Listen and Learn

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."  ~Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States of America

This week, I hosted my final Monarch Morning chat session - albeit this one was held in the afternoon - with faculty and staff at Old Dominion University's distance learning sites and higher education centers in Virginia Beach, Hampton and Portsmouth. It capped my two-month-long tour of 19 different colleges and administrative areas to hear the collective and individual voices of nearly 700 people whose dedication and service make ODU the excellent institution it is.

Beyond the good coffee and tasty donuts that my doctor would frown upon, the meetings were feasts of good ideas, new thinking, sound suggestions and comfortable camaraderie that comes from years of working together in the trenches toward the same lofty goal.

The topics ranged from enrollment numbers, retention and faculty recognition to community engagement, the evolving role of distance learning and football. And while there were several ideas we were able to quickly implement - parking services and payroll are now offering a pre-tax parking benefit, for example - there were others that will take more time and deliberation. Our overall approach to graduate programs and advising are two areas where colleagues offered keen insight and possible new direction, and we are bringing together the vested participants to map those roads.

Several enthusiastic Monarchs inquired how they could get football tickets. Anticipating that our return to the gridiron would be a hot topic during these sessions, I put aside a few tickets to hand out to the lucky souls who were the first to ask.

One person asked me if I was having fun. It was a great question because it made me actually stop and think about it for a minute, which I hadn't really done since I became president. And the answer is yes!

I have been at Old Dominion University for more than 15 years and have always told my colleagues in Institutional Advancement that their friendship, professionalism and team ethos is the No. 1 thing that keeps me going each day. The neatest thing about being president is that I can now say that about 6,193 faculty and staff members. And that support that I receive - whether it's someone telling me I'm doing a good job or someone pointing out a problem but offering a solution, too - makes this job easier, even when the going is rough.

So thanks for talking. My ears are ringing…