This is a post of a different type– not about a visit to one of NECHE’s schools, but to the two colleges where I spent my early career. My visits came within a few weeks of each other and together they produced a surprising reaction in me.
I’ll start with the trip that took me back to my alma mater, Swarthmore College, Class of ’75. This was the place I returned to serve as a senior administrator in 1990…and stayed for 15 years. The Borough of Swarthmore is where my children were raised and where my wife and partner Betty joined me 28 years ago. I haven’t spent much time in Swarthmore for years and, as I am about to enter my 71st year on this planet, the memories of my younger life flashed back as I wandered both the campus and town.
We lived in a beautiful home right on the edge of the college and during this visit I knocked on the door and was treated to a bit of a tour. After two decades, many of the rooms were still painted as they were when Betty redecorated. Amazing!
After all my time away, I hadn’t expected to run into anybody I knew, but that wasn’t the case. College housekeepers we loved, faculty and staff, coaches, even a bunch of former students (now alumni) popped up and chatted with me. One of my responsibilities at the college had been overseeing the design and construction of a number of buildings: a residence hall, science center, academic building, and the performing art center. As I walked around and through each one, I could remember, like it was yesterday, those heady days of bringing them into being. And happily, each of those buildings has held up very well and continues to make Swarthmore’s campus renowned across the country.
A few weeks before my visit to Swarthmore, I was in Atlanta to attend the inauguration of the 18th President of Oglethorpe University. Almost 30 years ago, in 2005, I’d become the 16th president of OU. While it wasn’t my first time back on campus, it was my first official visit and again, I was able to visit with many old friends. I strolled down the Woods Walk that trustees had built in honor of Betty and me, and noticed how well the buildings we had designed and constructed continued to enhance campus. It was delightful to spend the day reacquainting myself with a place where I’d spent pretty much every waking hour for 15 years.
So what was the reaction I mentioned at the start of this? I tend to be someone who looks forward and not back. When I leave a place, even if I’ve been there 15 years, I just move onto the next thing and throw myself into that opportunity. But in thinking back about my time at Swarthmore and Oglethorpe, on both a professional and personal level, I felt deeply how formative those years were for me and how much of an impact I had had on those campuses. Perhaps because I am feeling my age and understanding that most of my life is now behind me, a bit of sentimentality crept in. Between Swarthmore and Atlanta, I spent thirty years on two college campuses. From ages 37 to 67, the better part of a lifetime, I toiled in those two places. I loved those years and it was truly a privilege to serve the institutions and especially the people who worked there. I also felt immense gratitude that those experiences enabled me to develop a professional career that has now led me to NECHE.
I think the reason I love visiting our schools and sharing their stories in this blog is because my own life has shown me just how important these institutions are to the people that work there, and the communities to which they contribute.