransbicentennial (dodrans is contraction of de-quadrans, a whole unit less a quarter.)
  • Also in 2026, the nation in which we dwell observes an important anniversary: the 250^th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence – the “semiquincentennial” of our nation (semi=1/2, quin=5 and centennial=100, so a centennial x 5 divided by 2 = 250!).
    • NB: For international students. We are so glad you are part of our We learn much from you. And the upcoming 250^th is a unique opportunity for you to learn about another nation.
  • Following a war fought for Independence from the British crown, the United States was formed around the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Conceived and drafted during the years 1776-77, it was ratified in 1781. But these Articles provided for a rather uneasy means of holding together the 13 colonies that became the United State of America.
  • So in 1787, from March 25-September 17 a constitutional convention was held. The US Constitution was ratified finally in 1788, the new government came into effect in March of 1789. The Constitution is the supreme law of the land. It is the Ideal for our nation:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

• That preamble is followed by 7 articles and, now, 27 amendments. It is not a long document, but one of immense importance.
  • Fun fact: the latest amendment, the 27^th, ratified in 1992, is a means of limiting the way in which Congress could vote itself a pay raise. That amendment was proposed by James Madison along with the original Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments) in 1789. But it wasn’t ratified. In 1982, a 19 year old student at the U of Texas, Gregory Watson, wrote a paper claiming that proposed amendment could still be ratified – and he started a national campaign, and eventually, that amendment originally proposed by James Madison in 1789, was ratified in 1992! Don’t doubt the ability of a college student to make a difference! Btw, Watson got a C on the paper.

• The Constitution is so important, that those elected to federal offices, employed in federal jobs, as well as those considered state “officers,” swear an oath to the US Constitution.
  • I note they are not asked to wave a flag or sing the national anthem, but rather to swear an oath to the nation’s constitution.
  • I, as a president of a state university, was asked to swear an oath to the US Constitution at my inauguration, and I did so while placing my left hand on a sacred text.
  • This is a solemn matter, because a commitment to the constitution is a display of one’s allegiance to the nation and to the Ideal formed by the words of the text.
• Thus, a president swears:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

And a member of congress swears:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.

And judges and, as I noted, other officials similarly swear oaths.

• This is a weighty matter. And, presumably, those that swear such oaths have read and have a reasonable understanding of the Constitution.
• Nowhere is it required that one be a constitutional scholar or anything close to it to serve in government, but, of course it’s difficult to “preserve, protect, and defend” what one does not know or understand.

• Likewise, to be good citizens, we should be familiar with the constitution – at least familiar enough to cast votes in elections with some insight about how well a candidate, if elected, will discharge their constitutional duties.
  • (To that end, I wish we had public examinations of candidates so we could ascertain their knowledge and understanding of the Constitution. It seems odd to me that we rarely if ever hear questions put to candidates along these lines - but perhaps I expect too much).
• So I wonder how well we understand the organization of the federal government, matters like the separation of powers, the enumeration of powers, what is a “constitutional right,” and how one construes “liberty” and its relationship to the power of the government.
• Do we understand, for example, that the constitution does not in any way endorse political parties? The idea that we have two major parties that control everything is not an idea that's in the constitution.
  • Hamilton and Madison expressed concerns in Federalist 9&10, though they contributed to the rise of parties—early on the Democratic-Republican Party and the Federalist Party.)
  • In fact, our first president worried about our country being run that way. So concerned was George Washington that he mentioned it in his Farewell Address to the nation.
• So what do you know about the constitution? how do you interpret it? how do you understand how people running for office understand the constitution, and how does that affect your vote?

• At Catawba, we do scholarship with character and culture for service. So we think about such things, we wrestle with such questions.
  • The Center for NC Politics and Public Service will help us recognize Constitution Day (Sept 17!). You'll get a copy of the constitution. We have faculty who help you to learn about this from different perspectives. This is something of what it is to be a good citizen.
  • If you're an international student, what a fantastic way to study another culture and another form of government, which may be similar or different from your own.
• So read the constitution, participate in opportunities to read about it.
• Vote (if you are a US citizen), and
• involve yourself in serving the public good, in the ways in which you are called.

Conclusion

• The convocation message is a call – so this is about vocation – this is about our calling to be good citizens and good neighbors—on our campus, in our community, in our state, and in our nation. 
• I am well aware that there are temptations to be indifferent about politics these days.
• Likewise there are temptations in communities to look out only for yourself, or for your little group.
• But our call is to care for one another—everyone we encounter along the way, everyone with whom we share this campus community, everyone with whom we share this nation, and this world.
• Please, don’t be indifferent. Use your attention and energy in ways that make a real difference for the good in the lives of your neighbors.
• As we open this new academic year, pursue your own scholarship, with character and with culture, for service.

Sit lux, Catawba!

WELCOME to our new students, new faculty, and new staff!

WE ARE IN A GOOD PLACE . . .

• Summer accomplishments:
  • Catawba Baseball wins the Southeast Regional Championship and advanced to the National Championship series, making it to the national semifinal (the “final four”) and ended up ranked #3 in the nation! Congratulations to you all, and let’s do it again!
  • Learfield Cup: #32 in the nation
  • Summer Classes and Workshops
    • Bill & Shari Graham Genomics Laboratory, the Illumina Next Generation Sequencing Workshop & Certificate Program took place. Next Gen Sequencing theory, DNA extraction and NGS runs, along with bioinformatics, and modules on entrepreneurship in Biotech and Business Model Assessment led by Pabel Delgado, our Entrepreneur in Residence at Ketner School of Business
    • National Environmental Summit once again took place on campus, which included for those in the REACH program a six-day backpacking trip in Western NC (Dr. Witalison)
    • 10-day Water Keeper Alliance Bootcamp in Eastern NC, a collaboration with Communications and ENV (Drs. Jackson and Bolin, Noah Upchurch)
    • Study trips to Columbia (Poston & Jacobson) and Madagascar (Dollar).
  • Green Ribbon Schools Award
  • Enrollment
    • 660 – 548+112 grad students
    • We know we’re having to fit in living quarters. Thank you for adapting. We’re in this together. Let’s make the most of the good days we’re experiencing at Catawaba.
  • In case you missed it, we also have very good news about the college's endowment, that body of money that has been generously given to the college, which earns money each year to support scholarships, programs, and the general work of Catawba College. We have received another historic gift to our endowment in the amount of $200M. Today, Catawba's endowment exceeds $600M. That astounding number gives you some idea of how much people care about your college.
    • That $600M is invested, and each year we receive a distribution of 4.5-5% for our use that year. The corpus remains invested and continues to grow, so Catawba can continue to use these funds in perpetuity. This means that your college has financial stability for generations to come. 
    • This is indeed a good place to be

THERE ARE GOOD OPPORTUNITIES BEFORE US.

• Opportunities for Campus Improvements:
  • Capital Projects: Smokestack (Living Building Challenge), New Res Hall (Passive House design) and Renovated Halls, Newman Park Phase II. President Cothren and I will hold a Town Hall for students . . .
  • Dreamscape Learn (Dr. Hartwig or Dr. Poston)
  • This, along with all the improvements we're making to campus signal a bright future for Catawba. I know incoming students appreciate how much this will impact their experience on this campus.
    • Let me say a word to juniors and seniors, many of whom will graduate before all these changes occur. While you won't get to experience a renovated Smokestack, and renovated S-R and Stanback Halls, and a new residence hall, you will be here as we begin to break ground on these projects, so you’ll get to endure the upheaval of construction with us. I hope you will celebrate that future students who follow you will benefit from all this. And I hope you'll also be appropriately proud that you were here as all of this began to happen. That you are a part of the college at a time where this current generation of donors was so generous to invest in the future of our college in this remarkable way. You are a part of the community that inspired people to give.
  • Cultural Opportunities:
    • The Robertson Collection of masterpieces of art will be on display at Salisbury’s Waterworks Visual Arts Center this year. You know the Robertson name from our Robertson College Community Center next door, and the family is sharing their art with our community. Go and see with your own eyes paintings by Renoir, Picasso, Monet, Chagall, Kandinsky, right here in Salisbury.
    • This Saturday right here on campus, we have the opportunity to enjoy our very own Professor Jeff Little. He has performed at the Smithsonian and around the world, and this Saturday is doing a benefit concert for our music program. We’ll accept donations at the concert, 7:30 in Hedrick Little Theater, so spread the word to your friends and family.
    • Many cultural opportunities like this come our way each semester, so keep your eyes and ears open and take advantage of them!
  • This Fall, we also approach another general election season, which gives each of us the Opportunity to be Good Citizens:
    • Catawba ID’s are now officially approved by the state of NC as a form of voter identification
    • Multiple times to register to vote. At College Night Out (Bell Tower Green – this Thursday night) and look for other events on campus this Fall where you can register to vote. Some perspective: In 2020 Catawba had some 1,200 students. 259 residential students registered to vote. 36 cast a ballot! Must register by October 10. Don’t put it off – register this Thursday night, and make your plan to vote.
    • Be informed: subscriptions will soon be available to you for NYT, WSJ, WaPo. Salisbury Post available online and in library. Read the news, read various sources. Don’t only listen to sources that you agree with. And be skeptical of sources that don’t correct their own errors.
    • Presidents and Popcorn Debate Watch Party on September 10 in Tom Smith Auditorium.
    • More events around the topic of the election. Look for more news to come.
    • Our campus is a place where we exchange ideas, we agree and disagree, and we do so respectfully and peaceably. We are at our best when we do so.
    • And each general election is a fantastic time to learn much about politics, history, culture, sociology, philosophy, science, and so much more!
    • And then there’s this: Each election is an opportunity for you to shape the future of your community, your state, your nation. I fully realize that we – the generations before you – have made this a frustrating and toxic political environment. I’m sorry for that. But if it’s to change, you need to help bring change. We can be better, you can help make us better. We can be good; you can help make us truly good.

THAT’S WHAT I WANT US TO CONSIDER TOGETHER FOR A FEW MOMENTS TODAY:

THE GOOD.

• Each summer I have a reading list. This summer it included One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) and The Pursuit of Happiness by Jeffrey Rosen. Among other books I also turned back to a portion of the Gospels, the beatitudes. I was drawn to them because, there’s always more than enough bad news, and I wanted to fill my mind with some “good news.”
• The beatitudes are found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke if you’d like to be reminded of them yourself.
• Jesus had been doing all kinds of good things, surprisingly good things, superhumanly good things according to the Scriptures, and people began following him and wanted to hear what he had to say.
• And the good news he shared with them was this: “Blessed are the poor… blessed are those who weep… blessed are those who are hungry… blessed are the meek…”
• He didn’t say blessed are those who know everything there is to know, or those who have amassed lots of wealth, or those who have won power and influence…
• Nor did he give them a list of requirements, or aspirations even.
• Instead, he was reflecting on something about the way things actually are in this world and what it means to live well within it. Things don’t always go well. Things aren’t always easy. There is poverty, and sadness, and people who will be cruel to you. Jesus doesn’t even tell his followers how to overcome those hard realities. Instead, he reminds them that there is good, blessedness, in those experiences. It’s those who hunger who will be filled. It’s the meek who will inherit the earth. It’s the poor in spirit who have the kingdom of heaven. It’s the merciful and the peacemakers who experience the good that only God can give. Jesus was telling his followers that the way they walk in the world matters—matters for ages to come.
• Before Jesus, the ancient philosopher Aristotle taught his students a similar truth, in his teaching about virtue. Aristotle believed there are habits of life, that people acquire through practice, that make up a good life. Aristotle was a teacher; in today’s world he’d probably be a college professor, but among all the scientific and philosophical teaching he did, he believed the skills of virtue to be the most important one will ever acquire.
• Fast forward to modern times, when our nation’s founders described a pursuit of the good life in terms of ancient and Enlightenment virtues like humility, industry, sincerity, tranquility (peace and reconciliation), and justice. In our Declaration of Independence, they deemed it “the pursuit of happiness,” and called that pursuit an “unalienable right.” The “happiness of the people” remained a subject of The Federalist Papers, those documents written to promote the ratification of our Constitution.
• Ancient wisdom like that may not be broadcast loudly today, but the founders of our college created an institution that stands in these great traditions. The Catawba Ideal is not just scholarship, but scholarship with character and culture for service.

WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE TO MAKE THAT IDEAL PART OF OUR DAILY LIFE HERE AT CATAWBA COLLEGE?

• Our formation as a virtuous people – whether as a nation or a city or a family – or a college – is the pathway to what Aristotle called “the good life.” In the terms of the Christian faith of the founders of Catawba College, this is the way to blessedness. and in the terms of our nation’s founders, this is the road to happiness. This is the way of the good.
• And good goes a long way. When scholarship is cultivated within the ground of character and culture, we can bring our best to the world for its good. This is the “to what end” of the Catawba Ideal: Scholarship, with Character and Culture, for Service. For good. Not just good for ourselves, but good for our community, and our world.
  • I recognize that it is easy to become cynical about our culture, about the world we live in. It is filled with bad news, and “not good.” And it would be easy to ask, Why does what I do matter? The “everyday” good work of this college, and the everyday work of your life – your service – is the good work of making the ideal more a part of our everyday reality. When you’re winning, or losing. When you’re studying, and when you’re struggling to grasp something. When things come easy, and when they don’t. Regardless of how hard things are, maybe even especially when realities are the hardest, doing the good that is ours to do makes the world more like the place we all want to live.

• Some professional storytellers came to Catawba College and met with members of our college, including alumni, to learn more about who we are, the phrase they reflected back to us, the phrase they believed got to the heart of who we are, was this: GOOD GOES FAR.
• You’ll begin to see that phrase – GOOD GOES FAR -- around campus, and on billboards on interstate highways, and in digital and print ads, and on radio stations, and at airports in Charlotte and Raleigh.
• As we begin to reintroduce ourselves to folks who may not know much about us, we will do that by telling some of the good stories of the good done by the good people who are Catawba College. And that good isn’t something we keep to ourselves, we spread it wherever we go in whatever we do. That’s the legacy of Catawba College, it’s the story of who we have been in the past, who we are today, and who we will be in the future. It’s your story, and the story of thousands of alumni.
• So as we open this new academic year, let’s celebrate all the good in our midst, and let’s resolve to do the good that is ours to do.

LET’S HAVE A GOOD YEAR, CATAWBA. Sit Lux!

• Quo Vadis Catawba? That’s Latin for, Where are you going, Catawba? We’ve given much of the past year to considering the question of where we’re headed. We’ve been considering who we are and imagining where we want to be ten years from now, so we can begin taking tangible steps now to move toward that horizon.
  • It’s not unlike what each of you students has done when you chose to come to college. You looked ahead, as far as you could imagine, and considered who you want to be, what you want life to look like, and you determined that coming to Catawba, selecting a particular major, enrolling in certain classes, connecting with a special group or team or ensemble are some tangible steps that will move you toward that future.
  • Hopefully, we’ve each had some refreshing time over the summer and are ready to begin again, in this 2023-2024 academic year, to continue on – for some of us, to embark upon – that path.
  • Things we do this year, 2023-2024, will shape what our lives look like 10, 20, 50 years from now. Things we do this year will shape what Catawba looks like for generations to come.
  • Quo Vadis? Where are we going, Catawba?

• Where we are going is determined in large part by who we are. Our future is, in important ways, grounded in where we’ve been.
  • So, a bit of Catawba history—
  • Our seal, which is featured on the cover of your Convocation program, centers four words, which you see about campus and which you hear mentioned in various contexts.
  • Those four words – scholarship, character, culture, service – which we sometimes call our pillars, were placed on our college seal as a reminder of what our forebears called the Catawba College “Ideal” – “scholarship with character and culture for service.”
  • These words are found in the Catawba catalogue as early as the 1930s, when President Hoke led this college.
  • So important were these words to the college that, nearly a century ago, they were added to the Catawba College seal under President Omwake.
  • The 1937-1938 Student Body President, Edgar Barr, spoke about these words in his address to his fellow students.
  • This Ideal is part of where we, Catawba College, have been. It is the ground that has been laid for us. It helps us determine where we go from here. Quo Vadis, Catawba?

• So today, at this convocation – another Latin word, convocatio, “a calling together” –

I’d like to call us to reflect together on that Catawba Ideal:

“scholarship with character and culture, for service”.

• First, Scholarship:
  • Once upon a time, Catawba students read texts in Greek and Latin. We don’t do that these days, but we do new genomic sequencing. We grapple with the technological and moral facets of AI. We value curiosity and the tradition of seeking knowledge in a learning community.
  • At Catawba, we’re not intimidated by big ideas—we’re energized by them. We’re undaunted by difficult subjects. We take them on together. We’re a “college”, organized into “schools”, where faculty and students study and learn together, and together, we can take on the biggest ideas of our time.
  • And how we take on those big ideas is very much shaped by who we are.

• “Scholarship with Character…”:
  • You have all heard me ask what I believe to be one of the most important questions for you to consider: Who are you; Who will you be?
  • Over the past year, as we have imagined who Catawba will be, we have intentionally drafted a statement of values.
  • Character is that outward expression of our moral imagination. Character is rooted in values.
    • Values like the acknowledgement of the inherent worth and dignity of every human person, and
    • the value that learning is best done in community, and
    • that our lives are enriched when we share experiences with people different than us.
  • Note well that character does not derive merely from following a list of rules. Each of us is a moral agent, with a certain amount of freedom to choose the things we do. Rules – and most homes and institutions have them – are there to inform the choices we make, to instruct us. But the point of the rules is the wisdom behind them. You won’t always have rules. What will you do when there aren’t any rules?
  • Character is cultivated in the garden of wisdom and virtue, where
    • wisdom is deep insight into living well as a human being, and
    • virtue is the strength, the skill to live ethically and with excellence – fulfilling your potential as a good person.
  • As the philosopher Tom Morris puts it, “a person’s character is his or her settled degree of wisdom and virtue…”
  • Sure, you should follow rules and laws (life is generally better when you do),
    • but we all know the rules are generally there because not everyone is inclined to do the right thing, the good thing.
    • Not everyone has taken the time to cultivate wisdom, virtue—that’s the higher goal.
    • At Catawba, we’re not just aiming for rule-keeping. We’re aiming for that higher goal. Each of us individually, and all of us together.

• “Scholarship with Character and Culture…”:
  • Culture may be described in various ways.
    • It’s the world of agreed-upon gestures, like a handshake or the wave of a hand.
    • It’s the use of language and symbols – We know that a red octagon by the road means we should STOP, and in fact, many countries around the world have agreed on that same symbol. But what does the white dotted line down the middle of the road mean? Here in the US, it means you can pass. In some other countries, it means you should take extra care because it’s a hazardous area.
    • It’s the clothing we wear -- scrubs, or suits, or caps and gowns. We instantly have an idea about what each of those outfits means.
    • It’s the codes of behavior we agree to -- the rules an institution has, sure, but even more so the unspoken rules, like we don’t typically belch at the dinner table, or we do typically greet one another on the sidewalk with a smile.
  • Culture is, in some sense, the things that make us comfortable together. It’s our shorthand for interacting with one another.
    • And we may not recognize our own culture until we’ve ventured outside of it. Go to another country, and before long, you’ll wonder, “Why do they do it that way?” Move in with a new roommate, and you may wonder the same!
    • Consider that while character may be seen as who I am and how I behave, culture is who we are together, it’s how we live together as a community.
    • Our cultures shape us. And we shape our cultures.
  • Catawba College has its own culture.
    • We have traditions – like convocation, and the playing of an alma mater, and a service of Lessons & Carols for Christmas…
    • We also live our everyday life together, and we choose to interact with one another in particular ways.
      • There are all sorts of intangible, unspoken things that make Catawba Catawba.
      • In the Goodman Gym, you’ll see the mats with the #CatawbaCulture. What does that mean?
      • Catawba is a place where we all belong—so we support one another, which you’ll hear in that gym when we’re cheering on our athletes! But it’s not just there.
      • We value excellence, so we work really hard in the classroom, and on the field, the court, the stage, to bring our best to our community. We like competitiveness, we like to win, and we do so with a culture that is wholesome and respectful of all.
      • We care about our environment, so we do big things like commit to carbon neutrality, and we do little things like avoid plastic bottles.
      • We care for one another, so we choose to be kind, to enact love by respecting and caring for one another.
      • We believe each one of us has particular skills, passions, and callings, so we make time and space for everyone to consider their own vocation -- which brings us to that final word:

• “Scholarship with Character and Culture, for Service”:
  • Catawba College has long had an aim of preparing students to be good citizens. To serve the communities in which we live. We value serving by caring for one another and by caring for our planet. Our numerous service projects throughout the year are an expression of our desire to serve. Our commitment to oppose bigotry and racism and to address inequality and inequities is rooted in our love for our fellow humans. And our efforts in sustainability are expressions of our belief that we owe it to our fellow humans across the world to take good care of the natural world we inhabit. I hope you are appropriately proud of our attainment of carbon neutrality. This is a milestone for Catawba College. But watch for all the ways in which you can help make us an even more sustainable campus and how you can serve others by helping to make this a more sustainable world. As a practical matter, look at the Environmental Stewards program and pay attention to our sustainability efforts, large and small.
  • When you hear me say that Catawbans are determined to make the world more like the place we all want to live, I’m talking about this aim. To pursue our vocation by engaging in what we love to do and what we are skilled to do to meet the world's needs. This is one way of understanding “scholarship with character and culture for service.”

• Conclusion: The Rose Window
  • In just a few minutes, we will depart this chapel. (NB the dedication of this Chapel by Rev Dr Banks Peeler!) Our new students will remain here while faculty, staff, and returning students exit, forming a line outside the chapel through which the new members of our learning community will walk. This is one of those Catawba traditions.
    • It is our way of welcoming you. Of greeting you as a part of those who pursue the Ideal of scholarship with character and culture for service.
  • As you leave this Chapel, take a moment to notice the rose window above the balcony. Just glance at it, and see the book with a lamp upon it. That stained glass was designed intentionally, I am told, to remind us of our motto, Sit Lux – another bit of Latin today!
  • Lux is light. Sit lux is the expression of desire that light be, that light go forth. It recalls the “let there be light” of the Genesis creation account, but the motto is phrased in such a way to make it a present call to a particular possibility: the call for us to be enlightened and to bring light into the world, so that wherever we are, whatever we do, we may bring light to those around us.
  • I am told that Dr. Dearborn, one of two presidents for who this chapel is named, would continually remind students (in his time as both Dean and President) that this campus was a place for the light of learning.
  • In this convocation, this calling together of the learning community that is Catawba College, in the year 2023, I remind you that:
    • This is your time. It’s the time of your life! It’s your time to shine.
    • It’s our time to live out the Catawba Ideal, together, to welcome the light of learning, the light of truth, the light of love.
  • On Thursday, October 26, I’ll deliver an address, Quo Vadis Catawba?, where together we’ll look forward to our 10-year horizon, and how we plan to get from here to there. You now know what that Latin phrase means, and I hope you’ll join me on that day.
  • But for now, we have been called together to commence this academic year, and we leave this chapel together to live out our ideal – scholarship with character and culture for service. Sit Lux Catawba!

This week we have witnessed two exemplary displays of what makes Catawba College such a special place.

On Monday night hundreds of the Catawba community – students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other supporters – filled the stands of Goodman Gym to cheer on our Women’s Basketball team as they competed in the NCAA II Southeast Regional championship.

These women, led by Coach Terrence McCutcheon and his stellar staff, made history by winning the program’s first NCAA Regional Title with an 85-75 victory over Georgia Southwest State University, and they are now headed to the Elite Eight in St. Joseph, Missouri.

The atmosphere in Goodman Gym Monday night was electric. Our Catawba Band, Cheerleaders, and Dance team led hundreds of fans in support of our team. Thank you to every student who showed up to give our team a true home court advantage. What a night!

Championships aren’t won easily. They are the result of much hard work, training, skill, dedication, and resilience. All were on display by our team Monday night. It is good to be proud of the accomplishments of Catawba Women’s Basketball, and I hope you’ll all join me in cheering them on in the Elite Eight, beginning Monday, March 20 at 1:00. (You’ll soon receive details about a campus viewing party!)

Just hours after the exhilaration of Monday night, hundreds of students, along with staff and faculty, joined in a celebration of the life of Chase Tripp, Catawba’s Director of Sports Performance, who passed away on March 2, 2023.

Through the reflections of coaches, students, and family, we were reminded how much every life matters, what it means to live out one’s calling, and how much it matters for us to care for one another.

Chase is remembered as a man who cared for the well-being of others, who challenged those with whom he worked to be their very best, and who impacted many lives during his time on this earth.

While there are many things to celebrate in our campus community, these two events remind us of so much of what makes Catawba a remarkable place to live, work,  and learn. We are reminded of the value of caring for every member of our community. We are reminded that we are an institution committed to excellence, always working to be better tomorrow than we are today. We are reminded that we are more fully ourselves when we give ourselves in service to others. We are reminded that a college at its best is a learning community – not simply a set of classes in a curriculum or a means for individuals to acquire credits toward a degree, but a place where together we form our lives and discover the wonder of living lives of significance.

This is Catawba College. This is your college. You are Catawba College.

Over the past months we’ve asked you all to engage in a planning process to help us consider who we will be over the next years and what we will do to be Catawba College at her very best. Hundreds of you have contributed to that process. We’ll soon update you on what we’ve been hearing as the strategic direction for our future takes shape, culminating in a completed plan we’ll present to the Board of Trustees in June. As your president, which I consider to be a high privilege, I am reminded by the events of the past few days — including some additional amazing accomplishments of members of our Catawba community that I look forward to highlighting in the days to come — that not only is Catawba’s future very bright, but our present is filled with love, light, and much good.

And that’s worth spotlighting today.

Last year at this time I spoke to you about time. We thought together about how many weeks we have in all of life (about 4,000 for most of us), and about how many weeks we had coming up in the academic year (about 37). As I said, college is the time of your life, and I meant that in the most literal sense possible. This is your life, and this is how you are spending your time. It is the time of your life. Being your president is the time of my life.

I concluded with the reminder from the Apostle Paul, who admonished the Ephesians to “redeem the time, for the days are evil…” To redeem is to “buy something back.” Days are not “good” of their own accord; you have to “buy them back” from what may be wasteful, and make them good. Time is fleeting. Time by its nature escapes us. It dwindles. Time is easily eaten up by things that don’t matter the most, or sometimes by things that don’t matter at all. It’s up to us to redeem the time. It’s up to you to redeem your time.

Today I want to ask how you’ll redeem your time in a particular way—that is, to what end will you redeem the time that is the 2022-23 academic year?—and to suggest that you should make the most of your time to explore your vocation.

For those of you who have been around here for a while, you know we talk quite a lot about vocation at Catawba. The term vocation derives from the Latin vocare, “to call.” The Lilly Center helps us think about our vocations and our values, how we can align our lives—the time of our lives—with the things that matter most. These are questions that are central to our lives, and they are questions we all wrestle with. Dr Clapp has helped us for years to think about these questions. This Fall we’ll welcome a new chaplain who will carry forward this tradition. And we all know these questions aren’t relegated to the times we spend in this chapel. These questions matter, whatever faith—or no faith—is a part of your life. They are the stuff of our every day. The stuff of the time of our life.

No doubt many of you could point to a faculty member, a staff member, who has helped shape your perspective on your vocation. Some of you in this room have been generous to give time to Kimberly and me as we consider our own vocations. We have a sense of not just a calling, but we have a sense of callings that form our sense of vocation: calling to God, to family, to neighbors/community, to our work.  We are deliberately thinking about how we spend our time, just as I’m asking you to consider your time. It makes good sense for all of us to take time to consider how to spend our time on what matters most. How you spend this time—your college time, your Catawba time—really matters.

Questions of vocation aren’t questions that you answer once and then you’re all set. Not many of us have enough light to see our path to the very end. The psalmist described “a lamp unto my feet”—enough light to see the next step. We take that step, and we keep listening for the “calling”—the vocation, that voice from outside of ourselves that compels us toward the good things we’ve been created to do, where our passion and our skill meet the world’s need in this moment. As Frederick Buechner would put it, vocation is where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. Buechner passed away yesterday, August 15, at age 96. He devoted much of his life to questions such as these, and in Now and Then, he exhorted, “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is.” As you listen, you may begin sense where your greatest joy meets the world’s greatest need.

As your president, I am passionate about your success at Catawba College, and I am dedicating all of my skills to cultivating an environment where you can thrive. This is my joy. And I attempt to make good out of every day, to redeem the time, toward that end. 

For every member of the faculty and the staff sitting in this chapel, I trust you would give a similar answer—that you dedicate your days to Catawba because you take joy in using your skills and abilities to help form the lives of students.

As a student, some of you perhaps sitting in this chapel for the first time—What brings you joy? What’s most important to you? What are you most gifted to do? What do you believe really matters? You’ve dedicated yourself to four years at Catawba precisely to develop your answers to those sorts of questions. You’re in a unique place and time in life where you can explore the world and discover your place in it. You should make the most of this opportunity to explore. And, as you do, I want to call you to pay attention to two callings that are yours at present.

Remember we are tensed people, that is we are people who exist in time. I don’t mean we are ‘tense’ people, as in ‘anxious,’ though maybe we are, but rather ‘tensed.’ We exist as beings who inevitably experience the present while anticipating the future and remembering the past. So often when asking questions of vocation, we tend to think toward some potential future that may be ahead of us. But for the next few minutes, let’s think about vocation not in the future tense, but in the present tense, in the now time of your life.

Amidst the question like, What major? What job? What career? Who will I partner with?—those questions that can feel so weighty at times—let’s not miss the very obvious thing right in front of us, the lamp for our feet, the light for this current stretch of the path. I want to call your attention to two callings that are at least a part of the vocation of everyone in our learning community. They are callings we all share.

The first is the calling to learn. We are sitting in a college chapel that honors the light of learning. The window above me depicts the light of Christ, and the rose window behind you, where you will depart into this semester, depicts the light of learning. (Recall our motto engraved in our seal, sit lux, let there be light.)

Students, this place represents (what for most of us is) a once in a lifetime opportunity—to work with expert faculty and with supportive staff as you explore vocation and live out your calling to learn. I will note that the act of imagination may be one of the most practical things you can do to discover your place in the world. Einstein said “knowledge is limited, but imagination encircles the world.” And you are in a haven to do just that—to learn and to imagine. Faculty, who are a bit ahead of you in this journey, have brought their wisdom to bear to craft a curriculum for you, a course they have very deliberately laid out to help you along your path. At commissioning I charged you to be curious and to be courageous to explore subjects that you might not ordinarily explore (and to be kind).

Faculty and staff likewise have a calling to learn. None of us has arrived at the end of our journey. Whoever among us has the most expertise in any given area would likely be the first to tell you just how much more remains to explore. Those who know the most recognize how much more there is to learn. (And you can guess what I think about those who think or act like they know it all.) We have assembled ourselves together at Catawba College because we are called to learn, and what a rich tradition is ours to experience together during this window of time we have together!

Our second shared calling is the calling to love. You are in a learning community. Community implies relationships: roommates, classmates, teammates. An ensemble or choir or a club is by its very nature a set of relationships. Relationships make up our lives. The question isn’t whether we will love, but who and how we will love. We are creatures of our loves. Who and what we love—as those of you who were in class with Kimberly and me last semester will well remember—is central to our very being. Jewish tradition nourishes us with the command to love God and neighbor. Jesus spoke of the greatest commandment and the one that follows after it—love of God and love of neighbor. And we’re even taught by Jesus how to love neighbor—as we love ourselves.

Learn to live well with yourself. The Jewish Torah exhorts Israel to love their neighbors because they have first been loved by God. Aristotle exhorts us to be a good friend to ourselves, so we can be a truly good friend to others. He does so because to care for our own good in the most virtuous ways enables us to virtuously love our friends for the sake of their well-being. It’s in this sense that Jesus teaches us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and in 1 John we are reminded that “if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” This is no selfish affection toward ourselves; it is a sense of self that is uncovered by receiving love of the O/other and creates a self-awareness that we are loved, that we fittingly love ourselves, and that we are then free to love others.

This calling to love is a calling we all share. This is your life. It is my life. Buechner reminds us, then, to listen to your life. Listen to this life, your life that is centered on the calling to love. Take care of yourself. Take care of one another. The Apostle Paul taught us that the one thing we owe every person is love.

The callings to learn and to love are not separate. They are integrally related. Loving requires learning—about yourself and others and the world around you. Learning requires loving—as the very name we give to the highest degree of educational attainment suggests. The PhD is doctorate of philosophy—a love (phileo) of wisdom (sophia). I believe love is the logic of life, and I believe that we know better when we love better.

My hope for all of us this academic year is that we will demonstrate a love of wisdom, and that we will learn the wisdom of love.

Both learning and love are lifelong pursuits. There’s nothing wasted in responding to these callings, to these vocations during your years here. This is a good use of your time, a redemptive use of your time, to take the time to cultivate the calling to learn and the calling to love.

Sit lux.

I am soon to complete the second year of my second presidency in higher education. During my tenure at both institutions at which I’ve held the title “President,” I spent considerable time learning about the institution, learning what it does well and not so well, learning how the institution functions, learning how decisions are made, learning about our leaders and how they work, and considering how we might lead the college to enact its mission with integrity in the years to come. One fascinating aspect of my service as a president is observing how various campus leaders lead and also understanding the expectations of a campus for their president.

This document offers a glimpse at my view of “the presidency” and some thoughts about leadership, organizational development, and organizational culture that are central to my idea of “presidency.” My hope is for us to clarify in coming months the part each of us play in the presidency as we prepare our campus for a strategic planning process that will guide us into an important season of organizational development at Catawba College.

I note that the purpose of this document is to be clarifying, but not exhaustive, and to be generative, and not determinative. That is, from the document you should have a clearer notion of what I mean when I say “presidency,” but I am leaving open some aspects of the concept that we’ll sort out together in coming months. Likewise, my hope is to generate thinking about how the presidency will best work at Catawba College, without determining at this point how it must work.

Presidency As Interrelationship

Ed Penson, a former university president, describes the presidency as “a set of relationships; complex, sometimes fragile, sometimes indestructible, always dynamic and changing.” Drawing on this notion of presidential leadership as “a set of relationships,” John Moore, president emeritus of Indiana State University, refers to the presidency as a tapestry, woven of the president (the public person who holds the office as well the human being, the private person who is the president), the board, the president’s personal relationships (with spouse, family, special friends and partners), the senior administrative team, the faculty, and major stakeholders.

I applaud Penson’s recognition that the presidency is a “set of relationships.” I appreciate the notion of a tapestry and the threads of relationships Moore describes. I like to describe the presidency as facets of a jewel, a complex yet cohering whole which gains its particular character from how the facets refract light in and through one another. The presidency is this kind of interrelationship of many persons and constituencies, those named above as well as – to be explicit in identifying a university’s major stakeholders – students and alumni.

This is a complex view of the presidency. Not least among its complexities is the manner in which these various relationships function in a coherent and effective fashion. To some, I am sure, the model I am suggesting here is a recipe for confusion and ineffectiveness. Certainly, a strict CEO model is less complex. But I believe such a model is less efficacious, especially for an institution of higher learning whose mission cannot be simplified to a “bottom line.” I choose, rather, to embrace the complexity and to pursue the ideal of shared governance and shared responsibility in a manner that is most consistent with the identity and mission of our college.

So, the presidency is a set of relationships. The presidency is the set of relationships, involving the persons and constituencies previously named, by which our college is led. The presidency is not the president. The president is the leader of the presidency, but is not the presidency itself.

What We Do

None of us “own” the college, though we rightly refer to it as “ours.” It is ours because we share a stewardship of it and because we embrace the mission of the school. The college’s administrators serve its mission and its people.
The concept of administration, from the Latin “to minister” or “attend to,” is literally the act of serving. The presidency is an administrative concept, drawn from the verb “to preside.” To preside is, in our setting, to lead and manage by means of service and stewardship. Administrators are stewards of the relationships and resources of the institution. An effective presidency allows for a vital living and learning environment in which faculty and students thrive with the support of professional staff who enable their work. As there are various facets of the presidency, so there are various facets to the service of the presidency:

Preservation and Enactment of the Mission
Many schools drift from their mission, and often this undermines the integrity of an institution. Therefore a primary responsibility of a president, along with a board of trustees and vice presidents, is to preserve and enact the institution’s mission. The role of faculty, deans, and other administrators in carrying out the mission cannot be overstated. Our identity depends on it. It is our responsibility together to preserve and enact the mission of Catawba College.

Education
We are an institution of higher learning, a college by name. The academic enterprise is the center of all we do, and to be true to our mission, we will always be committed to the good of our students. This is a fundamental concern of the presidency.

Development of People
As much as we talk about programs and budgets and buildings, we are not primarily here to build any of those things. We exist to develop people. The presidency must ensure that students are growing and learning, that staff are able to do their work in an environment that is rewarding and accommodates growth, and that faculty are able to develop and flourish in their teaching, research and creative activity, and service.

Executive Leadership
The presidency is guided by a president and vice presidents, along with other administrators and faculty and staff leadership, who provide various levels of oversight of the institution. The president serves as the senior officer of the institution and reports to the board of trustees.

Financial Oversight
The presidency includes securing resources (from donors and grantmakers, government entities, tuition and fees, room and board revenues, and auxiliary revenues) to support the work of the college, the administration of annual budgets, and the assurance that resources are used with integrity.

Fundraising
The presidency is involved in the securing of resources from foundations, corporations, private donors, and other grant-making entities to support the work of the college and to build an endowment and create alternate revenue streams to secure the school for the future.

Civic Leadership
The college is necessarily a civic institution, because we exist within a community. The presidency enacts our role as a cultural institution in the city of Salisbury, in Rowan County, in North Carolina, and in the United States. We practice civic leadership through the preparation of students to do their work in the world, to engage in the well-being of their society, through community engagement in many forms, and through thought leadership.

Strategic Planning and Implementation
The college should always operate with a strategic plan that is formed with community involvement, that is both visionary and tactical, and that includes assessment and accountability. An important facet of the presidency is oversight of the accomplishment and renewal of a strategic plan.

Manage Resources for the Good of the Mission
Beyond financial stewardship, the presidency manages other critical resources for the college. Buildings must be maintained. Relationships with key partners must be developed. The development of people, human resources, are most vital to the ongoing success of the institution.

Effect Change
Institutions constantly change. Sometimes change is organic and incremental. Sometimes change must be instituted when the organization is in dysfunction. Always, change should be managed responsibly, consistent with our mission and our values.

Build Trust and Shared Vision
An institution without trust is inevitably dysfunctional. Distrust is often bred because the work of creating a shared vision is ignored. It is the work of the presidency to continually foster a shared vision and to cultivate trust in the college.

Preside
A president presides. Those in the presidency preside in various ways. Faculty preside over classrooms, student leaders preside over student government, vice presidents preside over their divisions. Presiding is not dictating; it is not an act of hegemony. It is often an act of consensus-building, and it is always to be done with the good of the whole in mind. The president and all those who have a part in the presidency lead and manage primarily by means of service and stewardship.

What We Value

I admit that “value” can be a loaded term. By “value” I mean deeply held beliefs that guide our actions. Here I refer to those matters of importance, even principles, that are significant to our identity as Catawba College. And I hope to lay out what I believe are shared values in our community as I have come to know it in my time here. As I see it, if we do not uphold these shared values, we will become less than we should be, and if neglected, the absence of such values would render us a different community. Nevertheless, I admit these are values I consider of import for the leadership model I prefer. These are, in my estimation, crucial values for an effective presidency.

We relate to others with honesty and integrity.
We are truthful with one another, and we are careful to truthfully represent one another, even when our individual perspectives differ.

We respect every person’s dignity.
Respect is something we give to another. Dignity is the value intrinsic to each person, possessed by them because they exist. We don’t simply offer respect to one another, because we could give someone our attention and politely listen to them and then deny their dignity. Instead, we respect the dignity of every person.

We embrace difference and diversity.
We do not believe there is only one way of seeing things, so we welcome difference in perspective and different ways of being in the world. Because we appreciate the wonder of diversity in the world, we welcome and value diverse people from diverse backgrounds with diverse ideas in our community. We believe our differences make us better.

We are responsive, and we get things done.
We acknowledge those who ask something of us or who are in need, and because we understand leadership as service and stewardship, we do what we can to respond to the needs of our community.
We welcome problems and appreciate suggested solutions.
Problems exists in every community and always will. We all make mistakes. We welcome people bringing problems to us so we can address them. We also welcome proposed solutions. And even when we cannot satisfactorily solve a problem, we will always address it.

We celebrate successes and acknowledge our failures.
Catawba College is a place of excellence. Achievements abound, and we celebrate them. In our best efforts we are also bound to fail at points. When we fail, we admit our failures and learn from them. When others fail, we are understanding and generous toward them.

We practice transparency in decision-making.
We are a community, so we believe it is important for decisions to be made in such a way that the community can see how and why a decision is made. We recognize that certain matters must balance privacy with transparency, especially personnel issues, and therefore afford less transparency to the community than other decisions. But when transparency is not precluded, it is always preferred.

We understand that trust is essential.
We recognize that organizations that lack trust are generally unhealthy. Thus, we practice honesty, integrity, and transparency in order to cultivate trust in our community.

We listen to understand; we speak to be understood.
We don’t just hear one another, we practice active listening, seeking to truly understand what someone is trying to say, even if we disagree. We try to speak in such a way that we can be understood clearly. We avoid dissembling and, especially in important matters, we take the time to carefully plan what we say so the community can understand us.

We are empathetic, vulnerable, and reflective.
Empathy occurs when one person feels with another, when one tries to enter in to what the other is feeling. Vulnerability is one’s openness to be seen and understood by another, even when that may be frightening. Reflection is one’s willingness to think and ponder a matter. Note that empathy and vulnerability occur in relationship one with another. Reflection, while it may be done with another, is something we do in relation to self. Empathy, vulnerability, and reflection each require openness, to other people and other ideas and other ways of seeing.

We embrace collaboration.
To collaborate is to co-labor, to work together. We know that in many instances we can do more together than we can do apart. This does not preclude the obvious need or preference for some of our work to be done in isolation or solitude, but some things are best done together. And we know that some things must be done together or they will not be done at all.

We are curious, creative, and adaptive.
We are curious because we know the limits of our current condition, we are creative because we are human, and we are adaptive because change is inevitable.

We understand the wisdom of determining which is more costly, action or inaction.
Sometimes something must be done, and we should do it. Sometimes doing something is worse than doing nothing, and we should refrain from action.

We identify and develop talent.
We rely on skilled people who care about Catawba’s mission and do quality work. Good leaders identify such people, then provide them resources, and entrust them to do their work.

We know when to say ‘No.’
Not everything we might do is consistent with the Catawba’s mission and values. And we do not have the capacity to do everything, even if it is consistent with our mission. Therefore, we determine what we will not do in order to do what is most important.

We are willing to take a risk.
Sometimes we simply must take a risk.

We want to do work that matters and that brings joy.
Most people want to work with purpose. Likewise, most people want to do work that truly brings joy, to them and to others. Catawba College has always highlighted meaningful work, because it is about preparing students for meaningful lives. We want to pursue that work in such a way that we not only get the job done, but in a way that brings joy to those who labor.

We reward what we value.
If we truly value something, then we should reward it. There are different kinds of reward, and we should reward consistently.

Concluding Charge

The success of this presidency depends on us all embracing the complexities of our relationships and responsibilities for the good of students, for the good of our community, and for the good of our society. We will measure our progress not just by numbers but by trust and joy, by personal achievements and shared triumphs. If we are all in, I believe the risk of all the complexities will be well worth the successes we enjoy.

On the launch of the "Bible Challenge" at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Winston Salem, NC
September 29, 2013

Each of us here today has some experience with the Bible, and most of us are here today because we are entering a “Bible Challenge,” a venture to re-engage with the Bible, perhaps in a new way, hopefully to experience anew the Bible as a treasure. We’ve accepted the challenge – we’ve taken it off the shelf. What are we to do with it now?

Our invitation is to hear the Bible and to see – to have our eyes and hearts opened to possibilities. “I see” is a way of saying “I understand.” This is an invitation to “faithful understanding” in the Christian tradition of fides quaerens intellectum, faith seeking understanding. The invitation is not merely to understand, but to understand – to see – from the standpoint of faith. We trust that God speaks by the Holy Spirit and that we are empowered by that same Spirit to enact the faith we come to understand.

Faith requires imagination. And today I’m suggesting that we take up this Bible Challenge with imagination, reading the Scriptures by faith, for faith. “By faith” means we read and hear the Scriptures as those who trust that there is something to be heard, that “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” is still being passed down in the church today. “For faith” means we aren’t simply hearing so we can gain knowledge, but so that we can enact faith in the world in which we live, so we can live faithfully as those called to love God and love neighbors. By “with imagination,” I mean that as creatures made in the image and likeness of God, we are able to ourselves “image” – to see – what God calls us to see. We are imaginative beings.

I don’t mean that we see something that isn’t real. We can imagine worlds filled with giants and Lilliputians, or a world of elves and hobbits and orcs. We have the ability to imagine in that sense – to see what isn’t and never will be – but that is fantasy. We can imagine what isn’t real. But that’s not the kind of imagination I mean. Imagination is equally and perhaps more so a matter of seeing what may not be but can be. We file into metal tubes with large engines and fly 35,000 feet above the ground from one place to another because people imagined we humans might fly like birds. We have a statue called “The David” because a person of immense talent saw a work of art where most would see only a block of stone. By “imagine” I mean that we should see what is really real: that God is, and that God loves. As we “imagine” in this sense, we can see the world that is, and we can see the world as God intends it to be.

The text of the Bible conveys a world and invites us to imagine our world differently in light of it. The Bible sometimes reminds us of the ugliness and corruption that exists in the world. Sometimes the Scriptures disturb us and disorient us and trouble us as much as they encourage us and comfort us and heal us. This book tells us about hatred and evil and fractured relationships and disunity. The Bible also shows us the possibility of a different world – a world of delight like Eden and the promise of an “age to come” called the “new heavens and new earth.” It tells us of a kingdom of love that has broken

into the broken world in which we live, and instead of simply asking us to hope for that world, it calls us to enact it by faith in the here and now. It urges us to see differently than we sometimes do and to act otherwise than we sometimes might. It reminds us that true religion isn’t about a lot of talk – an “unbridled tongue” – but about caring for orphans and widows, about loving others as we love ourselves, about trusting that God’s wisdom about the world is better than our own.

In Genesis 1-3, we encounter a world with a powerful creator, a naked couple, a talking snake. We hear God’s promise of delight. We see a serpent questioning God. Trust is broken. Not only does delight disappear but life itself is threatened. God questions those who question God. Distance results; relationships are fractured; grace is extended. We all have our own little garden of Eden experiences. We distance ourselves from God and one another. Consider what the text does: We who are made in God’s image are asked to imagine a different world. To return to the delight of God by delighting in God. To live on God’s terms, not our own. We are invited to imagine the world in a particular way – the Bible orients us, it disorients us, it reorients us.

Consider Psalm 23, a familiar text, a comforting text, a disorienting text. We are fearful beings. As pre-articulate beings we express fear – the crying of a baby who anxiously wonders if she will be fed. What do you fear? The text of Psalm 23 disorients us: “I will fear no evil.” That’s comforting, yes, but it is also disorienting. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. It isn’t “I will fear no evil because there is no evil.”  Faith beckons us to live not as if there is no evil, but to live differently in the face of it. Scriptures cause us to form a way of life that “images” deep realities that may not be obvious to us. What would it be like to “not fear death”? Why would I not, and what would life be like if my life were formed in such a way? It might look like Jesus, who faced the greatest evil of all. And it was the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus that enabled someone like a deacon named Stephen to imagine a different kind of life than he otherwise might.

In Acts 7, Stephen imagined his own life in light of the life of Christ and the redemptive narrative of God’s story of the world. In a few short paragraphs, with his life in the balance, Stephen traces the arc of history and fits his own life into that story. As he died – as he was murdered – he loved those who killed him. And as we read this narrative, we can’t help but imagine what it must have been like, to imagine what Stephen thought and felt, to imagine what his audience thought and felt, what his persecutors thought and felt. What do we think and feel? What do you think and feel? Would you love those who persecute you?

A man named Saul witnessed and approved of Stephen’s execution. He saw Stephen “image” Christ on that day. The account of Stephen’s death reads like a reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus. As he dies, Stephen asks of God that the sins of his executioners not be held against them. Saul sees this enactment of love in the death of Stephen, and this same Saul who becomes Paul the Apostle of Jesus later pens a letter to the Corinthians which contains one of the most memorable passages ever written about love. The one who formerly approved of murder calls us to imagine “a still more excellent way.”

In a few moments we will walk over to the nave, where we will worship together. The liturgy is a ritual enactment of the Scriptures. The liturgy is in some sense a retreat from the world and a transport to the better world the Scriptures call us to imagine. It is in another sense a way of seeing that better world enacted in this world, a way of enacting what we pray in the liturgy: “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” After hearing the Scriptures read and a pastoral reflection on them, we stand to confess our faith. We pray for one another, and then are called to “confess our sins against God and our neighbor.” We kneel and confess our sins, and we admit that we have not loved God with our whole heart and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We express our sorrow over this. We “humbly repent.” The priest pronounces words of absolution. But we do not stop there. We then offer “peace” to one another. It is a ritual enactment, yes. But this is a faithful ritual. In it we turn to some who are probably the closest to us and yet may be the most distant, and we offer peace. This is the world we are called to imagine, one where Christ’s gospel leads us to love God and one another.

As we reengage with the Scriptures during this “Bible Challenge” and beyond, I propose that we read the Bible frequently and thoroughly. I propose that we read it liturgically, before God, and in conversation with the saints, dead and living. I propose we read purposefully, to imagine ourselves within God’s redemptive story, to the end that the Scriptures may form in each of us a truly Christian way of life, to be faithful to love God and neighbor.

We don’t stay in our little rooms reading the Bible. We don’t stay in the nave after worship. But as we leave the liturgical space, I hope we don’t leave the liturgical world that is formed in us, that better world in which we as divine image bearers see with faith, through eyes of love, with hearts open to carry that more excellent way into every corner of the world in which we live.