Back to the Future
A conversation with President Dale Rogers Marshall
Wheaton has never been stronger. During the past 12 years, the college has doubled the number of students applying for admission, built or renovated several major academic buildings and two new residence halls, cheered on its first Rhodes scholar and celebrated a historic fundraising campaign that doubled annual giving and the size of the college's endowment.
Dale Rogers Marshall has led the way to these and many other accomplishments, with her characteristic brand of energy, enthusiasm and insight. With all that has been accomplished at Wheaton since 1992, you might expect President Marshall to be slowing her pace, reflecting on her tenure at Wheaton and taking satisfaction in a job well done. But that would be a mistake. Even as she prepares for her final months in office, President Marshall looks to the college's future with anticipation about what is yet to come, as the Wheaton Quarterly found out in this recent conversation.
Comparing Wheaton today with the college that you first visited in 1992, what do you see as the most important change?
People who knew the college in the early '90s and now come back confirm my own impression that Wheaton has become an extremely vital place. We have an energized campus with many stimulating things happening. When I talk to alumnae/i about the campus today, they often say things like, "I just wish I could go back to college now. I see so many things that are going on that are exciting."
That sense of excitement is extremely important. A college education should be an adventure that inspires students long after they graduate.
Where does all this vitality and energy come from?
I think it comes from having a critical mass of talented faculty, staff and students, and a diversity of intellectually exciting ideas. It also comes from a sense that Wheaton is a happening place, a place where people want to be. Success breeds success. As students become aware that it is difficult to earn admission, they become prouder of being admitted and attending Wheaton. Alums know that the college is moving up in selectivity, too, and see it as a cause for pride.
One of the most dramatic examples of this new attitude is how [Vice President for Enrollment and Marketing] Gail Berson describes the changes she notices when attending college fairs. At one time, she would really have to push to find high school students and counselors who would listen to the Wheaton story. Now, people seek her out, wanting to make the case for why Wheaton should "please consider carefully" a particular candidate for admission.
Of course, this doesn't mean that there is nothing left to do to improve the quality of campus academic and co-curricular life. Simply because we see Wheaton as a vital, intellectually engaging place doesn't mean that experience reaches every student the way we would like it to. This is not a place where it is all done. We're not just wanting to rest on our laurels; there is a lot more left to do.
Early in your tenure, the strategic planning committee you convened identified the achievement of financial equilibrium as the college's most important objective. Having achieved that goal, is there less reason for concern about finances now?
We did achieve financial equilibrium, which was critical to the college's long-term health. But having accomplished that doesn't mean we can stop being concerned about financial matters. The difference is that the emphasis has shifted. In the early '90s, the concern was surviving and sustainability; now it is about soaring and achieving our aspirations and attending to all of the different things that can move the college ahead.
Wheaton still needs to pay close attention to improving its financial position. Our endowment is not as large as most of the other institutions like us, and that can be a big disadvantage. A college needs to have the financial flexibility to respond to opportunities as they emerge and at the same time reinvest in facilities and programs. Higher education is such a competitive world that if you stand still you fall behind.
The transition to coeducation also was very much an issue when you arrived. Has Wheaton completed its transition to coeducation?
The answer is both yes and no. "Yes," we are way, way over the hump and we are securely and successfully coeducational; "No," the transition is not entirely over. In a sense, the transition represents part of Wheaton's heritage and it will always be present in what makes the college distinctive. For everyday purposes Wheaton is unquestionably coeducational. After the initial transition, Wheaton achieved a big bump up in student recruitment success and national attention. That happened before I got here. In my 12 years, the college's status as a coeducational institution has been gradually embedding itself deeper into the fabric of Wheaton and in people's perception of the college. But it would be oversimplification to say that in 15 years the transition is over. Institutions that became coeducational in the 1970s still find it useful to reflect on their progress from time to time. Change is hard. I meet people who are still mad that their schools, such as Amherst and Williams, went coeducational 30 years ago.
The goal of the college was to become differently coeducational, to hold on to the values that it had as a women's college. What does differently coeducational mean at Wheaton today?
I think this is one of the most interesting topics because you'll find as many different views as there are people. What I think it means is that Wheaton is a model of gender equality, balance and fairness. Wheaton is neither the traditional coeducational institution, which has often meant male dominated, nor is it a single-sex college. It flies in the face of conventional wisdom to think that there could be a third option, but Wheaton truly is a model of a new path. I think people who visit the college sense the difference; it's harder for those who haven't been to campus to understand how special we are in creating an environment of equality.
Part of what makes the difference is that gender issues are discussed across the curriculum. We also are fortunate to have a faculty composed equally of men and women, which is quite unusual. Some people say we don't talk about gender enough; others say we talk about it much too much. I love the senior who several years ago said to me: 'Gender, gender, gender. I can't wait to get out of Wheaton so I don't have to talk about gender anymore.' I expect that young man has had a big surprise. In this society you can't get away from gender issues. Roles are not so clearly defined anymore and where they are not defined, people need to talk and negotiate. The fact that the Wheaton culture is a place where gender is a "live" issue gives students tools for their future and that's affirmed year after year. Graduating seniors always cite that as one of the big benefits of their experience here.
A Wheaton undergraduate woman recently met an alumna who asked what Wheaton's history as a women's college means to current students. The current student said that she wouldn't have attended Wheaton had it still been a women's college, but that she and her classmates are proud of the college's history and of the many models of women's leadership on campus and in our extended community.
Our society is changing so much that I think that Wheaton's leadership on this issue is a major contribution. I hope that over time we will be able to be a model of racial diversity the way I know we are a model of gender equality.
Beyond its heritage as a women's college, Wheaton also has held successfully to a traditional liberal arts education. What role has that played in the college's success over the past 12 years?
I'm proud that Wheaton has stuck with its commitment to the traditional liberal arts and didn't make the changes that some women's colleges made in moving to professional, vocational and graduate programs. Wheaton is one of the few that have remained 100 percent residential, undergraduate liberal arts.
I am confident that in our knowledge-based society the value of the liberal arts will be seen more and more clearly. People change jobs so many times during the course of their working lives. A narrow professional track can be extremely limiting. Wheaton alumnae/i say the college taught them how to think and how to learn throughout their life.
The other thing about the liberal arts at Wheaton is that we stress experiential education and hands-on learning in a way that doesn't diminish the traditional liberal arts curriculum. That combination of the liberal arts and experiential learning is a very distinctive part of Wheaton.
There is always the necessity of explaining why these critical thinking and communication skills-as well as the breadth of the liberal arts-are important in a knowledge-based society, but I really don't see any difficulty in doing that.
Looking forward to the next 10 years, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing Wheaton?
First, as a general statement, the college must remain willing to innovate and to realize that change is necessary to compete effectively. More specifically, there are many things I had hoped to accomplish that haven't happened yet, such as the improvement of Wheaton's science facilities and other capital projects like the construction of an outdoor track, a new admission building or visitors' center, and enhancements to the library, to name a few.
The most critical capital improvement facing the college, however, is the science center. That is so central to Wheaton's future that it is cited very prominently in the case statement for the new president.
Why is improving the college's science facilities so important?
Our country needs to have people who understand and appreciate science, and liberal arts colleges are outstanding at educating scientific leaders. Wheaton in particular would benefit from strengthening the science facilities because we start with excellent programs and professors dedicated to teaching and research. When outside reviewers come to our campus to look at the science program, they say, "Your faculty members are wonderful, your students are wonderful, but you just can't get away any longer with that facility without major enhancements." Without significant facilities improvements, Wheaton's science programs will begin to erode and won't be competitive. So to retain Wheaton's ability to offer quality science education - the way we offer quality humanities education and quality social science programs - we must improve the facilities.
You can't be a top liberal arts college without having strength in all three divisions of the curriculum-arts, sciences and the humanities. And looking at it from an admission standpoint, science students graduating from high school are a very strong pool of academically able students and we want to make sure that we compete very strongly for them, the way we do in the other areas. That will further enhance the intellectual climate of this campus.
What projects are you hoping to finish before you leave the campus in June?
First, of course, is increasing support for the Annual Fund. I also really hope we fully endow the Evelyn Danzig Haas '39 Visiting Artists Program, the Center for Global Education and the Filene Center for Work and Learning. Those are fundraising efforts under way now that I hope we make progress on and I would love to have all of those fully endowed. But they are such exciting opportunities that if we don't complete them this spring, I'm sure my successor will be able to do so. The College Learning Center is brand new and has a lot of needs that I would love to make progress on. And then there is the January term. We've wanted to improve the January term for some time. We still do, but it's a matter of limited time and resources. It is difficult to accomplish all of the good things that there are to be done as fast as we would like to do it.
Do those projects have anything in common that has made them difficult to complete?
The overriding challenge in all these areas is money. People say "No, no, no. Leave out money. Don't talk about money as a challenge." But it is a challenge. Since our competitors in general have a lot more resources, it's a tremendous challenge to figure out how to compete with wealthier schools. Finding people and foundations that value the liberal arts - Wheaton's version of the liberal arts - and will support it with a major gift, is a central challenge.
Along with that, go all the unknowns in the national political environment and the economy. The public universities and colleges can charge a lot less than us so that is another challenge. I think all college presidents worry that the federal government will stop being as generous in financial aid as they have been. If the federal government didn't increase financial aid gradually as costs increase, it would make our ability to compete that much more difficult.
Affordability is a big issue overall. All small liberal arts colleges feel keenly the issue of cost and affordability. Financial aid has let us admit students based on ability and not on ability to pay. We always worry that we might have to go back to the old days when financial aid wasn't so available. Which leads me to say that one of the priorities for the college in the future will be to continue to raise endowment for financial aid. Our competitors have larger financial aid endowments and that gives them a cushion against the unknown economic and political environment.
Given all that Wheaton has accomplished in the past 12 years, it's surprising to hear you talk about all the things still to be done.
I've come to realize that you're just never done in college administration. Every day new issues arise and you make as much progress as you can. Eventually, your term is over and you walk out. That is difficult to do. That's not my style; I like to finish things, that's my background as a teacher. You wouldn't just walk out on a class. You have a closing lecture and you tie it all together for students, link the subject to inspiring themes, read the papers, grade the exams and talk to students about why they got the grades they did. Then it's over, very neatly. But in administration there is no neat closure like that.
You have described the role of president as being analogous to teaching before, but usually you talk about the similarities. Have you had a change of heart?
No. There are still more similarities than differences. When I won the distinguished teaching award at UC Davis, the student who nominated me for the award said: "It's not what Professor Marshall did; it's what she got me to do." To me as a teacher, that was the highest possible compliment. As an administrator, my emphasis has been to create a climate in which people could work together and bring all their experiences and insight to bear in guiding our college. I think that the college has benefited most when I've been able to do just that.
What are your plans for life after Wheaton?
The real goal is to learn to live at a more relaxed pace, a more spontaneous way of enjoying each day and not having a packed schedule. Some people don't think I'll be able to do that. I'm interested to see whether I will be able to do it. I am looking forward to a few projects, including some landscaping in our small yard in Piedmont, California. I want to do for my grandchildren some of the good things my mother did for hers, including needlepoint pillows, and taking each child on a trip. I'm already thinking about where I can take each grandchild. Talk to me in six months and I might have more things on the list.
What have you enjoyed most about your tenure as Wheaton's president and what do you expect to miss the most?
I've thought about that a lot. I feel good about all of the positive things that have happened at Wheaton during my term. Yet when it all boils down, it comes to the most common point. It's platitudinous, but it's really the people that you get to know and connect with while working on meaningful projects. When you get to meet such interesting people - on the campus and all over the world - you develop an insight into different lives, different worlds and different generations. It's extremely rewarding. My hope is that my connections to Wheaton people will continue because they are personal as well as professional. I may be leaving the presidency of Wheaton, but I'm going to remain a member of the broader Wheaton community. I may be leaving the presidency of Wheaton, but I'm going to remain a member of the broader Wheaton community.
